Benefit for the Food Bank of Western MA.

Solo performer Candice Salyers will dance a “marathon” to benefit the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts on August 20, 2008.  The marathon will consist of six hours of solo dancing, including both her own choreography and improvisational structures donated to this project by national and international artists.  As a working session, this event is open to viewers but is not a “formal” performance.  Individuals sponsoring Ms. Salyers in this marathon effort can make donations to the Food Bank online, and receptacles for financial contributions and non-perishable food items will also be available at the performance site.        


Candice Salyers is a choreographer, performer and teacher currently based in Massachusetts.  She has choreographed group and solo works, which have been produced by dance companies, universities and independently.  She holds a B.L.S. in Interdisciplinary Arts from the University of Memphis, an M.F.A. in Dance from Smith College, and is pursuing a Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University.  As a guest artist, she has choreographed and taught at Amherst College, Keene State College, Hampshire College and Eastern Connecticut University.  Her interest in connecting dance to her community led her to found pARTners, a volunteer organization of artists dedicated to sharing their art form with a variety of people, for which she won the Alma Bucovaz Award for Urban Service in 2001.  She has enjoyed working with a variety of choreographers and in the companies Project:Motion and Li Chiao-Ping Dance.  Her solo performance work has most recently been presented by New England Foundation for the Arts.




 

 *ACTOR AUDITIONS (18-60 yrs.) for new Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble Production-“Milosevic at the Hague” opening February‘09 at APE-WINDOW
Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble is led by Artistic Director, Sheryl Stoodley, and Ensemble Manager, Robin Doty.
Playwright, Milan Dragicevich, will co-direct ‘Milosevic at The Hague’ with Ms. Stoodley,
David Dello Russo, local musician with The Primate Fiasco will coordinate musical needs,
Len Berkman, Hoyt Professor of Theatre, Smith College, will act as Dramaturge,
Kathy Couch will Design the set & lights.

*SEPTEMBER 8 and 9 at APE-WINDOW, 126 Main St. Northampton  7pm…… PLEASE PREPARE:  two minute monologue, a folk song, and come ready to move.
(Rehearsals will be scheduled 2 to 7pm Sundays, and Mon and Wed evenings, starting Sept. 28th)
CALL Serious Play! at 413-586-1438 to sign up to audition or for more information.

About The Play:
The historical chain of events on which the characters and their encounters in this play are hung is the story of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic’s rise to power from an obscure low-level party official to his final deportation to the war crimes tribunal at The Hague.  But while its telling will shed politically revealing light on circumstances that shaped his destiny in the 1990s yet received little Western press scrutiny, the play’s heat comes from realizations about the ‘Slobo’ potential in all of us and Milosevic’s view that history is forged by charismatic appeal.   Through real characters from a Lady MacBeth-like wife and political manipulator, Mira Markovic to Carla Del Ponte, the intractable chief prosecutor at The Hague, the story reveals the many faces of human surrender to the intoxication of power. Fictional encounters with figures from Serbian folklore and the American Civil War force soul-searching responses to age-old questions. When do the ends justify the means?  Is right beyond the reach of a madman? When does one person’s justifiable act become someone else’s war crime? 

“Milosevic at the Hague” will investigate contrary visions of truth and reality, and the unique personal and historical circumstances that create such competing interpretations.  Young people will be the innocent center of the play, offering uncolored lenses through which to see.  An eager American high school student sent by his school to cover the trial will open opportunities for the presentation of the points-of-view of American youth.  A young Serbian girl steeped in her culture’s history grasps the shallowness of blind romanticism and  travels to The Hague to lay bare the hollow defenses of a defiant Milosevic. Through all of it, the play moves freely between events at the trial itself to earlier formative scenes that took place in the former Yugoslavia.

Musicians will participate directly in the unfolding onstage events. Modeled on Serbian brass based music like that of the band Belo Platno, Western Mass. rooted group, The Primate Fiasco, will fuel many of the play’s scenes. .  “Milosevic at the Hague” will also capitalize on the physical expressiveness that is a signature of the Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble, utilizing dynamic Balkan dance, American rhythms and overall movement choreography to invigorate the story. 
The Ensemble actors, key in Serious Play’s work, have always demanded that contemporary themes be integral to the work.  The themes of justice, power, and accountability, and the variations in perceived individual reality explored in ‘Milosevic at The Hague’ resonate with the times.  The work is compelling  with its central young adult characters that provide the unobstructed lens for seeing the raw reality under the political veneer. It provides an ideal way to reveal the theatrical power and clarity that Serious Play! believes in .




