PAST PROJECTS IN CENTRAL ASIA

Contemporary Visual Arts | Contemporary Music | Management in the Arts

Contemporary Visual Arts

June 2008
Public art curator Kendal Henry (New York, NY) conducted a workshop at the international public art symposium in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for artists from the countries of the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan and Turkey.

2005 to 2007
CEC ArtsLink partnered with the Vermont Studio Center to bring visual artists from Central Asia to the US for month-long residencies. The residencies provided the artists with a supportive environment to create new work, forge relationships with US peers and interact with members of the local community.

Vermont Studio Center Alumni
2007
Abilsait Atabekov (Kazakhstan)
Vyacheslav Akhunov (Uzbekistan)
Kulnar Akmatova (Kyrgyzstan)

2006
Aigerim Issabekova (Kazakhstan)
Ernes Kurtveliev (Uzbekistan)
Talant Ogobaev (Kyrgyzstan)
Adis Seitaliev (Kyrgyzstan)
Oxana Shatalova (Kazakhstan)

2005
Kerimbek Akmatov (Kyrgyzstan)
Assel Alpysbaeva (Kazakhstan)
Shaarbek Amankul (Kyrgyzstan)
Natalia Dyu (Kazakhstan)
Yerbossyn Meldibekov (Kazakhstan)
Alisher Primkulov (Tajikistan)

June 2007
US public art curator Kendal Henry and artist Ji Lee traveled to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and Almaty, Kazakhstan to conduct lectures and workshops for artists, city administrators and curators. In Bishkek, they conducted an intensive 10-day workshop for artists and the local arts collective City of Artists, created collaborative public art pieces and galvanized local efforts to make the local arts scene more global. (cecartslinkrussia.blogspot.com)

Summer 2005
A group of established US artists – Maureen Connor, video artist and sculptor (New York, NY); Tony Feher, sculptor (New York, NY); Lisa Kereszi, photographer (New York, NY); and Simon Leung, installationist (Los Angeles, CA) – gave public lectures and workshops for artists in Almaty, Kazakhstan and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

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Contemprary Music

2005 to 2009
Bang on a Can Summer Institute Alumni
2009
Kambar Kalendarov (Kyrgyzstan
Kutmanaaly Sultanbekov (Kyrgyzstan)
Feruza Ochilova (Uzbekistan)

2007
Farruh Akramov (Uzbekistan) – composer

2006
Husniddin Atoev (Uzbekistan) – stringed rubob and uod, and Uzbek mouth organ, the chang-qobuz
Abror Mansurov (Uzbekistan) – Uzbek and European percussion instruments

2005
Sharofiddin Akhrorov (Uzbekistan) – traditional Uzbek and European percussion instruments
Shavkat Matyakulov (Uzbekistan) – Uzbek flutes, the sunray and kornay
Jakhongir Shukurov (Uzbekistan) – composer

November 2007
Bang on a Can musicians – Robert Black, Evan Zyporyn, David Cossin, Mark Stewart and Kenny Savelson – performed and conducted master classes in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

June 2007
MASHRIQ, a new music ensemble from Uzbekistan, traveled to New York to perform at Bang on a Can’s annual live Marathon concert. Founded in 2002, MASHRIQ combines traditional Uzbek folk melodies with contemporary music from around the world. While in New York, they played a concert of “Uzbek Bluegrass” with young US musicians from BoaC’s Summer Institute.

2005
Bang on a Can musicians – Robert Black, David Cosin, Kenny Savelson, Mark Stewart, Phillipa Thompson and Evan Ziporyn – traveled to Tashkent, Uzbekistan and Almaty, Kyrgyzstan. A highlight of the trip was a joint performance that capped off a day-long workshop in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Led by Bang on a Can musicians, 20 young seminar attendees joined in a performance of “In C,” a composition by presenter Terry Riley. In Bishkek, students at the seminar were thrilled to learn that BoaC’s musical style, which local organizers had billed simply as “jazz”, is something altogether different from the classical jazz that they were familiar with.

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Management in the Arts

Summer 2006
A group of US curators and arts professionals traveled to Central Asia and presented a series of workshops for artists in Almaty, Kazakhstan and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The presenters were Todd Bishop, Director of Exhibition Funding of the Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY); Charlotte Cohen, Regional Fine Arts Manager of US General Services Administration (New York, NY); Christian Haye, Director of The Project (New York, NY); Gordon Knox, Director of Montalvo Residency Program (Saratoga, CA); Trevor Smith, Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York, NY).

Spring 2005
CEC ArtsLink organized a series of seminars on Arts Festival management, bringing US festival directors Ruth Bradley, Director of Athens International Film Festival (Athens, OH), and Margaret Lawrence, Director of Programming at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH), to Central Asia for 10 days. Following one seminar, local coordinator Elena Mikhailova remarked that “the seminar really helped to remind us why we began this work in the first place… the most important outcome of the seminar is that it forced the participants to think about developing joint efforts between [arts organizations] and to allow interaction and mutual cooperation to become the norm.”

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Funding for all CEC ArtsLink Central Asian activities in 2005 and 2006 was secured through the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and by CEC ArtsLink’s Board of Directors. In 2007 the programs were financed by the Kettering Family Foundation and individual supporters.