JIM FOURATT - Cultural Instigator
(cc) Richard Dworkin
As a producer, organizer, performer, writer, editor, manager, consultant and man about town, JIM FOURATT has been inciting, shaping, fomenting and provoking American culture for over 50 years. Ask him about any cutting-edge cultural icon or epoch-defining event, and chances are he will tell you something you have never heard and would never have imagined.
Music
He worked for Clive Davis at Columbia Records interface\ artists included Janis Joplin, Santana, Laura Nyro, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Simon & Garfunkel, the Byrds, and Sly Stone; was charged with the delicate task of keeping the peace between the corporate and the counterculture. He attended the Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock, Newport and Altamont
As a nightlife impresario, he gave such artists as REM, the B-52's, Diamanda Galas, Gang of Four, the Human League, Joe Jackson, Pylon, Philip Glass, and the Go-Go's their first shot at big-town, big-time club visibility. The atmosphere, attitude and events at his nightclubs — Hurrahs, Danceteria, the new Peppermint Lounge, Modern Classic, Pop Front, On the Waterfront — were emulated worldwide,. At the request of Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, he reopened Studio 54 after they went to jail.
Politics
Jim was a participant in the Stonewall rebellion that marked the birth of the modern lesbian and gay liberation movement. He was a founding member of Gay Liberation Front, the first post-Stonewall activist organization He staged and produced its iconic first poster, featuring a photograph by his then-boyfriend, Peter Hujar. A recruitment poster with lesbians and gay men smiling and running in the street. They appeared fearless when there no laws to protect them
Co-founder of YIPPIE . He was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, HEAL, and ACT UP, and a founding board member of the New York Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center.
His activities and opinions related to political activism, culture, and the arts are described, cited, and critiqued in dozens of books, documentaries and videos volumes
Media
He has been interviewed for many documentary films, including Arthur Dong’s “Outrage 69,” John Scagliotti’s “After Stonewall” and the CBC/PBS production “The Rainbow Flag.” He has guested on the Charlie Rose show, the Oliver North show, and the Colbert Report; Co-hosted Pacifica/WBAI’s daily morning show. VH1 and MTV used in numerous documentaries including Janis Joplin.
A founding editor of New Times and a columnist for EYE, Jim has contributed reporting and commentary to such diverse publications as the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, the Advocate, Attitude, OUTWEEK, Gay City News and SPIN
He has managed such diverse acts as Richard Lloyd (Television) , Ornette Coleman and Two Nice Girls, He wrote an influential weekly column for the music industry trade publication HITS. From 1995 to 1999 he was Senior Vice-President of Artist & Repertoire for Mercury Records, as well as Senior Vice- President of Tim Kerr Records and President of the developing artist Beauty Records, where he signed the Bush Tetras, David Clement, Stage Door Johnnies and Vietnam Inc.
Acting
He studied with Lee Strasberg. He performed on Broadway, was an early member of the Open Theater, performed at off- and off-off Broadway venues ( La MaMa and Café Cino) and acted in regional theater, in major network narrative series and in both Hollywood and independent films.
A member of Actors Equity Association (AEA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Jim was elected AEA’s Regional Board. He introduced language into AEA’s contract negotiations that became the basis for the nondiscrimination-based-on-
Present Day
Jim continues to be a voice with opinions uniquely his own. As a film and music critic and a political commentator, he continues to be politically and culturally active. He ran for political office in 2016. Today participates in Rise and Resist, Gays Against Guns, and the new media committee of Actors’ Equity. His personal archives have been acquired by the Beinecke Library at Yale.
