Afropop’s Sean Barlow interviewed James Burke, Director of the City Parks Foundation’s Arts and Cultural Programs (Pictured Right, Credit: Jack Vartoogian, Front Row Photos*). Besides producing Central Park SummerStage, one of the jewels in the City’s crown, James’s department is also responsible for producing cultural events in all five boroughs. More information is available at www.summerstage.org.

Sean Barlow: What is the City Parks Foundation?
James Burke: The mission of the City Parks Foundation, as a whole, is to revitalize neighborhood parks in the city.  So, we think an important way to do that is to bring people out into their parks to interact in a celebratory environment and ultimately take stewardship of their own parks.  We have a couple different program areas which are arts and cultural programs, of course, the office I run, and then we do sports programs, education programs and advocacy work.

S.B: Give us a thumbnail history of Central Park SummerStage.  How did it begin?  What is its evolution?
J.B: SummerStage started in 1986, so we’re entering our 23^rd consecutive season.  When it began, the mission was very specific.  The Parks Department and the Central Park Conservancy started it as a way to get people into the Park.  Now we take Central Park and the great shape that it’s in for granted, but at the time it wasn’t being utilized in the way everyone envisioned the park space being utilized.

S.B: Because of a fear of violence?
J.B: Yeah, a fear of violence and some drug use there.  It wasn’t conducive to being used as a performance venue.  As the Festival grew, in 1992 the Conservancy asked if the City Parks Foundation would step in and start doing the programming.  At the time, it was bit more of a performance art festival than it is today.  But even in that first year, we had Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Dance Brazil.  Even from the very inception there was that glimmer reflecting the true diversity of New York City, which is something we’ve tried to expand on over the years.  Now we’re at the point where we present at least thirty, free music, dance and spoken word programs every summer.

S.B: Tell us about your experience of the SummerStage audience.  Who is the audience, and why do they come?
J.B: We definitely try to program particular talent that will cater to a cultural group that lives in NYC.  Our mission is twofold, really, in terms of programming strategy.  We want to please all the people, all the time, but we don’t have enough dates to do that every year.  But, within every year we try to represent as many different genres of music that will attract different ethnicities as much as possible.  We also want to put on those programs, whenever we can, sort of in the Afrobeat tradition, music they wouldn’t necessarily be familiar with, or wouldn’t normally be on that bill.

S.B: Like who?
J.B: We are doing this one day with Rachid Taha [July 5^th], who we’ve been wanting to book for a number of years, but we didn’t just want people to think of it as a North African, Algerian raï kind of day, so at the same time we booked Dengue Fever and Apollo Heights on the same day.  We’re hoping when we look out in the audience that we’re going to see a bunch of Algerians, Lower East Side and Williamsburg kids and people who are into psychedelic rock.  And we’re going to put them all in the venue together and see what happens.

S.B: Did you have any particular love of world music as you were coming along or did that happen as you got to know artists through SummerStage?
J.B: Actually, SummerStage was a good introduction for me to world music.  I think the world music scene and SummerStage grew, in popularity and notoriety, in tandem.  It’s been an ear-opening experience for me, working at SummerStage, learning more and more about world music.

S.B: Was there a point where you decided, with international music, “We’re good at this, people like it, let’s go for it?”  Or was it sort of a steady evolution?
J.B: I think it was more of a steady evolution.  By the time I came onboard, in 2001, SummerStage had really become synonymous, to a large extent, with world music.  We’re known for always doing Saturday and Sunday programs, starting at 3 pm and going all the way to 7 pm.  It slowly worked out so that our American music, of all different genres and disciplines, was falling on Saturdays, and our world music would always be on Sundays.  So people would instinctively know they could just show up at SummerStage on a Sunday and catch some great world music.  To a large extent it’s still that way, but I always like to remind people that SummerStage isn’t necessarily a world music festival, but it is a festival that presents music from all over the world.  This year we brought back some more local emerging talent from New York City.

S.B: Like who?
J.B: Well, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and Kid Sister and Battles are good examples. Indie rock stars Vampire Weekend [out of Columbia University] will be here too. We have a whole dance program that’s comprised of New York City-based talent as well.  Having an indie rock background, I definitely put a little bit of my indie rock stamp on the programs this year.

