ASU GAMMAGE building a new kind of village
PHOTO BY RSP ARCHITECTS
By Lisa Van Loo
F
lexibility is a necessity in show business, at least according to Colleen JenningsRoggensack, ASU vice president of cultural affairs and executive director of ASU Gammage.
“We find we are reaching thousands and thousands of people,” Jennings-Roggensack says. “It’s enabled us to get ahold of people we traditionally couldn’t have.”
As a presenter, on any given day she could book an artist who may show up late, or not at all, because things happen. So, when COVID-19 hit, it ushered in a new moment of extended fluidity, challenging her and her team to think differently.
Digital Connections brings the arts in several ways. Lunch Time Talks is a miniseries through ASU Gammage’s Facebook Live feature, which provides the viewer opportunities to ask questions of theater and art professionals. ASU Gammage also streams free 30-minute master classes that combine music, dance, theater and visual arts with academic subjects taught by artists from The Molly Blank Fund Teaching Artists Program who have been trained in the Kennedy Center arts integration method. ASU Kerr presents BEAMS – a live music series every Thursday night that highlights local artists — and GATHER — live online storytelling events. ASU Gammage is committed to highlighting diverse arts such as comedian, writer, and performance artist Kristina Wong and the Grammy® Award winning East LA Chicana rock group, Quetzal.
“Everything is always about the pivot,” she says. “It’s how we live our lives.” Since the beginning of this new era of social distancing, ASU Gammage and ASU Kerr Cultural Center have found new ways to deliver a diverse bill of programming using digital platforms that have the ability to reach their well-nurtured audiences and new audience members who haven’t yet made it out to the theaters for live performances.
ON STAGE 2020–2021 |
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