suzannamars

I attended the City Commission/CRA meeting today at City Hall along with David Ballard. The upshot of the meeting is that following the CRA presentation and citizen comments, the CRA did not receive approval to go design phase of Plaza redevelopment. The CRA had made no alterations to the proposal it submitted to DRAB last week. In the presentation, the CRA did make repeat acknowledgment of the importance of music to the success of the Plaza, although these statements were qualified to... Read Full Story

Meeting Agenda December 21, 2009 3:00 PM City Hall 200 East University Avenue Gainesville, Florida 32601 City Hall Auditorium Community Redevelopment Agency Thomas Hawkins (Chair) Lauren Poe (Vice-Chair) Jack Donovan (Member) Pegeen Hanrahan (Member) Scherwin Henry (Member) Craig Lowe (Member) Jeanna Mastrodicasa (Member) Persons with disabilities who require assistance to participate in this meeting are requested to notify the Office of Equal Opportunity at 334-5051 or call the TDD phone... Read Full Story

Fellow Artists, Many of you have questions about CRA-proposed changes to the Gainesville Bo Diddley Community Plaza. The Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has just revealed a conceptual drawing for the Plaza that would eliminate the current stage and bandshell (including the bathrooms) as well as flatten the audience area levels and raise the whole Plaza to street level. For concerts and other performances they propose to “integrate platform for temporary bandstand into design... Read Full Story

We have Indian food. It took me five months from the time of my first inquiries to get Indian food, but as of yesterday an Indian vendor has signed the contract and will be preparing samosas, raita, chole (rice and chickpeas from North India), carrot halawa (a pudding), and mattar paneer. The food court now has four confirmed (and three pending) vendors. I keep getting asked how many people I expect to attend this event. "I don't know" is the most honest answer. It's the answer that plagued... Read Full Story

Last week, the festival director made a chilling pronouncement. We were winding down after a 14-hour day, enjoying mojitos after wrestling with the potential issues inherent with the food vendor that wanted to use our event as a platform to spread the word. "I don't think we've heard the last of Wacky," he said. Don't say that! I said. After all, we'd cut out that part of the program in which Wacky was going to appear. Wacky seemed to take this news without upset; I considered the situation... Read Full Story

Sometimes, I feel as if I am an overly ambitious eight-year-old who has decided to put on a show in the back yard. This show, part carnival and part celebration, is easily visualized. There's a carousel and a roller coaster and hundreds of colored pennants and a Tunnel of Love for the grown-ups. The midway is stocked with games of skill and chance and you can buy all the cotton candy you've ever wanted to eat. All your friends will be amazed at what you've put together and they will stand... Read Full Story

Losing the Mongolian dancer was the best thing that has happened in the past week. It was a lesson in turning a negative into a positive, and when we were done turning it around we realized it was liberating. Freed from worrying about the second dance program, we cut it, and in doing so we cut loose another dancer who had been nothing but problematic. Meantime, the new empty slot allowed us to consider other options. There are some unavoidable problems, however. Budget money must be spent by... Read Full Story

After sailing along for three weeks, the close of (everybody else's) work week brought us to the realization that the hard work was just beginning. There's a line from Satre, from Huis Clos (No Exit) that sums it up nicely: Hell is other people. Hell isn't an eternal damnation with singed skin. The Existentialists knew all about this. Dealing with other people--any other people--can be a chore. Remember this, though, when dealing with the difficult: It is up to you to make it work. I saw a... Read Full Story

RULE #1: Festival Coordinators Get Swine Flu (But They Still Work 12-Hour Days) Swine flu. That sounds pretty ugly and probably is a good reason to spend the day reading Plato's Republic. Instead, the to-do list for the day resembles nothing so much as a line of airplanes at rush hour, waiting to take off. Some of these planes have mechanical problems and must return to the gate, and one has an unruly passenger. The rest are going to fly, baby, fly. RULE: #2: Mind Over Swine I said that today... Read Full Story

Sometime over the past year, I went from being an unemployed new resident of Florida to a coordinator on a major regional festival. I was also a freelance writer with a growing pile of rejections and a wealth of anonymous writing credits shilling product on style Web sites. For the next 46 days, this blog will be a journey through the challenging world of festival coordination, right through to showtime on October 25, 2009. A festival is a show. It's theatre. It has a cast and a crew and... Read Full Story