Weisbrodt’s long goodbye concerning for Luminato
Luminato’s office near Trinity Bellwoods doesn’t have a revolving door, but perhaps it should.
This week’s announcement about artistic director Jorn Weisbrodt’s long goodbye marks the fifth tweak of 2015 to the arts festival’s senior management team.
The announcement is brisk and matter of fact. But to me it brings on a rich array of unspoken questions about timing, possible consequences and future changes to Luminato’s survival strategy.
For now, it’s all in the timing. The announcement pops up just as Weisbrodt becomes Luminato’s Gone Boy: first for a summer month and next year forever.
Just to recap the tumultuous first half of the year, the biggest change came in late February, when founding CEO Janice Price left the building for the last time. Her temporary replacement was veteran board member Lucille Joseph, named interim CEO until a permanent CEO was found.
Anthony Sargent — a noted British cultural visionary — got the job in time to be in Toronto as a lively and ebullient witness to the 2015 edition of Luminato in late June. But before he could officially take over he had to be cleared by Ottawa, since his application was in the file called Foreign Workers.
Sargent’s arrival frees Joseph to tiptoe away from her interim post and concentrate on her longtime role as inner-circle board member.
Why, you might ask, would Luminato need to announce a year in advance that Weisbrodt will leave Luminato after his fifth season, in 2016?
Two reasons are given. First, Luminato needs time to choose the perfect successor. Second, Weisbrodt needs to look for his next job without having to swear everyone who knows him to secrecy.
But the timing has some hidden perks as well.
Weisbrodt is relaxing in Montauk on the eastern edge of Long Island, along with Rufus Wainwright, at the country retreat where they were married on Aug. 24, 2012.
He will return to duty in September for another year on the festival front lines, but for the next few weeks, Weisbrodt has put up his do not disturb sign.
Perhaps he has had an overdose of Toronto’s culture warfare and media madness. So he is in retreat mode, in the manner of the late Greta Garbo.
I also can’t help wondering about the timing of another Luminato announcement. So far, there has been no word about the 2015 attendance, ticket revenue and whether the annual budget will show a surplus, a break-even result or a shortfall.
Maybe it’s better to put some weeks or months between this week’s announcement and the release of numbers.
The climate of constant change at Luminato will likely deter Tony Gagliano, co-founder of the festival, from stepping down and finding the right person to succeed him as chair of the board for the festival’s second decade.
At previous festivals, Weisbrodt’s successes included bringing the Pina Bausch dancers back to Toron- to after a 30-year absence and transforming Pecaut Square into a better festival hub.
In 2015, Weisbrodt had a couple of major breakthroughs.
One was luring a whole new audience with the mobbed Unsound events at the Hearn Generating Station. Another was the triumphant staging of Apocalypsis. With a price tag of $1.4 million, it had to be a loss leader, but it enhanced the Luminato brand with a legacy project.
Contemporary Color, on the other hand, was a misfire that was meant to sell a lot more tickets than it did. And the festival’s move to late June from early June (to help promote the Pan Am Games) had unfortunate consequences, because there were too many other big events competing for attention.
For 2016, Weisbrodt needs shows that help him go out in a blaze of glory.
His sense of timing is right. By then he will have done what he can do here. He has no good reason for lingering in Toronto. This is the perfect time for him to use his work here as a segue into the job of his dreams.
Play exit music: “New York, New York.” mknelman@thestar.ca