THE ARTS ARENA EVERY DAY REMINDS US THAT
VIN CIPOLLA
ART AND CULTURE MUST BE ALIVE...
Chairman of the Board, Head of the David Geffen Hall Redevelopment Campaign, a partnership of Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic. Former President of the Municipal Art Society of New York.
The arts are increasingly in silos – big, heavy and deep silos. Wonderful, if you want an arts life consumed by a single discipline or area. Not so wonderful if you want something more. As a multidisciplinary arts institution and presenter, the Arts Arena has no boundaries. It believes in the arts – broadly defined – to illuminate and inspire, connecting us to what’s meaningful in life and in society. It’s a tall order. But then again the Arts Arena was founded by a giant thinker and leader, Margery Arent Safir. In developing and delivering ten years of Arts Arena presentations, Margery hasn’t wavered from the multidisciplinary vision for the Arts Arena – at the same time upholding a second founding principle, that the events are always open and free to the public. From this vision and leadership, the Arts Arena today matters.”
RICHARD PEÑA Director Emeritus of the New York Film Festival; for 25 years Programming Director of The Film Society of Lincoln Center; Professor of Film Studies, Columbia University. He is a member of the Arts Advisory Council.
“ ’Bringing culture to Paris’? Isn’t that a bit like ‘coal to Newcastle’, or ‘water to Niagara’? Indeed, few cities, if any, can match Paris for its almost impossible wealth of artistic offerings, in every medium and field. Yet even such an extraordinary cultural hub does indeed miss quite a few things. This is where the Arts Arena comes in. For many years, the Arts Arena has had the admirable goal of doing what it can to make sure that as much of the range of contemporary art and culture in every field has a chance to meet the public, to become a part of an ongoing dialogue no matter its budget level or established credentials. Thus, when I began working on the idea of a film series in Paris dedicated to very low-budget, marginal American films that largely fell out of the ‘official’ canon of so-called independent cinema, I hoped that the Arts Arena would consider taking us on as one of their projects. Not only did they add us to their list, but they became full-fledged partners, helping transform what was meant to be a weekend of offbeat independent movies to an official entry of the prestigious Festival d’Automne and a series the Cinémathèque Française would now like to consider a part of its ongoing annual cinema program. The Arts Arena every day reminds us that art and culture must be alive, must be in contact with a public not only through exhibitions, concerts or screenings but through talks, seminars and other encounters between artists and those for whom the art has been made. I’m proud to work with the Arts Arena, and even prouder to serve on its Advisory Council. CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE
53