S.B: Personally, who are some of the artists that you’re most excited about this summer?
J.B: Wow, it’s kind of hard to narrow it down.  I’d start with one that I know we both saw in Seville, Spain at WOMEX [The World Music Expo targeting professionals in the world music industry], Bajafondo.  We had a version of Bajafondo open on a bill in 2002, and I was really blown away by their performance. There are visual elements to it, and what they’re doing with the roots of Argentinean and South American music, I think, is really exciting.  I think it should be a fun crowd out there that day.  Sunday, July 20^th, we have Santogold, which is more local talent.  She’s a really charismatic, energetic, genre-bending performer.  It’s new hip-hop, but definitely informed by an almost punk rock sensibility.  If you don’t know Santogold, definitely come see her that day.

S.B: What African acts are you interested in?
J.B: Well, another musician that I saw for the first time at WOMEX was Seun Kuti and the Egypt 80, and I was just blown away.  That date is going to be really fresh--it’s with Afrika Bambaataa and Love Trio, with U-Roy, so we’re definitely mixing club culture with African roots.

S.B: When you say [his performance] blew you away, why?
J.B: The energy level of the performance and the music--Seun’s performance, being backed up by this eighteen piece orchestra and that horn section was just phenomenal.  I remember thinking, “How many are on the stage?  Can we fly that many people over?!”

S.B: It seems you have a commitment to presenting Latin music—local and international. Is that right?

J.B: Yes. And whenever we present Latin talent we get really big crowds. The Latino thread incorporates a lot of crossover indie rock or straight ahead rock and roll as well.  You know, more traditionalists like Victor Manuelle, but we always partner with the Latin Alternative Music Conference on dates, and we have Julieta Venegas headlining a day at the Park.  We’re also working with Mexico Tourism and National Geographic Travel on a day called “An Unexpected Mexico”, which features Kinky and Alejandro Escovedo and Pistolera.  And then there are straight ahead rock and rollers, but innovators, like Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys doing a free evening concert at the end of August.

 
S.B: Now here’s the question all the musicians in our Afropop community have been waiting for. Do you have any tips for aspiring SummerStage artists?
J.B: There are a few ways to do it.  Our programming strategy definitely involves presenting emerging artists on bills with more established performers.  But at the same time, the SummerStage Festival attracts many thousands of people every day, so you have to be at a certain level before we can consider putting you on a bill.

S.B: A certain level in terms of name, or recognition or talent?
J.B: Ideally, by all three.  A little bit of name recognition is good, although sometimes really good artists just don’t fit into the programming strategy we have for a particular day or a particular season.  We go to music conferences.  We have an informal network of other presenting colleagues that keep us up to date on things.  We’re always reading to see what the next big thing is and we have a good network of agents.  For an aspiring musician, probably the most concrete, realistic advice that I would give is to get a good agent and get some good plays in the city.

S.B: What is SummerStage’s relationship to Afropop Worldwide?
J.B: Afropop Worldwide [heard Saturday nights at 11 on Radio New York 91.5 FM] is a sponsor that helps us get the word out to the Afropop music loving community.  It’s been a great relationship.  I know you guys come by a handful of times at programs throughout the summer and get to interact with our audience.  Ideally, you get to introduce yourselves to some people that you may not be familiar with, and I know we get a lot of fans that come out who have heard about the festival and our specific programs through Afropop.  I believe it’s one of our longest standing media relationships.  Afropop is important because it’s a specific community that we know every year is going to want to come to check out some of our music.

S.B: To me, one of the best things about SummerStage is that is does bring diverse audiences together.  A kind of rainbow nation of different ethnic backgrounds, classes, generations, religions, native born and immigrants, all enjoying music together.
J.B: Absolutely. The line we use is, “Bringing people together in a spirit of celebration for the performing arts.”  It’s a great way to help people realize how well we can get along and how much we have in common through music and dance.  It’s nice being in Central Park, because Central Park is the people’s park.  We want to make sure everyone remembers that and comes out to enjoy it.  With our programs being free, the idea is that performing arts should be accessible to everybody.  In the same way that parks aren’t just a superfluous amenity to city living, arts are enriching.  It’s not just entertainment, it’s a crucial, enriching experience.

S.B: Thanks for your time. And congratulations to you and your staff for lining up such a fantastic season at SummerStage. I’ll see you at Rumsey Field!

J.B: Thank you Sean. We look forward to seeing you and the Afropop crew.

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