A Question

Dear Brooklyn Academy of Music,

Why call it the Next Wave Festival?

Laurie Anderson? I saw her at BAM in 1990. It was really, really loud. Mark Morris? Personally, I prefer the Trockaderos for 'quirky' queer ballet, but, ok... Pina Bausch? She was fabulous. And now she's gone. We deserve a yearlong festival of her work.

They're accomplished artists all, but again the question--why "Next Wave"?

Now, I realize that older artists have to eat, too. Arts funding is "not like it was in the '70's", as Laurie Anderson so wryly put it (in the '80's). And I realize that the money base of BAM ticket buyers will be baby boomers wanting a nostalgia blast of greatest hits (or at least familiar formats) from favorite artists (see: endless touring; Stones, Rolling). I also realize that the benefits of getting those Moneyed Patrons in the door can trickle down to the younger, "emerging" artists on the Festival bill (provided said Patronage actually winds up patronizing those less familiar young'ns). Must we also indulge said Moneyed Older Patrons with the moniker "adventurous audiences"? Are they that narcissistic? Are they that un-self aware that they can't smell such a craven heap of false marketing flattery a mile away? Wait a minute--are they?

Well, anyway...I guess more to the point:
Can't the festival just be called something else?

I made a list of possibilities:

alliterative-- The BAMy Boom Festival

offbeat-- New Tricks by Old Dogs Festival

direct-- The Secure the Funding Base Festival

west coast-- The Next Wavy Gravy Festival

free of charge-- The Nextel Festival

lowbrow/whimsical-- Old Art Farts Tent Revival

hard truth-- The Seating's More Comfortable Than Issue Project Room Festival

Thank you for considering my question, and some alternate names. I wish all of us a great festival.

Sincerely,
Bryce Kasson


p.s. the printed festival flyer I received in the US mail is a good old fashioned format that for some reason features the artists I mention above much more prominently then your newfangled website, which seems to be full of newfangled artists whose names are news to me. Hmmm:
http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=1096