 

‘DESIGN NORTHAMPTON WEEK’SEEKS COMMUNITY INPUT

NORTHAMPTON, MA – From Sunday, September 7th through Saturday, September 13,th citizens of the City of Northampton, Massachusetts will play host to a unique public process crafted to help shape the future of their city. Each year students from Notre Dame University’s Urban Design Studio, under the direction of Professor Philip Bess, head to a selected city in the United States and, as part of their curriculum, develop a long-range illustrated urban design document for that City.  Last year Cooperstown, New York, hosted the Notre Dame studio.  This year, Bess made his offer to the City of Northampton.

DESIGN NORTHAMPTON WEEK will start with an introductory presentation by Professor Bess at the Northampton Senior Center from 7 PM to 9 PM. After that, the studio will be open for business in the ground floor gallery space of APE at 126 Main Street throughout the week.
“Professor Bess is a nationally prominent urban design expert, known for his effective work with communities,” said Joel Russell, Chair of the Northampton Design Forum, which invited the Notre Dame design studio to Northampton. “He is best-known for spearheading the successful effort to save Fenway Park, by working with the community and design professionals when the iconic Boston ballpark was threatened with demolition. His students have done superb work wherever they have been invited.” Russell added that the Mayor of Cooperstown raved about the work they did in her community last year. 

Those attending will participate in formal and informal discussions of work in progress, view drawings by students, and provide comments and suggestions that will be reflected in the next day’s work.  Key to the success of the week of activities will be the involvement of all segments of the community, especially individuals and organizations who do not usually participate in City planning processes. This work is intended to help the City implement the Sustainable Northampton Plan, by using visual images to illustrate the concept of sustainability.

A complete schedule and additional information on NORTHAMPTON DESIGN WEEK activities is available at northamptondesignforum.blogspot.com.

The Northampton Design Forum was formed in June to advance the City of Northampton’s sustainability goals by promoting high-quality urban design and architecture through open and inclusive public processes. The Forum will sponsor DESIGN NORTHAMPTON WEEK under the umbrella of Available Potential Enterprises, Ltd (APE), a long-time standard-bearer of the local arts scene. The Forum kicked off fundraising efforts to raise the approximately $16,000 needed to bring the students to town, and began planning a week of activities to help the students engage the community.
To date the group has raised about half of the total funds needed and has received support from numerous businesses and residents who will provide meals and places for the students to stay while they are in town.

 MEDIA CONTACT: Michael Kusek at communication angle
413.575.1435 – or - michael@michaelkusek.com

INFORMATION CONTACT:  Joel Russell, Chair, Northampton Design Forum
413.584.7228 – or – joelrusl@aol.com

“If there is to be jazz in our future, it'll be because of musicians like saxophonist and composer Sarah Manning. She's a player to listen to, starting right now.”   - pianist Jessica Williams


Shatter the Glass is back in Northampton! Led by saxophonist and composer Sarah Manning, the band has completed two tours and twice headlined the Jazz Gallery in NYC since their inaugural four-day residency at the Center for the Arts last summer. Featuring NYC based pianist Art Hirahara, drummer Kyle Struve and introducing bassist Linda Oh, the quartet is dedicated to living and breathing onstage as a musical unit through the lens of Manning’s original compositions.
 
Look for us as the A.P.E. Gallery window display!  Before each evening concert, various configurations of the group will be performing on the sidewalks of downtown. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Northampton Arts Council.
 
Friday, September 26th: 
 
 12-2PM            Open rehearsal
 
7-9PM             Evening Concert (sliding scale donation)
 
Saturday, September 27th
 
12-2PM            Open rehearsal
 
7-9PM              Evening Concert (sliding scale donation)

Limited Seating.  Reservations: 413.586.5553
 
 
No stranger to the Pioneer Valley, Manning is a Smith graduate who could often be found busking on the streets of Northampton in the early days of her development. According to Nat Hentoff, in the liner notes to her 2004 debut album House on Eddy Street, “Sarah Manning can swing as naturally as she breathes...an enlivening presence in the new generation of jazz makers.  Manning plays – and writes – in what is unmistakably her own voice.”  In 2006, the saxophonist released Live at Yoshi’s: Two Rooms Same Door on ArtistShare, and in 2007 was profiled in the Players section of Down Beat Magazine.
 
Listen to Sarah Manning and the band at http://www.sarahmanningmusic.com and http://www.shattertheglass.org!
 
 
 

Submit Your Design for the 2008 88.5FM WFCR Artist Mug!

88.5FM WFCR, NPR news and music for western New England, is seeking submissions from local artists for the station’s 3rd Annual WFCR Artist Coffee Mug.  The limited-edition mug will be available to WFCR’s contributing listeners during a series of on-air fund drives from October 2008 through June 2009.

We welcome all submissions from collage, to pen and ink, to photography – as long as it translates well on a coffee mug!  The winning design will be posted on our website and will also be described over the air during the pledge drive for our listeners.

The design chosen for the mug will be decided in-house at WFCR and the chosen artist will be notified the second week in October.

The deadline for submission is October 1, 2008. 

Please mail your submission to: Christopher Daly – 88.5FM/WFCR – Hampshire House – 131 County Circle – Amherst, MA 01003-9257 or via email to csdaly@wfcr.org.  Include your name, address, email, phone number, and where you saw this opportunity listed.

Visit wfcr.org for more details.  Questions? Contact Chris Daly at 413-545-3372.

Design Specifications:
•    The printing space is 4 1/8 inches high and 8 5/8 inches wide. The image will wrap around the mug almost from handle to handle. 
•    The artwork will be affixed to the mug from a paper decal and kiln fired so the artwork’s colors are preserved.  This is a four color sublimation process.
•    A caption such as “designed for WFCR by….. 2008” must be included. It can run along the edge of the artwork (within the printing space) or be incorporated into the design.
•    We request that a design be exclusively made for WFCR and that we retain the original art for the station’s permanent collection.

 

A.P.E.'s new Exhibition and fffice spaces at Window.

After the sale of Thornes Market to new owners in 2006, A.P.E. signed a one year lease to continue it’s programming and events on the Third Floor and to have time to look for a new location in the center of town. That search resulted in the purchase of  Window, LLC, a five story building at 126 Main Street, Northampton, just a few doors down from Thornes Market.  A.P.E.’s one year lease with Thornes was over at the end of September 2007 and A.P.E. will leave Thornes the end of January, 2008. A.P.E. will open a new office and begin to develop new programs at Window, LLC, beginning early in 2008.

During its search for a new location in 2006-07, A.P.E. began conversations with other arts organizations, the city and members of the community about the need to keep the arts vibrant in Northampton, in particular, how to keep spaces open and affordable.  Identifying different spaces and buildings became part of that conversation and resulted in A.P.E. writing a Feasibility Grant for the Cultural Facilities Fund, a newly created entity through the Massachusetts Cultural Council, to administer state funds awarded to projects devoted to cultural development and advancement.   A.P.E. received a $18,750 matching grant to study the feasibility of creating a community arts center in the former Northampton Institute for Savings, located at the corner of Gothic and Main St. in the center of town.  A.P.E. was the only recipient of this grant in Northampton!

A.P.E’s concerns revolve around the issue of affordable space for artists to create and show work in the center of town.  It is a well known fact that a number of spaces devoted to the arts are in jeopardy at this point in time and A.P.E. is at the forefront of leading the effort to retain, hold and find ways for the community to own buildings for the long term so that the arts can remain an essential part of the fabric of this community.    A.P.E. is using the model of the land trust to explore the idea of a community “arts” trust, that would enable the community to purchase and hold spaces in town for arts and culture, thus creating real sustainability for the arts to thrive.

If you would like to be kept informed or would like more information, go the following links and add your name to our mailing list!

http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/facilities/facilities.htm

http://www.schumachersociety.org/about.html