Bau’s Blaug
The latest news from “the Big Cheese” – Executive Director Bau Graves.
And So It Begins
August 5 marks an important milestone in the history of Old Town School: in a simple ceremony with hard hats, shovels, and lots of music (of course), we broke ground on construction of a new facility. In a year, there’ll be a new building in Lincoln Square.
This is a milestone because it propels our School into an exciting new era, opening up new possibilities for creativity and community. It is important because Old Town School is the most prominent voice for folk and popular music and dance in America’s public cultural arena. The fact that we are able to undertake this major new project helps to secure the long term vitality of the music we love.
The only reason Old Town School is in a position to make this investment, is because for many years our community has invested itself in the School. We now need our community’s financial support to complete the new facility. Please consider making a contribution to the Capital Campaign. You’ll see the fruits of your donation growing in our lot during the next year. But the real results will last as long as folk music is a part of our lives.
Log on to oldtownschool.org/together/ for all the details about how to make a contribution. All together now, we can build our community.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | August 6, 2010 | Comments (0)
Working on a Building
On August 5, Old Town School of Folk Music breaks ground on its new facility in Lincoln Square. Five years in planning, the new building is emblematic of the maturity and vitality of our institution.
For the first time in the School’s history, we will occupy a facility designed for use as a school of music and dance. We’ll have dance rooms with sprung wood floors and showers. We’ll have acoustically-engineered classrooms, so you won’t have to strain to hear your mandolin over the djembe or conga or Irish step dance class upstairs. We’ll have a dance hall with room to move when Cajun bands and salsa ensembles take the stage. And we’ll have room for lots more students, new classes, and new friends.
For the little folk school that started out in a living room, this is the biggest of deals. It says a lot that this project has attracted the funding and financing to move forward, even as the country continues to struggle through a long recession. The cost of this facility – $18 million – is in itself a measure of the School’s institutional maturity and capacity. The campaign to raise the necessary funds has moved rapidly in 2010, and we will continue to ask for the participation of the entire extended Old Town School community to drive it to completion.
But the glory of this new building is not about dollars raised or the details of the brick façade. It is about what goes on in our classrooms and on our stage day after day, week after week. The building matters, and Old Town School matters, because of the experience it provides to a thousand people every week. It matters because this is a place where our culture gets transmitted, face-to-face, keeping a light burning brightly. Now more than ever.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | June 1, 2010 | Comments (2)
What’s the Plan?
On April 8, the Old Town School’s Board of Directors approved a far-reaching organizational Strategic Plan. The Plan provides a guide to our organizational priorities for the next five years. The process of creating it took more than a year and dozens of task force meetings involving many of the School’s faculty, staff and board members. This Strategic Plan articulates a vision of continuing growth and institutional maturity for our School, and outlines a broad consensus regarding the direction that we are headed. I think it is an inspiring document, and I know it will inform all of the central decision-making in moving the School forward. Here is a summary of its major points.
OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY
MISSION
The Old Town School of Folk Music teaches and celebrates music and cultural expressions rooted in the traditions of diverse American and global communities.
FIVE CORE VALUES
A Community of Learners. The Old Town School strives to create a community that consciously fosters a sense of belonging and the freedom to experiment that allow all to teach and learn together.
The Participatory Experience. The Old Town School is an ongoing exercise in participatory culture. It celebrates friendly, spontaneous and collaborative ways to enjoy the arts, encouraging the growth of the individual and enriching the world around us.
Inclusiveness and Diversity. The Old Town School is committed to diversity in the full range of its meaning, thriving on differences. The strength of this community is a collective strength; our work a common labor.
Creative Expression of Traditions. The Old Town School honors its folk heritage while embracing new traditions.
Openness. The Old Town School values broad, open and direct discussion about issues of importance to the School, and fairness in all of its interactions.
VISION: The Old Town School Experience 2015.
In five years, the Old Town School of Folk Music is a vibrant, fiscally-strong organization that combines the warmth and immediacy of shared arts participation with an efficient patron interface at every point of contact. The School actively engages a large and diverse constituency, in superb facilities, through program options reflective of the breadth of American vernacular culture and the world of music and dance. The School strives to be faithful to its founding principles and traditions, while continually embracing innovation, fostering its audiences and enhancing the depth and nuance of its offerings in the classroom and on the stage. Progress is grounded in the enthusiastic sense of community that is central to the School’s mission. Through thoughtful planning and continuous attention to the people who constitute this community, in 2015 the Old Town School of Folk Music offers an experience of discovery that is unique among cultural organizations: deeply rooted and intensely personal.
STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS and ACTION STEPS
A. Build capacity for future growth.
1. Invest in physical plant.
2. Enhance organizational capacity.
3. Build infrastructure and service systems.
B. Provide an outstanding educational experience.
4. Develop a cohesive curriculum development process.
5. Provide multiple opportunities for in-depth engagement.
6. Provide meaningful guidance and feedback to teachers.
C. Identify and cultivate new, diverse students and audiences.
7. Research and identify opportunities for areas of constituent growth and retention.
8. Develop cohesive strategic vision for outreach programs serving constituencies both within the School and in a variety of community and scholastic settings.
9. Pursue enhanced partnerships with a range of local organizations representing specific communities to develop and market relevant program initiatives.
D. Pursue effective, clear and accessible communication about all aspects of the School.
10. Improve internal communications.
11. Develop cohesive standards for external communications.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | April 13, 2010 | Comments (0)
A Community In Need; A Community Indeed
The morning following Haiti’s earthquake, well before any of us was fully aware of the dimensions of the tragedy, veteran Old Town School teacher Steve Levitt proposed organizing “something to help those folks.” It happened in a routine bi-weekly staff meeting. We discussed parking issues and recycling, and Steve asked if we’d heard about the quake. Most of us had not. But within moments the wheels were turning: Steve began approaching other teachers, Director of Community Programs Mateo Mulcahy called the Haitian Congress, the event staff looked over the calendar and selected dates and times, and the offers of help poured in.
“What can I do to help?” was the question of the moment. Musicians and dancers from across Chicago asked to be included. Teachers volunteered their entire classes to perform. Classes took it as a challenge and went out to raise money from their friends to “sponsor” their performances. People offered to design posters, run the sound system, collect donations at the door, burn live-mix CDs for patrons, and clean up the mess afterwards. The organizational muscle came from deep within the community that is Old Town School, an instant and insistent response to a cataclysm far from the relative security of Chicago. It was about musicians, dancers, teachers, students, volunteers, and amazingly generous audience members stepping outside their ordinary weekly routines to make something special happen, to offer aid to people a thousand miles away.
Old Town School ended up producing not one but two earthquake relief benefits. The first one, at 909 W. Armitage, included twenty-four teachers and their ensembles in a marathon that lasted most of a day and a night. The second, at Lincoln Square, included nine bands from all over the world, including three local Haitian groups. Everything was donated. The benefits raised more than $16,000, which was given to the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti. They were both moving performances, but they were much more than that. They exemplified our community at its best – responsive, creative, personally committed. I thank all those who gave their time and talents to make a difference. But the palpable spirit in the room during those concerts offers a satisfaction that is beyond words.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | February 17, 2010 | Comments (0)
Thanksgiving and Bess Lomax Hawes
Let us pause in the holiday rush and recall with gratitude the life and work of Bess Lomax Hawes, who passed away the day after Thanksgiving at age 88. Singer, educator, folklorist, organizer, Bess was the founding director of the NEA’s Traditional Arts Program, created the National Heritage Fellowships which continue to honor the heroes of America’s homegrown culture, and inspired the creation of Old Town School of Folk Music.
Bess was born into one of America’s first families of folk culture. The daughter of John Lomax and sister of Alan Lomax, as a teenager she formed the Almanac Singers with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and others. In the nascent years of the Folk Revival, Bess pioneered a new method for teaching guitar to groups of students. “Students learning guitar individually can get intimidated because they can hear their own mistakes,” she explained. “In a group, the students feel bolder about playing, take more risks, enjoy it more, and feel part of something bigger, which sounds better, anyway.”
One of the pickers she inspired was a young singer named Frank Hamilton, who a few years later joined Win Stracke to create a school in Chicago for teaching folk songs. Win and Frank borrowed Bess’ teaching methods, which form the backbone of Old Town School’s appeal to this day. “She introduced me to traditional folk music like no other did and I owe my teaching skills to her,” writes Frank. “No Bess – no Old Town School of Folk Music.”
Bess Lomax Hawes went on to champion traditional culture and progressive causes throughout her exceptionally productive life. Her musical progeny include entire generations of players, many of whom probably don’t know her name but continue to benefit from her contributions to the great river of song. “There was a time,” Theodore Bikel once said, “when folk music lit a fire in our souls.” Bess Hawes was among those who held the match. We all bask in the reflected glow.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | November 30, 2009 | Comments (2)
A New Framework for the Arts
Back in May, I was privileged to represent Old Town School at a meeting at the White House concerning artists and the national recovery. It was an unprecedented event, at which a group of community cultural activists were invited to offer our insights into the importance of the arts to our troubled times. Most of us hoped that the Obama administration would propose some bold new steps in support of the arts; instead, the government’s team turned to us for answers, asking us, “What do YOU recommend?”
