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' Music, Literature, Theatre,
e a - Books, TV, Dance, Film
Brown speaks up against budget cuts to arts community
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
While promoting his final
installment of the wildly popu
lar, A Mozart to Motown &m
mas, local artist Russell Joel
Brown (hdnl;gi:s $e chance
0 O y the Augus
ta_le:’g;);ngd County Com
mission to cut funds for local
arts groups.
“\%:il? the arts community
know more about belt tighten
ing than anyone else. But it is
unfair to always balance a
budget on the backs of the arts.
Maybe we can sgread the cuts
around mor%,’ ’ Brown said to
reporters and art supporters
wfig had assembled Pfg? the
ews conference.
In an effort to reduce a $9
million deficit, a 2005 fiscal
year budget being‘i;oposed by
interim county inistrator,
Fred Russell, looks to cut fund
ing for the Arts Council by half
— from $140,000 a year to
$70,000. The councii, is the
body entrusted with tfiromot
ing and supporting the local
arts community.
Rhian Swain-Giboney, Presi
dent of Redwolf, Inc. an adver
using and public relations firm,
has postponed plans to open a
Local filmaker debuts movie after five year effort
A Rose For The Little Lady, an
independent film shot entirely
in the Augusta at area locations
like Evans High School, Lovers
Lane, Stevens Creek Road, and
Duke’s Diner on Walton Way,
will debut December in Augus
ta.
The film, chronidles not only
the people of the area, but also
locations that no longer exist.
“We were one of the last
le in the Duke’s builgiex?_
Eef()re it was bulldozed,” sai§
Writer\ Director Rob Forbes.
Forbes started writing the
movie in the fall of 1999 and
endured years of financial and
technical challenges to com
plete the movie.
In the summer of 2001 a
Dance Theatre of Harlem Waltzing with disaster
lIEfi\IHAZEL TRICE EDNEY
PA Corresgondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
- The Dance Theatre of
Harlem, the first black classical
ballet company, appears on the
verge of collapse.
Its founder, pioneering bELck
broadway dancer Arthur
Mitchell, has announced that
the 35-year-company, which
has Frovxded artistic opportuni
ties for hundreds of dancers and
thousands of students, is on a
hiatus. It has a $2.4 million
deficit, the New York Amister
dam News reported in Septem
ber, causing some to fear it may
not recover.
“It will re-open at some
point. When it will re-open, I
cant announce yet because we
don't have a date yet,” says Ellen
Zgisler, a spokeswoman for the
Dance Theatre in an interview
with the NNPA News Service.
“We still need individual,
founder support, corporate
sponsor support without ques
ton. What we do there in
Harlem is give away communi
ty sponso_rglip for children. To
be able to do that, we have to
have certain monies in place.”
Zeisler would not disclose the
extlsnt of thti:la d]&Ftrfi’s l;i:;)t bu(i
is ho twi ean
smallp(eigdnations, the company
will soon bounce back.
“We had a fabulous season, the
biggest we had in years, 44
wéfii sold out audiences in U.
S. and Europe. That's why it
was such a disappointment,”
Zeisler says. She says the com
new office downtown because
of the threatened cuts to the
arts. Many of Swain-Giboney's
clients are a part of the arts
community. And the majority
of local artists are concentrated
in the Broad Street area of
downtown Au%usta
“It’s (arts cuts) going to nega
tively impact downtown. It
doesn't make any sense to move
there,” she said.
Brown suggests that in addi
tion to the impact on the revi
(tflimtion efforts bgor downtowsel:i
eep cuts as bei 1o
wil]P adversely imngag Eloture
generations of artists.
“The ripple effect is very real.
We have to protect the arts
groups already in place. But
more importantly, we need to
Frotect the children. If the bal
et closes, dance schools will
close leaving a whole genera
tion of kids that have no con
cein of ballet,” said Brown.
n making his point about
future artists, Brown handed
out three scholarships for
youngsters who show promise
in the arts. One of them, a 9-
ear old drummer, Khalil
%rown. no relation to Russell
Brown, says he started drum
ming when he was two and has
had no formal training. The
film transfer house in Boston
damaged the film and his cast
of nine local actors and crew
had to re-shoot most of the
movie a year and a half after the
initial completion.
“It cost c{)osc to $5,000 more
in film an(;i new transfer
, “ said Forbes.
Chgf)grf)ses preserved some of the
original footage but, many
things had changed from the
tume the film was first started
sO, he had to vhsferk around con
tinuity issues like new hairstyles
an aging cast and a change in
the seasons.
“I refused to ?:;it’ tl'sali'd the
writer\director. | kept thinki
ofalloft}'nesacnfg'c&onfkl:}ll%
unpaid cast and crew.”
