Peoria Makes Us Chuckle Again -- In A Good Way
NEA chairman Rocco Landesman's coming trip to Peoria, having insulted its theater scene in
an interview with The New York Times, is Culture Grrl's story not mine. But Kathy Chitwood, executive director of the Eastlight Theatre in Peoria (whose current production is RENT -- pictured at left), just posted a comment on my commentary about Landesman's cocky, risky remarks that made me smile and exhibited exactly the right attitude. So I am sharing here, as well as in the comments on my Monday post.
In response to Mr. Landesman's NY Times interview, Suzette Boulais, executive director of ArtsPartners, and I extended invitations to the new NEA chairman to visit Peoria to attend a production at Eastlight Theatre (one of Peoria's theatres). He immediately responded by email his gratitude for the invitation and that he will come.
Tuesday afternoon on his first day in office, I received a call from Mr. Landesman confirming that he is excited about visiting our community to experience our arts scene. Our goal is for Peoria to represent all of the smaller communities in the nation that are doing worthy and worthwhile work in the arts.
In homage to the "The Beer Summit," we are lovingly calling this visit, "The Lemonade Stand," not because that is what we drink, but because that is what we do in Peoria -- we take lemons and turn them into lemonade.
That's the spirit!
Photo Credit: © Peoria Journal-Star
About
Judith H. Dobrzynski Now an independent journalist, I've worked as a reporter in the culture and business sections of The New York Times, and been the editor of the Sunday business section and deputy business editor there... more
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