A little steam went out of the New Orleans music scene on Tuesday with the announcement that the University of New Orleans has suspended its deftly curated Musical Excursions series. The series, which offered an eclectic, youth-oriented take on classical music, has presented some of the city?s best programs in recent seasons, hosting such top-ranked artists as guitarist Odair Assad, the Ariel String Quartet, and cello demigod Alisa Weilerstein. (The cellist went on to win a half-million-dollar MacArthur ?genius grant? at age 29.)
Excursions director Harmon Greenblatt said that the series lost its support from student government, which funded the concerts through student activity fees.
?We have a smaller student population at UNO this year. We?re down by about 600 students compared to last year and that has created financial challenges for student government which funds all kinds of on-campus programs. They had to make hard choices and we were cut,? Greenblatt said.
In 2011-2012 Excursions operated on a shoe-string budget of about $12,000. It also relied on in-kind support from local restaurants and hotels, and the services of Greenblatt?s graduate students in the Arts Administration program. Excursions presented concerts in the gem-like acoustic of the UNO Recital Hall, an intimate space that was easily the city?s best venue for strings.
?We?re looking for some other way to fund Excursions in 2012-2013,? Greenblatt said. ?Our audience was growing and we got a nice mix of students and concertgoers from the community. I think that?s what UNO is about.?
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Source: http://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2012/10/new_orleans_loses_a_deftly_cur.html
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