Six months later, our group of musicians, dancers, writers, media artists and community organizers has issued a call to arms. After a vigorous debate, with a lot of editing, double-checking and re-writing, “Art and the Public Purpose: A New Framework” offers a clear statement of values and proceeds to outline five broad areas of action that we believe can usher in a new flowering of American democratic culture.
The preamble begins: America needs a bold new investment in culture, a policy recognizing that culture holds the key to a future we can believe in. This Framework calls on Congress and the Obama Administration to support art’s public purpose to mend our social fabric, promote freedom of expression and a vibrant, inclusive national dialogue, and revitalize both education and commerce with the creativity that has always been the wellspring of our energy and success… It goes on to offer specific recommendations regarding the development of a new national cultural policy; the importance equitable resource allocation; the prospect of recognizing and protecting cultural assets the same way we protect the natural environment; the creation of a “new WPA” for the arts; and the democratization of the media.
To read the entire Framework, go to www.newculturalpolicy.org. The website offers several opportunities for engagement, inviting you to endorse the Framework, contribute your own stories about the importance of the arts in your life and community, and suggestions for how to bring this cluster of proposals to the attention of our public servants. I encourage you to visit the website and pass this vital message along to your friends, families and governmental representatives. It is time for our country to embrace a public culture worthy of our great nation.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | November 5, 2009 | Comments (1)
Got on our Travelin’ Shoes, II
Old Town School may be an institution that is unique to Chicago, but these days its connections to a world of music and dance are getting a lot of exercise. For years, the School has brought in an amazing array of talented performers from all over the world for concerts and workshops, and offered a diversity of classes in various ethnic traditions. But now, the process is accelerating, with artists traveling in both directions.
Consider: So far in 2009, eighteen Old Town School teachers have traveled to Morocco, Mexico, Brazil, Finland, Estonia, Russia and Québec, offering workshops and performances – and building relationships with music schools abroad that are our future partners. Right now, a team of six teachers is in India, and four more teachers are headed to Brazil this fall. In September, fiddler Arto Järvelä was our first international artist in residence, astonishing many of us with both his extraordinary musicianship and his droll personality.
One result of all this international travel is the planning of the School’s first foreign excursion that is open to everyone: a weeklong intensive in Veracruz, Mexico. In January, when the weather is appalling in Chicago, Old Town School will take a group to Mexico’s Gulf coast for a week of son Jarocho, zapateado dancing, great food, beaches and Mexican folk traditions. Interested? Contact sharvey@oldtownschool.org to find out all about it.
Old Town School’s International Expeditions are made possible through generous grants from the MacArthur Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | September 26, 2009 | Comments (0)
The Modern Traditionalists
It’s been a couple of tough weeks for students of American folk traditions. On August 1, Sandy Paton, founder of Folk Legacy Records, died at his home in Connecticut. On August 1, Sandy Ives, the dean of Downeast folklore passed away at his home in Maine. And on August 9, Mike Seeger, heroic collector and performer of Appalachian traditions (and half-brother of Pete) died at home in Virginia.
All three of these men were instrumental in igniting the Great American Folk Revival that changed the face of popular music in the middle of the 20th century. They were really pioneers, who did the primary research, located and learned from elder musicians (many of whom had faded into obscurity after meteoric early careers), promoted the music through their own intrepid performances, publications and recordings, and inspired generations of aspiring singers. The movement they nurtured also resulted in the creation of Old Town School of Folk Music, which in turn stimulated the evolution of the Revival, and carries on their work today.
Interestingly, none of these heroes was born into the traditions that they championed. They were educated, cosmopolitan scholars who developed a burning passion for the traditional music that became their life’s work. They did it because they loved it. Folklorist Hal Cannon, discussing the thorny topic of “authenticity” in folk performance, once commented, “It’s a matter of devotion. If somebody from outside a community shows longevity and devotion, they’re there as far as I’m concerned.” In their lifelong mining of the mother lodes of heritage, Paton, Ives and Seeger modeled a devotion that is a template for the pursuit of contemporary traditions. In our time, the isolated community that once nourished its ballads and dance tunes is fully connected to the broadband of global culture. Our communications have broken down the barriers of time and space. We’re all cosmopolitan scholars now, and some of us discovered our own burning passions thanks to the guidance of those who passed before. They set the standard for how the words “modern” and “traditional” could fit into the same sentence, a standard that inspires us yet. The circle remains unbroken.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | August 12, 2009 | Comments (0)
State grant a major step for the School – and the local economy
On July 13, Governor Quinn signed into law the 2009 Illinois Capital Bill. This measure funds significant capital and infrastructure initiatives throughout the state, and the Governor was explicit in stating his hope that it will provide substantial economic stimulus at a time when it is badly needed. The bill includes $2.3 million toward the construction of Old Town School’s new facility, the largest single gift in the School’s history. We are pleased and proud that the Legislature and Governor have so tangibly recognized the important role that Old Town School plays as an engine of economic prosperity.
