This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 21, 2011 - Most cultural institutions look for ways to collaborate with and involve other organizations, if only to bring fresh ideas. Ideally though, these moments of cross-pollination produce all types of benefits, from new funding opportunities to public awareness, resulting in an increase in viewers, readers, visitors or listeners.
With a long history of developing collaborative relationships with other St. Louis arts organizations, KDHX radio (88.1 fm or http://kdhx.org) has been agile in finding new and interesting fits for programmers to take their skills to "the streets," whether that's teaching podcasting classes in the St. Louis Country Library system or hosting live events at longstanding, cooperative venues such as Off Broadway or the City Museum.
More recently, KDHX has been active in helping to book sound waves, a program that unites KDHX DJs and local musicians at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, one of the linchpins of the Grand Center arts scene, which is where KDHX will call home later this year. In this format, the DJs, usually accompanied by live musicians (or, at least, some type of pre-taped recording), play against the backdrop of whatever longstanding show is housed at the expansive Pulitzer. In recent months, that's meant a series of events taking place alongside the "stylus" exhibit by multi-media artist Ann Hamilton, featuring the sound design of composer Shahrokh Yadegari.
Lisa Harper Chang, the Pulitzer's community projects director, says, "We entered the program with few expectations, knowing that this type of collaboration, just like the exhibition, is new territory for all parties involved. In that way, the results are exactly as we expected. Each sound waves evening worked in its own way, creating serendipitous moments of acoustic revelation while celebrating some of the rich musical tradition of St. Louis.
"St. Louis has such a rich musical and cultural history, as well as present identity," she adds. "We have only scratched the surface by featuring Brazilian, Balkan, jazz, blues and hip-hop. If we could continue on indefinitely, not only could we dive further into some of the musical traditions already represented (Balkan alone could be its own series), but we could also look to reflecting other ethnicities represented in our community, for example, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Bhutanese, etc."
While those sounds certainly could find a home within the sound waves template, programs lately have focused on truly home-grown, all-American musical forms from across the spectrum. Last month, longtime KDHX programmer and blues historian Ron Edwards played guitar alongside pre-programmed piano tracks that played in a separate area of the Pulitzer. This month, the third Thursday will feature hip-hop, compliments of DJ Needles, who hosts "Rawthentic" on KDHX and is one of St. Louis' most-respected club DJs.
According to Harper Chang, this type of diversity means, "We are seeing some new faces, those attracted by the genre of music featured for the evening. Whenever we can introduce "stylus" to those who would not otherwise enter our doors, it is always exciting for those of us who live, breathe, and work the exhibition.
"I think that this exhibition has opened the Pulitzer and its staff up in so many ways, and this night is one of many," she adds. "It is always intriguing and inspiring to see our galleries used in new ways, and the atmosphere created throughout each of these sound waves has been truly special. Really, every program that has taken place in our galleries during "stylus," whether they feature drumming and steel guitar, knitting needles, modern dance or classical voice, helps us think of our space and our institution in new ways that will have an impact on how we program future exhibitions."
The challenge to musicians, on the other hand, is how to harness the vastness of the Pulitzer space, something acknowledged by Edwards before last month's show. As someone who's spent no small amount of time as a host of different musical venues, Edwards admits that the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts is "very unusual" for a person used to playing smaller clubs and halls, starting with the obvious sonic worry: "The ceiling's so high!"
Different musicians have broken through with different techniques. As noted, Edwards didn't spin records, but played his guitar live, aside two musicians accompanying him, while allowing his pre-recorded tracks to fill another space. Other players have used turntables or CD decks, while playing "call-and-response" to musicians in other parts of the room. Some have literally moved through the rooms, playing with the aural possibilities of different zones.
That type of freedom can make for some interesting moments. Asked if there were any particular "ah-ha" moments in the series to date, Harper Chang freely admits there have been a few.
"The first big 'ah-ha' moment for me has been how amazing KDHX is as a partner," she says. "I always knew and loved them as a community institution, but the experience of working with Nico (Nico Leone, co-executive director of KDHX and curator of this project) and his colleagues has been truly joyous. I very much look forward to what this collaboration yields in the future. As for "idea plus execution equals this awesome moment,"' each sound waves evening produced its own. Whether it was Moacyr Marchini serenading the jumping beans with his drum, John Uhlemann showing us traditional Balkan dance moves while DJ'ing, the truly remarkable and rare live performances by Zimbabwe Nkenya and Charles 'Bobo' Shaw with Josh Weinstein, and the inimitable evocations of the blues weaving in and out of 'stylus.'
"These moments of revelation, when you see, whether intentional or not, the call and response between exhibition and DJ, DJ and musician, and, completing the circle, exhibition and musician, never cease to blow me away, and I am incredibly excited to experience moments just as mind-blowing in January at sound waves Hip Hop and the finale."
And as a side product of the series, sound waves has even given the Pulitzer's staff a bit of extra goodwill to enjoy, especially during these cold winter months when drawing visitors can be a challenge.
Courtney Henson, the Pulitzer's visitor services manager, says "The gallery assistants seem to enjoy having music beyond the usual 'stylus' sounds to activate the space. Many staff have made it a point to stick around later into the evening in order to enjoy the sound waves events."
Thomas Crone is a freelance writer who also works with KDHX.