Schenectady, N.Y. (Nov. 2, 1999) – Award-winning writer/director Murray Horwitz will visit Union College's Yulman Theater on Nov. 9 at 1:30 p.m. to discuss “The triumph of marketing” and how it “has divided the American mass media audience into ever-narrowing shards of market share.” The talk is sponsored by the College's Department of Visual Arts; it is free and open to the public.
“Radio, television, and film used to attempt to bring people together; now, they tend to drive us apart,” says Horwitz, who currently serves as vice president of cultural programming for National Public Radio. “There is a fundamental change in the compact between audience and artist, and a disproportionate increase in the prominence of the performing arts. The combination portends important consequences for our democracy, our economy, and our world.”
Horwitz's accomplishments in the performing arts include a 1996 Peabody Award for his work as co-writer of a 26-part radio series, Wynton Marsalis: Making The Music, as well as Tony, Obie, Emmy, Grammy, and New York Drama Critics' Circle awards for originating and co-writing Ain't Misbehavin', the hit Broadway musical based on the music of Fats Waller.
Horwitz began his career as a clown with the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, where he performed for three years. He has also had featured roles in Kojak and in the motion picture Night of the Juggler. More recently, he has appeared with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in young people's jazz concerts in New York City and Berlin, and made his Carnegie Hall debut as a host of a concert featuring Taj Mahal, David Benoit, and Grover Washington, Jr. His written works also include television, film, and theater projects for studios and networks, including HBO, ABC, 20th Century Fox, MGM/United Artists, Universal, and Paramount. As a songwriter, Horwitz has won twelve ASCAP songwriting awards for his music.