Piles of CDs, books and magazines are scattered throughout
Performing Arts director David Sefton’s spacious Royce Hall
office.
While he spends a third of his time traveling in search of new
performers to book, his search doesn’t end when he reaches
home. Researching current ripples in the world of art is a major
part of his job, and he takes it seriously.
The motto for one of the magazines resting on his couch reads
“All You Need to Know About Everything That Matters,”
and judging from the UCLA Live 2002-2003 Performing Arts program,
it sounds like a manifesto of his own.
“I’m aiming to create a season which sets the
program apart from everything else in the country,” Sefton
said.
More than 50 percent of UCLA Live’s funds come directly
from box office returns, making it chancy for Sefton to take risks
with his programming. But Sefton, who came to UCLA from Liverpool
by way of the Royal Festival Hall in London, has twenty years of
experience in his current field. Despite the busyness of the work
and potential risks, he deliberately schedules acts intended to
reach as diverse as possible an audience.
“It’s like one of those old musical plate spinning
acts where you keep all these things going. You’ve got
theatre going well and you (might) notice that jazz is wobbling.
You really need eyes in the back of your head,” Sefton
said.
Sefton pays close attention to the Artist-in-Residence program,
inaugurated last year by Elvis Costello and manned this season by
the Kronos Quartet. He sees it as a golden opportunity to have
artists create new pieces specifically for UCLA and give them the
space and audience to develop new projects. Costello will return
next spring for a performance, but Sefton is most enthusiastic
about how the Kronos Quartet will handle the position.
“The stuff we haven’t announced with Kronos yet is
going to be actually very cool,” Sefton said.
“It’s going to be some collaborative stuff with people
more out of rock ‘n’ roll. The opportunity for them to
do that is quite unusual. The various things we discussed with
Elvis, which unfortunately never came to fruition, were along those
lines.”
Key to the program is the selected artists use the experience
and UCLA for their own good. It’s a symbiotic
relationship.
“We don’t want them to live here. We don’t
need them to sleep on the stage,” Sefton said. “(But)
the whole thing of an Artist-in-Residence is (to have) somebody
that will return and keep coming back.”
In addition to the more mainstream fare audiences clamor for,
Sefton seeks to introduce new forms of artistry to challenge his
audience. He faced a challenge of his own when he made the decision
to move from London to Los Angeles almost two years ago. Having
served as head of artistic development at the South Bank
Centre/Royal Festival Hall in the ’90s, Sefton mainly dealt
with programs in the United Kingdom.
Now, Sefton relies on a network of people to tip him off about
new, not-to-be-missed shows. Keeping his ear to the ground helps
him maintain a schedule balanced between established acts such as
Nina Simone and Youssou N’Dour, and more progressive
presentations like Turnament, a two-day festival in November
showcasing turntablists such as Kid Koala and the X-Ecutioners.
The chosen variety of new acts brings him acclaim, and some
criticism.
“Apart from anything else there’s always somebody
who wants to slag off your opinion,” Sefton said. “I
cross the widest range, and I have to deal with the complaint
letters because there’s always somebody who’s going to
get upset by what you do.”
“I think it’s very important to stretch the audience
and to try and introduce them to things that they don’t
know,” Sefton added.
Many people fascinated by the arts would love to have
Sefton’s job, and he appreciates that. He’s
enthusiastic about UCLA Live, because of the opportunity to bypass
an administrative position for one with creative control.
“It takes guts to say, “˜Oh yeah you’re this
guy from Liverpool who’s famous for causing trouble in the
Royal Festival Hall. Here you go, have the whole program.’
And that’s what (UCLA) did,” Sefton said. “I was
at a job I loved but there weren’t many places to go where
you still kept your hands on the art. And this job was a step up
where they let me put on what I like. It’s very unusual, and
quite forward looking. I applaud the university’s”“
what’s another way for saying balls?”
Despite the recent start of the current season, Sefton is
already out there looking around, busy planning the 2003-2004 UCLA
Live program. According to his estimates, he books less than ten
percent of what he sees.
“Most of the stuff I see sucks,” Sefton said.
“And I see it so that the (UCLA Live) audience doesn’t
have to.”