Physical Description:
1 videotape(s) (VHS)
Scope and Content Note
Participants: Ted Koppel, Carol Burnett, Wanda M. Corn, Michael Kimmelman, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Peter Sellars, Robert Townsend,
Kirk Varnedoe, and Stephen E. Weil.
Biography/Organization History
Facilitator
Ted Koppel
TedKoppel, anchor o fABC News "Nightline," is the principal on-airreporter and interviewer fortelevision's firstlatenight
network news program. Cited by theWall Street Journal as"thepre-eminent TV interviewer in America," Koppel has been with ABC
News for 28years. He has won numerous awards and honors including three George Foster Peabody Awards, eight duPont-Columbia
Awards, sbc Overseas Press Club Awards, 18Emmys, two George Polk Awards, two Ohio State Awards, and two Sigma Delta Chi Awards—the
highest honor bestowed for public service by theSociety ofProfes sional Journalists. Koppel was honored with the first Gold
Baton in the history of the duPont-Columbia Awards for "Nightline"'s March 1985 week-long series originating from South Africa,
and was thefirst recipient of the Sol Taishoff Award. From 1971 to 1980 hewas ABC News's Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, and
for a two-year period beginning in 1975, heanchored "The ABC Saturday Night News." While onthe State Department beat, Koppel
co-wrote thebest- .-. seller, Inthe National Interest, with colleague Marvin Kalb, formerly ofCBS News. Onthepolitical beat,
he hashad a ^ major reporting role in every presidential nominating convention since 1964. Koppel holds aBA in liberal studies
from Syracuse Univeristy and an MA in mass communications research and political sciencefrom Stanford.
Rountable Participants
Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett, winner offive Emmy Awards and eight Golden Globe Awards, is noted for hercombination ofmusical, comedic and
dramatic talents. Inthe course ofhercareer, Burnett has performed in seven stage productions, nine feature films, and28 television
programs. Sheearned appearances on"TheJackPaarShow," TheEdSullivan Show," and"Hie Garry Moore Show," her first lead inanoff-Broadway
musical, "Once Upon a Mattress," moved to Broadway and earned her aTony Award nomination for Best Actress. Burnett performed
the first ofhertelevision specials with Julie Andrews, entitled "Julie andCarol at Carnegie Hall." Other television specials
included "Carol + 2" with Lucille Ball andZero Mostel, and "Carol and Company" with Rock Hudson. In 1967, Burnett began "The
Carol Burnett Show," the longestrunning musical comedy variety show in television history. Inaddition, Burnett headlined in
Las Vegas with Jim Nabors and made herstage debut in Neil Simon's comedy "Plaza Suite." She appeared in television movies
such as "The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank" and "Friendly Fire," for which she received anEmmy nomination for
a dramatic role. She has been honored with UCLA's gold medal for achievements and contributions tothe university, the LA Times*
Woman of the Year Award, the Variety Clubs'and March of Dimes' Humanitarian Awards, theSanSebastian FilmAward as Best Ac tress,
induction into the Television Hall ofFame, and multiple wins of the People's Choice Award inseveral categories.
Wanda M. Corn
Professor of Art atStanford since 1980, Wanda Com has been Chair of the Art Department and Acting Director of the Stanford
Museum of Art for the past two years. She has just stepped down from both ofthose positions to take a year's sabbatical leave
and complete a book on American modem art in the early years ofthis century. When she returns to campus inthe fall of1992,
shewill assume the Anthony P. Meier Family Professor and Directorship of the Stanford Humanities Center. Author of Grant Wood:
The RegionaUst Vision^ Com is well-known for organizing the Grant Wood Exhibition that traveled nationally from 1983 to 1984.
At Stanford, she has taught courses entitled "American Art and Culture in theGilded Age," "Paris and New York: Transatlantic
Exchange in Early Modernism," and "American Art After World War II." She has been a visiting curator and consultant for several
museums and currently serves on the National Museum ofAmerican Art Commission for the Smithsonian.
Michael Kimmelman
Michael Kimmelman joined The New York Times as an ArtCriticin 1988and becameChiefArt Criticof the Times in 1990. Kimmelman
graduated summa cum laude in 1980 from Yale University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received amaster's degree
in art history from Harvard University in 1982, and until 1984 remained at Harvard as a /^\ teaching fellow, giving courses
inmodem art, modem architecture, and urban planning. Since 1981, Kimmelman, whose writings include reviews, essays, and reporting
onart, architecture, design, and music, hasbeen a contributor toThe New York Times, the New Republic, the Wall Street Journal,
Rolling Stone, and other publications. Hehas lectured on artat Harvard, Northwestern, the University of British Columbia,
andotheruniversities and museums.
Amalia Mesa-Bains
In 1967, Amalia Mesa-Bains began her exhibition career with constructed paintings at the Palace of the Legion ofHonor in San
Francisco. By 1969, shewas exhibiting the first traveling Chicano show. In1975, shebegan creating heraltarinstallations depicting
the ceremonial aspect ofChicano community life. In1983, shecompleted herdoctorate inclinical psychology at the Wright Institute,
where shecompleted her dissertation on the culture and identity among Chicana women artists. Mesa-Bains's work has continued
to be exhibited in major national shows suchas "OtherGods: Containers of Belief," "Mira!" "The Decade Show," and thecurrently
touring "Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation;" as well as the international exhibitions "Le Demon des Anges" throughout
Europe and *Traves dela Frontera" throughout Mexico. She hasmade numerous national presentations andlectures including "Contemporary
Art in Context" at the New York Mu seum of Modern Art and "Hispanic Art in the U.S." at the Brooklyn Museum. Mesa-Bains participates
in many national and international "thinktanks." Currently, Mesa-Bains serves as a Commissioner of Arts for the City of San
Francisco and serves on numerous museum boards.
Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars is one of the foremost and most sought-after stage directors in the world today. He has directed more than 100
productions in large and small theaters across America and abroad. A graduate ofHarvard University, he studied in Japan, China,
and India before becoming Artistic Director of the Boston Shakespeare Company. At26 he was made Director of the American National
Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In recent years, Sellars has increasingly turned to new opera, most notably
withhis productions of John Adams's and Alice Goodman's Nixon in China and The Death ofKIinghqffer. His productions of the
Mozart operas Le nose di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Costfan tutte have been seen in New York, Boston, Paris,and Vienna, where
theywere tapedforworld-wide video release. Sellarshas collaborated with the the Wooster Group and was featured in Jean-Luc
Godard's film of King Lear. Hehas also appeared on Bill Moyers's "A World ofIdeas," "Miami Vice," and "The Equalizer," directed
a rock video for Herbie Hancock; produced a series of radio episodes for the Museum of Contemporary Art's The Territory of
Art series; and has just completed his first feature film, The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez. His primary work is as Director of
the Los Angeles Festival, a large-scale, international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary civic experiment which aims to
realign thecultural distribution system and re-define the American mainstream for the next generation. A book of essays will
be forthcoming next year from HarperCollins.
Robert Townsend
Robert Townsend gained international prominence as thewriter, producer, director, andstarof the 1987hitcomedy Hollywood Shuffle,
a semi-autobiographical movie addressing theproblems lacing Blacks in the entertainment industry. Known as oneof the few filmmaking
hybrids making an impact on Hollywood, Townsend alsowrote, directed, and actedin The Five Heartbeats, a recent musical drama
released byTwentieth Century Fox. His recent series of four HBO specials, "Robert Townsend and His Partnersin Crime," created
a national forum forsome of the most promising Black talents of ourtime. Bom on the tough, westside of Chicago, Townsend became
theyoungest member of the Experimental Black Actors Guild at the age of 16, and later joined Second City. During college,
he studied acting with Stella Adler and worked with the Negro Ensemble Company, then performed at local comedy clubs,acted
in off-Broadway plays,and did commer cial work. In 1982, he traveled to LosAngeles to "explore" the movie industry and, in
a short time, made his debut in Streets of Fire, followed byAmerican Flyers, andASoldier's Story. Using his movie rolesto
leam filmmaking techniques, he produced Hollywood Shuffle, which established himas oneof Hollywood's new innovative directors.
Kirk Vamedoe
Kirk Vamedoe, organizer of the noted exhibition "Highand Low: Modem Art and Popular Culture", serves as Director of the Department
ofPaintingand Sculptureat the Museum ofModem Art,a position he attainedin 1988 after three years as Adjunct Curator. Vamedoe
became affiliated with the Museum in 1984, when he collaborated with the Director of Painting and Sculpture, William Rubin,
in organizing ""Primitivism" in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and Modem." Vamedoehad been Associate Professor at
the Instituteof Fine Arts, New York University, from 1980 to 1984, and Profes sor of Fine Arts from 1984 to 1988. During this
period,Vamedoeorganized the majorexhibition, "Vienna 1900: Art, Architecture & Design." In addition to lecturing around the
country on a wide variety of topics, Vamedoe has authored major publications toaccompany his exhibitions, and hisarticles
appear in various artjournals. In 1984, he received the prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship, resulting in his book,AFine
Disregard' What Makes Modern Art Modern (1990). Previously he wrote Gustave Caillebotte (1987) andNorthern Light: Nordic Painting
at the Turn of the Century (1988). Vamedoe was recently invited toaccepttheSladeProfessorship in ArtHistory at Oxford University,
a visiting professorship which will entail a seriesofpublic lectures. Vamedoe graduated from Williams College and received
hisMA and PhDin art history from Stanford.
Stephen E. Weil
Stephen E. Weil has been Deputy Director of theSmithsonian Institution's Hirshhom Museum and Sculpture Garden since 1974,and
was Administrator of the Whitney Museum ofAmerican Art from 1967 to 1974. He graduatedfrom Brown University in 1949and received
an LLB from the Columbia University School ofLaw in 1956. Weilhas taught, lectured, and written widely concerning museums,
art,and the law. Hepresently sitson the Boards ofTrustees ofBrown University and the American Federation of Arts. In 1989,
Weil was designated as the firstChairman of the International Council of Museums' newly established Intemational Committee
on Management (ICOM/INTERCOM). He wasthe 1990 recipient of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums' Katherine Coffey Award
fordistinguished accomplishment Weil's recent writings aboutmuseums and museum workers are collected in Rethinking the Museum
(1990). His other publications include Beautyand the Beasts: On Museums, Art, the Law, and the Market (1983), and, as co-author,
Art Law: Rights and Liabilities of Creators andCollectors (1986) which received the 1987SCRIBES Award as the best law book
published the previous year.