» hopes to be back in full
g%zadorfiy the end of June
2005.
Mitchell, who joined the
New York City Bal{et in 1956,
becoming a soloist three years
later, was the first black princi
pal dancer of a major company,
dancing with the comga.ny for
20 years. He founded the
Harlem Dance Theatre as a
school in 1968. In 1981, the
dance theatre was the first black
ballet company to have a season
at Covent (,Yaxden, London.
Famous dancers Stephanie Bax
ter, Virginia Johnson, Eddie
Shellman, Mel Tomlinson,
Donald Williams, and Alicia
Graf have all been part of the
company.
“It has provided a ll.lalace for
artistic expression for hundreds
of black dancers where they
might not get it — especially in
the world of ballet because
today, opportunities for black
ballet dancers are still very lim
ited,” says A. Peter lgailey,
zt;)uthor (})ltyS Refuedkazntzbm,chdme auto
i of dance cho -
pl?cgrra 1‘8“)1,1 Ailey and co—au’rior
of Harlem Today: A Cultural
and Visitors Guide, which fea
tures Mitchell. “If you list the
top black dance companies in
the world, the Dance Theatre
fif Harlem would be on that
t.
But the company is not a
stranger to hard grannes. In 1997,
financial difficulties resulted in
a strike, and subsequent finan
cial belt-tightening. Mitchell
has been cnticizcdnfor &urport—
edly micro-managing the com
AUGUSTA FOCUS
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Above left, Russell Joel Brown looks on as nine-year old Kahlil Brown wows the crowd with a drum solo.
Above right, Christopher Wilson is an accomplished cello player who will now try his hand at ballet and
African dance thanks to a scholarship offered by Brown through funds raised by his “Mozart to Motown”
musicals.
scholarship will allow Khalil to
receive formal lessons.
“It makes me feel Sg:)od
Khalil said about his scholar-
S(l;l(l)% “It makes mcgibfetlieve dl\at
ve me a to pla
b i
Another scholarship recirshi
ent, 10-year old Christopher
Wilson will take African dance
The coming of age film
examines the lives of threedl};}lgi’x
school students who take differ
ent paths in their adult lives
proof that the road from high
school does not always carry
you where you want to go.
Forbes takes observations
from his own high school expe
riences at Glynn Academy in
Brunswick, G);nonrgia.
Inspiration for the characters
came dlflr:gmbrl]umem(lis wtrxlrflc&s
including siblings and an influ
ential high schu}o%Sl teacher.
“She was just one of the
teachers you remember 40
years after vl;:fih school.”
Forbes will hold a “Holly
wood-like” premiere for cast
members and their families,
pany.
“It’s a tough period. It’s a peri
od where Mr. Mitchell is doing,
not just soul-searching, buta lot
of things are happening. This
year was his 70th birthday. It’s
the 35th anniversary of the
company,” Zeisler says.
Mitchell told the Amsterdam
News in September that the
company’s board of directors,
now disbanded, was simply not
able to give the company the
support it needed and he is now
developing a “long term strate
gic plan, a business plan, and a
succession plan.”
While the theatre continues
on hiatus, the company plans
to re-open the school within a
month with the assistance of
the Kennedy Center for Per
forming Arts in Washington,
D.C.,, Zeisler says. She says
Mitchell has gained key advi
sors such as Kennedy Center
President Michael Kaiser. A
new executive team will soon
be in place, she says.
“While the company is on
hiatus I'm going to erase the
deficit,” Mitchell told the Ams
terdam News. Donations can
be sent directly to the company
at 466 W. 152nd Street New
York, N.Y. 10031.
Says Zeisler, “Whether you
send a check for a dollar or a
hundred dollars, it is all of use.”
and ballet lessons. It a track
not so dissimilar from the one
Brown took on his way to
Broadway performances and
now as the producer and direc
tor of the musical series, Mozart
T ik ey i
its pretty
because one dap;' it_might be
me,” said Wilson of the com
along with VlP’s on First Friday
December 3 at 6:30 p.m. at
Fort Discovery.
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parison to Brown.
“The arts will flourish wher
evezis there is talent, b,}xtßtalent
n ur support,” Brown
concluc)i’(e)d. 5
A Mozart to Motown Christ
mas will be held on Saturday,
Nov. 27 at the Imperial The
atre on Broad Streert.
The public is invited to see
any of four additional showings
beginning at 9 p.m. that night.
November 18, 2004
Brown says this will be the
last presentation of the
musical in Augusta. He plans
to take the show on the road
to surrounding cities in the
region in 2005. Tickets for
this finale performance are
available online at www.
imperialtheatre.com or by
There is no charge for tickets,
although donations will be
accepted to defray costs.
1B