University of Illinois’ Krannert Center aims to provide a space for all to enjoy the arts
Mike Ross, director of Urbana’s Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, is hardpressed to name his favorite place to be inside the University of Illinois’ celebrated arts space.
Ross could pluck Foellinger Great Hall from the list, the center’s largest performing space. He could choose the lobby, home to the opening performances of the biennial guitar festival, sporting artists such as guitar legend Junior Brown and psychedelic-pop practitioner Chicha Libre. Or, he could go below the ground floor to Level 2 where the behind-thescenes action happens. From the production shops to the rehearsal spaces, Level 2 is an area of Krannert, Ross says, that is “an amazing place to observe the creative process.”
But Ross won’t choose.
“I don’t think I have a favorite place. I love the whole thing,” says Ross, who started running the show at Krannert 12 years ago. “It’s that total notion of the place.”
The place — a distinctive 40-year-old complex just east of the main quad on University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s campus — hosts approximately 400 events and performances during the season and boasts an annual attendance of 350,000. The vast majority of patrons who fill Krannert’s seats come from central Illinois, including Springfield, Bloomington, Decatur and other surrounding areas, according to Bridget Lee-Calfas, public information director for the center.
“My hope is that if someone were to experience Krannert Center now as opposed to 12 years ago, part of what they would sense is that broader notion of the creative embrace and a sense that the center is here for everyone,” Ross says.
The current season — which kicked off this month with Ellnora, The Guitar Festival — features a blend of styles and genres performed by international and national artists along with talent cut from the center’s own backyard.
In October alone, audiences can see Hip Hop Project: Insight into the Hip Hop Generation presented by the UI Department of Theatre, as well as Nicole Cabell, winner of the 2005 BBC Singer of the World competition and celebrated jazz guitarist Fareed Haque and the Flat Earth Ensemble, among many other performances.
“In any one season, it’s impossible to do all that we would like to do,” Ross says. “It’s impossible to represent comprehensively the full spectrum of creative endeavor that’s going on in the arts around the globe.”
So Ross tries to think of the seasons in terms of rolling three- to five-year chunks of time. He says that the performances at Krannert this year will serve to harmonize with the experiences patrons will have attending performances for the next few years.
“I’m very fond of seeing things that might be viewed as opposites and competitors of sorts — ideas or things,” Ross says. “I’m more fond of viewing those as a continuum rather than opposites.”
Art for all
One of Ross’ goals from the beginning was to embrace the full scale of art — that means making room for Bono and Bach in the season’s schedule. If Ross doesn’t accomplish covering the whole range, he’s barely missing the mark.
From indie rock darlings, The Walkmen, to the celebrated modern dance troupe, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and the energetic urban percussion group, Street Beat — all slated to perform this season — the dedicated performance space strives to open the door to all things performing arts.
“For me, it’s not whether you’re talking about high art or low art; it’s not highbrow or lowbrow or middlebrow — I’m very fond of
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