Second of two parts.
Re: “It’s a Small World That He Explores”
When we last left Thomas Small, who brings the most unique biography to the seven-layered City Council race that will be decided tomorrow, he was explaining his love affair with cities.
An ambitious young man from the Sam Francisco Bay Area, he leaped to the Ivy League and then to Paris for graduate studies in art and literature.
“I lived in Florence and then in Rome,” Mr. Small, an architectural journalist and consultant, said. “I really came to appreciate how cities work, the excitement that they offer to people who live there. I fell in love with them. That is what took me to graduate school in Paris.
“I studied the history of art and the history of architecture.”
Striding toward the 50-yard-line of his life, Mr. Small, a Cultural Affairs Commissioner, has stood at the busy intersection of art, architecture and literature throughout his worldwide career.
Do they compete for Mr. Small’s professional attention?
“They do,” he said. “But they go together wonderfully as well.
“The journalism I have done recently has been more about music, classical music. I am the board chair of a very successful classical music group called Jacaranda Music, based in Santa Monica. We produce chamber music concerts and larger concerts, newer classical music and older, unusual classical music. Our group has become internationally renowned. I have been on the board since we started, and we are in our 12th season.”
Can anyone remember if there ever has been a City Councilman so fine arts-oriented?
Mr. Small said that by writing about music, “I take a singular approach, different from other music critics. I write about the overall experience of the concerts, which often involves architecture and the venue.
“Many of those articles, especially in new concert halls, where I have written about early concerts in a new concert hall, it will be a review of both the music and the architecture,” Mr. Small said.
“I have that way about the Broad Stage and quite a lot about Disney Hall.”
From where does he derive his chief satisfaction?
“In my professional work in architecture,” said Mr. Small, “I have really enjoyed working on a team, envisioning how a project is going to make life better and bring value to the entire community.”
