Summer is Here. Time for Recharging and Rethinking

Lehigh's campus has a few days left of finals. It's been a long and hard semester. Many projects, additional outreach initiatives, and more than a full plate of regular day-to-day tasks required some highly skilled juggling.

One of the tasks is to scan social media for what's happening in the arts on campus and in South Bethlehem. Of course, scanning requires a fair amount of self discipline. I set a timer to redirect the rabbit holes I inevitably go down. But every rabbit hole offers insight and knowledge that comes in handy when I work with incredibly focused people. I'm often bringing community relationships into conversation with campus programs. Those relationships are institutional as well as personal. I love to learn about faculty research. The social and cultural organizations in the Lehigh Valley are also full of intelligent, curious, and passionate thinkers who love sharing what they do with others. Helping to make connections between folks on campus and folks in the community is what I was born to do. But it takes an extraordinary amount of time to learn about the community through making and sustaining relationships. Sometimes, I'll even do a deep dive into an experience or institution to really get to the know the people inside it. I research and experience as many programs off campus as possible; especially in the summer.

You see, you can't connect the dots in community engagement if you don't know what's happening in the community.

But that is also where I get into trouble. I see some pretty awesome things happening, and get to meet some pretty awesome people. I want to be a part of all the awesome stuff. The reality is, just because I could do anything, doesn't mean I can actually do everything. Try as I might to ignore the limitations of physical endurance and the finite resources of time, there comes a point when I must limit the monkeys.

The what?

Throughout the semester, I've been referring to a well known Polish proverb:

I took on some pretty substantial monkeys this semester. One included a deep dive into high school musical theater programs, another was to co-chair a local festival. These two projects were piled on top of teaching a course that had a higher enrollment than it should have had (that will require lots of rethinking this summer), and taking a course on program evaluation that makes me want to rethink nearly everything I do..... And then there's is the local history research project I started in 2010 - and continue to peck at it as national issues bring me back to finding lessons from our past.

And what about the Mountaintop Research project this summer? This is the project I've been wanting to do since before I got to Lehigh.

I hope to write about each one of these topics and more through the next couple of months. All of this stuff made the semester a pretty fantastic circus.

In the next couple of days, I will be plotting out the reading/writing schedule and figuring out a routine that should keep me on track to finishing a few items while also taking required recharge and respite time.  That usually means staring at a large body of water (lake or ocean) until I'm ready to come back to the drawing board for another go at the circus.

2014 Arts@Lehigh Year in Review

A friend in Lehigh's Communications Office asked me for the top three arts stories of 2014. Three.

Three? That's like asking me which of my children I like best. But I complied - kind of.

Instead of answering his email directly, I picked the top three stories in categories that are how I think about the arts when I look around campus: guest artists, news, student production, faculty research and campus arts integration. Arts news in Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania or the nation... Maybe I'll write those. Maybe.

I posted a shorter version on the Arts@Lehigh wordpress blog. For this post, I added a little more commentary. I love what I do, and I do what I love.

Guest Artists:

3. Smokey Robinson at the 2014 Zoellner Arts Center Gala. Mr. Robinson was generous, and in great voice. I only wish he would have taken me up on bringing a bassoon on stage for Tears of a Clown. I was ready. [smiley face emoticon]

2. Nas and Angela Davis for the MLK keynote. Yeah, that was kinda huge, even if they weren't "Zoellner" guest artists in the sense that they were on the season. Thanks to Dr. James Peterson for bringing him to Lehigh. There's nothing like celebrity status to start social justice discussions. Behind the scenes, witnessing Nas get nervous about meeting his idol Angela Davis was a very special moment.

1. Darlene Love - Zoellner's Artistic Director Deborah Sacarakis really nailed the timing of Darlene Love's show in Bethlehem the day after her final Late Night with David Letterman performance. Deb saw her perform live two years ago at 54 Below in New York City; before 20 Feet from Stardom, before her induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. She booked her then. Yes, that's how far in advance Deb works. Heck, after 40 years at Lehigh, Ms. Sacarakis knows a thing or two about booking shows. Ms. Love's first song of the show was, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The line, "...with angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem," the crowd went nuts. She even said, "singing in Bethlehem at Christmas is just unreal." 

Top three News Stories:

3. Zoellner Administrative Director Andy Cassano led the PA Presenters conference in May 2014. We are fortunate to have a visionary leader not only for our campus arts center, but for Pennsylvania.

2. Deborah Sacarakis was honored by the Lehigh Valley Dance Consortium with the Distinguished Service Award. (April 6, 2014) See? Even arts consortium's know how amazing she is.

