Diane Eber is the new(ish) executive director of the Egg. On April 8, the Egg will host a multimedia happening after the eclipse in the afternoon. If you happen to visit or drive by downtown Albany, you can’t miss it.
Designed by the renowned architectural firm Harrison and Abromovitz, the Egg is the icon of the Capitol Region skyline. Built between 1966 and 1978, the sleek performing arts venue is part of the Empire State Plaza governmental office complex and regularly presents national and international artists from the worlds of music, dance, comedy, and theater as well as film screenings in its 450-seat Lewis A. Swyer and 982-seat Kitty Carlisle Hart theaters. In 2023, Diane Eber, formerly of Brooklyn cultural organization BRIC, became the Egg’s new executive director, bringing a new vision that includes innovative events like “Eclipse at the Ellipse,” a multimedia happening on April 8 at 4pm with visuals by projectionists B.A. Miele and Alex Allaux; music by Juliana Barwick, Ami Dang, Being-Sound, Connor Armbruster, and DJ Harlan; and screenings of Wall-E, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Trip to the Moon. The event is free. Eber answered the questions below by email.
You studied at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie before living in Brooklyn and working for BRIC for 15 years, so starting at the Egg has been a bit of a Hudson Valley homecoming for you. Besides the new job, what is it about the region itself that drew you back? When it comes to new programming at the Egg, what is your approach?
It feels amazing to be back in my old stomping grounds. The Hudson Valley is such an inspiring place to live and we landed specifically in Kingston because of the incredible community of artsy weirdos here. I also love the rail trails, and I love having a garden to grow food my whole family eats—the joy of watching my kids go pick fresh veggies is incredible. I just feel like I have more room for creative energy. In terms of arts programming, I see so much amazingness already happening, and I am humbled to be part of this thriving arts scene. I’m still learning about upstate audiences versus Brooklyn audiences, but I believe strongly that art is for all and needs to be taken off the “shelf.”
One of the first things I did as executive director was to allow drinks into both our theaters. I want people to feel comfortable seeing incredible art while having a drink in their hands. In Brooklyn and New York City, you can see anything and everything almost every night of the week, so it’s hard to program events that cut through the crowded landscape. There is a lot happening in the Hudson Valley and the Capital Region, but I see room for expansive new territory that I hope audiences will be eager to partake in. The Capital Region is incredibly rich and varied and I’m excited to keep learning about how best to serve this area and invite new folks into our incredible space.
The Egg is such a visually striking venue, and there are those who’ve seen it from the outside but have yet to attend a performance or event there. Besides its distinctive design, what are some other elements of the Egg that make it stand out from other large venues?
This is the story of the Egg: as much a sculpture as a building. There are virtually no straight lines or right angles in the building, even the elevators are curved. I want to transport audiences and artists to another dimension in our spaceship, aka the Egg aka the Ellipse.
Although Albany’s not that far up the Thruway from the mid- and lower Hudson Valley, it does sometimes feel like there’s a bit of a disconnect between it and points slightly south; as if the activity in Albany is more isolated than it should be from the goings on in, say, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Hudson, or Catskill. Does your vision include efforts to bridge that divide and lure more visiting arts lovers in those and other parts of the region?
YES! This is such an insightful question and is precisely something I am grappling with. We have plans to do more outreach to the surrounding areas, while also making sure we invite the Capital Region communities who have been here all along but maybe have not always felt there was an opportunity to engage. One idea is to commission artists to create work responding to the journey to Albany, whether it’s on the train, or in a car, or on a bike—[a concept] inspired by Sufjan Stevens’s amazing [2007 multimedia project] The BQE; something using art to tell the story of the journey to the Egg. Another tactic is to book artists both locally and from the surrounding areas. For example, we have the Kingston-based Clare and the Reasons opening for Rufus Wainwright on April 7. I know for a fact that there is a contingent of Kingston folks making the trek to Albany for that show.
Tell us about “Eclipse at the Ellipse.” How did it come together, and what will the program be like?
The idea came up organically through a brainstorming session with some staff of the Egg. We dug up the Egg’s original legislative paperwork and it repeatedly refers to the Egg as the ‘ellipsoidal structure.’ A colleague threw out the idea “Eclipse at the Ellipse” and I loved it. We whipped together the programming and concept incredibly fast. It was so fun to reach out to artists who also shared our enthusiasm. The vision is to experience the Egg in its entirety. Most people only ever come to see a show in one theater and then leave, but we want attendees to wander the various spaces in the Egg. I’m encouraging folks to come and get a drink, enjoy a sci-fi movie in the smaller Swyer Theater with popcorn in hand, then stroll through the lobby of the Hart Theater with DJ Harlan spinning vinyl to keep the vibes up while you’re transported by atmospheric music and massive projection art entering the larger venue.
You can pop in and out of the three different spaces throughout the night. Bring your kids, they’ll love the half-moon cookies, movies, and mind-blowing projections. I want to deconstruct the notion that a performing arts center needs to be “buttoned-up”—where you come, buy a ticket, and sit quietly for a passive experience. This event is meant to create more flow and openness as you pick your own art adventure at our cosmic eclipse after party. The best marketing is word of mouth, and I’m hoping that the network of artists talking about this event will start to lay the groundwork for better connecting Albany and the rest of the Hudson Valley region.
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This article appears in April 2024.
