Artist Cancels S.C. Visit Amid Flag Furor

Dancer-choreographer Bill T. Jones, who has built an international reputation on the strength of his provocative works about social issues, has decided not to perform at Charleston, S.C.’s prestigious Spoleto USA arts festival in June unless the state removes the Confederate flag that flies over the state Capitol in Columbia.

The issue, long a bone of contention in the state, rose to the forefront during the recent Republican primary, pitting those who regard the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism and slavery against others who see it as a symbol of Southern heritage. South Carolina is the only state to fly the flag over its statehouse, a fact that prompted the NAACP to call for a boycott of the state’s $14.5-billion tourism industry.

“I support the NAACP in its call for sanctions as a means of bringing an end to the state of South Carolina’s troubling acquiescence to an historic symbol with brutal associations hurtful to many,” said Jones in a statement provided to The Times on Monday. “The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. finds it impossible to participate in the Spoleto festival until the NAACP chooses to end this boycott. We are monitoring events in the hope a solution can be reached before the date of our performance.”

Jones, who lives in New York, is an award-winning choreographer who established his company in 1982 with former partner Zane, who died in 1988. A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Jones has created numerous acclaimed works for his own company, as well as for the Alvin Ailey company and various ballet troupes.

While Jones declined to elaborate on his decision, his action signals that the controversy over the flag has boiled over to the cultural front and could have a profound effect on one of the nation’s leading arts showcases.

Spoleto Festival USA was founded in 1977 as the American counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds) in Spoleto, Italy. The event was started in 1958 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti as a forum for young American artists in Europe.

When Menotti planned an American festival, he searched for a city that would offer the charm of its Italian predecessor as well as its wealth of theaters and churches. He settled on genteel Charleston, a city that had been home to the first theater and the first ballet company in the United States, and still houses the oldest musical organization in the country.

Spoleto USA has long embraced and presented African-American artists. In 1999, the festival won acclaim for its production of “Mamba’s Daughters,” a play by Dorothy and DuBose Heyward--who also wrote the 1927 Broadway version of “Porgy and Bess”--set in the African-American milieu of 1920s Charleston.

Jones’ engagement was scheduled for June 9 and 10. No contract had been signed, according to Bjorn Amelan, the company’s associate artistic director. The festival, however, has been promoting the appearance by Jones’ company in brochures and on its Web site, touting that Jones’ company “has ceaselessly broken new ground, never shying from controversial issues.”

“Bill has been discussing the issue with Dwight James [executive director of the NAACP’s South Carolina branches] over the past few weeks,” Amelan said. “Though Spoleto has been informed of his decision, no other artists were contacted.”

The other African-American performers scheduled to appear at the event are jazz singer Dianne Reeves and the cast of “Running Man,” a jazz-opera-theater piece with music and story by Diedre Murray and text by poet Cornelius Eady. Neither Reeves nor Murray would comment on the flag controversy, according to spokesmen for both artists.

Festival officials said last week that they have received about 20 letters from subscribers indicating that they won’t be attending because of the flag controversy. Still, ticket sales have increased 15% over 1999. Fund-raising is running ahead of projections, but may ultimately be affected since some longtime contributors have informed the organization that they will not be donating.

“We’re extremely concerned about this boycott,” said Nigel Redden, general director of Spoleto USA, in a phone interview last week. “It could affect attendance, might lead performers to cancel, and gives the state a black eye. Besides, taking down the flag is the right thing to do since that piece of cloth conjures up different things for different people.” (Redden could not be reached for comment on Monday.)

In late January, Spoleto board chairman Joel Smith asked board members (which include Rachel Hodges, wife of Gov. Jim Hodges) to lobby state legislators and ask that they vote to remove the flag--or, at least, refrain from a filibuster.

Redden emphasized, however, that his not-for-profit organization cannot get involved in political issues.

“It’s tempting for Spoleto to take a stand,” he said. “But as an arts organization, we do that by what we put on stage--presenting projects dealing with racial issues and reflecting the confluence of cultures in this state.”