Photo by Kat Schleicher
In 2003 David Ravel inherited the directorship of one of Milwaukee’s longest-running performing arts series, Alverno Presents. Earlier this year, the Roman Catholic women’s college announced that 2015-2016 will be the final season for a series that has brought everyone from Judy Collins to Trisha Brown to the stage of the Pittman Theatre. Off the Cuff spoke with Ravel as the season wound down.
When did you come to Milwaukee?
We moved here from Brooklyn in 1997. [My wife] Phylis was hired by the theater department at Marquette University. By 1999 I was working with Theatre X as the company’s producing director. I left in 2003 for Alverno Presents.
You inherited a venerable cultural institution.
Alverno Presents was founded in 1959 by Sister Laura [Lampe]. As with many School Sisters of St. Francis, she was a woman who had ideas and made them happen. They are visionaries. Sister Laura felt there were big gaps in the cultural ecosystem of Milwaukee at that time and set out to fill them in very broad, inclusive ways.
Were you determined to keep it going along those same lines or did you come to Alverno Presents with new ideas?
The cultural climate of Milwaukee in 2003 was very different than it was in 1959—the cultural gaps were much bigger in 1959. We no longer needed to present classical music or theater—these were well covered in Milwaukee by the time I came to Alverno. What wasn’t receiving sufficient attention was jazz, contemporary dance and world music. We decided to focus on those genres and it evolved from there.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
The annual Global Union world music festival at Humboldt Park was one of your initiatives.
When I was in New York at a conference, a short, wiry dude was anxious to get into the conversation with me. He said, “My name is Mike Orloff—I do a world music festival in Chicago and I need one in Milwaukee. I want you to do it!” Clearly, the only response was “Of course!” He was such a powerful presence that I couldn’t imagine saying no.
Why didn’t you hold Global Union on the Alverno campus?
One of the challenges of marketing the series—and Alverno—was the isolation of the campus. Global Union was one way to bring Alverno’s message throughout the city.
Would you say Global Union was your greatest accomplishment at Alverno Presents?
No. I’m very proud of Global Union but what’s most important to me is the way the Uncovered series developed. It started out with questions about the Great American Songbook—what merits inclusion and how can we broaden our understanding of what it means. It started with a Stephen Foster performance in 2013, then Marvin Gaye (2014), Patti Smith and Quincy Jones (2015) and Prince (2016). I was always interested in integrating the local with the national and international. Uncovered became a way of accomplishing that in a meaningful way and a vehicle for working with Milwaukee artists who reimagined the work of great American songwriters in performance.
What happened to Alverno Presents?
Money—the common higher education issue right now. Funding for higher education is hurting and hard decisions had to be made with a great deal of reluctance. The college needed to focus on its core mission of educating women. We were part of that but not central to the core mission.
But Uncovered will continue?
We will take Uncovered to Turner Hall in January 2017 for Michael Jackson and April 2017 for Stevie Wonder, focusing on the 40th anniversary of Songs in the Key of Life.
