Q&A with Krannert director Mike Ross
Sunday June 29, 2008
The 2008-09 season at Krannert Center will usher in the start of Mike Ross's 11th year there as director. He's been recognized internationally as an arts presenter, and has turned Krannert Center into the village square. So we thought it was time to ask him some questions. He provided his answers by e-mail:
When was your first day at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and do you remember it? What was it like?
It was a fabulous moment I'll never forget. Sept. 14, 1997, the day after we arrived in town, which was also my wife Taya's birthday. The Krannert Center staff welcomed us with open arms, including our son, Miles, who was 3 years old at the time. I knew right then it was a very special place.
What goals did you bring with you to the center?
Very simply, to build upon the terrific history of the center and extend its impact on the well-being of the campus, community, the broader region and the national/international performing arts field.
What goals do you feel you accomplished?
Expanding the aesthetic, expressive and cultural spectrum of our public programming; strengthening our support for the creation of new work; and broadening and deepening our engagement with the students of Illinois and youth across the region are the primary goals we've worked hard towards.
What do you feel most proud of having accomplished at the center?
I guess you could say I'm most proud of helping to open the doors of Krannert Center more widely to people of all walks of life.
What new goals, if any, do you have for KCPA?
Broadly speaking, to help pave the way for the next big chapter at the center by vigorously re-imagining its potential on all fronts as it moves towards its 50th anniversary in 2019.
What do you like most about being director of KCPA?
That's easy. It's the privilege of working with a fabulous staff, under extraordinary college and campus leadership, and with uncommonly strong support from the community to pursue our mission.
What is the role in society of an arts-presenting organization like KCPA?
That's way too complicated to answer here, but a big part of it, in my view, is to bring meaning and joy into every life the organization has the capacity to touch.
How do you go about designing a season? What is your philosophy as an arts presenter?
That's also too complicated, but an underlying, irreducible first principle for me is staying focused on the pursuit of excellence and the open mind. Far more easily imagined than achieved, to state the absurdly obvious.
What are you most excited about in the 2008-09 season?
Experiencing it with returning and new audience members of all sorts.
Do you have plans to add any annual or biennial events such as the Wall to Wall Guitar Festival? And plans for any changes?
We're certainly focused on developing the guitar festival as a national biennial event, but we're considering new projects as well. Nothing to share publicly at the moment, but change is a given for a creative enterprise such as Krannert Center.
Looking back, considering the flak over "NWC," are you glad you brought the show to the center?
Yes. In my view, "NWC" was an important project. Clearly, people hold different views on it, but such is the nature of controversial art.
You have a Ph.D. in music composition, right? Do you have time to compose?
Actually, it's a D.M.A. (doctor of musical arts degree) from Columbia University. I haven't done much composing recently, though there's a collaborative project I'm involved with I'm hoping to see realized in the not-too-distant future.
You often say you love this community and have no desire to leave. Do you see yourself remaining at KCPA until you "retire"?
It's easy for me to see myself here for a long, long while, for reasons I've mentioned above and more. Krannert Center is an internationally recognized leader, but there's much unfinished work I want to help get done.
I certainly see the University on the rise. (Is there a stronger top leadership collective in the country than Joe White, Richard Herman and Linda Katehi?) I see Champaign-Urbana on a very high-potential micro-cosmopolitan trajectory.
I have wonderful colleagues, collaborators, friends and supporters. Taya, Miles and I enjoy living here enormously. And I can't imagine missing the fun when Krannert Center hits 50!
Find this article at:
