White Plains, NY – At an awards breakfast on Friday, February 15, at 8:30am, members of the New York State Legislative delegation will join ArtsWestchester’s Board of Trustees to award more than $41,000 in Arts Alive Grants to 35 local arts organizations, artists, and special projects.

(See below for the full list of awardees.)

The Awards Breakfast will be held in Gallery9 at The Arts Exchange, located at 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY. For more information, visit: www.artsw.org/artsalive.  ArtsWestchester’s Arts Alive grants are made possible with support from the Decentralization Program of New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (35th District- D/WF/I) will address the group.  County Executive Rob Astorino will also give remarks.  Entertainment will be provided by Pedro Baez, a musician participating in one of this year’s grantee projects – Café a la Siete, a series of Latin American cultural events presented by the Greenburgh Public Library.

“The partnership between New York State Council on the Arts and local arts councils such as ArtsWestchester, ensures that the arts are at the heart of community life,” says Senator Stewart-Cousins. “This is how young people become engaged, where careers begin and where talents emerge and grow.”

This year’s Arts Alive grants support projects in more than 15 municipalities throughout the county, including Greenburgh, Ossining, Peekskill, Port Chester, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, South Salem, Tarrytown, White Plains and Yonkers.  The grants also represent artistic expression through various medias including the performing arts, multimedia exhibitions and music.

ArtsWestchester CEO Janet Langsam explains that  “These programs make the arts easily accessible to hundreds of people, by bringing neighbors together for a common experience. The grants truly help foster a sense of community.”

At the February 15 event, ArtsWestchester will award grants to three artists.  “NYSCA’s Decentralization Funds are particularly important because they are the only means we have for funding artists to create new work,” Langsam explains.   In addition to demonstrating artistic merit, the artists who receive the awards proposing  projects that relate to the community in a significant way.

“We’re honored and delighted to once again receive funding from ArtsWestchester to expand our previously funded T Project, a multimedia exhibition on the lives of transgender individuals who live and work in our area,” says David Juhren, Executive Director of grantee organization The LOFT LGBT Community Services Center in White Plains.  “We also appreciate ArtsWestchester’s inclusion of the LGBT community, and the support it gives those within our community, which includes local artists.”

ArtsWestchester awards are made through a competitive process that includes a panel of community members and arts professionals.   In addition to the Arts Alive grants, ArtWestchester will also be awarding three Arts Partners Challenge Grants, which foster the use of the arts to teach curricula concepts.

ARTS ALIVE PROJECT GRANTS
(32 grants totaling $41,000)

Antonia Arts, Peekskill – Seniors on the Move
“Seniors on the Move” will provide 12 weeks of performing arts workshops, in topics such as acting, singing and dancing, for seniors who are 55 years of age and older, culminating in a theme-based showcase performance at Pilates on the Hudson.  The show will then tour to other performance locations, including Drum Hill Senior Living in Peekskill, Tarrytown Hall Nursing Home in Tarrytown, and Putnam Nursing Home in Holmes.

Antonia Arts, Peekskill – Journey to Oz
Journey to Oz provides a 10-week session of performing arts workshops for students, allowing youth to participate in all aspects of producing a show. Students learn the art of collaboration along with life lessons from various characters in the play, which follows Dorothy’s journey to Oz and the unique friends she meets along the way. The program culminates in a showcase performance at Pilates on the Hudson.

Big Apple Playback Theatre, New Rochelle – Seeing Ourselves Through the Eyes of the Other: Police and Youth in Our Communities
A one-time event in the series “Ending Violence, Building Hope” will take place at the Martin Luther King Institute’s 14th Annual Conference.  Participating community members and law enforcement professionals will explore their experiences and share perceptions of one another, shared through theatrical interpretations presented by Big Apple Playback Theatre. This event took place on Saturday, February 2, 2013.

Bronxville Women’s Club (BWC), Bronxville – Theatre Arts Program
In cooperation with PiPE DREAM Theater, BWC will produce six performance events in 2013, featuring an eclectic lineup that includes local traditions like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, classics such as “Shakespeare Under the Stars,” a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta and a Christmas show.

Collegium Westchester, Ossining – 2013 Concerts
Collegium Westchester’s 2013 lineup features three concerts in which local avocational musicians (those whose livelihood comes from something other than music) perform side-by-side with professional musicians. Their enriching, high-quality performances include works by leading composers of choral and orchestral music spanning the 18th through 20th centuries.

Cross Cultural Connection, Peekskill – Pro Am Ensemble 2013
This project provides the opportunity for middle/high school-aged jazz musicians to hone their abilities under the guidance of seasoned artists. Participation will include 12 workshops/master classes culminating with a series of performances.

Christine Dehne, Port Chester – Under the Tree
Creation of a video installation and incorporation of a theatrical performance in order to transform the Miranda Arts Project Space into a place where time and space shift and the unexpected lies under every leaf.
 

