My thoughts for this month go in so many directions. I sat in on our AcroBAX workshop and I am stunned by how far they’ve come and how skilled they are. Kudos to these students and their teacher Helen Tocci. Faculty member Jules Skloot took me back to when I taught the Boy’s Movement class when she came into my office thrilled with the boys who are registered this trimester. Her delight with their concentration, enthusiasm and willingness made my day! I am also in the midst of our annual Artist in Residence Festival. New work, on its way, in our theater. I feel lucky to be a part of it. This time of year is a clash. Half way through the year’s residency with all the plans for next year pushing us ahead. Speaking of which, our newest artist opportunity, the PARENT/CHOREOGRAPHER SPACE GRANT, has gotten a huge response from all over the country… clearly an idea that matched a pressing AND GROWING NEED!

Hope I see you soon!

This is BAX’s 21^st season. There’s always a start, and it’s always new and somewhat surprising. This year was no exception. Our space grantees, Xan Burley/Alex Springer, Lee Sunday Evans and Katy Pyle presented (to sold out shows) developing works the first weekend of December. These artists and our 2011/12 resident artists represent most of our season. They are developing dance and theater works using BAX as their artistic home.

The way artists participate is interesting to me. Last season, Dean Moss curated the performers from his Nameless Forest. This season, Nameless Forest performer Kacie Chang will be teaching INVESTIGATING PERFORMANCE. Dean says about Kacie: “Sometimes there’s a someone who comes into your process who works as a catalyst. Kacie Chang is that for me and my work. She understands my intentions and manifests them in a way that pushes the work forward. For more than 15 years we have worked together to develop the performance tools that form the basis of my recent collaborations. Having helped create them, she knows them inside out. Someone said, ‘Kacie’s your doppelganger on stage.’ I think, frankly, she’s much better than that.”

One relationship begets another. AIR Dan Fishback is curating the students who will apply for Needing It: Performance in the Queer Community Tradition. Former AIRs Victoria Libertore and Faye Driscoll are curating. These are the kinds of relationships that foster a community of artists and audiences. So, “What’s THEIR BAX? ” It’s a home, it’s a venue, it’s a place of investigation and of support. I’m glad we live here together.

I really like OPEN STUDIO. This is the third November that the BAX Artists-in-Residence (AIR) open their studio doors to each other, to our staff, to the public to see what’s going on right now with the works they’re creating. Then we talk and ask questions. In one Open Studio we also ate donuts. What I like best is having few expectations and feeling sponge like as I watch and listen.

This week I got to see brand new dance that Jillian Pena made. I got to hear Matthew Olmos talk about the characters in his new play and Morgan Gould ask us questions about how she’s shaping it as a director. Levi Gonzalez unveiled his experimenting with dancer and director with the stunning Natalie Green. Catharine Dill along with Sharla Meese drew us into a mystery of personal psychology and mystery. Mariangela Lopez and luciana achugar both introduced new work that surprised and intrigued. Audience responses were generous, insightful, questioning and at moments provoking.

This is one of three showings in the AIR year and it is a critical stage of development. What it reveals often influences the development of new work. Do you think this is important?
I’d love to hear from you.

BAX has worked in partnership with Brooklyn public schools to provide dance & theater residencies since our founding in 1991. As a former teaching/artist, arts provider and a parent of two – I have been part of an important conversation about the profound lack of equity & access in the arts that exists school to school. I have worked hard as an individual and representing BAX to promote a fair allocation of resources.

In today’s climate these resources are even scarcer and the inequity even more obvious. Parent groups from some public schools are able to raise large amounts of money that not only support the BAX programs, but science labs, trips, supplies – The larger issue here is what WE ARE spending our money on as a society and what WE ARE NOT. Who’s making money and who is doing without? One of the slogans at recent demonstrations at Wall Street is “we are the 99%”. Even the schools that are able to raise money are part of that 99%. It should not be necessary for parents to raise money for what should be basic. Our children should expect to have dance, theater, art, music and high standards of academic learning, physical education, and enough supplies that parents are not asked to provide toilet paper from home!

