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The Arts in Our Capitol
Winter Quarter, 2015, UCDC, 6:00-9:00, Thursdays (usually)
Instructor: Roger Reynolds (UCSD Music Department)
An exploration of the institutions, the events, the media that offer Arts Experience of all sorts –
grand and intimate – in our Nation’s Capitol. We will prepare for, experience and then discuss
Washington’s resources in relation to Art Museums, Monuments, Concerts, Film, and Theater.
January 8
January 15
January 16*
January 22
January 29
February 7*
February 12
February 26
March 5
March 7*
March 12
* are required events not at regular time and place.
Class members will be expected to contribute to the ticket prices for two of the out-ofbuilding events.
January 8:
General Introduction:
– Course Schedule
– The performing arts
– The visual arts
– Monuments of Washington
– Libraries in Washington
– NGOs
– Institutional Missions
– Course Aims and Requirements
January 15:
Music (The Large and the Small, in Washington)
A discussion of the varieties of Musical Experience available in Washington:
- The Kennedy Center
- The Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress
- The National Gallery of Art Concert Series
- The Atlas Theater
About making and experiencing music
- An introduction to how music is created
- Some approaches to listening and gaining more from musical experience
- Musical works large and small. How the experience differs.
- Preparing for the Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique performance.
Learn More:
http://www.loc.gov/concerts/
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/newseason/
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http://atlasarts.org/2014/08/atlas-performing-arts-center-announces-2014-15-season/
January 16 (Friday):
Event 1 (Music Large):
8:00 PM, Kennedy Center, National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Escehnbach,
conductor / Beyond the Score: Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Taking musical
appreciation to the next level with an NSO initiative that's half concert, half
multimedia educational experience.
Learn More:
https://www.kennedy-center.org/events/?event=NPCSU
January 22:
Arts Institutions:
B: Discussion of US Performing Arts Centers:
– Survey of Performing Arts Centers in the US: Lincoln Center (New York),
Music Center (Los Angeles), Krannert Center (University of Illinois)
– Kennedy Center (Washington)
– Mission and Programming of the Kennedy Center,
– Publicity compared with newspaper and internet reviews.
– Comparative discussion of notable foreign arts centers:
– Cité de la musique (Paris), Pompidou Center (Paris), The South Bank
(London), Art Tower Mito (Mito, Japan)
Learn More:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/index.cfm
http://lc.lincolncenter.org/?gclid=CPSButqsosACFcRAMgodAz4AOw
http://www.krannertcenter.com
https://arttowermito.or.jp/about_en/about01.html
http://www.timeout.com/paris/en/music/venues/cite-de-la-musique
http://southbanklondon.com
Small: Discussion of Washington facility “Art Enables”
In the nation's capital, a studio and gallery for emerging artists with
developmental disabilities. Their chance to make art comes through
Art Enables. Their reasons for doing it are their own: to have
something to do, to make money, to feel important, to tell the world
who they are, to become famous.
Learn More:
http://art-enables.org/
January 29:
Introduction to Washington Art Museums
– National Gallery of Art (West and East buildings)
– Smithsonian American Art Museum
– Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
– Phillips Collection
– What are their missions?
– Consideration of museum publications and press releases, newspaper
And internet reviews, curatorial strategies, collections and acquisitions.
Guest: Charles Ritchie, Associate Curator, National Gallery of Art, discusses the role of the
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museum curator and how he balances his “day job” with his life as an independent creative
artist.
Learn More:
http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb.html
http://americanart.si.edu/visit/about/
http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/collection/home/
http://www.phillipscollection.org/about/index.aspx
February 7 (Saturday):
Event 2: (Music small)
12:30 Lecture: Susan Youens, Notre Dame University
2:00, Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress,
Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake performing Schubert’s greatest song cycle, Die
Winterrise
3:30: Conversation with the artists
4:30 Tour of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress (The Great Hall, The
Reading Room, the Music Division)
Learn More:
http://www.loc.gov
http://www.loc.gov/concerts/bostridgedrake.html
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1011-schedule.html
February 12:
Documentary Film as it Pertains to Washington:
Guest: Grace Guggenheim of Guggenheim Associates
February 26:
Structure and Activism in Arts Presentation:
1) Institutional Missions:
- How do they represent their purposes?
- How do they enact these purposes?
- How does an audience experience their events and how are they
evaluated?
2) Planning a Program/Festival in the Arts:
- John Cage Centennial Festival Washington, DC
- National Gallery of Art American Music Festival
- Activism in Washington
- Sources of support
March 5:
Discussion of Theater in Washington:
Mead Center in Washington, home of the Arena Stage Company
http://www.arenastage.org/
Folger Library http://www.folger.edu/
Shakespeare Theater Company http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/
Discussion of The Originalist (created at the Arena Stage) and the relationships
between Art and Government
UCDC Cable Channel showing of István Szabó Mephisto, a study of the relationship between
the dynamics of political and artistic power.
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Learn More:
http://www.arenastage.org
http://www.folger.edu
https://www.shakespearetheatre.org/about/ffa/index.aspx?gclid=CMHsh8OxosAC
FQcwaQodeiMABw
https://www.studiotheatre.org/?gclid=CKGxttSxosACFQuraQodEGsAoQ
March 7 (Saturday):
Event 3:
The Arena Stage, 8:00PM
A new play by John Strand one of America’s most brilliant and polarizing figures:
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. When a bright, liberal, Harvard Law School
graduate embarks on a nerve-wracking clerkship with Justice Scalia, she discovers
him to be both an infuriating sparring partner and an unexpected mentor.
Learn More:
http://www.arenastage.org/shows-tickets/the-season/productions/theoriginalist/index.shtml
March 12:
Wrap-up:
– What have Washington arts institutions offered you?
– How do they represent their offerings to the public?
– How do critics respond?
– What is your take on this process of purposes, presentations, and response?
– What effect – if any – to you imagine your experiences in DC will have in your life
ten years from now?
Individual 5-minute, in-class statements by all class members
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Final Projects:
Project I: Individual 5-minute, in-class statements by each class member.
Each member of the Seminar is required to submit online, by Monday, March 9, a one-page
set of “talking points”. They will be used during the March 12 meeting to guide your verbal
presentation to the entire seminar.
Our purpose is to hear from each Seminar participant an honest assessment of whether, and if
so how the experiences of the Quarter might resonate for her or him in the years to come.
[“No effect” is an acceptable response, but needs to be explained.]
Project II: Writing a Proposal
- Conceive an event (etc.) that draws upon the art resources available in the
Washington area
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- Preliminary Considerations:
The argument:
Why should the event(s) you propose be done?
When?
Where?
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By whom?
Think it through. Who are your
Potential sponsors?
Potential collaborators?
Components of your Proposal:
Purpose:
o Description
o Intended audience
o Time line (from planning to realization)
o Concept development
Collaborators (if any, their rolls)
Logistics:
o Funding Sources
o Budget
o Venues
o Transportation considerations
o Equipment needed
o Staff/ Volunteers
o Publicity
o Performers?
o Rehearsal/Preparation schedule?
o Exhibition plan?
o Presentation time (duration)?
The purpose of your Proposal is to convince a prospective sponsor, venue, collaborator to
join you in accomplishing something worthy using the resources that you have experienced
or become aware of during your stay in Washington.