Items tagged with 'ESP'
The 2019 MLK Day celebration at the ESP will include Rashad Jennings and Lillias White
The Empire State Plaza will again host a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is January 21 this time around.
The 2019 event will include a keynote speech by Rashad Jennings, the former NFL running back and Dancing With the Stars winner who's become a motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist. And it will feature a performance by Tony-winning Broadway vocalist Lillias White.
The celebration is Monday, January 21 in the ESP Convention Center. A volunteer fair starts at 9 am that day, and the program begins at 10 am. It's free.
Following the event at the ESP, the annual city of Albany Beloved Community March will stretch from the concourse entrance on Madison Ave to the King Monument in Lincoln Park for a wreath-laying ceremony. (There will also be a CDTA bus to transport people.) And the Albany City Hall carillon will play a concert at noon.
Dr. King Children's Essay & Fine Arts Exhibit
The state Education Department is again sponsoring an exhibition of student art inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. (Maybe you remember seeing the exhibit in the ESP concourse.) It's open to students enrolled in any K-12 program. And the deadline to enter is December 17.
AOA is a sponsor of events at the ESP.
Art For Lunch at the Empire State Plaza
This could be interesting: The Empire State Plaza Visitor Center is offering "Art for Lunch" tours of the ESP's modern art collection this summer. Blurbage:
Jackson Pollock - Mark Rothko - Robert Motherwell - Helen Frankenthaler! Explore artwork by some of the most famous contemporary artists in the world! The Empire State Plaza Art Collection is one of the most impressive public collections of contemporary art in the country. Join us on a 30-minute lunchtime tour of selected works and learn about the New York School, Abstract Expressionism and other facts about this amazing collection. Each tour will focus on a different selection of artworks and on various themes including, sculpture in nature, women artists in the collection, art you can touch, creating the collection, artists who are World War II veterans, and art as propaganda in the Cold War. Weather permitting, tours will take place inside and out.
The upcoming tours are July 11 and 25, August 8 and 22 from noon to 12:30 pm. There's not reservation required, but groups of 10 or more should call ahead. (See the link for details.)
Here's why a helicopter will be lifting equipment to the roof of the Corning Tower this weekend
A handful of roads will be closed near the southeastern end of the Empire State Plaza this Sunday because crews will be using a helicopter to lift materials to the top of the Corning Tower. (The road closures list is below.)
The crews will be moving equipment for a new maintenance rig for the Corning Tower. Joseph Brill, a spokesman for the state Office of General of Services, said the process is planned to include a series of nine lifts, starting at approximately 9 am, which will include more than 11 tons of equipment. The schedule is dependent on the weather.
Why the need for the equipment? Well, in short, it makes it possible to maintain the exterior of the 42-floor building. As Brill explained in an email:
Triangles and Arches is being temporarily removed from the Empire State Plaza
Because you might notice: The state Office of General Services recently announced that it's temporarily removing the Alexander Calder sculpture Triangles and Arches from its place in the reflecting pool in front of the State Museum.
OGS says the piece needs restoration work. From a press release:
"Our responsibilities as stewards of the Empire State Plaza Art Collection include an ongoing commitment to provide generational treatment to works of art that require conservation," Commissioner Destito said. "OGS is having the Calder sculpture, Triangles and Arches, deinstalled in preparation for conservation. Our goal with this sculpture and the other artworks we have conserved in recent years is to ensure that future generations will be able to view and enjoy this unique collection that belongs to the people of New York."
Weighing approximately 8,000 pounds, Triangles and Arches consists of seven steel base plates projecting from seven piers rising out of the reflecting pool. Over time, the paint on the sculpture has deteriorated, and disassembly of the sculpture is needed to determine what conservation is required.
That photo above is from early May. If you look closely, you can see there's paint peeling and missing from the sculpture.
Last fall OGS re-installed the nearby François Stahly Labyrinth on the Empire State Plaza after it was removed for a multi-year restoration project.
And a decade ago the state temporarily removed the Ellsworth Kelly piece Yellow Blue so that the steel could be refurbished and the paint reapplied.
More Calder: The modern art collection at the ESP includes another Calder piece, the mobile Four at Forty-Five -- it hangs in the plaza level lobby of the Corning Tower. (Or not! Gina says below that it now hangs in the lobby of the State Museum.)
