[mplpost] reviews blues

[Estelle Klein]

Hello mapleposters
The posts about reviews miseries touch a sympathetic chord.
Those (the 'reviewees' ?) who never read them or who manage a wonderful
philosophical/practical approach always impress me.
During many years as a presenter of various programs, I read everything. I
wanted to tap into other perceptions and perhaps learn something.
In the case of festivals I hoped for coverage of lesser known 'entities';
Aboriginal participants, fine craftspeople, really interesting and rarely
heard traditionals, different cultures etc. They were non-existent to the
media for the most part. I was usually disappointed by the omissions and
often angry at misinformation.
On a selfish level, I was bothered by the lack of attention to what was,
after all, my work. Aspects of the work that often took a year to put
together were ignored, misunderstood. I knew all the reasons for this
selective approach. These included pressures from the 'biz' and the need to
hone in on *stars
.
One year I exploded at the lack of attention to the (in my view) 'specials'.
Though I thought all participants were special, perhaps some could use a
little 'boost'. It rarely happened.
I was tired of hearing condescension about folk. The lack of knowledge, let
alone understanding, by writers about a field in which they worked, would be
unacceptable elsewhere. Or so I thought. I chose to do what any publicist
would forbid. Write an angry letter to a leading reviewer. This guy *never*
came to another festival as long as I was involved. Thus he took it out on
everybody!
Am I sorry about that letter? No. Do I think one should be able to speak up?
Yes. But the reality is that 'venting' helps the venter but does not seem to
achieve much. It might be better to arrange a one on one meeting.
Those who have the ability to ignore the "slings and arrows" are wiser than
I.
Fortunately, the balance of festival work was pretty good.
Estelle
mailto:estelle@kos.net

-
To unsubscribe: mail majordomo@icomm.ca with
"unsubscribe maplepost" in the body (not the subject line)
Need help? mail owner-maplepost@icomm.ca