{"id":12990,"date":"2021-10-23T17:34:41","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T22:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=12990"},"modified":"2021-11-14T11:36:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T17:36:54","slug":"the-jazz-gallery-center-for-the-arts-finds-its-auteur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=12990","title":{"rendered":"The Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts finds its “Auteur”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New JGCA executive director Kai Simone on the center’s legendary stage, inherited from the original Milwaukee Jazz Gallery. Photos by Kevin Lynch<\/em><\/p>\n

A new critical biography of the brilliant film director Alfred Hitchcock inevitably examines how he became the first American embodiment of an auteur<\/em>. 1 The term, originally coined and used by French director-critics, refers to the artist who controls her work\u2019s vision and process, in a group artistic endeavor.<\/p>\n

In a significant change,\u00a0the Jazz Gallery Center for the\u00a0Arts may have found it\u2019s\u00a0auteur,\u00a0<\/em>Kai Simone.\u00a0The organization\u2019s\u00a0mission\u00a0statement\u00a0strives for\u00a0\u201ccommunity\u2026strengthened by creativity.\u201d\u00a0As the Riverwest\u00a0Artists Association,\u00a0the center\u00a0was\u00a0a\u00a0dedicated but\u00a0collective endeavor. Yet\u00a0one board member characterized board meetings as sometimes \u201cpainful\u201d\u00a0and,\u00a0despite the center’s considerable accomplishments,\u00a0president\u00a0Mark Lawson commented,\u00a0perhaps only half-jokingly, \u201dWe\u00a0really didn\u2019t know what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0RAA\u00a0is\u00a0visual arts-oriented,\u00a0but the JGCA is about diversity in the arts\u00a0and audience.<\/p>\n

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JGCA Executive Director Kai Simone (left) will bring diverse experience to the venue’s dedicated board of directors, which includes (standing beside Simone) president Mark Lawson and artist Bennie Higgins.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where\u00a0Simone, the\u00a0first-ever executive director,\u00a0steps\u00a0in.\u00a0\u201cI have a very special relationship to jazz,\u201d\u00a0said the former Chicagoan\u00a0with an abundance of connections\u00a0to that\u00a0city\u2019s\u00a0rich jazz community,\u00a0as did the founder of\u00a0center\u2019s nominal inspiration,\u00a0the original Milwaukee Jazz Gallery, Chuck LaPaglia.\u00a0Strong allies of\u00a0Simone\u00a0include\u00a0Heather Ireland Robinson,\u00a0ED of\u00a0The Jazz Institute of Chicago, and\u00a0Emmy\u00a0Award-winning trumpeter\u00a0Orbert Davis,\u00a0artistic\u00a0director of the Chicago Jazz\u00a0Philharmonic.\u00a0A source of inspiration is\u00a0Ralph\u00a0Bass,\u00a0an\u00a0influential R&B\u00a0and jazz\u00a0producer at Chicago\u2019s\u00a0legendary\u00a0Chess Records.\u00a0Such factors\u00a0should\u00a0help sustain the\u00a0jazz\/creative music\u00a0tradition\u00a0JGCA has provided\u00a0The Second City\u2019s \u201csecond city,\u201d if you will.<\/p>\n

The center took a step forward a few years ago with the hiring of Program Manager Amy Schmutte, who leads the successful O.W.L. program, an arts presentations and activities program geared to senior members of the Riverwest community. And as gallery director, Schmutte has dramatically boosted the center’s sales of artwork, especially online sales during the financially tenuous period of the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n

Simone will develop from that success, and look far further afield.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to build on the legacy of the Milwaukee Jazz Gallery, develop more educational and historical programs, and scholarships.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Simone\u2019s eyes are firmly fixed on the future — and the venue\u2019s distinctive checkerboard stage. She feels the center needs much more outreach to youth culture, a specialty of hers.<\/p>\n

The center showed that potential with a monthly performance series geared to hip-hop culture which — before the pandemic — developed a strong youth following almost on its own self-directed momentum.<\/p>\n