At The Plaza 2018
The schedule for this summer's lineup of events at/near the Empire State Plaza is out. It includes a mix of concerts, festivals, and outdoor movie screenings. All the events are free to attend.
The series stars July 4 and runs through September. This year's slate also includes a new event, the Hops and Harvest Festival, a celebration of "the best of what autumn has to offer in upstate New York and blue grass music."
On with the schedule...
How to get to the indoor bike parking at the Empire State Plaza
By the way: There is indoor bike parking at the Empire State Plaza -- on the concourse level, even.
The bike racks are just outside the door to the bus turnaround area in the middle of the concourse, right across from the food court.
Maybe you've seen these racks and wondered how one ever get their bike there, because it's not exactly apparent. (Or you're googling this now.)
Well, wonder no longer.
The state is looking for someone to design murals for the ESP food court
The state Office of General Services is looking for a New York State artist to paint murals on four walls of the recently renovated food court on the Empire State Plaza concourse. Press release blurbage:
OGS is looking for proposals for murals that will reflect the character of the State of New York and that will be made distinctive through the choice of design, color, and subject matter. The design should be suitable and acceptable for public viewing by people of all ages. The content of the murals should not serve as any sort of promotion or branding for any business or organization, or be overtly political in nature.
As this is a government contract job, there's a formal request for quotes process that details requirements and how bids should be submitted. There's also a mandatory site visit April 4 at 3 pm at which bidding artists will be able to ask questions.
OGS says the all-in price for the art work is not to exceed $21,000.
This could be a really cool opportunity -- not just because the work could brighten the day of thousands of people, but also because your work will be on display in the same venue as that of the ESP's extensive art collection.
This is the last week of the season for the ESP ice skating rink
An upside of the lingering winter: The season at the Empire State Plaza ice skating rink has been extended another week.
So the last day of the season is now Sunday, March 18. And there will also be another day of free skate rental this Friday, courtesy of Hannaford.
The rink is open seven days a week, 11 am-8 pm (closed 3-4 pm for maintenance) -- weather permitting. (There are updates about the rink status on the ESP events Facebook and Twitter.)
It's free to skate. And skate rentals are $4 / $3 for kids. A photo ID is required for skate rental.
By the way: Our favorite time to go skating at the rink is midweek in the evening. There are often smaller crowds. And it's a fun thing to do to break up the work week.
(Thanks, Julie!)
Earlier: Capital Region Ice Skating
AOA is a sponsor of the ESP ice skating rink.
The ESP ice rink is open for the season
The ice skating rink on the Empire State Plaza opened for the season Friday.
The rink is open seven days a week, 11 am-8 pm (closed 3-4 pm for maintenance) -- weather permitting. It's free to skate. And skate rentals are $4 / $3 for kids / free on Fridays. A photo ID is required for skate rental.
As in previous years, there are also a series of clinics and special events connected to the rink over the next few months, such as learn-to-skate clinics and try-hockey clinics for various levels. Registration is required for the clinics and they often fill up fast. (The learn-to-skate clinics this Saturday, December are already full.)
The rink often gets busy on weekends. Our favorite time to go is in the evenings during the week. As we've said before, stopping by to skate for an hour after work + dinner someplace downtown = a better than usual Wednesday.
Swinburne Skating Rink
Friday also was opening day for skating rink in Albany's Swinburne Park (map).
Here are the hours and admission/skate rental info...
The Empire State Plaza ice skating rink is opening soon for the 2017-2018 season
Winter is happening: The ice skating rink at the Empire State Plaza is set to open December 1 (weather permitting), the state Office of General Services announced today.
As in recent years, the rink will be open seven days a week from 11 am to 8 pm (closed 3-4 pm for maintenance). And it's free to skate. Skate rental is $4 for adults / $3 for kids 12 and under / and free on Fridays. (A photo ID is required for skate rental.)
There are also a series of free learn-to-skate and hockey clinics -- that link includes the schedule. Keep an eye out for when registration opens because they fill up fast.
Tree lighting
The annual ESP tree lighting is December 3 this year. There's a whole day of events leading up to the lighting at 5:15 pm and fireworks at 5:30.
Also: There's rock-and-skate event with Moriah Formica that evening from 6-8 pm.
AOA is a sponsor of the ESP skating rink.