Dobbs Ferry Public Library – Creative Writing Workshops
The Dobbs Ferry Public Library’s creative writing workshops will allow teens, adults and seniors a free outlet to hone their writing and communication skills, as well as share their rich life stories with the community.

Andrea Elam, Peekskill – Contact!: Improvisation through Dance and Music
This program for youth aged 12-18  explores the concept of jazz improvisation through dance and music. The practice of improvisation teaches participants how to think quickly, be present in the moment, embrace collaboration, and is an empowering catalyst for building confidence.

Fort Hill Players, White Plains – Free Summer Theater in the Parks
“Free Summer Theater in the Parks” aims to engage children in interactive storytelling performances, providing quality, youth-centered entertainment for families and individuals in White Plains and other Westchester communities.

Gospel Choirs of Mount Vernon – GospelKnights of Mount Vernon Spring and Winter Concerts
The Gospel Choirs of Mount Vernon is a volunteer organization with school-aged performers known as the GospelKnights. They perform at charitable organizations, competitions and schools, and present two concerts for the general public each year.

Greenburgh Arts and Culture Committee – The Kids Short Story Connection
The Kids Short Story Connection is a series of workshops for a minority, underserved population of youths aged 9-17 who love to write. Published, award-winning writers lead discussions on all aspects of writing such as story idea, plot, character development, and dialogue, along with creative writing and thinking exercises.

Greenburgh Public Library – Café a la Siesta
This Latin arts and culture program at the Greenburgh Public Library includes Latin dance classes, book discussion, a Mariachi group and a native South American musical performance.

Hamm & Clov Stage Company, Yonkers – Hispanic Heritage Month Family Event
This bilingual theatrical family event at the Yonkers Waterfront Library is performed by award-winning artists Teatro IATI.  The free event, aimed at children ages 10 and younger, is both educational and entertaining, the event is.

Little Lights Arts, Peekskill – The Grandmother Project
This community concert and series of workshops connect girls of Peekskill, aged 11-13, with the rich cultural legacies of early generation jazz vocalists.

Little Radical Theatrics, Bronxville – 2013 Season
Little Radical Theatrics will present three main-stage musical productions in 2013, including the Westchester premiere of the Tony-award winning Parade. Each play focuses on characters that are underdogs and outcasts, showing the effects of intolerance and promoting the hope to overcome it.

The LOFT, White Plains – The New T Project
A multimedia project designed to shine positive light on the transgendered people of Westchester, using photo studies, essays, and video. The project will educate the public on the transgender community, breaking through stereotypes and centering on the human experience.

Niji No Kai, Valhalla – 14th White Plains Cherry Blossom Festival
This free day-long cultural arts festival, including demonstrations, performances, ceremonies, food and hands on crafts for the public, allows thousands of visitors to learn about Japanese culture.

Nowodorski Foundation, Purdys – You Picasso: Fun with Printing
These weekly hour-long art workshops for kids ages 4-12, permits experiments with paint media in a way that differs from the regular school setting.  A mess is even allowed as part of the creative process.

O’Bey Foundation, Mount Vernon – The Drum Call: Community African Drum Circle
A weekly African drum circle at The Association of Community-Based Artists of Westchester in Mount Vernon, featuring African drum instructions, repertoire development, and scheduled dance classes. Participants channel creativity through drums and movement, including hands-on lessons in Jembe and Doun Doun drums.

Organization of Chinese Americans, White Plains – Asian American Heritage Festival 2013
The Asian American Heritage Festival is presented each year at the end of Asian Heritage Month at Kensico Dam Plaza. Showcasing dozens of artists performing song, Chinese lion dance, face painting, book readings and many other cultural performances, the festival represents many Eastern nationalities and brings the richness of Asian culture to Westchester and neighboring communities.

Ossining Public Library – Keeping Native American Art and Culture Alive!
This event introduces young community participants to the culture, music, customs and arts of the Native Americans who lived in the Ossining region and throughout the U.S.  Through oral storytelling will enlighten audiences on a true understanding of Native American life rather than the “Hollywood” version.

Peekskill Arts Alliance – Peekskill Open Studios 2013
Open Studios offers artists the chance to show how they work and live, to interact with the public and to share the artistic experience. This two-day event offers a rare opportunity to connect with artists on a personal level, and enjoy unique visual arts as well as theatre, dance, music, performance art and spoken word/poetry.

PJS Jazz Society, Mount Vernon – Winter Concert Series
PJS Jazz Society keeps jazz alive in Westchester by bringing well-known jazz musicians to a regular concert venue in Mount Vernon. Their 2013 lineup includes acclaim names in jazz: Wycliffe Gordon, Joe Lovano, and Laura Mann.

