EZTV's response

Hey Alan,

So. so sorry for the misspelling, that must have been my fault when I originally gave Highways the proposed evening idea, Deepest apologies on that. The program that will be printed for the show ( which we have full control and approval of ), will of course have correct spellings, bios, project descriptions, etc.

Of course, the artists split the admission money with Highways. Donna & her dancers do not take any of that money, as they are paid by the various grants that Donna and I have received to create and evolve our piece through it's various site-specific incarnations. Highways, and 18th Street, as most credible art organizations, believe in paying artists, and even theiri free events pay the artists ( as in the case when I was able to get Collage hired by 18th Street for the opening of EZTV's retrospective show). The money used to pay the artists for these free events, comes from specific project grants, and therefore is not an option in out Highways show. Therefore, the normal admission price ( which I actually also assumed would be lower) was listed. Like Alan, I'm not sure that we can get a sizeable audience, but whatever comes in, no matter how small, will be spilt by perfomers ( misus Donna and her dancers).

Yes, I also think that Donna should come to a jam meeting of ours. Great idea.

Since the show is still evolving, the shape and tone of it is yet to outlined, which is why the show description in the calendar is as vague as it is. I think that no matter what the show turns out to be, though, that the description will be pretty accurate. As we all agreed some time ago, when it was decided by group not to collectively work on a single theme ( i.e an opera ) but rather each take equal time and do separate things, the show would therefore be hard to describe ( especially since the specific projects and names of these projects was not yet said ).

When Alan first brought all of the talented people to the jams that he did, I made the mistake of thinking that they were all in the current incarnation of his group, especially since Jeff is on the new Collage DVD. So to me, to my delight actually, I thought that Collage had curated the larger portion of the evening, with three pieces ( Alan and Mona, Jeff, and Peter and Suji ). Kate & I have one piece each ( Donna & dancers is part of my piece, ). So to me, and I may be wrong in interpretinbg it this way, this is certainly not just an EZTV project, but an EZTV/Collage project. At any rate, I'm happy to have it be called whatever you want in the PR ( which goes out in mid-August ) and in the program. There is plenty of time to think about what/how to say things there, and to get it right.

Yes, the program calendar does not list any of our names specifically, just EZTV, Collage ( mispelled ) and Donna, whose work on the Santa Monica Arts Comission has brought Highways much needed funding and support. As you see in the calendar, some shows list some of the performers, some do not list any.

If many of you want to do installations, and not performances, I'm sure that we can work that out at the next meeting. That way, when the PR is sent out, it will reflect the actual show and the pieces involved, and not some unavoidable vague notion as in thre calendar.
What should be determined very soon, though, is how much performance time is actually being created, so that if some or many of you do not want to do regular performances on the Highways stage, then perhaps those that do can/should have longer performance times. We also would then need to work out the logistics of where the various installations would be staged.

On that note, one exciting possibilty is that earlier in the evening before our show is when 18th Street will have it's nexrt Art Night ( which is what I got Alan/Collage hired for ). If those of you doing installations want them to be viewable as part of that early evening (
6pm-8:30pm?) time, I'm sure that could be worked out. Anyway, once everybody has a specific idea on what thye'd like to do, then we can start to program what happens in what order, where it happens, etc.

Alan's final point is great- this is going to be an awesome collection of work. I can't/won't guarantee a sell-out crowd for it ( as I've been saying all along ), but we'll do our best and the most important thing is that we explore our individual ideas/pieces fully and to our creative standards. If you do not want to stick to the theme of multimedia as it relates to performance, then there really is no problem. The vast majority of the people that come to any specific event at Highways usually come from specific PR, and not the group calendar.

Best to all,
Michael,

Update 071707

Hello Michael, Kate, Suji, ,Jeff and Peter,

Mona and I met last night.

For the first time, I saw the Highways Calendar that was already sent out. It lists our project, Fingered Seven with a photo of what I think is from a Donna Sternberg dance performance but doesn't really represent the piece which we saw on DVD this past Saturday night.

