Artistic directors tend to be noticed twice, once appointed and once left. However, after a few years of tenure, especially those that include a pandemic, it can be a useful exercise for anyone interested in art management.
10 years later as artistic director of Ramama Experimental Theater ClubIn East Village, Miayu somehow established the continuity of aesthetics and priorities established by her predecessor, Ellen Stewart, and at the same time paved the way for herself.
The theater’s 60th season is nearing its end (currently “God’s fool” Dance Theater Master Martha Clark’s new work on St. Francis of Assisi), Yu talked at her facility about two things, past and present, in a constant conversation, or perhaps a constant tug of war.
The first one is still approaching La Mama. It has been closely equated with its GungHo and charismatic founder, Stewart, for decades. For over 50 years, she has grown LaMaMa into an internationally reputed performing arts incubator. And in 2011 she died.
“Ellen always says that she built this place so she could burn it down if needed,” said Stewart, who picked up artistic director Baton in his early 40s. Was about the same age as. 1961 LaMaMa. “She knows she doesn’t, but she created it, so she has some of me who thought she could. Now it’s the community to make sure it continues. It’s up to us as. “
Last afternoon she took us on a helmet tour of Ramama’s flagship four-story home on 74A East Force Street. The 19th-century building that the company purchased in 1967 is in the midst of a $ 24 million bowel renovation. — — Funded by New York City and the state, as well as various foundations and donors, it can ultimately bring New York to modern standards. The performance space will be upgraded, elevators will eventually be installed to ensure accessibility, and the data network will support the latest video and audio technologies.
Through seemingly endless construction — The reopening has been pushed several times and is currently scheduled for this fall, or perhaps spring 2023 — the show continues. This is because Stewart foresaw investing in real estate. LaMaMa owns 88,000 square feet in four buildings within walking distance, as well as real estate in Umbria, Italy, used for playwriting and workshop production.
Yu and I moved to 66 East Force Street, where the company’s archives and the main stage Ellen Stewart Theater are located. Sitting in the first row, Yoo warmly welcomed the children of the Brooklyn United Music and Arts Program, an after-school project that has been working with LaMaMa since 2015. The kids were then preparing for the performance of the show “BU Live”. Day.
Yu himself has entered a creative era with La Mama. Since the early 2000s, she has worked with Stewart — “there was something symbiotic and reciprocal about what we wanted to make,” she said — and finally her mentor told her. He anointed the new artistic director. There is no investigative committee or national survey. Stewart decided that Yoo would come next, and that was it.
Over the next decade, Yoo steered the ship in a completely different way than Stewart. And, after all, it’s more in sync with what you’d expect from an artistic director these days.
“They have almost the opposite leadership style,” says Roy Sweeber, a longtime performance company member. Split blitchSaid in a video chat. “Ellen was very, very responsible. It was her theater and she had the last word, she made all the decisions. Although she loved her family very much. Mia’s leadership style is a collaborative style and her love is like extended care. She takes care of the well-being and welfare of each artist and staff. Makes collective and collaborative decisions, not slightly dictatorial decisions. “
This allows for less top-down management than Stewart’s reign. If it’s more convenient to tell someone to do something, it’s not easy.
“I tried to create an environment that would reach consensus from many different people, and then many would eventually invest in the way we move forward,” Yoo said. “We have many different programs: Reading Series, Doll Series, La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, Coffee House Chronicle Series, and each of them has its own person running it.” She continued. “I try to give them as much freedom as possible.”
La MaMa Moves, the programming director of the club, one of the 74A spaces! Curator Nicky Paraiso embodies both this collaborative approach and the institution’s constant negotiations between the awe-inspiring heritage that fostered Harvey Fierstein’s career. Sam Shepard, Diane Lane, Al Pacino, and even David and Amy Sedaris — And the future. He starred in Jeff Weiss’s show “Dark Twist” at La MaMa in 1979, but unlike others, he essentially never left. This helped give him a bird’s eye view of curation as he and Yoo were trying to find a way to balance the needs and approaches of different generations.
“I would say, do we continue to present such and such artists? Are they doing the same job as 20 years ago?” Paraiso said in a video conversation. .. “And Mia would say,’Ellen creates this space for people to nurture art, and then they become part of La Mama’s family.'”
As with all businesses, programming can be non-uniform, but the hit-to-miss ratio seems to have improved towards the end of Stewart’s tenure. And this was achieved by a delicate balance between old and new artists.
The first category is Split Briches, which has presented a show at La MaMa in its 40-year history, and in October announced “Last Gasp: A Recalibration,” a face-to-face production of the acclaimed pandemic video project “Last.” To do. GaspWFH. And you have someone like a 30-year-old interdisciplinary artist John Maria GutierrezHaving held his solo exhibition “Rockefeller and I Part 1” in May, he contrasts his experience as the son of a Dominican immigrant with the life of John D. Rockefeller Jr. on the sidewalk outside 66 East Force Street. I did.
When he was still in high school, Gutierrez was taught by the pillars of composer, writer and director Elizabeth Swados and La Mama. He graduated from New York University, found an artist in East Village, and joined Lamama’s Great Jones Repertoire Company. “It was after Ellen died and I was the latest member,” he said in a video chat. “It was Mia who brought me in and checked. She kept inviting me to her office and asked,” Well, what do you want to do? “
Yu also bets on the future when it comes to exploring the impact of technology on performing arts.
In a 2011 article that introduced her as the new head of LaMaMa, the New York Times said:Yu defends a high-tech project called CultureHub This will allow theater producers from different countries to collaborate in video conferences. She calls this system, which enables life-sized images, “steroid skype”. A joint project with La Ma Ma. )
Fast forward in March 2020, when the city’s live performance venue was closed during the pandemic. LaMaMa did that too, but soon Online programming This included everything from children’s shows to new releases, chats with legacy and up-and-coming artists. Unlike the majority of New York’s compatriots, La MaMa not only knew what livestreaming was, but also had the infrastructure to implement it.
Just as Stewart invested in physical assets, Yu was betting on the virtual world. “I believe artists need to participate in the conversation. It’s not just technicians and businesses that are in the internet space,” she said. “It’s not just about money and power, it’s about how we explore humanity.”
La MaMa has been virtually busy, but Yoo did all this in 2020 with a payment of about $ 65,000, while some prominent artistic directors have virtually suspended their salaries. I have also done it. The company has also stepped up its work on what is called Radical. Access plan. According to its “Concept Statement”, Declaration of Intent, the plan includes physical and economic accessibility, opportunities, representations and relevance.
The work itself remains eclectic and does not reflect the growing fragmentation of our world as much as the idea that art can still play a unified role. “We hope that the curation of art at this point is about this diverse perspective, aesthetics and form,” Yoo said. “We believe that creating an environment and platform for artists to explore and experiment in ways they never thought of could lead to breakthrough work, and potentially new. Shapes can be born. “
Yes, she may sound optimistic at the end, but come on — isn’t it infinitely better than the other ways?