The Revelators, Yonkers – Testify: Message of Hope through Movement and Storytelling
Partnering with a local chapter of the American Cancer Society, the Revelators present a multimedia dance performance that shares cancer survivors’ stories, noting key elements in the recovery process and their will to move forward.

Songcatchers, New Rochelle – Composers of the Future
Songcatchers’ programming nurtures the creativity of children aged 8-14 from low-income families, guiding them through the process of composition and orchestration. With professional musicians as mentors, students participate in six weeks of workshops leading up to a final public performance.

Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow Arts Council – Young Art-Makers II at the June KidsFest
These art-making experiences for children ages four and up during the Annual Tarrytown Street Fair and Strawberry Festival are free to the public, including puppet-making, collage, crayon-resist watercolor and silk-painting on hoops.

Thomas H. Slater Center, White Plains – “And Still We Rise” Hip Hop History Concert
This project will connect generations of people within the African American and greater communities of Westchester, through artist performances showing how early genres of African American music has inspired today’s hip hop music. Hip hop is utilized as a positive teaching tool in educating youth in American music history.

Westchester Collaborative Theater, Ossining – 2013 Staged Reading & Performance Series
Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) will present three staged readings and one full production of a new play in 2013, produced, written, directed and acted by members of the WCT. Readings offer a multicultural environment for writers to receive critique and assessment, and expose their work to a live audience.

Westchester Glee Chorus, White Plains
The Westchester Glee Chorus is a 15-week-semester youth choir, with a final concert at the end of the rehearsal period.  Students help choose performance songs and learn musicianship and performance skills in a welcoming, supportive environment.

Westchester Oratorio Society, South Salem – Robert McDonald Memorial Concert
The Robert McDonald Memorial Concert commemorates the co-founder of the Westchester Oratorio Society. Internationally-renowned pianist Helene Grimaud will perform Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” accompanied by the society’s professional orchestra and soloists, including those of high school and college age, bringing a truly unique experience to Northern Westchester.

Lana Yu, Peekskill – What Matters
Creation of a community-centered mural on a wall or public surface in Peekskill that will serve as the voice of the individuals who live in or visit the area.  Regardless of age, background or culture, people will be invited to write a few words about what matters to them, providing a chance to contemplate what they find meaningful in life and thereby  giving a voice to those who may not normally have an opportunity to express themselves.

ARTS ALIVE ARTIST GRANTS
(Three grants totaling $7,500)

David Licata, White Plains – The Ladyslipper Orchids of Cranberry Lake
The artist will design and install six glass orchids along the walking path at Cranberry Lake Preserve in the fall of 2013. Trail markers will be updated with barcode scanners for smart phones that lead to videos of the artist creating the orchids. This outdoor sculpture exposes hikers and art lovers to a hidden treasure that only happens in the spring at the preserve, and will hopefully entice visitors to return the following spring in hope of seeing a real Ladyslipper orchid in bloom.

Shayok Mukhopadhyay, White Plains – Port Chester Works
The artist’s project “Port Chester Works” strives to take the sense of achievement Port Chester’s Hispanic community manifests in its economic activity, and give it a permanent form in photographs. This artwork feeds back into the community’s pride and makes those outside aware of it, engaging the rest of the population with the internal economic life of Port Chester’s immigrant labor force.

John Ricci, Mamaroneck – Mount Vernon’s Heartbeat
A photographic portrait campaign of the leaders of Mount Vernon beginning with Senator Ruth HassellThompson.  The objective is to tell a short story about people who are making a difference in the community. As is common with most media coverage, the good things that are happening receive less attention than the bad things.

ARTS PARTNERS CHALLENGE GRANTS
(Three grants totaling $5200)

The Arts Partners Challenge Grant Program is a local arts-in-education funding program supported by the Decentralization Program (DEC) at the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) that is administered by ArtsWestchester.  This funding program is a statewide effort to provide local support for widespread participation in arts in education.  Arts Partner Challenge Grants support the role of local cultural organizations and/or individual artists to engage K-12 public school students in rich artistic leaning experiences.

Artist Barbara Galazzo in partnership with the Peekskill High School, Peekskill
60 10th-12th grade students will create a permanent mosaic installation while exploring the work of Antonio Gaudi and Spanish culture.

Pelham Art Center and artist Mary Louise Gladstone in partnership with Amani Public Charter School, Mount Vernon
82 5th grade students will examine quilts in relation to the American folk art tradition, learn about depression-era America and create collaborative quilts.

Copland House, Inc. in partnership with Lakeland High School, Shrub Oak
72 10th-12th grade students will be introduced to Copland House’s band arrangement of “The Red Pony” (Ernest Hemingway; Lewis Milestone film, 1949) to strengthen understanding of the music-film-literature relationship.

Arts Alive Project Grants are made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program (DEC), a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Legislature and administered by ArtsWestchester.

For more information, visit: www.artsw.org/artsalive.