Suzanne Weil

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Suzanne Weil (b. 1932) is an American arts administrator and producer who developed Walker Art Center's Performing Arts Department in Minneapolis, [1] [2] was Director of the Dance Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, [3] [4] was Senior Vice-President for Programming at PBS (5) and Executive Director of the Sundance Institute. [5]

Contents

Professional career

Career highlights

While at the Walker Art Center as coordinator of the Performing Arts Program, Weil was known for commissioning residencies with composers such as John Cage, [6] Philip Glass, and Steve Reich, choreographers Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp (Tharp's dance Sue's Leg is dedicated to Weil [2] ), Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, and David Gordon, and theater companies Mabou Mines, Meredith Monk, and the Manhattan Project Company. Garrison Keillor has thanked her for being the first to put him on a stage. [7] Weil produced over 200 legendary rock and jazz concerts for Walker Art Center that were often staged at the Guthrie Theater, including Miles Davis, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Mothers of Invention, the Grateful Dead and Elton John.

At PBS she was known for programming such works as Shoah, [5] [8] Eyes on the Prize, [9] My Dinner With Andre, [5] and The Thin Blue Line. [5] PBS President Bruce L. Christensen described Weil's contributions to PBS and public television as "legion and extraordinary...her particular genius has been her ability to recognize and nurture creativity. Her unfailing eye for quality, and talent for bringing great minds together, have resulted in many of television's finest moments over the last ten years, from the presentation of Shoah to Baryshnikov by Tharp." [5]

As an independent producer, Weil served as an associate of the documentary Sketches of Frank Gehry. [10] She also served on the Board of Directors of Baryshnikov Arts Center [11] where she helped establish the Cage Cunningham Fund [12]

Her husband is Fred Weil Jr. [13]

References

  1. ↑ Walker Art Center (2001-06-13). "Suzanne Weil in Conversation with Philip Bither" . Retrieved 2019-07-20.
  2. 1 2 Brownell, Kathryn (1978). "Contemporary Dance Edited and with an introduction by Anne Livet. 1978. New York: Abbeville Press Inc.307 pp., photographs, chronology, bibliography, index, cloth. $25.00". Dance Research Journal. 11: 1–2.
  3. ↑ "National Arts Agency Names Dance Director". New York Times. 1982-07-17. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  4. ↑ "Suzanne Weil named director of NEA Dance Program". Dance Magazine. Dec 1976. p. 4. OCLC   82125886.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Carmody, John (1988-09-27). "TV Column". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  6. ↑ Dickinson, Peter (2014). Cagetalk : dialogues with and about John Cage. Rochester, NY: University Rochester Press. p. 122. ISBN   978-1580465090. OCLC   876432089.
  7. ↑ McNary, Dave (2016-07-02). "Garrison Keillor Says Goodbye to 'A Prairie Home Companion' at the Hollywood Bowl". Variety. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  8. ↑ Hull, Ronald (2012). Backstage : stories from my life in public television. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN   978-0803244535. OCLC   809833158.
  9. ↑ Else, Jon (2017). True south : Henry Hampton and Eyes on the prize, the landmark television series that reframed the civil rights movement. New York, New York: Viking. ISBN   9781101980934. OCLC   966314870.
  10. ↑ Pollack, Sydney (2006). Sketches of Frank Gehry (Documentary film).
  11. ↑ Baryshnikov Arts Center. "BAC 10 Years:Suzanne Weil (video interview)" . Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  12. ↑ Baryshnikov Arts Center (2019-04-25). "Cage Cunningham Fund" . Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  13. ↑ "Performing Arts records, Coordinator, Suzanne Weil, 1969– 1976" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-04-19.
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