Pittsburgh New Music Net

This Saturday, March 13, marks the last occasion to see the very unique HiTEC, an ensemble of Pittsburgh musicians and performers utilizing instruction pieces, chance, improvisation, theatrics, and a giant spinning Wheel-of-Fortune. Intrigued? Well, you should be and you probably come to this event, because it is literally your last chance to see the act. Extensive detail below…

HiTEC (Histrionic Thought Experiment Cooperative),
the experimental orchestra founded by
tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
will present its last ‘UNCERT’ (Uncertainty Concert), Saturday, March 13, 2010,
8PM (doors open 7:30PM), at the Kresge Recital Hall
in the CFA (Center for Fine Arts) at CMU (Carnegie Mellon University)
- $6.00 suggested donation, free to CMU students.

HiTEC has previously publicly presented the talents of:

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: piano, SysMan, electronics, percussion, spinner
Ben Opie – reeds, electronics
Kenny Haney: clarinets
Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard
Hyla Willis: amplified erhu
Jonathan Brodfsky: monome with mabalhabla software
Spat Cannon: upright acoustic bass
Johan Nystrom: extended percussion
Joy Toujours: electric guitar w/ nylon strings, violin
Roger Dannenberg: trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet
William Wedler: Experiment 1
Ben Harris: violin
Dani Simmonds: banjo-uke
James Gyre: drums
Tony Balko: camcorder
Julian Krishnamurti: electric bass
David Bernabo: electric guitar
Red Bob Jungkunz: drums
Kerrith Livengood: alto flute
Josh Beyer: cello
Mike Tamburo: hammered dulcimer
Erok: trombone
Mike Kasunic: synthesizer, flute, percussion
Missi St Pierre: toy piano w/ effects
Stuart Anderson: laptop

& will introduce, for this occasion:

Spencer Rafael Diaz: camcorder
Gina Ketter: 5 string electric viola

Videos of HiTEC can be seen online @:

For Tony Balko’s 16mm footage of HiTEC
(Histrionic Thought Experiment Cooperative) ’s beginning
of our 21st rehearsal on September 14, 2008EV:

For the beginning of my documentary of HiTEC’s premier gig:

A soft focus high-definition wide-angle shot of a short excerpt
from the 1/9/9 premier of HiTEC at the New Hazlett Theater:

For the HiTEC movie that also features Ian Page’s
The End of Television project + Sound/Unsound Trio & the Valentine Trio:

The 1st day of HiTEC @ the Visionary Arts Festival
(& days leading up to it):

I kid. But the budget proposal before the House does exclude the sin tax on arts events, museums, and zoos (should we call it the polar bear tax instead of a sin tax on the arts? Write me and let me know, or leave a comment). From the good folks at Citizens for the Arts in PA,

“Last night the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Rules Committee sent a tax code bill to the full House of Representatives that does NOT include a sales tax on admissions to performances, museums, and zoos.  The bill does include some new revenue streams such as a tax on smokeless tobacco and a severance tax on natural gas.  This bill is a change to the handshake agreement that was reached on September 18, 2009 between Governor Rendell and leaders of 3 of the 4 legislative caucuses.”

What does this mean? Probably that the budget will continue to be in a stalemate for the foreseeable future and that we can expect to see more revenue raising proposals coming out of Harrisburg that are more suited for a story in The Onion, than a meaningful state budget. Citizens for the Arts in PA has helpful resources to continue to advocate for the arts, and if you haven’t signed up for their e-mail alerts, I recommend it.

Now. The PA House is planning to vote on this issue TODAY. So call, don’t write, e-mail, text, or tweet. Call. A reminder that the proposed FY09–10 state budget is set to include an amusement tax on arts events, museums, and zoos (zoos!). Not sports events, not arena shows, just people who want to go hear a good string quartet, enjoy a painting, and see polar bears swimming around (preferably all at once). Every non-profit is struggling right now. Donations are down, and of course, endowment income is down, so to single out arts, education, and science non-profits for what amounts to a sin tax is just bonkers.

Citizens for the Arts in PA has a great tool for quickly finding contact info for your legislators, so please call before 5 p.m. today.

The good news is that the nearly completed, long delayed state budget restores 10 million to the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for grant making and 1 million for administration, so write your reps and senators to encourage them to keep this allocation in the final budget. And while you’re at it, ask them if they think this is really a good idea.

“With Mr. Rendell insisting that the $27.9 billion budget proposal have more “recurring revenues,” leaders of three of the four General Assembly caucuses decided to eliminate the sales tax exemption for symphonies, ballets, operas and other performing arts, as well as for museums, historical sites, parks and zoos. The sales tax exemption will remain for tickets to sporting events and movies.“

Emphasis mine. Ugh.

Pittsburgh New Music Net is, above all else, about advocacy for our City’s contemporary music scene, and by extension, advocacy for the arts in general. That’s why I wanted to make sure everyone was aware that the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, an organization that supports the offerings of numerous non-profit presenters in our region, is in serious danger of being de-funded. The state Senate already passed a bill with no funding for PCA grant making, but the house is considering a bill that restores this funding. Fortunately the arts community isn’t just sitting on its hands and our friends at Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania  have plentiful resources to help you decide what action to take. Particularly helpful is their Legislative Action Center which posts information about arts-related legislation under consideration at both state and federal levels. Finally, for what it’s worth, I’m including the text of the message I sent to my own representative, Don Walko. It sums up my thoughts on the subject pretty well.

The Honorable Representative Don Walko

Dear Sir,

I was very disappointed to hear that the PA Senate passed SB 850, a budget bill which includes no funding for Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grants. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is an indispensable source of funding to many of our state’s most important non-profit arts organizations and I urge you to support HB 1416 which includes 14 million for arts grants.

Since the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act many important steps have been taken to rebuild our nation’s transportation and energy infrastructure. But we must also rebuild our intellectual infrastructure if we are to meet the challenges that face us. Arts funding (along with funding for education and public broadcasting) is a critical component in equipping Pennsylvanians with creative, and intellectual vigor that will be required to solve the problems that lie ahead. 

I urge you to support HB 1416 that includes $14 million for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grants to arts organizations.

Sincerely,

Philip Thompson
Pittsburgh, PA