The François Stahly labyrinth has returned to the Empire State Plaza
Check it out: The François Stahly Labyrinth has been returned to the Empire State Plaza southwest corner near the Corning Tower. There are a few more photos below if you'd like a look.
The Office of General Services removed the wooden structures in 2015 because they were deteriorating from exposure to the weather. The pieces were shipped off to an architectural and wood conservator in Vermont, where the damaged sections were replaced with the same type of wood, an African variety called iroko. The $400,000 job included about 230 individual pieces.
About blurbage the design by the artist, François Stahly:
Labyrinth is a one of kind object with each piece of wood hand-crafted, numbered by the artist, and designed to fit together like pieces of a puzzle. The sculpture's rounded edges and totem-like tower suggest a primitive form of architecture and stand in contrast to the steel and stone buildings that surround it.
In Labyrinth, Stahly aimed to create a sanctuary for the Empire State Plaza's workforce by constructing "a quiet place in the midst of the stress." The idea reaffirmed [Nelson] Rockefeller's belief that the everyday presence of art increases a person's quality of life -- one of the main reasons why art was chosen to be displayed throughout the Empire State Plaza.
There will be a celebration for the installation's return on Tuesday, October 24 from 5:30-7:30 pm. The event will include African drumming as well as the telling of a folk tale about the iroko wood by a reverend from Zimbabwe. It's free.
What would Albany be like today if the Empire State Plaza had not been built?
It's Other Timelines week on AOA, in which we'll be looking at alternate histories of this place, about big and small things that did or did not happen.
Albany has a long history -- more than three centuries as an incorporated place -- so there have been plenty of "what if" points along the way.
But the biggest one, literally and figuratively, might be this: What would Albany be like today if the Empire State Plaza had not been built?
We proposed that question to a bunch of local historian-minded people...
Rainbow weather
We've had run of rainbow weather lately -- pop-up showers, with sun streaming in from one side and dark clouds as a backdrop on the other.
And the (double!) rainbow Sam captured arcing over the ESP this past weekend is maybe the best we've seen of the recent batch.
(Thanks, Sam!)
At The Plaza 2017
Updated
The schedule for this summer's lineup of events at/near the Empire State Plaza is out. It includes a mix of concerts, festivals, and outdoor movie screenings. The series stars June 28. The events are all free to attend.
On with the schedule...
A "self-sustaining, power-generating island unto itself" in Albany
The Empire State Plaza is set to become "a self-sustaining, power-generating island unto itself" as part of a plan formally announced by the Cuomo admin Monday to build a power plant and microgrid for the ESP buildings. In other words, the ESP is basically getting its own power plant and if there's a power outage, it'll still be able to have power.
And that's a good thing. The ESP is the location of many state operations. But the really interesting part of all this might be what this project sets up for other parts of downtown Albany in the future...
Old trees out, new trees soon
James tagged us on Twitter today after noticing that a crew had taken down the trees in the southeast corner of the Empire State Plaza. (That's his pic above.) It's the corner where the labyrinth usually stands. He was wondering what was up because the scene was now looking... sparse.
The trees -- maples -- had contracted a disease called verticillium wilt, according to Heather Groll, the communications director for the state's Office of General Services. She said via email they're being replaced with "some lovely red oaks" and the new trees will be in place later this spring.
The labyrinth
As mentioned, that corner is where the wooden labyrinth by Francois Stahly usually stands. The structure had been in bad shape in recent years and OGS decided that on-site repairs weren't enough. So pieces of the art/playground were shipped off to Vermont in the fall of 2015 for restoration -- here's a Paul Grondahl article about the process. Groll said Thursday she didn't have a timeline for its return.
The restaurant space on the Empire State Plaza has re-opened
The restaurant space on the ESP near the foot of the Corning Tower is back operating as a restaurant again -- Cornerstone at The Plaza opened this week.
It's serving lunch Monday through Friday from 11 am-3 pm while in the state legislature is in session. There's also a happy hour Wednesday from 3-7 pm.
You might remember this space once housed the restaurant The Sign of the Tree -- it closed more than a decade ago. Mazzone Hospitality -- which also operates a cafeteria on the concourse of the ESP, as well as a bunch of other local restaurants such as 677 Prime -- is running the new Cornerstone restaurant. (It had already been hosting events there during the past year.)