1. Andy responds to Bethlehem City Council/Mayor proposal to raise the Amusement Tax in an op-ed piece to the Morning Call. This is an important issue for our community. We understand the importance of finding revenue to pay for the things that make our city great. We also understand that this speaks of the value of the arts in our community. Personally, I hope to see an increase of visible support from our city's leaders by merely attending more arts events by the organizations and artists affected by this tax. Dear reader, think about the last time you saw a member of city council or the Mayor at a ticketed arts event. Just saying.

Student Production

3. Mustard & Cheese Reefer Madness. The writer, Dan Studney came to the show on Dec 6th ! 

2. Marching 97 at Yankee Stadium (they were the stars of the Rivalry 150, IMHO)

1. Lisa Glover - Kit Rex

Faculty Research (these items picked with performance dates in mind)

3. Erica Hoelsher - Costumes and mask design for the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium's production of Eugéne Ionesco's Rhinoceros

2. Bill Warfield's CD Release Party at Iridium

1. Steven Sametz with LU Choral Arts at Carnegie Hall

Campus Arts Integration

3. Increasing community school outreach. McKinley Elementary School second graders tour the campus after lunch in Rathbone Dining Hall and seeing Lightwire Theater at Zoellner. That campus engagement led to a week long residency in July with local artist, Doug Royston. In October, the entire Broughal Middle School saw Cirque Alfonse.  The PBS39 story on Broughal attending Cirque Alfonse starts at 6:30:

Both of these opportunities were the results of campus support; financial support from College of Education and College of Arts & Sciences, staff volunteer campus tour guides, and generous expertise from local artist, Doug Royston.

2. TIE Mercy Killers & Shostakovich 7th. Mercy Killers is a heart wrenching look at the consequences of America's health care system. The one-man play was written and performed by Michael Milligan. Experts from Lehigh faculty and administration were on hand to provide reflection and discussion after each show. Story by student Madison Gouveia in Lehigh's Brown and White. 

The Lehigh University Philharmonic took an extensive semester long study of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 which was written during the 1943-1944 siege of Leningrad. The members of the orchestra read an historic fictional novel based on events of the composer's and others involved in the premier performance, as well as describing the harrowing conditions the people of Leningrad endured. Professor Mary Nicholas of Lehigh's Russian Language and Literature also presented a cultural perspective on what the history of the siege continues to mean to Russians today. 

1. Hammerschlag Design series. Envisioned by two faculty, Anthony Viscardi and Nick Nikolov, these experience fully embraced the creative potential of the Mountaintop Learning Environment. 

1. Steven Sametz with LU Choral Arts at Carnegie Hall (I'm sure you've got enough on that)

Community Relations; an arts administrator’s art &; family

I saw some amazing things at the March 5th First Friday. This event was highly anticipated by the ArtsLehigh program, as it was the opening of a unique art installation in six storefronts along East Third Street.  The installation is one of a four-part series of art experiences dedicated to Women’s History month.

This blog post is not about the creation of the art – but of the installation. There is an “art” to this as well. Some administrators may find the work necessary to realize another person's artistic vision to be labor intensive. Perhaps it is challenging; or, downright TEDIOUS. I live for it! It’s almost like the role of a mid-wife. We encourage the curators and the artists. But on another level, we strive to assure community partner comfort with the experiments. This is a vital part to our institution’s evolving relationships with multiple constituents in our local community.

The local constituents referred to in this post are the merchants of central South Bethlehem. They were always open to the installation idea. But the artists had to find a balance between their work and the stores’ identity to their customers.  After the initial installation in one of the stores, the artist was only able to partially complete it. The store had a big, black shroud over the street-facing window. The store looked closed. It was a shroud of retail death. It worried us all. Hours before opening, the artist finished the installation with a beautiful cut away – which now makes the installation even more intriguing, and the merchant – very happy.
Here’s a little secret. The incomplete installation wasn’t a good signal to passers by. While the store looked closed, the merchant was patient. All the other merchants expressed concerns about it; and shared them with me directly.  It was the way they looked out for their neighbor that told me this is a real family on 3rd street.

There’s another family on west Fourth Street. See, First Friday goes up there, too. I stopped by HomeBase skate shop to check in with my friend Andy Po. He was in the middle of surprise for one of their loyal customers. When I saw the post on his website this morning – my heart grew even greater for this store and this community. I was so moved by my affection – I came back for a haircut at Eskandalo the next day.

The South Side merchant family is why I’m proud to wear my Bethlehem citizen badge. And the joy in my work is why I’m satisfied.

Gentle reader, if you want to know more about the art, I would direct you to the One Stone Collective website for the 3rd street installation. The installation runs until March 27th. And if you haven't yet voted for the Pepsi Refresh Project funding for the Bethlehem Skatepark - Please click here: bookmark it and vote every day. Our city's chance for $250,000 runs out March 31st.