New Group Party Pooped: Art Bows to Fashion
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According to MCA spokesman Michael Thomas, the decision to forgo the River North street party was also linked to the opening of the museum’s new home, now scheduled for next July. “We were too busy working on the new building to do a party,” says Thomas, adding that the Oak Street Council is doing most of the planning for the fashion benefit. Several art dealers, however, say the decision to drop the street party is evidence that the museum is apathetic about the local art scene. “They are so lost over there,” says Ken Saunders of Marx-Saunders Gallery.
Despite the collapse of merger talks between Ballet Chicago and the Joffrey Ballet, the Joffrey may still decide to move to Chicago. Several sources say the company’s newly appointed executive director, Arnold Breman, has told them the Joffrey expects to base itself here, at least for the next season and perhaps well beyond that. Among other things, Breman is reportedly working to schedule a Joffrey engagement at the 4,200-seat theater set to open this fall in Rosemont and an appearance downtown during the 1996 Spring Festival of Dance. If the Joffrey does establish itself in Chicago, sources in the philanthropic community say Ballet Chicago is certain to find raising money more difficult than ever before.
