Like everyone and everything in this difficult economic times, the arts are feeling the effects of hard times.
Seems like whenever things have to be cut from both goverment and private sector bugets, arts, which depend on giving as well as the box office, are the first to be hit with cuts.
Seems to us opposite would be true.the arts, bith high and low,lift us up, make us think, give us hope, make us laugh, give us spectacle and beauty, make us both forget and remember.
Still, you hear reports of forloughs in the theater world,layoffs at cultural institutions,cutbacks in mueusms.There’s nothing differentfrom the work-a-day-world about this, except of course for those who feel the effects.
And yet, amazingly,as we offer up our fall performing arts preview,we can see the gifts that are coming to us from this particular segment of cultural scene,as surly as Chiristmas is coming.
this is the world of live theater, authentic experience,soaring in-person musical performances by master musicians,symphony orchaestras,the great big world of classical theater and theater that’s hot off the presses, showing us vividly the times we live in.the performing arts remain the only medium by which we can witness and experience sth truthful,real and authentic in the fresh,even through all of it, in one way or another, is imagined,is created from the stuff of singular visions by individuals and groups.
Not everything seen on a stage is nessarily good-some plays, some dancers and dances,some of pieces of music is better or not as good as another, but in a sense it’s really all good.at heart, when you come to a theater,watch or listen a performance, you will never have this momont again.That makes performing arts precious,as precious as a conversation with a stanger on a train going to where we’re not.
The performing arts are not movies,are not television,are not youtube, are not viedos.You can record them, but in a way, it’s like capturing a butterfly in a net.They live on only in remembering.
We are lucky to be living in a city and a surrounding area where performing arts-in spite hard times-are offered in a tremendous variety of works,performancees,playsconcerts,dancesand moments in a variety of venues, from large concert halls to intimate spaces.
In time like these, working on a fall preview like this and putting it out there takes on a special quality.It’s not just because you do it every year,yeah, like the start of school or drunk hunting season.The Times we live in are tough for us,and the arts too.Butthe performing arts that are coming up-literally hundreds of momonts,performances,pieces-provide relief that is constant.We know,no matter what happens with the swine flu,the huminity,the economic instability,we’ll aways have sth-the echo of “stella”,the great speech from Herry V,a dancer’s soaring leap into the air,a melody from Beethoven or Sinatra-which will make the times easier to bear.
Hence, the fall performance arts review.Go to a play,take ina concert,watch some dancers.
Listen to words and music.
