UCLA’ s Center for the Arts of Performance Partners with The Lapis Press to Create 26 Choreographers’ Scores
CAP UCLA’s 2020-21 commission was conceived to bridge the financial gap for choreographers until dance is brought back to the stage
UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA), a leading West Coast presenter and creative producer dedicated to the advancement of the contemporary performing arts in all disciplines, believes the power of collaboration can nurture the arts ecosystem through the pandemic. Sharing this philosophy, CAP UCLA brought in The Lapis Press as the renowned print studio to convert The Choreographers’ Scores: 2020, 26 handmade choreographer sketches, into fine art prints. Published by CAP UCLA, the edition of 40 (20 complete box sets/20 loose prints of each score), will benefit the choreographers directly, the Center’s programming and various cultural institutions across the nation, through sales and contributions.
Curated and conceived by Executive and Artistic Director Kristy Edmunds, and commissioned by CAP UCLA in collaboration with National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) and Pomegranate Arts, The Choreographers’ Scores: 2020, began with invitations to a wide range of US based choreographers in the spring of 2020 who were asked to share a visual and/or iterative insight into their dance creation processes. Each short score reveals something rare and remarkable about how 26 acclaimed choreographers develop ideas long before rehearsals begin, and were created over the summer of 2020 as rehearsal spaces and their frequented stages remained closed. Some are elaborate and structured; some are a flurry of shapes and lines; others are collages of inspiration, instructions, or meditations on time.
The score is a side of the choreographic practice that the public rarely sees. It is a type of precursor to the staged work of dance and, in these unprecedented times, proof that dance can live as artfully as a two-dimensional object.
“I knew early on in the pandemic that concert dance would likely be facing the most acute struggle for returning in its live form,” said Edmunds. “Dance has lasted through the ages, and is continuing to be created, but if we want it to flourish, to be compensated commensurately, we need to create the conditions for its creators to flourish. The Choreographer’s Scores (2020) was a way to generate small commissions for these artists to contribute ideas, that could exist on the page while awaiting their return to the stage.”
Similarly, to CAP UCLA, The Lapis Press puts their artists first and is dedicated to their vision, including Jennifer Steinkamp, who made the sets for the Center’s presentation of Night of 100 Solos: Merce Cunningham Centennial Event in spring of 2019. Founded by artist Sam Francis in 1984, The Lapis Press remains true to these values which account for the quality of work they produce.
“Working with CAP UCLA was such a pleasure, not only in our ability to support a Los Angeles cultural icon but also in that it has allowed our studio to work with a new type of artist. As the compositions came into the studio, we found it incredible to see how dynamic and expressive their works were in 2-dimensional form,” said The Lapis Press current owner Anthony E. Nicholas. “After working with artists for many years now, I know that the creative mind does not stop at a single format or medium."
The participating choreographers are Alice Sheppard, Ann Carlson**, Aszure Barton, Brenda Way, Caleb Teicher*, Camille A. Brown*, Deborah Hay, Eiko Otake, Elizabeth Streb, Emily Johnson, Faye Driscoll, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Kyle Abraham**, Lucinda Childs, mayfield brooks, Molissa Fenley, Nora Chipaumire**, Okwui Okpokwasili, Pam Tanowitz, Ralph Lemon, Rosie Herrera**, Ronald K. Brown, Sarah Michelson, Shamel Pitts*, Wally Cardona and Zoe Scofield. (*YoungArts alumni, **YoungArts guest artist).
Jewel Malone, Executive Director of the National YoungArts Foundation said, “As a longtime partner of CAP UCLA, YoungArts is proud to continue our work together to support artists and the arts community. Kristy’s steadfast leadership during this time has been an inspiration to us all. The Choreographers’ Scores: 2020 is just one example of how organizations can come together to create new and inventive ways to support artists and bring art to the public.”
Linda Brumbach, Creative Producer and Pomegranate Arts founder said, “CAP UCLA has been a driving force of innovation in the international performing arts ecology. In the spring of 2020, at a time when artists faced so much loss, Kristy found a way to honor their craft, imagination and drive to create new work…even while quarantining at home. As creative producers, Pomegranate Arts supports work that replenishes our humanity and demands awareness. I’m so grateful that Kristy and her colleagues at CAP UCLA trusted us to collaborate on The Choreographers’ Scores: 2020 - which not only inspired a broad range of American choreographers to share an intimate part of their creative process but provided a meaningful gesture of support.”
Notes on Napkins: 2020, which functions similarly for 100 composers to share their works, is also a micro-commission this season thanks in part to the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge Grant Endowment. More information will be announced soon. For updates on these commissions and programs presented on the CAP UCLA Online channel please visit cap.ucla.edu.
