Want to know how the 2009 Artown artwork was created?  Artist Candace Nicol demonstrates the printing process for the collagraphs presented as concepts in this video.  She’ll demonstrate this process and others during the 14^th annual Artown.

Each year arts administrators, artists and agents from all around the globe gather for a week to discuss the arts industry and field trends. While it‘s very cold in New York, the discussion about the arts continues to be warm. The economy may be depressed, but experts seem fairly optimistic about the key role arts will play despite current economic woes.

Several years ago we presented the East Village Opera Company to close Artown in Wingfield Park. Last night I went to see EVOP in collaboration with the David Parsons Dance Group at the Joyce Theater. The work was contemporary and multidisciplinary and provided a platform for a larger audience base. The theater was full and there was a standing ovation all around. It does surprise me when I am in New York how many people go to the theater to see many different types of arts and there is so much of it going on all around town.

I met with the folks who run the New York City parks arts summer programs. They do an outdoor festival in Central Park and other locations throughout the city. Essentially they do what we do in Reno by presenting summer outdoor arts events, some free and others gated. They also take art to different neighborhoods so that the people living in those communities can take pride in and celebrate their neighborhoods and what they have to offer. Some of the community plays presented, for example, may be about the neighborhood history and how the area came to exist. They even have community park clean up days that bring out volunteers to take ownership of the condition of the parks. 

Artown’s mission is “to strengthen Reno’s arts industry, foster its civic identity and enhance its national image, creating a climate for the cultural and economic rebirth of the region.”  With that in mind, the festival invites the arts community to join the 2009 Artown Forum January 27.  Scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., the forum takes place at TMCC’s Redfield Theater, 505 Keystone Ave. in the Keystone Square shopping center.   

The focus of Artown’s Forum is to encourage feedback from the arts community with questions and suggestions.  Topics include responsibility to Reno’s arts community, collaborations within the arts community, effectiveness of Artown’s marketing efforts and community concerns about Artown, as well as any other related discussions that arise. 

Brown bag lunch is provided for attendees that RSVP by 5 p.m. Friday, January 23.  RSVP to Prudence Wildman, Artown Festival Manager, at prudence@renoisartown.com or 775-322-1538.