New restaurant blurbage:
The menu will include foods and beverages produced in New York State, including a locally-sourced selection of artisanal cheeses; a warm winter kale salad featuring chorizo from Dashing Star Farm; a vegetable torta made with local farm eggs; and beef short ribs braised in Nine Pin Cider.
Here's the menu.
We stopped in for lunch Thursday. It was nice. The space -- about half of which was set up for lunch service -- has great windows which look out onto the plaza. The atmosphere was relaxed, and the service friendly. The music could use an upgrade. (If you're ever wondering if a chamber orchestra version of "Hotel California" is a good idea, the answer is always no.) There's an elevator inside that connects to the concourse below.
Here are a few pics if you're curious.
The Empire State Plaza skating rink is open for the season
The ice skating rink at the Empire State Plaza opened for the season Friday. When we stopped by this afternoon there were a bunch of kids skating and laughing.
The rink will now be open seven days a week, 11 am-8 pm (closed 3-4 pm for maintenance). It's free to skate. And skate rentals are $4 / $3 for kids / free on Fridays. A photo ID is required for skate rental. And, of course, the rink is open weather permitting.
There are also a series of clinics and special events related to the rink through the winter, such as learn-to-skate clinics and try-hockey clinics. Registration is required for the clinics and they often fill up fast. (The learn-to-skate clinic this Saturday is already full.)
The rink does tend to get busy on the weekends. Our favorite time to go is in the evenings during the week. (If you're driving, you can usually snag a spot along State Street.) Stopping by to skate for an hour after work + dinner someplace downtown = a better than usual Wednesday.
And it's good to see people out in the space during the winter. It makes it seem less cold.
Swinburne Skating Rink
The city of Albany's Swinburne Skating Rink is set to open Monday, December 5 (weather permitting). Here are the hours and admission/skate rental info...
The Empire State Plaza ice skating rink is set to open for the 2016-2017 season soon
The ice skating rink at the Empire State Plaza is set to open for the new season December 2 (weather permitting), the state Office of General Services announced Thursday.
As in recent years past, the rink will be open seven days a week from 11 am to 8 pm (closed 3-4 pm for maintenance). And it's free to skate. Skate rental is $4 for adults / $3 for kids 12 and under / and free on Fridays. (A photo ID is required for skate rental.)
Also again this season, there's a series of free learn-to-skate clinics. The first is December 3. These clinics require pre-registration and often fill up fast.
We try to make it over to the ESP to skate a few times each winter. The rink can get crowded on the weekends. But we've found the weekday evenings are often not crowded. And if you pair an evening skate with dinner downtown somewhere, that's a pretty good Wednesday (or Tuesday or whatever day). Also: It's a beautiful scene taking turns around the rink with the buildings lit up.
OGS has also announced the lineup of winter events at the ESP, including the tree lighting, which is December 4 this year.
AOA is a media sponsor of the ESP ice skating rink.
Magnetic Shift at Empire State Plaza
We had a few minutes this week to check out the new Phil Frost exhibit on the ESP concourse, Magnetic Shift. It's in the Corning Tower, just behind the escalators that lead up to the plaza level.
Frost was born in Jamestown and grew up (and skateboarded) in the Albany area. Exhibit blurbage:
"From a young age I found myself inspired by the various forms of Modernism encapsulated in Wallace Harrison's architectural masterpiece, The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza, most notably the works of Clyfford Still, Naum Gabo, Ellsworth Kelly, and David Smith," said Frost. "It is with great honor that I accept this privilege of being able to now, some 30 years later, form a curated conversation with this work in its unique home." ...
Frost creates work that combines the raw, gritty edge of the street through the use of found materials with an elegant, painterly aesthetic. Frost describes his art as being "comprised of a depth of layered sinuous sheaths of glyphic information that I refer to as intuitive mathematics; they are overlaid and dance atop figurative busts and repetitions or grids of heads that I call perceptive portraiture." Frost first became known in the early 1990's for his involved installations on the streets of New York City.
The exhibit is open Monday-Friday from 6 am to 6 pm. It will be on display through August 18, 2017.
Upcoming lunch options at the ESP: Bombers, Kuma Ani, The Dutch Pot
Coming to the Empire State Plaza main cafeteria in September: Bombers, Kuma Ani, and The Dutch Pot.
