Meeting tomorrow to decide fate of Mitby Theater

Tomorrow night at 5:30 pm there will be a meeting in the Board Room at MATC’s Truax Campus. The board will be voting on a proposed long range facilities plan that replaces the Mitby theater with a new entryway and welcome center.

At the February board meeting public opposition to the plan led to the board asking consulting firm JJR to look at other options. At this point it appears no other options are still being considered.

Current MATC leaders obviously do not feel the same obligation to the arts as their predecessors. The issue for the community and the state is whether this change in course is acceptable.

You can learn more about the proposed changes at this Capitol Times article with comments.  Madison.com also has a thread with arguments for and against the destruction of the Mitby Theater. I think the strongest argument against the Mitby Theater destruction is it doesn’t add additional educational capabilities. 

Nonetheless, the MATC brass seem very intent on eliminating the Mitby Theater despite opposition at the February board meeting and the petition against it. If the arts community really cares about this they are going to need to get organized soon.

INFORMATIONAL COMMUNITY SESSIONS ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FINE ARTS TASK FORCE

Here is an important opportunity for you to have an impact on music education in our schools.

The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) will be presenting the recommendations of its board-appointed Fine Arts Task Force, and seeking feedback and discussion on those recommendations, at two informational meetings in early March:

* Tuesday, 3/10/09, 6:00-8:00 PM, Memorial High School (in the school’s “Wisconsin Neighborhood Center”); and

* Thursday, 3/12/09, 6:00-8:00 PM, La Follette High School (in the school’s Library Media Center).

The task force’s recommendations identify ways that the district can improve its Fine Arts program and enhance learning opportunities in the arts for its students in all grades, K-12.  The complete Task Force Report, and an Executive Summary, can be found on the district’s website at http.//www.madison.k12.wi.us/boe/finearts/.  Questions/comments can also be directed to the district’s Fine Arts Coordinator, Julie Palkowski, at jpalkowski@madison.k12.wi.us.

Petition to save Mitby disappears

Sometime yesterday morning the petition to save the Mitby Theater disappeared from the petition site. It’s been confirmed by a reliable source that employees of Ward Brodt started the petition, and apparently took it down now that MATC is looking at other options.

It’s too bad because the petition was a focal point for mobilizing support for the theater.  Many signatures were added in the last few days (there were around 175 in the end) and many more would have been added. These situations need constant pressure until a final decision is made and now some momentum has been lost. For now, Madison Jazz will continue to follow the story and keep you informed.

Help save MATC’s Mitby Theater

Yesterday’s Wisconsin State Journal has another article about MATC’s plans to tear down the Mitby theater.

MATC officials have changed their mind about discontinuing applied and fine arts at the Truax campus, but they are still pressing forward with plans to tear down the 1000 seat Mitby theater and replace it  with a welcome center. Apparently the plans to centralize arts courses at the downtown MATC campus were scrapped after pressure from students that want to take art courses while studying in other fields. Now we need to turn up the pressure and kill this foolish idea to tear down a perfectly good theater. Make sure to sign the petition.

According to Jeff Peronto, MATC’s 100th anniversary is coming up in a few years and the new MATC president, Betsy Barhorst, wants to change the image of the institution by creating a welcome center, an all glassed-in atrium  that would serve as a more impressive entrance and area to sign up for classes. In order to put this where she envisions it, the Mitby theater has to go. Here’s the other crazy part, Jeff says estimates are all over the place but the minimum cost is expected to be 40 to 50 million dollars of public money!

MATC Mitby Theater to be demolished?

Today’s Wisconsin State Journal  has an article about MATC’s new 10 year master facilities master plan. The college wants to change the entrance to the Truax campus and create a clear path once inside. The article also  states,

Some of the arts programs at Truax, like studio and applied arts, hospitality and culinary arts, theater, and music, could potentially move Downtown to create a hub for arts. What that would mean for Mitby Theater on the Truax campus isn’t clear, Price said.

According to conversations I had with Jeff Peronto a few weeks ago the college administrators are seriously considering creating a grand atrium-like entrance to the Truax campus where the beautiful 1000 seat Mitby theater now stands. The Mitby theatre would be destroyed to make this happen. A smaller  250 seat theater would be added to the downtown campus in its place.

Be an elephant – Patrick Breiner

I recently spent about 2 months on the East Coast playing music, crashing on couches, and drinking excessive amounts of Scotch (after experiencing Madison I couldn’t bring myself to pay $7 for a mediocre imported beer). 

Toward the end of my visit a good friend and exceptional guitar player, Ben, asked to meet for lunch at Corner Bistro – one of New York’s last remaining genuine beer/burger joints. A hole-in-the wall which has been un”improved” despite its massive popularity and massive amounts of press. An enormous, juicy Bistro Burger with the works will run you about $6.50 and a mug of McSorley’s finest will cost you $2.50. Finally. A beer in NYC worth drinking. In short, I couldn’t deny Ben’s request.

We met around 1:30. We gorged. We imbibed. We fretted over the structural integrity of our towers of beefy cheesy bacony goodness. 

Somewhere between noisy mouthfuls of beef and beer we got to talking. How’s the family? How did things pan out with that girl at Zebulon the other night? The conversation turned to music and Ben brought up the subject of damage. He mentioned a band that he’s shared bills with in the past, but he just couldn’t relate to the guys when it came time to hang. He said, “They’ve got no damage!”

I found it strange that Ben was sharing this with me. I never thought of myself as having “damage.” Especially when compared to Ben. And though he never said the words, “Pat. You’re damaged goods,” the mere fact that he was sharing this with me implied, shockingly, that he thought I possessed this “important” quality.

Overture to Cut Jobs – For Real

The timing is odd. Thursday morning the Overture Center announced it will cut 15 jobs and extensive programming. Eight days earlier Madison Jazz carried a story by Ray Rideout claiming Overture was cutting classical music and remodeling into a giant sports bar. How much does Ray know? His story was a spoof wasn’t it?

Yes it was. Ray was simply pointing out how hard it is to imagine classical musicians being treated in the same manner as jazz musicians. Crazy as it sounds, someone actually thought his outlandish tale might be true.  Jonathan Zarov, the Overture publicist had to set things straight.

The Madison Symphony Orchestra is doing well and Overture will not become a sports bar, but it appears Overture isn’t doing that well. I can’t figure it out. How can so many suburban communities find the money to build and support their own elaborate arts complexes, yet enlightened, culturally aware, and much larger Madison is struggling?

Playing For Change, Peace Through Music

 Jane Reynolds sent in this link to a Bill Moyers piece on a remarkable documentary about the transformative power of music. This story is a powerful example of music as a source of connection. The documentary is called, “Playing for Change, Peace Through Music.” The focus is not jazz specificly, but as Jane says, “this is one of the most inspiring musical stories I’ve ever seen.” I have to agree with her; it left a lump in my throat. 

Click on the video about “Music for Change” and enjoy….

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10242008/profile2