Ringling International Arts Festival Blog in Sarasota, FL. Theater, Dance, Music and Visual Arts

Lately we’ve been thinking a lot about community. From a civil, bureaucratic or creative point of view, our communities deal with a set of parameters that are formed from a variety of sources, cultural, geographic, or meteorological, just to name a few. The New York City community and the Sarasota community share a variety of traits between them, luckily these include a love of arts and a passion for their own histories (primary considerations for our work, of course), and even a few shared residents. When RIAF comes to town, it brings with it a community of artists that could be viewed in a refined way as reflecting a specific sphere of the arts world. New, avant-garde, post-?…all inadequate but common titles that define something brave, something unknown or even risky. At RIAF this is namely in terms of how the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) as a unique entity functions in a way that allows focus to emerge on a number of artists. In as vast a landscape as NYC this is pretty tough stuff. Following its mission with vigor, the BAC encompasses a great deal of work with its support of dance, music, theater, performance art, visual art. This support is always more limited than one would hope, given the lack of resources any one entity can provide. But it’s what defines us as a community. The crucial choices that institution makes in terms of who it supports and why, and how the growth and skill set of that institution feeds the growth of its artists, is where the magic happens. It’s where venues define themselves and gain or lose audiences in a variety of ways, and where trend-setting destinations are born. For some of us, that magic is what gets you out of bed in the morning. For others, it’s what makes those talk shows on PBS so incredibly boring!So how can we create a festival whose infusion in the local community both feeds and is fed by it? Pedja Muzijevic (who curated the amazing music series and is himself a renowned concert pianist whose work we will have the pleasure of seeing at RIAF in October), has been dutifully emphasizing this practice from the start. Ella Hickson’s EIGHT was programmed with this in mind, as it will include four students cast from their unique acting program, which is a rare and unique treat in any Festival. We recently scheduled a day of residencies that will see tomorrow’s most prominent choreographers working with local arts high schools, and students working in the same day with two of the world’s finest theater practitioners: veteran actor Bruce Myers of Peter Brook’s C.I.T.C. and Elevator Repair Service. And with the phenomenal composer Mason Bates in the house adding to an already eclectic mix of the next generation of taste makers, the mix is sure to reach multiple generations on many areas of the community.

My recent contact with FSU/Asolo Rep. students and the local high schools reflects an amazing viability and interest in new visions for dance, music and theater in that area. I am truly impressed with the enthusiasm, even after having worked with communities all over the world. We are proud to support and enhance it, and look forward to the new stories that will be told in the future from those who witness the birth of RIAF…

Thomas O. Kriegsmann

Thomas O. Kriegsmann is a producer and curator who founded ArKtype in 2006 toward the long-term development, production and touring of new internationally based performance work on a variety of scales. His acclaimed work as producer has been seen across Europe, South Africa, East Asia, North and South America and Australia. Kriegsmann is Festival Director for the Ringling International Arts Festival. More info at Arktype.