Rockford College’s Uncommon Lives women-in-the-arts series on hiatus

February 25th, 2009 at 05:34pm Georgette Braun

Hard telling when/if Rockford College will bring back the weeklong series “Uncommon Lives: Extraordinary Women in the Arts.” The culprit: money.

The series started in 1991 and virtually every other year brought in half a dozen nationally recognized women writers, musicians, dancers and singers for performances, workshops and lectures that were open to the public. It cost the college, once a college for women only, $80,000 to $100,000 for each series, said Chuck Brown, communications and new media director for the college.

The last time Uncommon Lives was offered was in 2006 when Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves and Twyla Tharp, choreographer and author, were among the featured women. The series attracted about 2,000 people that year, Brown said.

In an e-mail Tuesday, Brown said the college’s financial picture has stabilized since 2008, when Robert Head took over as president. But in 2006 and 2007, the college “had to focus its resources on activities that generated revenue to maintain academic programs and services,” Brown said. In short, the college was focused on attending to the “nitty-gritty” of running the college, he said.

However, the college will consider putting on Uncommon Lives again in the future, he said.

Entry Filed under: arts