2011 Top 5 in STL Arts

Here is the St. Louis Post- Dispatch 2011 Arts Round-Up — overall it seems we agree on the 2011 St Louis Arts headlines

1) Cliff Froehlich, Director Cinema St. Louis

2) Missouri Arts Council

3) Paul Ha, Former Director of the Contemporary Art Museum

4) Ivy Cooper, Arts Writer St. Louis Beacon

5) Kemper Art Museum

Here are the justifications behind these 2011 SVO1905 award winners Cinema St. Louis has had such a big arts impact this year with their annual film festivals and with the one off events they’ve organized. On a personal note, my three year old’s first film in a theater was a Russian film for kids and was a part of the St. Louis International Film Festival. Thank you Cinema St. Louis — you make me proud to be a St. Louisan!

It seems like practically every program for every arts related event in St. Louis bears the Missouri Arts Council Logo. In these times of tight budgets/ideological lunacy (that Missouri is cutting state funding left and right while it has the lowest cigarette tax in the country) funding for MAC is in dire straights for 2012.

Paul Ha has moved on a position at MIT, but in his tenure as the Director of the Contemporary Art Museum, Paul did more to engage the community than any museum in St. Louis. From stroller tours, to regular culinary events, to the mobile art van to hard hat tours, to Cardinals watch parties — under Paul’s leadership the Contemporary set the bar for community events.

Ivy Cooper, arts writer for the St. Louis Beacon… do yourself a favor and read the Beacon regularly for her reviews of arts events here in St. Louis (or set up a google alert).  Ivy’s reviews are a must-read blend of insight and excellent writing.

The Kemper Art Museum on the WashU campus is a gourmet meal — they don’t have to spend all kinds of time telling you how delicious it is.  Their programs, with essays made available in advance, are the embodiment of quality over quantity.  The staff at every level are unfailingly friendly, professional always a pleasure to work with.