ISSUE Project Room and the Board of Directors invite you to join us on Wednesday, October 17th, 2018 for our Annual Gala.
Celebrating the trajectory of experimental performance in Brooklyn, and the Borough as a center for innovation in the arts, ISSUE Project Room’s 2018 Gala reflects the Organization’s ongoing role as a leading cultural incubator. In this spirit, ISSUE continues to bring unique and cutting-edge performances to audiences in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn and throughout NYC.
The evening honors pioneering and distinguished composer Alvin Lucier, introduced by fellow luminary Meredith Monk; Regina Myer, President of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership; and Jeanne Lutfy, ISSUE Board Chair and NYC Landmarks Preservation Commissioner. The Gala supports the Organization as an essential artistic voice in Brooklyn, New York and within the international experimental arts community.
We welcome our community to ISSUE’s historic Downtown Brooklyn theater located at 22 Boerum Place for a special evening, that will include a cocktail reception, a seated three-course dinner, and multidisciplinary performances in celebration of the honorees contributions to the field of experimental art and significant impact on ISSUE through their advocacy and support.
The recognition of Alvin Lucier as ISSUE's 2018 artistic honoree follows a history of extraordinary performances, most recently stagings of new and historical works in November, 2017 and a retrospective of the Sonic Arts Union in July, 2018, both at ISSUE. The evening features performances by friends and colleagues including Yo La Tengo with 2018 Artists-In-Residence Will Rawls & Julia Santoli; Oren Ambarchi, Bernhard Reitbrock, Trevor Saint; plus Special Guests. Archival works by Lucier & Robert Wilson and Viola Farber Dance Company will also be presented. Lucier has inspired many across the spectrum of ISSUE’s community and remains a vital pioneer whose methods resonate timelessly.
Since the 1950s, Alvin Lucier has deeply influenced the culture of experimental music and the sonic arts. Lucier’s delicate and lyrical compositional legacy shows an enduring engagement with contextual listening and the elusive characteristics of how acoustic mechanics are rediscovered, considered, and performed. Lucier has pioneered many areas of music composition and performance, including the notation of performers' physical gestures, the use of brain waves in live performance, the generation of visual imagery by sound in vibrating media, and the evocation of room acoustics for musical purposes. A vital figure within experimental music, Alvin Lucier's work highlights a general theory of sound, one suggestive of our entangled perceptual position in the sonicworld, as well as our attempts to hear the yet-to-be heard.
Regina Myer leads the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, a not-for-profit local development corporation, as President and advocates for the community's as an emerging center for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Ms. Myer was previously President of Brooklyn Bridge Park, where she led the transformation of a formerly industrial waterfront stretching 1.3 miles along the East River into an 85-acre civic space for all New Yorkers. Brooklyn Bridge Park represents one of the most significant public investments in NYC of the 21st century. Under her leadership, the Park received numerous awards from organizations such as the Municipal Art Society, American Institute of Architects and the American Planning Association. From 2006- 2007, Ms. Myer served as senior vice president for planning and design at the Hudson Yards Development Corporation. Prior to that, she was the Brooklyn Borough Director for the New York City Planning Department, where she directed the comprehensive redevelopment for two miles of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg waterfront, the rezoning of Downtown Brooklyn for high density office and residential space, and numerous other neighborhood rezoning efforts.
NYC Landmarks Preservation Board Commissioner and Chair of ISSUE’s Board of Directors Jeanne Lutfy has epitomized advocacy for ISSUE through her passionate activism of Brooklyn’s cultural and socio-economic community. Jeanne is a native New Yorker whose career spans the public, private and non-profit sectors, including deep experience in public and private real estate development, marketing and design. Throughout her career, she has actively engaged in efforts to enhance the physical, economic and cultural landscape of New York City. As Commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Jeanne has tapped into her professional expertise, knowledge of the city’s neighborhoods, an understanding of government, and her love of design and architecture to help serve NYC's community. Jeanne’s enthusiasm for the experimental art community and leadership as Board Chair has championed ISSUE’s mission to support projects by diverse emerging and established artists that expand the boundaries of art and stimulate critical dialogue about art and culture in the broader community. Additionally, she has guided the capital renovation of ISSUE’s historic McKim Mead & White-designed performance space in Downtown Brooklyn, which has helped facilitate an increased awareness of our community of under-recognized artists.
If you are interested in participating or contributing to ISSUE's 2018 gala celebration please contact:
Patrick Grenier, Development Director
(718) 330-0313 x5 or patrick@issueprojectroom.org
Goods and services associated with the Gala are $250 per ticket.
The remainder is recognized as a tax-deductible contribution to ISSUE Project Room.
Please consider making a fully-tax-deductible donation in support of ISSUE and the 2018 Gala honorees.
