Charlotte Street Foundation

CALL and RESPONSE is a series of two multidisciplinary performative events organized collaboratively by Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project and the American Jazz Museum, generating from the desire to bring artists from different media, genres, communities and backgrounds together to share, inspire one another, and build new audiences. This two-part, two-location series spotlights a mix of writers, spoken word poets, jazz musicians, electronic musicians, and composers.  CALL and RESPONSE participants are writers/poets Robert Baumann, Glenn North, Shavonne “Queen” Standifer, Kynan Ramsey, Faith Scott, and Jordan Stempleman; the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance; and the contemporary jazz ensemble Synergy.

The first event takes place on First Friday, October 2 (reception at 7pm, performance at 8pm, free) at UCP’s la Esquina, 1000 West 25th. It will specifically take the idea of “Call” as inspiration, while the second event, on Third Tuesday, October 20 at the Jazz Museum’s Blue Room, 1616 East 18th (doors open at 7pm, performance at 8pm, free) will relate directly to the notion of “Reponse.” Both evenings will include solo pieces by each of the performers as well as collaborative efforts.  Read full press release.

Renowned experimental filmmaker Roger Beebe takes to the Heartland this fall to present a program of his recent multi-projector films as part of a 6-week US tour.  CSF’s Urban Culture Project is pleased to host Beebe’s Films for One to Eight Projectors program at la Esquina, 1000 West 25th, Thursday September 24 at 8pm in partnership with Film and Media Arts, University of Missouri Kansas City.

In his recent films, Beebe explores the possibilities of using multiple projectors—running as many as 8 projectors simultaneously—not for a free-form VJ-type experience, but for the creation of discrete works of “expanded cinema.” These films are simultaneously performance films (as they can only be screened with Beebe actually running the projectors—and running from projector to projector), technological demonstrations (with a parade of different modes of image making and presentation—16mm and super 8mm film alongside video and digital formats), and significant aesthetic works in their own right. Read full press release.

Great Accommodations is a participatory exhibition project spearheaded by Kansas City based artist Jamie Burkart that highlights the Missouri River within Kansas City, utilizes the central rivers as a social network, and imagines lifestyles for cities on the water.  The exhibition runs September 1-October 3 at Paragraph + Project Space, 21-23 East 12th Street,  with special extended hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 9am-6pm. Third Friday reception is September 18, 6-9pm, with artist remarks at 6pm.

Burkart’s multi-component, rhizomatic, immersive installation will assume the form of a kind of living museum, housed within a massive inflatable environment filling Paragraph and Project Space. It will include interactive video installations, participatory sculptural experiences, computer programs, community projects, and “working” documentation.  Much of the show is made from recycled materials collected by businesses and individuals around the Kansas City area.

Together with collaborator Suzanne Hogan, Burkart has mailed hundreds of letters and placed targeted Facebook advertisements to reach people and places located along the Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas and Ohio rivers, inviting individuals to contribute their stories and perspectives of life on the river as part of the project. “I want this exhibition to become a space where people from every city up and downstream from Kansas City can come and write their own histories together,” says Burkart. Read complete press release.

Check out Jamie’s Photostream here!

More about Burkart’s river projects:

“In the name of art, go with the flow” in KC Star; “When Artists Turn Huck Finn”  in The Pitch. Read review in Review.

First Friday at la Esquina, 1000 West 25th,  is all about mediating virtual information. The free evening kicks off at 7:30 with While We Were Working, a one-hour program of YouTube selections curated by artists Eric Fleischauer (Chicago) and Robert Snowden (New York). “Digging in deep, past the recognizable, recommended, and promoted selections, we have compiled a range of videos that provoke and articulate YouTube’s role as an artist resource, venue, and medium,” they write. Their program folds together video featuring such cultural icons as Barack Obama, David Lee Roth, John Cage, Charlie Rose, Nicholas Cage, A-ha, and Picasso’s Guernica; cultural phenomenon such as Japanese train loading, wave pools, and QVC television; and a range of highly idiosyncratic performances, experiments and activities that emblematize the wildly eclectic, populist nature of YouTube.

At 8:30 is the launch of INFOBAHN, a new event series where invited presenters will each share approximately 15-minutes worth of selections culled from the vast field of web-based information in response to a given theme. INFOBAHN is about information, inspiration, and personal interest; the process of searching, navigating, discovering, making choices; and the unique structure and ever expanding virtual terrain that is the internet. The theme for INFOBAHN Episode I is “Secret.” Presenters include Ari Fish, Miguel Rivera, Lisa Marie Evans, Dirk Cowan, Paul Shortt, and Deanna Skedel.

Read complete press release.  POST EVENT UPDATE!: INFOBAHN Episode I links.

On Sunday, August 23 at la Esquina, designer and artist Jon Fulton Adams will premier his Spring 2010 Menswear collection under his label “Queen’s Rocket.” Trained in Fashion from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Adams’ aesthetic combines Edwardian and Steampunk styles, translated for the modern Dandy. Ron Megee will produce and direct the event, Shawn Sorrell will serve as artistic director, and David Wayne Reed will be the evening’s emcee. A concert by Cody Wyoming and John Ferguson’s band The Monitor, and music from d.j. Alan, will be performed in addition to the fashion presentation.

