Chamber without walls: "Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen"
Concertgoers from around the state enjoy chamber music at the Chazen Museum of Art and through broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio. Photo by UW-Madison University Communications
Chamber music, by definition, is created for performance in a small room before an audience of limited size. Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) has spent more than two decades changing that definition by increasing the size of the audience via the statewide network. The program now called "Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen" provides chamber music to nearly 7,000 listeners. The concerts are broadcast from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chazen Museum of Art, 12:30 Ð 2 p.m. Sundays, from September through mid-May.
WPR Music Director Vicki Nonn chooses Wisconsin musicians, including faculty from the UW campuses, for the series. Audiences are treated to a wide variety of periods and styles of classical music. A recent presentation of 20th-century works for winds and percussion was followed the next Sunday by piano works of Mozart and Schubert. Through WPR's biennial Neale-Silva Young Artists' Competition, the next generation of Wisconsin musicians is brought to the public's attention.
Broadcasts of the Chazen concerts offer a unique experience: the intimacy and excitement of live chamber music in a "chamber" encom-passing all of Wisconsin. — Lori Skelton
For more information: WPR Classical Music Host Lori Skelton, skelton@wpr.org, (608) 263-5653; wpr.org/sal
ARTS BUILD teaches artists to succeed in business
Recognizing that arts businesses represent a growing sector of the economy of southwest Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Office of Continuing Education created ARTS BUILD to provide intensive assistance to art-related business owners and entrepreneurs in eight southwest Wisconsin counties.
This sterling silver hairpin by Karen L. Davidson of Cabochon Gems & Designs in Spring Green is pictured in the ARTS BUILD Directory at www.uwplatt.edu/cont_ed/artsbuild
Funded initially by a University of Wisconsin Continuing EDvantage grant from University of Wisconsin-Extension, ARTS BUILD connected with 200 artists in eight regional communities spanning seven Wisconsin counties. The first phase of the project in March 2004 assessed the professional needs of artists living and working in southwest Wisconsin. The second phase of the project offered workshops, round-table discussions, mentoring and networking opportunities. By summer 2005, 26 classes, workshops and other activities served more than 330 participants, and a mentoring project paired 19 new artists with 11 experienced artist-mentors in early 2005.
Nona Hyytinen from Mineral Point credits ARTS BUILD with helping her jumpstart her business, sharpen her marketing skills, and meet supportive associates in the field. "I wasn't aware that there were so many — even any — free resources to help artists become professional business people," she says.
"Specific information which I found valuable concerned developing a portfolio, scoping out galleries, approaching galleries, writing an artist's statement, having a monthly plan and a yearly plan, the need for a Web site, keeping minute track of expenses, and how to price work." Hyytinen adds, "Many of the suggestions I have already put in practice and look forward to following up on others."
ARTS BUILD was awarded additional UW-Extension funding through 2006 for the ARTS BUILD SmART Communities project to broaden its economic impact in the area. — Amy Pikalek
For more information: ARTS BUILD Coordinator Heidi Dyas-McBeth, dyasmc@uwplatt.edu, (608) 342-1314; www.uwplatt.edu/cont_ed/artsbuild