Arts briefs
2011: It was a pretty good year
By Michel Cicero 12/29/2011
Jen Livia
There’s no question it’s been a challenging few years economically for everyone involved in the arts, and 2011 saw no improvement — but that didn’t stop Ventura County creatives. Resourceful by nature and necessity, people who create, produce, perform and present art in its various forms are used to working with little in the way of money. Although the theater sector did suffer one casualty, nearly everyone survived mostly unscathed. As artist MB Hanranan notes, “Though the days of city grants and lump-sum endowments seem to be a thing of the past, public art funding and creation is continuing to be made through creative partnerships with willing people and agencies.”
M B Hanrahan
Hanrahan was involved with a number of projects in Ventura this year, including murals at E.P. Foster Library, 420 E. Santa Clara St. and the Ventura River Bike Trail. On the opposite side of Hanrahan’s Santa Clara Street mural is the new home of the Ventura Film Society, which will be run with assitance from the Downtown Ventura Organization (DVO) going forward. The society’s founder, Lorenzo DiStefano, who is busy making a film of his own, is thrilled about the new alliance. “It puts us on a more sustainable path,” he said. VFS will be leaving its office at the city incubator to share space with the DVO office. “We’re shrinking to grow,” said DiStefano.
Ventura received a national marketing award this year for “Outstanding Arts Destination City,” as city officials and local entrepreneurs continued to find fresh ways to draw visitors. Watermark on Main restaurant owner Mark Hartley has big plans for the ground floor of the Erle Stanley Gardner building, where he will be opening the W Gallery and event space. Art City finally reopened to the public this year after jumping through hoops to comply with codes. Also working on its hoop-jumping skills is Green Art People which was forced to close its doors to undergo a code-inspired renovation. There is great hope that it will reopen in all its glory early next year. Just when Oxnard’s arts scene was beginning to flower, things took an unfortunate turn. In the same year the ribbon was cut on the new performing arts center at Oxnard College, upcoming cuts to its arts programs (and others) were announced. (Ventura College will also suffer.) Making matters worse, was the dismissal of Tracy Hudak as arts impact director for the Oxnard Downtown Management District (ODMD). Stories vary as to exactly why she was let go, but the fact remains that Hudak’s efforts to stimulate the economy through arts and culture was making a difference. Executive director Abel Ramírez Magaña says that going forward, the arts will remain a top ODMD priority and the second Saturday Art Beat will continue.
Santa Paula is in a position to be the next cultural hub of the county with a bustling downtown, and growth all around. Museum of Ventura County opened its Agriculture Museum at the historic Mill location just a little more than a year after the opening of the Santa Paula Art Museum, and plans are under way to expand the Aviation Museum. “Santa Paula can now claim to have more museums per capita than Paris, France,” says longtime resident and artist John Nichols.
Open Borders
One of the oft mentioned successes of 2011 was the Westside ArtWalk, a reimagining of Ventura ArtWalk in response to the city’s inability to provide continued funding. The reborn event was managed entirely by the art community with Josh Addison (Bell Arts Factory), Mary Perez (Vita Art Center) and Marie Lakin doing the lion’s share of the organizing. With its budget a fraction of what the city had previously allotted to the event, attendance and art sales (which were deemed very important by participating artists) exceeded everyone’s expectations. “The fact that the community worked together to pull off such a successful ArtWalk is amazing,” said gallery owner Sylvia White. Another visual art event that gathered a lot of steam this year was Paint Ventura. Conceptualized by Jen Livia, owner of Red Brick Gallery, the two-block outdoor painting extravaganza was the sleeper art event of the year, growing from an annual to a bi-annual event that included workshops and entertainment. Not to be forgotten was VCReporter’s pick for Best Use of Vacant Space for a Cultural Event in our Best Of issue: Open Borders. The brainchild of deep-pocket artist and visionary Larry Janss, the summer-long smorgasbord of music, visual and performance art rivaled anything the county has seen in recent times.
Trimpin Sound Arch at Libbey Bowl
This year also saw the highly anticipated reopening of the Libbey Bowl, home of the esteemed Ojai Music Festival. Locals worked especially hard to raise money for the venue’s impressive makeover, which included new seating, a backstage area and a public art piece by sound sculptor Trimpin.
Rubicon Theatre Company took home three Ovation awards this year while the Four Star Theater Alliance handed out a variety of awards to a handful of the area’s community theater groups. Camarillo Community Theatre celebrated the opening of its expanded repertoire. Under the new moniker Camarillo Skyway Playhouse, the group will continue its family-friendly productions while folding “newer, more dynamic works” into its mix. One of only three equity theater companies in the county, Theater 150 announced this month that it will be reorganizing as a nonprofit. The news came only six months after new management was put in place, and despite tremendous attempts to raise funds. The economy and a drop in attendance are to blame, according to the theater. In a letter to supporters, managing directors Michael Addison and Susan Scott wrote, “We have worked with the Trustees to explore all possible options. After careful analysis, their decision is that Theater 150 has run its course. Regretfully, we concur.”
Theater 150
Let’s hope the bad news remains as minimal in 2012 as it was in 2011. With so many dreams in the running for attention and funding, may we all be in a position to give a little something to the people who make the tough times so much easier to bear. As famed surrealist painter Dorothy Tanning recently told Salon.com, ”Art has always been the raft onto which we climb to save our sanity. I don’t see a different purpose for it now.”
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