Simone is an experienced theater director and herein the auteur<\/em>\u00a0analogy strengthens. In an interview,\u00a0this truly seemed a woman\u00a0of\u00a0embracing\u00a0vision,\u00a0but also fully capable of handling practical\u00a0operations\u00a0of a multi-arts center.\u00a0\u201cI love mentoring, leading,\u00a0and teaching.\u201d she says.\u00a0She\u2019s also\u00a0a\u00a0performer, a writer, and\u00a0a\u00a0singer-songwriter. She founded the arts-ed Skai Academy,\u00a0an MPS affiliate until the pandemic\u00a0led to\u00a0system\u00a0fund\u00a0cuts.\u00a0That\u00a0circumstance\u00a0helped\u00a0lead her to the\u00a0center\u2019s new opportunity.<\/p>\n

For all her educational bona-fides, Simone values ultimately allowing students liberty to think \u201coutside the box.\u201d She relates how she once hid herself inside a cardboard box onstage before an unsuspecting young audience and, when she finally burst out, she had them \u201chooked.\u201d Such engaging ingenuity should help strengthen the JGCA. Simone also envisions doing more with the WXRW radio programming already benefitting the center, as well as \u201cvirtual reality presentations, even animated films.\u201d 2<\/p>\n

She\u00a0also\u00a0thinks\u00a0she can\u00a0combine the\u00a0center\u2019s\u00a0non-profit\u00a0status\u00a0with\u00a0indirect\u00a0profiting\u00a0strategies, through partnerships, with\u00a0MPS and Arts\u00a0@\u00a0Large, among other organizations.\u00a0\u201cWe\u00a0own the building,\u00a0so rent helps.\u00a0So, it\u2019s a business approach.\u00a0I like problem-solving\u00a0and talking to people about visions and passions.\u00a0I want to take it to another level.\u201d\u00a0Regarding\u00a0diverse\u00a0community outreach and audience-building,\u00a0Milwaukee has,\u00a0besides African-Americans\u00a0and\u00a0Latinx,\u00a0\u201ca\u00a0huge\u00a0Hmong community,\u00a0as well as Japanese, Burmese,\u00a0and\u00a0Ghanaian,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Simone,\u00a0whose daughter is half-Ghanaian.\u00a0\u201cI want to think globally and act locally.\u201d<\/p>\n

________<\/p>\n

This article was originally published in slightly shorter form in the Neighborhoods section of The Shepherd Express<\/em>:\u00a0<\/strong> https:\/\/shepherdexpress.com\/neighborhoods\/riverwest\/jazz-gallery-center-for-the-arts-finds-its-auteur\/<\/a><\/p>\n

1 The critical biography is\u00a0The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense<\/em>, by Edward White, published in March 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Saturdays at 10 a.m., JGCA board member Elizabeth Vogt hosts WXRW 104.1 FM Riverwest Radio’s weekly Artful Lives<\/em>, an interview and arts profile program, on behalf of the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts. It’s a low-power station, but all programs are available to stream live — and in the station’s archives. (The archives include several interviews with this blogger, Kevernacular (Kevin Lynch), about famous jazz musicians I interviewed and reviewed at the original Milwaukee Jazz Gallery run by Chuck LaPaglia.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New JGCA executive director Kai Simone on the center’s legendary stage, inherited from the original Milwaukee Jazz Gallery. Photos by Kevin Lynch A new critical biography of the brilliant film director Alfred Hitchcock inevitably examines how he became the first … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[694,746,861,859,855,853,135,862,850,250,851,741,847,875,141,255,134,857,852,854,848,858,856,863,860],"class_list":["post-12990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-www-kevernacular-com","tag-amy-schmutte","tag-artful-lives","tag-artslarge","tag-auteur","tag-chess-records","tag-chicago-jazz-philharmonic","tag-chuck-lapaglia","tag-eizabeth-vogt","tag-heather-ireland-robinson","tag-jazz-gallery-center-for-the-arts","tag-jazz-institute-of-chicago","tag-jgca","tag-kai-simone","tag-kevernacular","tag-kevin-lynch","tag-mark-lawson","tag-milwaukee-jazz-gallery","tag-o-w-l-program","tag-orbert-davis","tag-ralph-bass","tag-riverwest-artists-association","tag-skai-academy","tag-the-second-city","tag-the-twelve-lives-of-alfred-hitchcock-an-anatomy-of-the-master-of-suspense","tag-wxrw-radio"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hJWE-3nw","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12990"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13042,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12990\/revisions\/13042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}