Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As I look ahead at our performance and exhibition schedule in our college, I’m particularly excited to follow some new works in development. Our studios and stages are laboratories that produce culture that moves beyond Austin and are especially important as pipelines for new work, especially as so many venues across the country face significant challenges.
I recently attended a showing of a new work-in-progress: time/life/beauty. Presented as part of Texas Performing Arts’ developmental residency program, the show was a showcase for DJ Spooky and Michael Sakamoto. Fusing butoh, hip-hop, new music and multimedia, this new interdisciplinary project is inspired by the intercultural and activist legacy of famed music and interdisciplinary artist Ryuichi Sakamoto. This project is in partnership with Fusebox Festival, the college and Department of Theatre and Dance Associate Professor Rosemary Candelario.
Another residency in the spring will allow audiences a new chance to experience Not Every Mountain, a work by the Rude Mechs, the Department of Theatre and Dance’s resident theater organization. The work originally debuted in 2017 in a large warehouse space in East Austin to critical acclaim and audience enthusiasm. The company had planned to continue workshopping it to scale it for a theatrical stage so it could travel, but COVID backburnered the project for a few years. The Rude Mechs plan use the residency this spring to revive this project as part of Fusebox Festival, and I hope the show can be shared with more audiences beyond Austin.
The St. Elmo Artist Residency program offers a recent M.F.A. graduate a nine-month residency with housing, a stipend and studio space to create new work that will be on view in the Visual Arts Center. The artist-in-residence also holds a teaching appointment and works with students in the Department of Art and Art History. Zalika Azim was selected for the 2023–24 residency, and her work will be on view starting Oct. 23 in the exhibition Zalika Azim: Blood Memories (or a going to ground).
What starts here changes the world at The University of Texas at Austin, and I’m eager to see these works blossom beyond our own spaces on the Forty Acres.
Sincerely,
