Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1991 - 34

Triga ro Grear Brirain, bur overall I believe
we ser a new srandard of excellence for
design and for exhibir organizarion and
documenrarion.
The Deparrmenr of Thearre and
Dance and rhe Performing Arrs Cenrer ar
rhe niversiry of Texas in Ausrin assumed
rhe rask of building rhe exhibirs and subsequenrly moun ring rhem ar rhe
Quadrennial. This collaborarion was
again highly beneficial (in 1987 our collaboraring insrirurion was rhe orrh
Carolina School of rhe Am) as rraining
for srudenrs in rhe deparrmenr, and in
subsequenrly having rhem parricipare in
rhe evenrs in Prague. Such efficiency of
faciliries and producrion means allowed
rhe design ream/producer and rhe
Universiry of Texas ro benefir murually.
Sreve Parks, rechnical direcror of rhe
Performing Arrs Cenrer, served as exhibir
rechnical direcror and assembled and
direcred a very well-rrained professional
ream of srudenrs from rhe universiry.
As producer and projecr "shepherd" of
rhe roral Un ired Srares efforrs ar PQ'91, I
was forrunare ro have had such excellenr
projecr leaders whoenabled me ro concenrrare on logisrics and ro find rhe funding
(alrhough nor complerely successfully) for
nearly S 100,000 in real cash and rhar
amounr again in donared services, mareri-

als and supplies. Money for rhe arrs is
increasingly hard ro come by and we were
forrunare ro have received early on a challenge granr from rhe Samuel H. Scripps
Trusr. Samuel Scripps' conrriburions ro
borh PQ'87 and PQ'91 include nor only
his financial supporr bur ongoing inreresr
and judicious quesrioning rhar have
helped keep borh projecrs cenrered.
The mosr incredibly complex negoriarions secured addirional funds from rhree
programs of rhe arional Endowmenr for
rhe Arrs: rhe Inrernarional Program, rhe
Opera-Musical Thearre Program and rhe
Thearre Program. This coordinarion of
programs and joinr granr was a firsr ar rhe
Endowmenr and furrhermore rook place
ar rhar mosr difficulr rime when rhe NEA
was under consranr siege. The Arrs
America Division of rhe Unired Srares
Informarion Agency was a conrinuing
champion, as ir had been in 1987, and
was able ro provide rwo separare granrs ro
help make rhe projecr financially feasible.
Granrs from Rosco Laborarories and rhe
Un ired Scenic Arrisrs Local 829 also benefirred rhe funding picrure.
Inrernarional fesrivals such as rhe
Prague Quadrennial also should qualify
for funding under a program originared
several years ago ro enhance Unired Srares
parriciparion in inrernarional fesrivals and

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exhibirions. The program is supporred by
rhe NEA, Arrs America and a group of
parrners i ne! udi ng rhe Pew Memorial
Trusrs and rhe Rockefeller Foundarion.
The program is adminisrered by Arrs
Inrernarional which is housed wirhin rhe
Insrirure of Inrernarional Educarion. The
sums available under rhe "visual arrs exhibirions" of rhis program have gone roward
supporr of painrers and sculprors including represenrarion ar rhe Sao Paulo
Biennale and rhe Venice Biennale.
nforrunarely, rhe Inrernarional
Exhibirions Panel which received our proposal did nor feel qualified ro pass judgmenr on an exhibirion of srage design and
rhis parricular source of funding was
rherefore losr ro us. The members of rhis
panel are drawn from rhe museum and
visual arrs world and one could nor help
feeling rhar design for rhe rhearre in rheir
view is only a "crafr" unril rhar rarher
magic momenr when a well-known
painrer or scul pror arrives on rhe scene
and rhen rhis "crafr" suddenly changes ro
"visual arr" for rhe occasion.
Designers for rhe rhearre need ro be
parricularly concerned wirh rhis misapprehension. While ir is rrue rhar rhe aim of
srage design is nor ro be displayed in an
museum, placed in a collecrion or included in a book gracing "imporranr" coffee

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1991