Spring Growth In The Arts

  Engler went farther than most Governors in pruning state aid to the fine art industry. While painters and the like can rely on individual sales, some arts activities rely primarily on outside funding. Installations are an art form that art patrons generally can't or don't want to buy and take home with them. Public funds have always been important since installations became popular at the same time that public arts funding in exploded the '60s. Current installation artists in Detroit are scrambling to make their work possible. Community arts organizations also have tended to rely on outside funding. But the decades of fertilization by a steady stream of public funds and encouragement have established deep roots for art. As artists and arts organizations experiment with fundraising they are finding some success, fueling fresh growth in the arts.

Cathedral of Time

  This project was instigated by Russian-born artist Irina Nakhova. Ms. Nakhova is currently visiting artist and assistant professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. Looking around town she saw many opportunities for an installation relating to her interest in archeology. She settled on the Old Central Train Depot on Michigan Avenue (near Tiger Stadium). The 30-story train station opened in 1911, closed in 1989, and was subsequently looted. It is currently owned by the same people who own the Ambassador Bridge, Mr. & Mrs. Manuel Moroun, who have graciously permitted the installation.

  Ms. Nakhova made the project into a class at WSU called "Site Specific Installation." The class drew about 50 students from all levels and disciplines. The installation will feature frescos, sculpture, sound, video, photography and live performance. It deals with historical, social, political and aesthetic issues that relate to the building. Cathedral of Time will be open for two days only: Saturday May 13, 4-10 pm and Sunday May 14, 12-6 pm. Admission is free.

  Funding the project has been "difficult, on a shoestring," according to organizer Johnny DeKam. So far a little over $4,000 has been patched together from several sources. I attended a Saturday April 8 fundraiser at the Michigan Gallery, not far from the train station. Admission was free, with drink/raffle tickets bringing in cash. Computer and other music and video cohabited with the gallery's current group show "Air." This benefit and another music event at Alvins yielded a good part of their budget. Rich friends of one student donated $2,000. Only $650 carne from Wayne State, but this institution provided space, insurance and other support. Additional income is needed to complete a video documentary of the installation.

Heidelberg Project

  On the same night as the Michigan Gallery event, another benefit took place not far away at the Majestic Theater-a benefit (called "Attitudes") for the Heidelberg Project community art installation on the 3600 block of Heidelberg St. in the east side of Detroit, near downtown. This event succeeded less as a fundraiser than it did as a performance showcase for whomever wanted to get up on stage, but that was an important success because Heidelberg is intended to nurture the arts community. A good variety of poets, singers and drummers did their thing -- including Clayton Eshleman and Ron Allen. Tyree Guyton and Jennene Whitfield contributed a performance work featuring Adam and Eve, a junk construction shaped as a tree, a shopping cart, Tyree's theme of large dots, and narration. Attendance was only 120, and the proceeds were tragically lost in a car accident after the show. The Project has done better financially with more traditional showings of Tyree's painting, assemblage and prints at Alexa Lee Gallery in Ann Arbor. Heidelberg has been a nonprofit corporation since 1989, but it is just getting rolling into the big world of art biz -- the "Friends of Heidelberg" membership organization started just this January, and they are currently waiting for replies to some grant applications.

Riverside Arts Center

  Saturday April 29th was "all you can ART," a benefit for Ypsilanti's new community-run Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron (formerly the Masonic Temple). A self-proclaimed "schmooze" event, $12 ($8 stud.) bought admission to this "performance buffet. "The evening began with a cash bar and hors d'oeuvre reception in the main upstairs hall. Actors in spectacular attire circulated in the crowd, dancers hearsed in one corner, and a semi-nude model held a pose in the center as artists drew him. One artist n costume breathed fire outside, and inside, decorating the walls, the gritty urban collages of George LaRou were especially nteresting. The main event was "The Actor's Nighmare" by Christopher Durrang, a humorous play about theater which ncluded acting by Christine Marshall and David Freund, the event's producers. Atter that there was dancing in the downstairs lounge with the Steve Somers Band.

  The Arts Center s run by the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority and it opened last summer during Ypsi's Heritage Festival - but t has been little used by the arts. There have been some private parties, but "all you can ART' is the first event to take advantage of the space's live performance potential. Saturday May 6 the space will host "Celebrity: Crisis Management and Opportunity," a seminar about the legal issues of celebrities (see Calendar, p. 19). The Riverside Arts Center is an all-purpose space good for different types of events than Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater.

  Funds for "all you can ART' carne from many advertisers showing their support for local arts in ads in the event's program. A network of volunteers sold tickets out in the community, and attendance was over 200.

  Raffles, auctions, t-shirts, and concessions are among the many paths explored at these events. The Friends of U-M's Art Museum are auctioning off a '96 Minivan on May 20 (see Other Events below). But making the arts a center for the community to come together is another goal that is well served by these fundraisers.

Cathedral of Time Project e-mail: weird@www.science.wayne.edu WWW: http:www.science.wayne.edu-weird Voice: 313-832-4613

The Heidelberg Project, P.O. Box 19422 Detroit Ml 48219; "Friends of Heidelberg" membership info: LaFray C. Taylor 313-884-8882 Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron, Ypsilanti, 480-2787

Cathedral of Time will be open for two days only: Saturday May 13, 4-10 pm and Sunday May 14, 12-6 pm. FfBfUNi "El!