Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Spinning Anything For A Buck.... Jack...

This is kind of funny... Jack MacAndrew, who I thought had gone off and retired somewhere, is implying the Confederation Centre has somehow sold its soul... this coming from a guy who I believe would spin "Abortion to the Pope" as long as there were a few "bucks" in it for him to help spin that image... he did some spin for Joe Ghiz's Liberals and may have got some Tourism marketing work out of it but I think they fell out of his flavour over something... then I think he did some work for Pat Binns and something similar happened there... but if you're looking for a spokesperson for "anything"... he's good and "clearly" if the Centre gave him a few bucks he'd help them with their "re-branding"... but maybe it is "incumbent" on them to put him on the Board to help advise how he would keep this vibrant part of our Community going forward as Jack's "raison d’ĂȘtre" is grounded in his principles which are far beyond the mere mortals that work hard every day to keep this Centre operating in the black... or has he already had that chance and worn out his welcome...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Guardian
15/12/09
Don't stop now
With two hit U.S. musicals taking over the Charlottetown Festival, we might as well re-brand the Confederation Centre of the Arts
A READER'S VIEW
Editor:
Now that the Confederation Centre has confirmed its abandonment of the raison d'etre of the Charlottetown Festival (to foster the development of an indigenous Canadian musical theatre) with the booking of two shopworn American musicals to play next summer in the theatre now named after a man's hat, may I suggest a re-branding and name change to "The American Musical Theatre Festival." Clearly the development of new Canadian musicals is beyond the scope and talents of the present incumbents at Confederation Centre, as well as the vision of the board of directors. So why not go all the way and re-brand Confederation Centre of the Arts; perhaps to something like The Red Shore Arts Centre . . . or is that one already taken?
Jack MacAndrew,
Cornwall

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tim, I commend you for your long time support of the Charlottetown Festival.

I'm not defending Jack and his shifting allegiances, but I think he makes a valid point.

The problem is the lack of artistic vision. Either they feel that they need to dumb down to island audiences to put bums in seats or they believe that they have been putting on shows of high artistic merit. Either scenario is unfortunate. Higher artistic vision will grow the trust of Islanders and therefore draw audiences. I personally prefer new Canadian musicals over the "reviews" of recent years. There may be a place for existing US shows, but it should not be at the expense of the development of new Canadian works.

I also think that they underestimate the value of "Anne of Green Gables" the musical. They have focused so much on marketing each new "review" to Islanders that "Anne" audiences are down now, too.

Management seems to be doing a good job keeping the place afloat financially in tough times, but that doesn't mean they should ignore that it is a centre "of the arts". This applies to PEI presents programming, as well. Use classic rock live to get people in the doors initially, but don't be satisfied with that. Get creative and lead that new audience to expand their tastes.


Thanks again for your support of the arts and and the chance to contribute to this discussion.

Anonymous said...

It's true though, the Homburg Theatre isn't what it used to be...