EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S LETTER

June 11, 2010

Dear Participants, Patrons, Friends:

For almost twenty years of its 48-year history CEC ArtsLink has been steadfast in its dedication to engaging artists in the exchange of ideas and practices. These creative conversations help defy stereotypes, overcome discord, and shape our communal and private experiences. As Executive Director, I often must frankly weigh the value of our efforts, and quantify their results. Here are some figures:

One of our programs, ArtsLink Awards, has supported 570 US artists and arts organizations to work with 516 of their peers from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia since the program’s inception in 1993. The Open World Cultural Leaders program brought 154 artists from Russia to the US over six years, sharing performances, concerts, screenings and readings with audiences of many thousands in communities across the country. The VisArt program — with its focus on Russia and Central Asia — has engaged nearly 250 arts professionals in creative collaborations and exchanges of ideas in the last six years.

But these numbers don’t do justice to the reality of our work. The creativity, generosity, and social engagement of our productions and projects bring art into the daily life of unexpected communities. As I write this, US filmmaker Anna Gaskell and choreographer Jessica Sand prepare an experimental film and dance performance with children at the Special School in Podgorki, Poland; Chico MacMurtrie is teaching creative robotics to youth in Skopje, Macedonia; and Roger Colombik is at work on a public art project in Yerevan, Armenia that examines the displacement of families as a result of urban development.  Closer to home, Kyrgyz musicians Kambar Kalendarov and Kutmanaaly Sultanbekov will bring their blend of music on traditional instruments to Bang on a Can’s Summer Festival at the World Financial Center in New York, and the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC will include Russian choreographers Kseniya Belenkova, Tatiana Domovidova, Pavel Kurov, and Natalia Lisina — all with our support.

The entire staff and board are proud that two new important institutional funders joined our supporters in 2010 — The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Renova Group of Companies. And I am especially pleased to welcome the members who joined our board this year: Elizabeth C. Behnke, Kim A. Bingham, Charlotte Cohen, and Monika Dillon. We appreciate the confidence their endorsement conveys and sincerely hope you will add your support to theirs by making a contribution to CEC ArtsLink at this time.

Best regards,

Fritzie Brown
Executive Director