Candidates for schools chief will talk about arts education on July 29
The event is Thursday, July 29, at the Musical Instrument Museum.
The sponsors are Arizona Citizens for the Arts and the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education.
It’s free, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The candidates are Republicans Margaret Garcia Dugan, John Huppenthal and Beth Price; the Democrats are Penny Kotterman and Jason Williams.
You can sign up to ask a question here.
(The process is a little odd—it’s apparently the one Arizona Citizens for the Arts uses for ticketed events. But just fill it all in and it works.)
Here’s the full release from the museum:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUPERINTENDENT CANDIDATE FORUM WILL EXPLORE THE PROMISE OF ARTS EDUCATION IN ARIZONA JULY 29 AT MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSEUM
PHOENIX, Ariz. (July 16, 2010): Candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction will participate in the Superintendent Candidates Forum: Realizing the Promise of Arts Education from 5:30-7:30 p.m., Thursday, July 29 at the Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 East Mayo Blvd. in Phoenix.
Presented by Arizona Citizens for the Arts and the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education, the candidates will respond to a series of questions related to the Arizona Arts Standards, the development of arts education curriculum for students and their individual commitment to providing access to quality arts education in Arizona schools. The Arizona Academic Standards in the Arts were adopted in 2006.
Attendees also will be able to submit questions for consideration for the candidates. The forum, which is free and open to the public, will be moderated by KJZZ host and reporter Steve Goldstein and broadcast live over the Internet. Registration to attend the forum or to view it online can be done by visiting http://www.azcitizensforthearts.org/artsed.html.
The forum follows the Joint Arts Education Conference, presented by the Arizona Department of Education and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Guest speakers at the conference include Rob Davidson of the VH-1 Save the Music Foundation. The conference also will feature the release of results from the first statewide Arizona Arts Education Census, an examination of the status of arts education across the state.
Candidates who have committed to participate are Republicans Margaret Garcia Dugan of Phoenix, John Huppenthal of Chandler and Beth Price of Casa Grande; and Democrats Penny Kotterman of Phoenix and Jason Williams, also of Phoenix. A poll conducted in the Spring of 2009 by Cronkite/Eight showed that 90 percent of the respondents felt it was very important or important for Arizona schools (K-12) to include the arts (music, art, theater and dance, for example) as part of the curriculum.
“The impact of arts education on a student’s ability to learn, retain, problem solve and achieve is well documented,” said Brenda Sperduti, executive director, Arizona Action for the Arts. “It is essential that we understand the candidates’ views on the value of arts education in our schools and for our children as we make informed decisions that will shape our individual and collective votes.”
For more information, call Arizona Citizens for the Arts at (602) 253-6535 or visit www.azcitizensforthearts.org. For more information about the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education, visit www.artsed.org.
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Arizona Citizens for the Arts Arizona Citizens for the Arts is the premier arts advocacy organization in Arizona dedicated to the mission of discussion and awareness of the importance and impact of the arts in achieving quality of life, educational excellence and economic health for all Arizonans and Arizona enterprises. For information visit www.azcitizensforthearts.org
About the Musical Instrument Museum With over 3,000 instruments on exhibit, representing every country in the world, the Musical Instrument Museum has become a major force in the cultural life of Phoenix, the nation, and indeed the entire world. With a comprehensive and outstanding music education program, extensive audio/visual facilities, and an on-site Music Theater, MIM celebrates the diversity of the world’s cultures as expressed through music, an art form common to us all.
10:14 AM
For world music fans only! The concert line-up at the Musical Instrument Museum
I haven’t seen this posted anywhere, and it’s hard to find on the new museum’s site.
The new theater is a cool 299-seat affair. The museum says tickets will range from $25 to $75; tix for King Sunny Ade, the biggest name here, are $48 and $58.
The venue is booked by Sunni Fass, who is billed as its managing and artistic director.
Tickets for all shows go on sale on Thursday, online at www.themim.org or by phone at 480-478-6001.
Here again is what the theater looks like:
Below is the venue’s first calendar. Commentary is by the museum:
Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.
Laurie Lewis with Tom Rozum
Recognized for her ability to incorporate traditional bluegrass instruments and vocals into an
exciting musical style all her own, Grammy award-winning fiddler, singer, and songwriter
Laurie Lewis provides a seamless mix of pure country and classic bluegrass.
Ticket Prices: $32-$36
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Nation Beat
Nation Beat fuses music from the southern United States and northeast Brazil, producing an
adventurous and colorful new sound.
Ticket Prices: $25-$30
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Melody of China
San Francisco’s premier Chinese music ensemble, Melody of China promotes Chinese classical,
folk, and contemporary music, creating synergy between ancient traditions and American youth
culture.
Ticket Prices: $25-$30
Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.
Los Texmaniacs
2010 Grammy winners Los Texmaniacs create a unique Tex-Mex groove that blends Texas rock,
conjunto, well-cured blues, and R&B riffs.
Ticket Prices: $32-$36
Friday, May 7, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Boulder Acoustic Society
Old-school but never old, the indie-folk band Boulder Acoustic Society is the new wave of
American roots music, a diverse and modern mix of blues, folk, gospel, rock, and world music.
