ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND

2007 The first Rolex Arts Weekend took place at venues across NYC, kicking off with a talk at Murray Guy Gallery in Chelsea with visual arts mentor and protége John Baldassari and Alejandro Cesarco and including events at Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Public Theater, the New School, and Dance Theater Workshop that featured Pinchus Zukerman, David Aaron Carpenter, Susan Platts, Edem Awumey, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Anani Dodji Sanouvi, Junaid Jemal Sendi, Sang Jijia, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, William Forsythe, Selina Cartmell, Lara Foot Newton, Federico León, Robyn Archer, Joseph Melillo, Lynn Redgrave, Anthony Minghella, Anna Deavere Smith, Amitav Ghosh, Kurt Andersen, Josué Méndez, Federico León, Mahen Bonetti and Carlos Saura.

2011 The second edition of Rolex Arts Weekend was hosted by LIVE from the New York Public Library and took over the library’s main branch on 5th Avenue with a series of public performances, readings and discussions showcasing the artists of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Participants included Gilberto Gil, Jessye Norman, Annemarie Jacir, Danny Glover, Peter Scarlet, Tracy K. Smith, Hans Magnus Enzenberger, José Van Dam, Osvaldo Golijov, Nicholas Hlobo, Brian Eno, Anish Kapoor, Peter Sellars, Maya Zbib, Lee Serle, and Ben Frost. Among the many highlights were an impromptu jam session between Gilberto Gil and Jessye Norman that broke out during a panel discussion, dance performances on the front steps of the building and in the grand entry foyer of Astor Hall, and a a concert with a dozen electric guitars and huge stacks of amplifiers built into the stacks of books in the iconic NYPL Reading Room.

RMP Salon Pilot Project

2013 This hybrid retreat/showcase for mentors and protégés in the program unfolded over a weekend-long gathering in Cape Town that consisted of private gatherings and public showcases of protégés’ work. The Arts Weekends in New York had launched the RMP into the global cultural conversation on a new level. This event, on a subtler scale, added to that continuing effort, bringing the message of the program into regions where many of the mentors and protégés are from. Protégés had benefited greatly from the events of the Arts Weekends—not only from the chance to showcase their work to leading cultural presenters, press, and the general public, but because the format of the Arts Weekend allowed them to engage in serious discussions about themes of common interest, socialize with each other and the mentors, observe one another’s work, collaborate, hear from other advisers in the RMP family, and generally build on the many connections and platforms the program already provides. The Salon Pilot Project included William Kentridge, Peter Sellars Wole Soyinka, Lara Foot, Maya Zbib, Anani Dodji Sanouvi, Antonio García Ángel, Aurelio Martinez, Josué Méndez, Edem Awumey, and Mateo Lopez.