Mary Lou Aleskie, Executive Director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, will be co-chairing the 62nd annual congress of the International Society for the Performing Arts January 12-14 at the new Times Center in New York City’s theater district. Ms. Aleskie and co-chair Russell Willis Taylor (President & CEO of National Arts Strategies in Washington, D.C.) have invited a broad spectrum of international speakers to explore the future of the performing arts in contemporary society. The 2010 congress, entitled “Fast Forward: Imagining the Future”, will include three days of sessions in a variety of formats featuring interaction and participation to help the hundreds of delegates in attendance find exciting, active, optimistic and visionary ways to shape the future of performing arts organizations in more than 35 countries.
Founded in 1949, the International Society for the Performing Arts is a not-for-profit international organization of more than 350 executives and directors of concert and performance halls, festivals, performing companies, and artist competitions; government cultural officials; artists' managers; and other interested parties with a professional involvement in the performing arts. The membership includes representation from more than 50 countries in every region of the world, and in every arts discipline. The purpose of the Society is to develop, nurture, energize and educate an international network of arts leaders and professionals who are dedicated to advancing the field of the performing arts.
“The adage change is the only constant has always been true, but at no time in our recent global history has its meaning been felt so deeply by all parts of society” said Ms. Aleskie. “The concept of sustainability is no longer enough for us to believe that we can adapt to the future: as an international arts community we need to imagine the future and create our role in it. It has been a great honor to work with my Co-Chair and esteemed colleagues from around the globe to organize this prestigious Congress at a time when we are all grappling with challenges and opportunities that will shape the performing arts for many generations to come.”
Highlights of the 2010 International Society for the Performing Arts Congress will include sessions on the following topics:
- “Arts and the Environment” with Sir Peter Crane (Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, recently knighted for his services to horticulture and conservation); Alison Tickell and Catherine Bottrill of Julie's Bicycle (a London-based not-for-profit company helping the music industry cut its greenhouse gas emissions and create a low carbon creative future); moderated by Sarah Frankland (Deputy Director of the British Council, the United Kingdom’s international cultural relations body).
- “Arts and Science” with Dr. Brian Greene (Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University, described by the Washington Post as “the single best explainer of abstruse concepts in the world today”); and Tim McHenry (Producer at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City), exploring the effects of art as a measurable science - what audiences experience and how it is received.
- “Arts and the Slow Movement” with Carl Honoré (London-based author of In Praise of the Slowness, which examines our compulsion to hurry and chronicles a global trend toward putting on the brakes); and Russell Willis Taylor, considering whether or not the performing arts are part of the slow movement.
- “Pure Performance”, a debate about the influence of technology in shaping the creation and presentation of the performing arts, with Matt Haimovitz (an Israeli-born cellist now based in the United States and Canada); Tod Machover (composer and inventor from the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts - known for designing new technologies for musicians from Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell to Peter Gabriel and Prince, as well as “Guitar Hero”); and Mary Lou Aleskie.
- “Arts and Identity”, examining the role of the arts in advancing understanding in a global community of different ideologies, with Simon Brault (Vice-Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, and CEO of the National Theatre School in Montréal, Québec); and Eugene Downes (CEO of Culture Ireland, the national agency for the promotion and advancement of Irish arts worldwide.).
- “Arts and Community”, looking at the role of the arts in contemporary cultures, with Basma El Husseiny (Managing Director of Culture Resource in Cairo, Egypt - a non-profit organization that supports young artists and writers and stimulates cultural exchanges); and Katherine Zeserson (Director of Learning and Participation at The Sage Gateshead - a live music venue and center for music education in North East England).
The keynote speaker will be Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre in London. There will also be performances by Urban Bush Women, The National Theater of the United States of America, and Brooklyn Rider.
Mary Lou Aleskie
Mary Lou Aleskie, Executive Director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut since September 2005, has provided leadership at the helm of numerous international organizations and projects as an executive, producer and presenter in the support of landmark premieres as well as masterworks of the performing arts.
Prior to her leadership of Arts & Ideas, Ms. Aleskie served as President and CEO of La Jolla Music Society, San Diego's premier presenter of world-renowned orchestras, dance companies, and soloists, as well as the producer of the award-winning chamber music festival La Jolla SummerFest.
Her decade long tenure as Executive Director of Da Camera of Houston resulted in the company's first major international tours to include the world's most prestigious venues, from the Barbican Centre to the Kennedy Center, at the same time establishing essential working capital and endowment funds.
As General Manager and Managing Director of the Alley Theatre in Houston, she produced many ground-breaking projects, including the international tour of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" to Russia and the Baltics, as well as the world premiere of Frank Wildhorn's "Jekyll & Hyde", which transferred to Broadway for a long and successful run.
Ms. Aleskie has been a frequent speaker and panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Capital, and the Massachusetts Arts Council, among others. She currently serves as a member of the International Society of Performing Arts Board and Executive Committee, Arts Presenters Association's Classical Connections Advisory Committee, and is an Associate Fellow of Branford College at Yale University.
International Festival of Arts & Ideas
The 15th annual International Festival of Arts & Ideas will be held June 12-26, 2010. Since it’s founding in 1996, the Festival has presented more than 15,000 artists and thinkers in over 5,000 events, celebrations, explorations, forums, exhibitions, debates, presentations and more. The Festival plays host to over 100,000 people each year, and takes place in more than two dozen venues in and around New Haven, Connecticut, including theaters, concert halls, courtyards and the streets. More than 75 countries have been represented in the Festival since its inception.
# # #