Ticket Prices: $25-$30
Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars
Formed by a group of refugees displaced during the Sierra Leone Civil War, Sierra Leone’s
Refugee All-Stars is a reggae-influenced band with a humanitarian purpose.
Ticket Prices: $40-$45
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Pnina Becher
Israeli-American pianist Pnina Becher, now living in Arizona, has sold out concerts everywhere
from the prestigious Melbourne International Arts Festival to guest performances with orchestras
in the United States, Europe and Israel.
Ticket Prices: $32-$36
Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
King Sunny Adé & His African Beats
A pioneer of modern world music, legendary Nigerian performer King Sunny Adé and his 13-
piece band will present his signature interpretations of Jùjú music rooted in the Yoruba tradition.
Ticket Prices: $48-$58
Saturday, May 15, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
R. Carlos Nakai
R. Carlos Nakai is the world’s premier Native American flute virtuoso. An adventurous artist of
Navajo-Ute heritage, Nakai explores both traditional and cross-cultural uses of the flute,
including the genres of world, new age, jazz, and classical music.
Ticket Prices: $30-$38
Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.
Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem
Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem offer a jubilant mix of traditional, original, and contemporary
sounds. The group’s four-part harmonies meld with fiddle, guitar, bass, and a suitcase drum to
create a fusion of American roots music, contemporary pop, and jazz.
Ticket Prices: $25-$30
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Cimarrón
Cimarrón, a seven-piece ensemble of musicians and dancers led by harpist Carlos Rojas
Hernández, are masters of the joropo llanero tradition, the festive dance music of Colombia’s
cattle-rearing plains.
Ticket Prices: $25-$30
Friday, May 21, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
William Eaton
William Eaton’s vibrant performances feature new and innovative takes on classical guitar and
showcase his handmade avant-garde stringed instruments.
Ticket Prices: $30-$38
William Eaton will also be presenting a matinee lecture/demonstration in the MIM Music
Theater on May 22nd. Details to be announced.
12:23 PM
A walk through the new Musical Instrument Museum
“Every time I come up, I see something new,” Alan di Perna is saying. We’re looking at an musical instruments, an accordion- or harmonium-related construction, made of some gorgeously crafted wood.
There is no explanation of what precisely the instrument is yet, because the setting, the city’s new Musical Instrument Museum, is still under construction, and this particular spot—the “Free Reeds” section of the European Gallery—hasn’t yet been finished. But workmen are everywhere and that’s why di Perna—who as a longtime editor and writer at Guitar World, among other places, is an expert in his own right—is seeing new things every day.
The museum is a big affair, a structure of nearly 200,000 square feet on a 20-acre site in North Phoenix, on Tatum just south of the 101. It’s largely funded by Robert Ulrich, the retired longtime CEO of Target, now a Paradise Valley resident. It’s scheduled to open at the end of April.
Besides eight main galleries it boasts a swanky 299-seat theater in which is already booked a fairly sophisticated lineup of world music acts, meaning that the museum is going to be the latest live concert venue in the Valley as well.
Di Perna, who besides being a longtime music journalist is the author of a couple of books on guitars, moved to the Valley 11 years ago and took a position with the new operation recently.
He was kind enough to give PHXated an early walk through.
The structure has two floors, each united by a grand arcing corridor:
On the top floor are the museum’s raison d‘etre: Five spacious galleries, each devoted to a region: North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Each gallery has a maze of regional or thematic enxhibits, most with instruments and a video screen. All visitors get headsets with the (somewhat steep) $15 admission; as you near each video screen, the sound automatically rises in your headsets and you can listen to the accompanying video, mostly of performances using the nearby instruments on display.
The North American gallery has a wide variety of elements, from displays devoted to (and funded by) instrument makers like Fender and Martin to various musical genres, everything from klezmer to hip hop.
The museum didn’t want photos of unfinished exhibits taken, but here are a couple of the completed ones I saw. This one, obviously, is the klezmer installation:
And here’s part of the polka one:
Downstairs are a few specialty galleries—one, of course, devoted to the guitar. That was undergoing heavy construction so we couldn’t see all of it, but di Perna pointed out a lyre dating back to the early 1800s hanging near a modern instrument to which it bore more than a passing resemblance, a 1958 Danelectro baritone guitar.
The other is a sort of celebrity room, for which the museum has collected a lot of instruments that were played on some famous recordings: Clapton’s Layla guitar, for example, and the plain brown upright John Lennon recorded “Imagine” on. (This is as opposed to the iconic white grand piano used in the early music video Lennon made with Yoko Ono.)
There’s also the first Steinway ever made, a 1836 piano Henry Steinway$$ made in his kitchen.
The museum’s inclusion philosophy is a broad one. Di Perna quotes one of the museum’s curators: “No high, no low; no art, no pop”—meaning that there are no restrictions along those lines. Everything is included, from indigenous African instruments to, well, to an ’80s-ea set of syn-drums from Belarus.
The museum will also do actual traveling exhibits; the first one, American Sabor, about Latin America’s influence on North American pop culture, will open later this year.
We concluded the tour with a look at the theater:
Details on the museum’s grand opening events on April 24 and 25 are here. Tickets for the first two “grand opening” days—and for any time after that—go on sale Thursday.
1:19 PM