Coriolanus Campaign Accepts Endorsement

The Nashville Shakespeare Festival proudly accepts the endorsement of CORIOLANUS for Roman Consul 2008 A.D.

"There is no doubt that Coriolanus and his rival Aufidius have a love-hate relationship and the wrestling in the sand pit with their shirts off will please most TEP supporters." stated an anonymous supporter.

Excitement was high at the Glassmeyer/Delworth event, despite Coriolanus’ patronizing and sarcastic demeanor.

“Though Coriolanus’ attitude can be a bit off-putting, I believe that the people of Nashville will see that he is the most qualified candidate for consul,” said Nancy VanReece, Executive Director of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival and Coriolanus’ campaign manager. “Unlike other candidates who don’t consider Tennessee an important state to campaign in, Coriolanus has seventeen appearances planned in Nashville from August 14 through September 7. He obviously values the citizens of Middle Tennessee.”

Christopher Brown as Coriolanus and Kamal Bolden as Aufidius
Photo by http://www.jefffrazier.com/ Costunes by Billy Ditty

--TEP's value of the arts in Nashville is well known. We hope that the TEP Foundation license plate gets through in the next pas so that funding and awareness can support the mutual goals of the LGBT Creative Class --

“Your” government and “my” government. Mr. Cunningham is profoundly confused and ill informed.(Other Views Public Art THE TENNESSEAN 7/11/08) As William Shakespeare profoundly declared through a character in the play CORIOLANUS 400 years ago, “The people are the city”. The notion that government funds for the arts are somehow extra add-ons for the “dilettantes” is obscene. Most arts organizations that receive funding from the National Endowment For the Arts, The Tennessee Arts Commission and the Metro Nashville Arts Commission (MNAC) do so out of necessity. Arts funding is much like a three-legged stool. Government Funding, Business and Foundation Funding and Individual Donations make all the work possible. With out all three, the programming will suffer or may even come to a complete halt. If you want to see what your tax dollars are doing through arts funding, visit the organizations and ask them to tell you. Go to The Community Foundation’s wonderful transparent resource at www.givingmatters.com and read about the programming, education and funding of the creative class in your city.
Norree Boyd, Executive Director of MNAC, was clear about the cultural tourism and how our city is perceived by others. How do you perceive your city? Can Nashville be a city that treasures its Shakespeare in the Park, Symphony Hall, Children’s Theatre, Film Festival, Untitled Artist Group and Frist Center as much as it does its sports teams? As a citizen of Nashville we should all be striving for ways to help make this the city we all want it to be. As the NEA slogan says; ‘ A great nation deserves great art”. I boldly proclaim that “A great city deserves great art!” - Nancy VanReece, Executive Director, The Nashville Shakespeare Festival, making your world a stage, all year round!

(this has been a guest blog post)

* another house party is schedueld in the home of Shakes board president Phil Phy on Sunday July 27. Please email me if you woudl liek to be added to the e-vite list!