###
ABOUT THE LAPIS PRESS
In 1984, painter and printmaker Sam Francis founded The Lapis Press with the goal of producing unusual and timely texts in visually compelling formats. Published editions comprised poetry, fiction, and essays on contemporary art, philosophy, literature and Jungian psychology. During this time, Lapis also published books created in collaboration with significant contemporary artists. These livres d'artiste employed a variety of media, including lithographs, etchings, and letterpress, printed on specially selected and custom papers, and bound by hand.
After the death of Sam Francis in 1994, The Lapis Press honored his legacy of collaboration by producing a series of etching editions with contemporary artists such as Vija Celmins, Rebecca Horn, Anish Kapoor, Guillermo Kuitca, Ed Moses, Gabriel Orozco, Guiseppe Penone, Martin Puryear, David Reed, Ed Ruscha, Niki de Saint Phalle, Robert Therrien and Christopher Wool. During his lifetime Sam Francis produced editions to help raise awareness and financially assist the Democratic Party, AIDS awareness and prevention, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and others. Today The Lapis Press honors this mission as well with editions to benefit organizations and institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Venice Family Clinic, and CalArts, to name a few.
The Lapis Press is committed to collaborating with contemporary visual artists throughout the world who possess a unique and uncompromising vision. Lapis provides a dynamic and enriching environment that enables artists to articulate and work in any medium. In 2013, Lapis moved into a Johnston Marklee custom designed studio in the Hayden Tract neighborhood of Culver City. Recent editions by The Lapis Press include works by Ed Ruscha, Analia Saban, Matthew Brandt, Kehinde Wiley, Betye Saar, and Stephen Shore, among others.
ABOUT NATIONAL YOUNGARTS FOUNDATION
National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) was established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison. YoungArts identifies the most accomplished young artists in the visual, literary and performing arts, and provides them with creative and professional development opportunities throughout their careers. Entrance into this prestigious organization starts with a highly competitive application process for talented artists ages 15–18, or grades 10–12, in the United States, that is judged by esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists through a rigorous blind adjudication process. All YoungArts award winners receive financial awards and the chance to learn from notable artists such as Debbie Allen, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Frank Gehry, Wynton Marsalis, Salman Rushdie and Mickalene Thomas as well as past YoungArts award winners such as Daniel Arsham, Terence Blanchard, Camille A. Brown, Viola Davis, Allegra Goodman, Josh Groban, Judith Hill, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Andrew Rannells, Desmond Richardson and Hunter Schafer.
YoungArts award winners are further eligible for exclusive opportunities including: nomination as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school seniors; a wide range of creative development support including fellowships, residencies and awards; professional development programs offered in partnership with major institutions nationwide; additional financial support; and access to YoungArts Post, a private, online portal for YoungArts artists to connect, share their work and discover new opportunities. For more information, visit youngarts.org, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
ABOUT POMEGRANATE ARTS
Founded in 1998, Pomegranate Arts is an independent production company dedicated to the development of international performing arts projects. As creative producers, Linda Brumbach and Alisa Regas work in close collaboration with contemporary artists and arts institutions to bring bold and ambitious artistic ideas to fruition. With a hands-on approach, Pomegranate creates unique structures and partnerships in all performance mediums. Since it’s inception, they produced the Olivier Award winning production of Einstein on the Beach (Philip Glass, Robert Wilson, Lucinda Childs), Shockheaded Peter (The Improbably Theater), Came so far from Beauty (Hal Willner, Leonard Cohen), Available Light (John Adams, Frank Gehry, Lucinda Childs), 24-Decade History of Popular Music (Taylor Mac) and most recently The Plastic Bag Store (Robin Frohardt). Over the last several decades, they have been the touring producer for Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Goran Bregovic, Bassem Youssef, Batsheva, Sankai Juku, Machine Dazzle and Taylor Mac. In 2020, they launched Favorite Fruit, a new company dedicated to the production of performance objects and released their first object, Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce record.
ABOUT CAP UCLA
UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) is dedicated to the advancement of the contemporary performing arts in all disciplines — dance, music, spoken word and theater, as well as emerging digital, collaborative and cross-platforms — by leading artists from around the globe. Part of UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture, CAP UCLA curates and facilitates direct exposure to artists who are creating extraordinary works of art and fosters a vibrant learning community both on and off the UCLA campus. The organization invests in the creative process by providing artists with financial backing and time to experiment and expand their practices through strategic partnerships and collaborations. As an influential voice within the local, national and global arts communities, CAP UCLA connects this generation to the next in order to preserve a living archive of our culture. CAP UCLA is also a safe harbor where cultural expression and artistic exploration can thrive, giving audiences the opportunity to experience real life through characters and stories on stage, and giving artists an avenue to challenge assumptions and advance new ways of seeing and understanding the world we live in now.
Like CAP UCLA on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. #CAPUCLA