This approach to school funding, in which the barest functioning of the school is the parents’ responsibility rather than a right bestowed on all children by the public, is dangerous and will only get more so. BAX’s dance & theater residencies receive state, city, foundation and corporate support – but the schools who have the ability to raise money in large sums have deeper, longer, more developed programs. In one school the entire program was cut due to lack of funds (reinstated this year, at least in part). In lower income schools a successful fundraiser brings in $1,000 as opposed to tens of thousands of dollars raised by PTA’s with wealthier families.

But this fight is not between schools or between families. It is not about which school has enough printer paper or a working copy machine. It is about all families advocating in the loudest and clearest ways to make sure that all children receive the kind of education that we want for them. Class size, academics, arts, physical education, good food, after school – these are not entitlements. These policies will not be changed by listening to legislators rail about teacher accountability and asking us trust the free market to fix these unfair policies. Perhaps these smaller and larger dialogues will move us to a larger and more profound demand for EQUALITY AND FAIRNESS. We are committed to do our part.

We often talk about BAX as a home. This summer I sat down with intern Nasrene Haj and that’s the word she kept using for what she has at BAX and what she has sought and compared her experiences to since she graduated in 2007. So what is this home and why is it important?

An artistic home can mean a center whose aesthetic values are shared by the people who make new dances or plays or the audiences who come to see them. In a series of snapshots, I want to describe to you a home based on a different kind of value. It is a home for small and large successes but also wrong directions, mistakes, starting over. Home to try something new or do it in a different way.

SNAPSHOTS

Board of Directors meeting September 2011, AIR Dan Fishback performs a short excerpt from his new play THIRTYNOTHING. A parent of a BAX sudent, who calls BAX home, gets a glimpse of the home that has supported and nurtured this new work.

Third floor accidental meeting between a space grant artist, a graduate, and a BAX parent who is also a choreographer. What are you working on? Excitement about the new floor in studio C. “It’s my favorite studio” shared by three different family members.

My walk home down Sixth Avenue last week. I stop to say hello to a BAX student who is a member of BAXco. How was the start of school I ask – “fine… but I can’t wait until MY COMPANY (BAXco) starts rehearsals again. I feel so ready.” HOME.

My meeting with two lesbian lawyers to plan BAX’s free workshop in October to discuss the impact of New York’s SAME SEX MARRIAGE legislation. After an hour of discussion about framing the conversation to include the impact to both couples who have been deeply committed for many decades without the legislation, younger couples and a wide range of economic, political and practical implications, we just arrive at the point of our conversation — we are talking about LOVE.

All of these snapshots and many more are part of a home called BAX.

The other day I was walking down Sixth Avenue and ran into Chris Carlson. Both of Chris’ (and Corinne’s) kids studied at BAX and Chris has remained involved through a group of artists/tradespeople who show their artwork here regularly. He asked if I was going to retire any time soon. I told him that I still look forward to going to work each day and that everyone can’t say that. I told him that this summer, due to Maya Visco’s (BAX Education Director) maternity leave, I had a lot more interaction with kids and summer staff and that I had really enjoyed it.

MY BAX showed up later that week in a conversation with BAX graduate and organization-wide summer intern, Nasrene Haj. She was asking me about our mission statement, and with her I reflected on how we have considered changing it from time to time as our programs grew and our scope widened. But itremains as true as it was in 1991: To provide a nurturing, year-round, performance, rehearsal and educational venue in Brooklyn that encourages artistic risk-taking and stimulates dialogue among diverse constituencies.

MY BAX includes attending a performance of former BAX Artist-in-Residence Victoria Libertore at Dixon Place with my friend and BAX Board member Steve Flax who brought a friend of his. I really love following artists over a long period of time and sharing them with others. With Steve I get an enthusiastic partner who also loves Vic’s work and wants to share it too!

MY BAX includes my colleagues, our resident artists, our students, our Board, our families, our audiences. That’s what my day looks like, and that’s what MY BAX is.

In future postings, I am going to talk about how different parts of this organization grew, what our dreams for the future are, and open this conversation to a larger group of people who will answer for themselves WHAT’S MY BAX?