Worst summer for fests

VAIL, Colo. -- It has been a midsummer's nightmare for arts festivals across the country because of visa restrictions imposed to tighten security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.\nFestival coordinators have had to find replacement performers at the last minute for top artists who have been denied entry, including performers at the recent Vail Valley International Dance Festival and the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City.\n"I think it must be the worst summer for festivals in decades, if not the worst ever," said Jan Denton, executive director of the American Arts Alliance. "There is some irony in shutting down the arts at a time when we should be encouraging international cultural exchanges with the long view of understanding other countries."\nLess than two weeks before the Vail festival, organizers learned the Lizt Alfonso's Dance Cuba and two Bolshoi Ballet dancers were denied visas. Programs had already been printed; promotional materials distributed.\n"You can well imagine it is a festival director's worst nightmare to have something you have worked on for a couple of years fall through," said Katherine Kersten, artistic director of the dance event.\nOrganizers pulled every string they could, but they wound up having to find replacements.\nThe American Arts Alliance, which lobbies on behalf of arts groups including many small, nonprofit festivals, is urging Congress to pass legislation speeding up the process for admitting overseas artists to the country.\n"We are made so much richer by the diversity of cultural imports. I feel we are in a world where we can see that if people in Afghanistan can have this effect on us, we need to know more about the world," said Nigel Redden, director of the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City.\nRedden canceled three performances of an Iranian music theater production in July and selected different plays because one-third of the members of an Iranian dance troupe were denied visas and other members arrived too late.\nAlthough festival directors recognize the need for tighter security, they want the visa process streamlined.\n"The inconvenience that we went through…is nothing compared with Sept. 11," said Mark Malkovich III, general director of the Newport Music Festival in Rhode Island. "I sympathize with the Immigration and Naturalization Service with the caveat that they have to streamline their procedures. There are people who are famous artists and there ought to be a way to put this through faster."\nMalkovich substituted American Mei-Ting Sun, winner of the International Piano E Competition, for renowned Georgia pianist Virsaladze Eliso. Substitute artists also filled in for two others whose visas didn't arrive in time for the July festival.\n"The artists were all so cooperative. Nobody flinched," he said.\nMalkovich, whose festival staged the North American premieres for 120 artists, said he felt sorry for the smaller festivals that lacked the contacts or funds to get replacements.\nBut most found replacements and ticket sales were up for many festivals.\nThe Old Songs Festival in Altamont, N.Y., had to cancel three performances by Craobh Rua, a band from Northern Ireland. Festival spokeswoman Andy Spence said organizers lobbied Congress and anyone else who could help "but nothing happened. For booking in next summer we have to hire people now and do the contracts now," Spence said.\nAmerican artists won't always be an alternative. "We do a lot of roots music so we want the people with the roots," he said.\nIn Vail, an ensemble from the New York City ballet, led by principal dancer Damian Woetzel, performed a second show to fill one open spot. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, performing in nearby Aspen, and Nikolai Massenkoff, who has his own Russian Dance Festival, filled the other open spots.\nDancers from the Paris Opera Ballet received their visas in time but Kersten had to enlist the aid of Colorado congressional members to get their costumes to Vail in time for the August festival.\n"It seems this is one instance where politics truly has interfered with art," Woetzel said, though he agreed it had one silver lining.\n"Artistically, it was also an opportunity to present a program with dancers from the Paris Opera and the New York City Ballet on the same program. The mixing of the two great traditions made for a very interesting evening of ballet."\nKersten said she remains committed to bringing the Cubans to Vail. The festival started in 1989 because the Bolshoi Academy lost a sponsor, and it has focused on bringing in artists like the Shanghai Ballet not likely to be seen elsewhere in the United States.\n"We have put a down payment on the Cubans and we want them here," she said.