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Home My WebLink About16 - 2007-08 Cultural Arts GrantsCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT Agenda Item No. 16 June 26, 2007 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: LIBRARY SERVICES Linda Katsouleas, Library Services Director; Arts and Cultural Services Division; Jana Barbier, Cultural Arts Coordinator (717 -3870) jbarbier@city.newport-beach.ca.us SUBJECT: 2007/2008 Cultural Arts Grants RECOMMENDATION: Approve recommended recipients for FY 2007/2008 Cultural Arts Grants as selected by the City Arts Commission in accordance with City Policy 1 -12 — Reserve Fund for Culture and Arts. DISCUSSION: BACKGROUND: The City Arts Commission has recommended awarding grants totaling $40,000. The Commission received written grant proposals from thirteen organizations for funding of approximately $72,418 in free cultural programming for the Newport Beach community. After careful deliberation the following recommendations were approved at the June 14, 2007 meeting: The Baroque Music Festival, a locally produced fully - professional musical performance venture in the City of Newport Beach, will re- engage America's finest virtuoso Baroque trumpeter, John Thiessen, whose performances here have produced ecstatic acceptance by colleagues, audiences and critics. Thiessen will perform for Music in the Gardens with singers and string players, and the Festival Finale of rare and dramatic Baroque repertoire. City Arts Commission $12,000 The City of Newport Beach Arts Commission is dedicated to providing a range of free cultural programming that enriches the entire community, especially children and families. The Arts Commission sponsors multidisciplinary arts programs funded by the Cultural Grant Program such as the Concerts in the Parks Series, arts lectures and visual art exhibitions mounted in Central Library and at City Hall, The Arts Commission intends to extend the range of arts programming by funding the Shakespeare by the Sea festival held each summer at Grant Howald Park in Corona del Mar, Imagination Celebration of Orange County and additional public art projects. Festival Ballet Theatre $1,500 Festival Ballet Theatre will bring its "Ballet to Schools" program to two Newport Beach Elementary Schools in November /December 2007. They will perform a narrated, abbreviated version of the Nutcracker, tailored for children ranging in age from five to fourteen years old. The presentation will include pre- performance dance demonstrations complemented with interesting facts about ballet and the arts. Immediately following the actual performance, children will have the opportunity to converse with the professionals through a post - performance question and answer section. Keith Glassman Dance and Performance $1,000 Dancing Ghosts is a modern dance and performance work choreographed and directed by Keith Glassman that is inspired by the global nature of today's world; people currently living continents away from places where their ancestors were born. The goal of this artistic enterprise is to provide viewers with a richer understanding of their immediate neighbors, the community within which they live and the world in which we are all part. Glassman will work with seniors at OASIS Senior Center, where the premiere dance performance will take place. The Newport Beach Film Festival is planning a one -day educational industry seminar program, similar to the 2007 series, to be held on the first Saturday during the Festival, tentatively scheduled for April 26, 2007 at a Newport Beach location. Past seminar topics have included directing, screenwriting, production design, cinematography, film music composer, animation and special effects. Artists of past seminars include Elmer Bernstien (To Kill a Mockingbird,) John Waters (Polyester,) Don Burgess (Castaway,) John Landis (Twilight Zone,) and Judiann Makovsky (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone). The Festival Seminar Series attracts a wide variety of people with a strong representation of students, seniors, film experts, avid fans, and novice filmmakers. Ages span from 13 to 85. The seminar program intends to serve approximately 800 people. In 2007, the Festival expanded its outreach to colleges and high school students. Opera Pacific $4,000 Opera Pacific proposes to present Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte" with reduced cast and chorus, sung in English, with electronic keyboard accompaniment, in Newport Beach Grant Howald Park in the summer of 2008. The performance may be combined with the City Arts Commissions "Concerts in the Parks" Series. Opera Pacific believes that Cosi fan tutte will work well in Grant Howald Park as it will be sung in English, reduced to 90 minutes, it is a comedy, and has recognizable melodies. Cosi is a delightful romp of young lovers, a scheming older man, mistaken identities, and a happy ending. Opera Pacific will expand their limited Opera in the Raw costume and staging for the Opera in the Park performance to create a more theatrical event. Orange County Museum of Art $2,200 During the 2007 -2008 school years every 4 th grade class (a total of 64 classes) in the Newport Mesa Unified School District will visit the museum throughout the months of March through June. The dates of the visits will be scheduled in Fall 2007 at the start of the school year and will result in well over 2,000 4'" grade teachers district -wide (a total of 64 teachers)visiting the museum and participating in the museum's Professional Development classes. As a result of this training, the teachers will be able to incorporate into interdisciplinary lesson plans that address California State Content Standards for Visual Art, Social Studies, Science and Language Art. The Symphony's "Community Concert Series" was launched in the year 2000, in order to expose new and diverse audiences to live orchestral performances in an environment that is welcoming and accessible to all. In March the Symphony presented an "informance" of string quartet chamber music at OASIS Senior Center. Pacific Symphony would like to continue this successful partnership once again, with a proposal to present another community informance in 2007 -08. These intimate chamber performances provide Newport Beach residents of all ages the opportunity to meet the musicians personally, to learn about the music being performed, to learn how to listen to the music through a discussion on guided listening, and to gain information and insight about the composers. Meet the Musicians is a program designed for 4 th — e graders. In Meet the Musicians, professional brass, woodwind, string and percussion groups visit elementary schools to perform for the students. Musicians also give demonstrations of their instruments and finish each performance with a question and answer session. The duration of each program is 45 minutes. Ensembles on Tour is a similar program, but it is designed to appeal to middle school students. This program features professional groups performing for the whole student body a variety of music styles and instrumentations. The Meet the Musicians and Ensembles on Tour programs are brought to the children of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Each school is on a rotating groups schedule so that each year the students will have the opportunity for a new experience. South Coast Repertory Theatre will provide eight Educational Touring Performances free of charge to five elementary schools within the city limits of Newport Beach, exposing an estimated 2,000 students to a professional educational theatre experience. Each year, SCR commissions an original play that addresses an important topic in the elementary school curriculum while entertaining and educating children. In 2007, SCR's Educational Touring Production will revise "Bad Water Blues," a production that was a favorite among students, parents and teachers. This production teaches one of the most important lessons in today's world: the fragility of our oceans and how to help save them. "Bad Water Blues" delivers a valuable lesson in ocean ecology with bluesy jazz music in a lively theatrical performance with professional actors. Southland Opera proposes to perform one performance of "Stories Come Alive" in each of the elementary schools in the City of Newport Beach, along with one performance at another Newport Beach public venue. Fairy tales and stories, which are highlighted, are Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast and the new addition of Hansel and Gretel. The programs encourage reading and introduce young people to opera and musical theater and also demonstrate how composers often used children's fairy tales as the story line for their opera or musical. STOP -GAP is seeking funds to support the tour of three of their most requested plays to schools in Newport Beach. The plays are: "KILLER PAIN," which deals with substance abuse prevention and family relationships; and "Y DUI T," which deals with the serious consequences of underage drinking and driving. These plays have been continuously requested by the schools in Orange County, who indicate that the subjects are of particular challenge to their youth. Funding from the City of Newport Beach will allow STOP -GAP to perform 10 plays reaching at least 500 students. Submitted by: Lin Katsoulea ,'Lilbrary Services Director Jana Barbier, Cultural Arts Coordinator (949) 717 -3870 4