Updates
Technology has been at the forefront of our work this month at Tattnall Square Center for the Arts. Members of the Advisory Board who represent dance, spoken word, film, fine art, theatre, and music met with Center Director-to-be, Scot Mann, professionals from Mercer’s physical plant and College of Liberal Arts and the firm selected to implement technology into the Center.

A challenge of sharing one space that will accommodate performing arts, presentation, and exhibition is to make it ultimately adaptable and to find opportunities where technology may be responsive to serve different configurations for different events. An example is sound systems. Dance performances, spoken word performances, film screenings and art exhibitions may require music playback while theatre and spoken word require microphones for performers. Speakers must be installed to work well with both scenarios.

The conversation began much like a brainstorm where we identified the technical needs of each group. While discussion has begun about collaboration between arts groups and disciplines, this talk of sharing equipment facilitated new realizations about what the arts disciplines have in common, how they differ, and where there are opportunities to use one arts discipline to enhance the other. Light bulbs went off for several groups as they realized how collaborations might move beyond economy of scale and actually facilitate exciting new art.

Scene from "Tartuffe"

Recent Wins
Mercer Theatre—which will be the anchor organization of Tattnall Square Center for the Arts—opened its 2013-2014 season with Moliere’s classic comedy, “Tartuffe,” which played to great critical and popular acclaim. The theatre’s season, which includes Vladimir Volkoff’s “Love Kills,” Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” and Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” is attracting attention and building new audiences. These new theatregoers will follow Mercer Theatre to its new home and help to fill the larger space.

Insight/Provocation
By taking a step back from more esoteric discussions of artistry and collaboration and focusing on the technical needs that might be shared, the possibilities for collaboration between organizations really started to gain energy and momentum. As artists we naturally begin nearly every new venture first with focus on our creativity. However, stepping back and taking the approach of collaborating on technical equipment may actually elevate our creativity by provoking thought about questions of “how” instead of “what.”