St. Louis Arts Organizations Present the First Annual American Arts Experience« BACK

Sunday, January 24, 2010

For 17 days and nights, beginning October 1, 2010, the American Arts Experience – St. Louis will fill concert halls, museums, theaters, universities and outdoor spaces in the St. Louis area with dozens of performances and shows by renowned American artists and companies in disciplines ranging from symphonic music to jazz and singer-songwriters, theater by American playwrights and dance by American companies to major American visual artists. The American Arts Experience – St. Louis will be an annual festival each October celebrating all mediums of American arts.

“From October 1-17, 2010, all eyes will be on St. Louis as we build audience appreciation of American artists, including contemporary American music, dance, drama and visual arts,” said Paul Reuter, executive director of the Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries, one of the local arts groups spearheading the new festival. “Event-goers from the St. Louis region and beyond will be able to experience all aspects of American arts presented by St. Louis’ quality arts organizations.  St. Louis has all the ingredients to be a true festival city.”

The festival will showcase the St. Louis’ rich and diverse artistic community. Participating organizations include the Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries, Dance St. Louis, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Edison Theatre, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Laumeier Sculpture Park, Jazz St. Louis, Stages, The Black Rep, COCA, Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis Zoo, Missouri Historical Society, Regional Arts Commission and the Touhill Performing Arts Center.  Reuter says many other St. Louis arts organizations have expressed interest and he expects to announce other participants in the next few months.

Early highlights of the American Arts Experience – St. Louis include a Joe Jones retrospective at the Saint Louis Art Museum, which highlights the St. Louis-born artist who achieved national prominence in the 1930s for his depictions of both urban and rural aspects of the American Scene; Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin and jazz great Dave Brubeck at The Sheldon; the Houston Ballet, presented by Dance St. Louis and Rulan Tangen’s “Dancing Earth,” a collaboration of indigenous intertribal contemporary dance artists recently named by Dance Magazine as “One of the Top 25 to Watch.”  The Sheldon Art Galleries will also be presenting a major exhibit of American photography and an American folk art exhibition from the collections of John Foster and Rick Ege.

"Dance St. Louis is delighted to showcase one of America's premiere ballet companies, The Houston Ballet, in this first ever American Arts Experience in St. Louis,” says Michael Uthoff, executive director of Dance St. Louis. “The company represents the best our country has to offer in creativity and performance having enriched our cultural landscape for many decades.

Adds Cynthia Prost, president of the Arts and Education Council: “The great collaboration among so many of St. Louis’ rich arts and cultural institutions will allow the American Arts Experience – St. Louis to shine and become an annual event that grows over time into one of the country’s most beloved, not-to-miss festivals. The American Arts Experience will be a highpoint of a year-round excellence in St. Louis arts programs that already draw audiences from around the country and around the world.”

The full calendar of events will be updated regularly at www.americanartsstl.org.

The American Arts Experience – St. Louis is sponsored by Emerson, the diversified global manufacturing and technology company headquartered in St. Louis.