The Biennial of the Americas event that started in 2010 in Denver and was supposed to recur every two years will be delayed until 2013, according to the newly hired event director.
“The spirit of the project is very much alive,” said Abaseh Mirvali, executive director of the event that is dubbed an “international celebration of the art, culture, ideas and music of the 35 nations that make up the Western Hemisphere.”
In 2010, the event ran for the month of July and included displays of artists’ works, concerts, roundtable discussions and presentations by cultural organizations.
The 2010 event had a $2.5 million budget and ended $450,000 in the black — giving organizers an encouraging boost for 2012.
The leadership changed. Mirvali was hired a couple of months ago.
Mirvali has one staff member and plans to hire more. She said there is not enough time to plan for a summer event.
“For this project to be a project that is sustainable and successful, it needs to be thought through and it needs to have the support,” she said. “You can’t do that without a staff in six months. It takes more than two people to do something like this.”
Michael Fries, Biennial board chair, said the event in 2013 will be over a shorter time span but will have a higher impact. He said the group got a later start because the search for a new director took more time.
“The goal is to have this continue on over decades, so having it delayed a year is not a big deal,” he said.
Instead of a month-long event over the summer, the 2013 event will take place earlier in the year and will last five days, she said.
Artistic exhibitions will be held for months before, but the big inaugural event will be in 2013.
Mirvali said it is unfortunate that the name of the event includes the word “biennial.”
“That word was not the best description,” she said. “I have a tremendous board. I am confident that the economic targets we set will be met. We shouldn’t have any trouble with meeting our goals. And we will have a project that will really meet the needs of our stakeholders in the community.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
