San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Artpower at UCSD plans a season of live and virtual events
UCSD’S eclectic, forward-looking concert series will have virtual events in the fall, with hopes of going live again in January
As a certified scuba diver, Jordan Peimer, executive director of UC San Diego’s Artpower, is used to navigating through shifting currents. But because of the unpredictable waves caused by the coronavirus pandemic, he will be exploring uncharted waters when the 2020-21 Artpower season gets under way in October. The 17-year-old series’ diverse array of arresting music, dance and special events will feature no fewer than 14 debut performances among its 27 offerings. The lineup ranges from noted jazz singer Gretchen Parlato and Israeliborn hip-hop dance innovator Ephrat Asherie to top French vocal and percussion sextet San Salvador and author/ satirist David Sedaris, who will be making his 11th Artpower appearance.
But nearly everything else will be different about the upcoming season.
For the first time in Artpower’s history, the opening portion of the series — 10 events in all — will be entirely virtual, before live performances are scheduled to resume in January. This move reflects ongoing health concerns and the fact that it is still unclear if the UC San Diego campus will be open to some or all students, or the public, in the fall.
“I’ve always only programmed live performances, so this is something completely new for us,” Peimer said.
“Nobody wants to enjoy a live event more than I do. But I think it is basically irresponsible, at this point, to bring together an audience within a confined space. The university has set the rule that there are no gatherings allowed (on campus) of more than 50 people, and I completely understand the logic of that. We want to the seek the best way to keep the the students, artists and audiences safe. It makes no sense to put people in harm’s way (with inperson events this fall).”
When Artpower’s live performances resume in January, assuming state health regulations next year permit them to, all tickets will be general admission and no reserved seating will be available. This change is being implemented specifically to allow for the socialdistancing regulations Peimer cites, which could change several times between now and then.
And, for the first time, tickets will become available for purchase in three increments, with October through December performances going on sale Aug. 1, January through March performances on Nov. 1, and April and May performances on Feb. 2. Refunds and exchanges will be available for any and all performances that are canceled or postponed because of the pandemic.
“This will allow us to have more flexibility and more time to react to any new government health policies that might come,” said Joanna Christian, Artpower’s associate director of marketing and communications. “And it will help us if we have to change the seating or the number of attendees at concerts held in (the 220capacity) The Loft.”
Virtual and literal twists
In another new twist, the 10 virtual events that will open the Artpower season — including a newly commissioned dance workin-progress by Asherie — will be free for UC San Diego students, faculty and staff, and cost just $10 each for the general public.
The live programming will begin with a pair of January dance performances by Rosanna Gamson/world Wide. These will be followed by such varied artists as Spain’s Castalian String Quartet, Japanese harpsichordist (and UC San Diego alum) Takae Ohnishi, Cuban jazz piano virtuoso Harold López-nussa, and Missouri blues, gospel and soul champions Rev. Sekou and The Freedom Fighters.
The season will include a number of tributes. These include Sean
Jones’ April 15 “Dizzy Spellz,” which will salute bebop trumpet giant Dizzy Gillespie and features tap dancer, flutist and singer Brinae Ali; the Feb. 17 “True Blues” concert, a centuries-spanning celebration by guitarist/ singer Corey Harris and violinist/ singer/accordionist Cedric Watson; and the April 19 and 30 “Beethoven Cycle” concerts by the Ariel Quartet, which was formed in Jerusalem in 2000.
The new season’s budget is $1 million, Peimer said, down from $1.2 million for the 2019-20 season. The move to virtual performances for the start of the upcoming season will enable Artpower to save money on airfares, hotel accommodations and related expenses.
That should prove helpful, since the UC San Diego campus shut down in early March because of the pandemic, which led to the cancellation of Artpower’s March through May concerts.
“We refunded nearly $70,000 in tickets, and we paid out about $35,000 in artist fees. So we ended our 2019-20 season with an unplanned deficit,” Peimer said. “So I’ve been very conservative in how I budgeted for the coming year and am very hopeful we’ll be able to erase the debt from our 2019-20 season.
“Certainly, the financial considerations are very real. But I’m most concerned about the health considerations. If we’re in a situation where we have to have socially distanced audiences, it will mean we’ll have to do an increased level of fundraising. And some (of our donors) have said: ‘Well, there are about 100 of us who would be willing to pay double or triple the usual ticket price, if you raise them.’ But Artpower’s philosophy has always been that our primary audience is our students at UCSD, not the wealthy people who attend and so generously help support our programming.”
A different season
The new season was about 90 percent booked by March. The swift spread of the coronavirus prompted some major adjustments by Peimer and Artpower artistic director Molly Clark, who is now on maternity leave.
They had to shift a good number of the new season’s upcoming fall events to the spring and some to the 2021-22 season, while rebooking the fall season based on which performers would — and would not — be best suited for virtual presentations.
“I felt we had a great season ahead of us,” Peimer said. “And we are still going to have a great season. It just will be a different season than we had planned originally.”