The School plans to transform an empty lot a across the street into a state-of-art arts facility for teaching, performances, and community collaborations. The 27,000 square foot building will feature acoustically-engineered classrooms including 3 large dance studios equipped with sprung floors and wireless sound; a flexible-use space that quickly converts into a dance hall, small performance space, or community gathering area; full accessibility for a “strollers to wheelchairs” approach to diverse student needs; and green design to achieve nationally-recognized LEED certification for environmentally-friendly construction and operations.
Most of us who are involved in the arts know firsthand the impact that our presence has in turning around troubled neighborhoods. Americans for the Arts conducted several exhaustive surveys to be able to quantify what that “multiplier” impact really is – when a concert or a play or a gallery opening takes place, how much additional economic activity does it really generate? The answer: $28.05 per attendee; i.e. every person who comes to a concert or attends a class at Old Town School spends an average of $28.05 at local restaurants, hotels, parking, paying for babysitters. At this rate, the School’s clientele is pumping nearly $11 million into the local economy every year. The new building will generate another $6.4 million in neighborhood prosperity.
The School is also a major employer, supporting a staff of almost 300 teachers and administrators with a payroll of $5.2 million and nearly another million dollars in artists’ concert fees. Americans for the Arts’ research show that a business of this magnitude creates an additional 281 jobs at nearby businesses. The new facility will create 250 more good, solid jobs that, thanks to the School’s continued vitality in the depths of recession, are certifiably sustainable. The point here is that the state’s investment in Old Town School will have immediate, verifiable and long term benefits – including the generation of millions of dollars of local and state tax revenues. It’s good business.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | July 24, 2009 | Comments (1)
Mister Graves Goes To Washington
Yesterday, an extraordinary meeting that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago took place in Washington. I was privileged to be among a group of sixty arts leaders from around the country who were invited to participate in a White House briefing about “Art, Community, Social Justice and National Recovery.” The assembled cultural advocates included musicians, dancers, poets, hip hop activists, union organizers, theater people, media artists and champions of social change with impressive credentials – none of whom had ever been invited to the White House. Mike Strautmanis, Chief of Staff for the Office of Public Engagement, opened the meeting by saying “Welcome to a relationship!”
While we did not get to meet President Obama (he was busy with other things, among them naming a new Chair for the NEA and participating in the first ever White House poetry slam), we did hear from a string of aides with responsibility for overseeing the variety of intersections between art and our government. The message that they delivered was clear and unambiguous: “The arts are back on the nation’s agenda.” The President frequently noted during his campaign the centrality of creativity to our national future, and that leads directly to a commitment to the sustained support of the arts. His team asked for our assistance and guidance in shaping future initiatives. Kareem Dale, Obama’s chief advisor on cultural policy asked us to consider “how can you challenge us to be better?” For the assembled arts activists who have spent their entire careers working with meager resources while being politically marginalized, this was an unprecedented acknowledgment of the importance of our work. Several of the speakers singled out Old Town School as an example of how the arts can transform lives and communities. It was a remarkable experience.
And now comes the hard part. The Obama Administration has reached out to us, and very explicitly invited us to be a part of a dialogue. It is now up to us to respond with care, with creativity, with nuance, and with a vision that can energize our nation. An opportunity of this magnitude is rare and precious. Let’s seize the time! Policy debates about a national Artist Corps, a new WPA for the Arts, and the demonopolization of the media are all in the air. But what do you think? Old Town School is at the center of the conversation. I invite everyone in our community to take up the challenge and imagine what the future could hold. Just what does “change we can believe in” really look like? Let me know. Let’s have the conversation here and now. Responses to this blog will be collected and condensed and passed along to our colleagues who are now beginning to draft policy recommendations, and ultimately forwarded to the White House. This is a time for our very best thinking. We may never have another shot at it.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | May 13, 2009 | Comments (11)
