Fran Kirmser: Body and Soul podcast

When you need to look at the arts from a lot of different angles, it's helpful to have someone like the versatile Fran Kirmser in your corner. Here’s an interview I conducted with Fran in the fall of 2007 as she was preparing to facilitate a series of workshops for performing artists, sponsored by The Field. We chatted about the many roles she has played in her distinguished career as a performer, choreographer, theater producer, master fundraiser, a consultant to dance and theater companies, and a founder of Manhattan Theatre Source. This radiant, seemingly tireless advocate of dance and theater has a grand vision and the practical tools to back it up.

Guest Bio

Fran Kirmser has worked for over twelve years, producing, promoting and fundraising for dance and theater. Collectively she has raised millions of dollars in institutional funding and corporate sponsorships for hundreds of companies. She has held positions in Development, Public Relations, Management, or Booking and Representation with the following organizations: Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall, Doug Varone and Dancers, Sandra Cameron Dance Center, Pentacle. She is a founder of Manhattan Theatre Source where she served as Producing Artistic Director. Fran produced August Wilson's Radio Golf on Broadway, nominated for four Tony Awards. Recently she founded Made to Move, Inc.--a non-profit dedicated to the advancement of public knowledge of the art of dance and theater and co-created and produced the commercial musical SIDD based on the novel "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse. Additionally Fran has worked on the development of new theatrical works with Circle in the Square Repertory Theater and Musical Theatre Works among others.

Fran is a graduate of Skidmore College with continuing education at NYU Tisch Dance Residency Program, Laban Institute of Movement, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the New School University and Columbia University Graduate School of Psychology. She has served on the New York Foundation for the Arts (www.nyfa.org) funding panel and teaches numerous development and promotional workshops with The Field (www.thefield.org) and throughout the city.

Trained in dance and choreography, favorite past projects include choreography for Only Heaven composer Ricki Ian Gordon, and performing the repertory of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Co., American Dance Machine, Susan Marshall, Ralph Lemon, Isadora Duncan, Doris Humphrey, and Jack Cole.

LINK:

http://www.frankirmser.com/

Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.

(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File