The state's Office of General Services, which manages the plaza, officially announced the upcoming additions Tuesday. Press release blurbage:
Bombers Burrito Bar Hours: Monday - Friday 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Locally owned since 1997, Bombers will serve its signature burritos, bowls, tacos and salads.  Favorites including ancho chili chicken, southern fried catfish, "Red Stripe" jerk pork, quinoa bowls, buffalo chicken salad and more.
Kuma Ani Express  Hours: Monday - Friday 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Kuma Ani burst on to the Albany sushi scene in 2015 and has earned a stellar reputation infusing authentic Japanese dishes with Western culinary techniques. Tuna, salmon, yellowtail, seaweed coâ€mingle with, Spanish mackerel, king salmon, madai, rice paper, lobster, soy paper and more for sushi, salads, Shumai, miso soup and more.
The Dutch Pot  Hours: Monday - Friday 10:30 a.m. - 2:30p.m.    A favorite of Lark Street area residents, customers will enjoy fresh Jamaican delights including coconut shrimp salad, jerk chicken wraps, curried goat, rice & beans, plantains and homemade pastry
Kuma Ani is at 287 New Scotland Avenue in Albany's Helderberg neighborhood. The Dutch Pot is at 418 Madison Ave, just east of Delaware/Lark, in Albany. And Bombers, well, you know where the Bombers locations are.
Earlier on AOA: Eat This: Oxtail at the Dutch Pot (2013)
Soaring through the ESP
Friday afternoon zone out: Drone video of the Empire State Plaza by YouTube user Timothy Jackson.
Some of those passes low along the reflecting pool are beautiful.
[via r/Albany]
At The Plaza 2016
The schedule for this summer's lineup of events at/near the Empire State Plaza. It includes the usual mix of concerts, festivals, and outdoor movie screenings. There series of free events starts June 15.
Along with the schedule comes the announcement that the reconstruction of the staircase/amphitheater outside the State Museum is officially complete. So the stage will be back at that end of the plaza this summer and people will be able to sit on the steps/benches there.
On with the schedule...
Today's moment of art
A lot of the art on display in the concourse of the ESP can be an acquired taste. But we liked this 1968 mural by Fritz Glarner from first glimpsing it. The work covers a wall in the Abrams Building opposite a series of windows the look out into the Vietnam Memorial courtyard.
Maybe it feels more alive because it gets natural light.
Glarner was an immigrant from Switzerland. His style was influenced by the work of Mondrian, who was a friend. (See it now?) About five years before creating the mural above he was commissioned by Nelson Rockfeller to design the dining room of Rockefeller's NYC apartment -- the panels he created for that project were later sold during the 1980s, and are now part of a museum collection in Zurich.
The mural in the Abrams Building was commissioned for the ESP. And according to placard for it, the work was created in three sections and then attached to the wall, "specifically placed to complement its surroundings." It ended up being Glarner's last mural. He died in 1972 at age 73.
The South Mall Expressway set for a rehab
The Cuomo admin announced this week that $22.4 million will be spent rehabbing the South Mall Expressway, which connects I-787 to the Empire State Plaza. Work is scheduled to start later this month.
Press release blurbage:
Work on the South Mall Expressway, which carries approximately 21,000 vehicles each day, will occur from I-787 to inside the tunnels underneath the Empire State Plaza. The project will include replacing the concrete driving surface of the four bridges that carry the expressway over 787 and city streets. Work will also involve structural repairs to the bridges, including joint and bearing replacements. Repairs to the pavement leading into the tunnel, work on the connecting ramps and bridge painting and steel repairs are also included in this project.
The project is scheduled to happen in stages -- the westbound side (toward the ESP) this year, the eastbound side (toward 787) next year, and then work under the bridge in 2018. Also: "Consistent with Governor Cuomo's Driver's First initiative, the project has been designed to minimize impacts to expressway traffic. Work that will most affect travel lanes has been scheduled for summer months, when traffic volumes are lower."
He's never going to leave her
The future of 787 is always a hot topic because a lot of people see the highway's placement and shape as a barrier -- between Albany and the riverfront, between downtown Albany and the South End. And if you compare aerial photos of Albany pre-South Mall Expressway and after, you can see the huge path the road plowed through downtown.
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?