Doors open at 7:45 p.m. The runway show begins at 9:00 p.m. V.I.P. tickets to the event are $10, available at the door the evening of the event. Admission includes an exotic drink bar, dancing, the runway event, and several surprises. Read full press release.

Click here to view the Present Magazine photo-journal of the show.

Click here to view the Ink Magazine article about the Queen’s Rocket fashion line premiere.

PERFORMANCES: July 24, 25, 27, 31 + August 1, 3, 7, 8, 10 – all 9pm
LA ESQUINA / 1000 WEST 25TH
Tickets $15; Doors Open at 8pm; Seating at 8:30pm.
Purchase tickets online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/71885

In 1979, 20th Century Fox released, The Rose starring Bette Midler, in her first feature film. The film, which loosely portrayed a Janis Joplin-like character, earned her an Oscar nomination. With an authentic rock score, the musical film, directed by Mark Rydell and nominated for four Academy Awards, has reached a cult status.

In 2009, Ron Megee directs Spencer Brown as “The Rose” in the live stage adaptation of the film featuring an incredible live band, the high-energy rock score from the film, and an ensemble of some of Kansas City’s finest talents. Curated by Chadwick Brooks, The Rose features a cast including David Wayne Reed, Kipp Simmons, Dana Nicholson, Corrie Van Ausdal, Kimberely Queen, Emma Taylor, and live music directed by Cody Wyoming, with Chris Meck, Mike Meyers, Jeff Harshbarger, and Ken Lovern

Click here to read the Kansas City Star review by Robert Trussell

Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project is pleased to present Information is Incidental, a two-person exhibition by Kansas City based artist Emily Sall and Austin, Texas based artist Rebecca Ward, opening at Paragraph gallery on Friday, June 19, 6-9pm. The artists will deliver a gallery talk at 6pm that evening, free and open to the public.

The exhibition centers around these two artists’ ideas about space, in terms of responding to the architectures of existing spaces as well as creating new spaces within these architectures or within the confines of flat surfaces. In exploring these interests, the two artists share a high-key color palette, the use of crisp, graphic line, and a cumulative process, whereby forms are constructed or suggested through a repetition and layering of line. The exhibition will feature a series of new paintings by Sall, installation- based work by Ward, and a new collaborative installation developed by the artists (who have never met) on site. CSF Associate Director Kate Hackman invited Sall and Ward to exhibit together based on perceived affinities in their work following a studio visit with Ward in Austin in summer 2008 while planning UCP’s prior exchange/collaboration with Austin’s Okay Mountain. Read full press release.

Click here to read the Kansas City Star review by Nick Malewski

Read the ArtTattler.com review: http://www.arttattler.com/commentaryinformationisincidental.html

Read review in Review.

Time Passes, Time Passes By, a site-specific installation by Kansas City based artist Alexandra Robinson, opens at Project Space on Friday, June 19, 6-9pm.  The artist will deliver a gallery talk at 6:30pm that evening, free and open to the public.

This exhibition is inspired by time, specifically how long Paragraph gallery and Project Space have been in operation by Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project (since May 16, 2003).  Robinson will use geometric forms - cast plaster cubes and latex - to document the number of days the space has been in use as well as to mark different important moments in the site’s history.  By the date of the opening, the approximate number of forms, or markers, will number 2360. It is the artist’s intent to convey a sense of mass, beauty, and possibility in this accumulation of forms, and to create an opportunity for self-reflection. Read full press release.

Read review in Review.

CSF is excited to announce the launch of a new UCP Studio Residency facility specifically for performing artists. Located on the 5th floor at City Center Square, 12th and Main, this new studio venue includes one large open space (3,000+ sq. feet), to be allocated as performance studio/rehearsal space, and to be shared among a selection of performance-based artists and groups of artists. 

An informational meeting/open house will be held at City Center Square, 5th floor, on Monday, June 22 at 5:15pm.  This meeting will provide interested artists the opportunity to see the space, ask questions, and meet other interested artists. Artists interested in applying are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND. Deadline for applications is July 10.

Artists/groups of artists working in the realm of performance (music, dance, theater, spoken word, performance art, etc…) are encouraged to apply. It is planned that a schedule, with dedicated weekly time slots for each artist/group of artists, will be collectively established following the selection of artists. In addition to establishing regular studio time slots for each artist/group, it is expected that open blocks of “flex time” may be signed up for on an as needed/desired basis, accommodating special projects and more intensive rehearsal schedules.  

For more information, including application form and requirements, download the call to artists here.

Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project, in collaboration with City Center Square, seeks proposals from artists interested in being considered for a window installation commission, for the large ground-floor window at City Center Square, located on the north side of the street just west of 12th and Main in downtown Kansas City. The selected artist will be awarded a materials budget of $500 and an artist stipend of $500 to support the creation of the final project. The installation will remain on view for approximately one year.

In relation to the United States Post Office located within City Center Square, the installation should engage the theme of mail or the post office in some manner. Creative, innovative, artistic approaches to this subject are encouraged. Deadline for proposals is Friday, July 10, 2009. The window dimensions are approximately 22 feet long; 3 feet deep; 14 feet tall and should be considered in relation to proposals.  Access into the window space is via a ladder and opening of limited size.

For more information on submitting your proposal, click here.