I accept the project has changed dramatically from what we talked about at the Italian restaurant (it is after all an evolving concept) but there are a couple of things I would like everyone to be aware of as we continuie this project:

1. This is really not a EZTV/ Collage Ensemble Inc.
project anymore. It's an EZTV project that Collage Ensemble Inc. is one of several participants on. Mona and I are totally fine with this but we should be honest about that in our presentation/press releases, etc.
2. Our group is called Collage Ensemble and not College Ensemble as stated in the Highways Calendar.
3. As Donna Sternberg's group is now "headlining" this two night event, I think it would great if she could be invited to the next jam so that we can at least meet her.
4. No one ever told us the event would cost $20 to get in. Are we getting a cut from the door or is all this going straight to Highways? Maybe we should discuss that? Mona and I feel that much of Collage Ensemble's audience will not drive to Santa Monica and pay $20 to see a 90 minute project. It's just a reality with our peeps.
5. This project has many participants. The Highways Calendar lists EZTV, Donna Sternberg and a mispelled Collage Ensemble. It doesn't list Jeff, Suji or Peter who are not part of either art groups but are individual artists. Let's make that distinction in any other announcement, press release, etc.

I think that about covers it.

Mona and I met last night and our piece is shaping up.
We are very excited. We will incorporate a "performance" into our tent-installation as was suggested by Michael and we would like to take advantage of what Michael and Kate brought up about the side garage door.

Currently, we are thinking that one tent will be in the walkway outside and the other will be in this side garage door area. The performance will require the audience to come into the gallery to watch the performance in the tent. I hope that makes sense.

See you all in two Saturdays! Let's keep working on our pieces. This is going to be an awesome collection of works.

-Alan

Cha-cha-cha Changes!!!!

Well, I got my thrid call from one of the participants complaining about the changes to the project at Highways. They are:

1. Donna Sternberg is the headliner. Other than kate and Mike, non of us have ever met Donna Sternberg. An events calendar went out illustrating her as the headliner. All of this was dicovered after the calendar was sent out.
2. The photo and text we had agreed upon for the calendar at our last group meeting was not implemented and maybe for good reason. Michael felt that Donna Sternberg was a big name we could more easily sell tickets. Also, EZTV had already had a work completed they collaborated with her on.
3. The Sunday afternoon performance has turned into a two-night Friday and Saturday presentation. There's a little bit more pressure.
4. Ticket prices are $20. None of us are getting paid, we have no budget and our audiences may not be able to afford this cost.
5. Generally, EZTV decisions are being made without any group discussions. What was originally suppose to be a collaboration is really more of an EZTV event that we are all participating in.

I told Mona that, although non-communication is frustrating, these new directions do offer great advantages:

1. No pressure on us to sell tickets
2. We can focus on just our work and not the production of the entire show
3. Our piece is self contained and we can always present it somewhere else
4. Since this is more of an EZTV/Highways event now, we can hope to present our works to new audiences

Surprise

Jeff saw a flier annoucing the shows this summer-fall at Highways. Fingered 7 was listed but the image was of a dancer in tights, or something like that. I sent out a email to Michael and sure enough he decided to present a collaboration EZTV already produced earlier with Donna Sternberg Dance. So all that talk about the art cinspiracy, the collaborative ensebmble, etc. was circumnavigated and it was decided without input that Donna Sternberg was going to head our collaboration project, at least as far as the audience was concerned.

This is the third time Michael has decided without real input on the direction of our alleged colaboration. Oh well, I was really excited about Michael creating an original solo work but since he hasn't really done that in a long time, I suppose that was very naive of me. Regardless, it's still a great opportunity. I don't quite see how this is a EZTV/Collage Ensemble Inc. production, though. It feels more like an EZTV presentation that includes all of these art entities.

Also, it's $20 a tix. WOW! That's a lot of money for something non of us are getting paid to do. That's also weired. This reminds me of the time when Collage Ensemble inc. was asked to present a performance at Highways and they decided to label our group an Asian-American collective. Being the only Asian in the group, I found that to be very strange. Highways seems less of an arts space and more of a theater space. Less about the artist and more about marketing for the space itself. That's too bad.