Items tagged with 'arts'
A peek at the plan for the new Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany
A rendering filed with the city as part of the exterior signage plan.
Here's a peek at Capital Repertory Theatre's planned renovation of an old warehouse space at North Pearl Street and Livingston Ave into a new theater space. The project is scheduled to make its first appearance before the Albany Planning Board this Thursday evening.
The project description from one of the development docs filed with the city:
The project includes the renovation of the existing 1800's vintage Nabisco building for use as a live theatre venue, 310 +/- seat auditorium with associated front and back of house facilities including a smaller 100 person performance and rehearsal space, box office, cafe/bar, gallery space, props and costume work area, dressing rooms, and administrative offices. The theatre will operate throughout the year, primarily matinee and evening showings arranged around performances. The offices, props and costume work area and rehearsal space will be used during normal business hours throughout the year.
The architecture firm working on the project is CSArch.
The proposed exterior plan includes four LED signs: three signs 4.5 feet by 40 feet, one each along the North Pearl side, Livingston side, and mounted on the roof; and a vertically-oriented sign on the corner that would be 18 feet tall and 4 feet wide. "The displays will be installed as permanent installations, illumination and scrolling LED graphics will be regulated by the theater and primarily limited to hours of operation."
The warehouse site doesn't have any parking and the docs also provide a peek at The Rep's plans for that.
The Collaborative
A screengrab.
The new local arts magazine from Proctors -- The Collaborative -- is now online.
The publication is an outgrowth of the remains of The Alt, and its staff includes former Alt editors David Howard King and Katie Cusack.
Among the first group of stories: talking with choreographer Nadine Medina (from the Troy Dance Factory) about working with Capital Region music acts, a visit to The Lumberyard in Catskill, a bit about the opening of the Electric City Barn, and a look around local photographer Sarah Pezdek's home.
There's also this piece by David Howard King following along as Samson Contompasis painted that new mural of Henry Johnson along Henry Johnson Boulevard. A clip:
Tonight, though, he's drawing even more attention than usual. With the sun long disappeared behind the autumn night sky, Samson pulls up in his light blue minivan and affixes a projector to a utility box on one side of Henry Johnson, connects that to a MacBook, then carries his buckets of black paint and assorted brushes across the street to a lot littered with condom wrappers and discarded snack-food bags. He takes a long painter's pole and attaches a relatively tiny brush to its end.
A man with a sign declaring that he is homeless hobbles back and forth down the opposite side of the boulevard, sometimes answering queries from passersby about why there's a MacBook on the street corner late at night, and why no one's taken it.
Here's a list of spots where you'll be able to pick up a physical copy of the mag.
EMPAC 10YEARS
Standing outside EMPAC 10 years ago (almost to the day).
The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute -- EMPAC -- will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary next week with a multi-day series of events: concerts, dance, film, theater, talks. And two events -- one at the start, the other at the finish -- sound like they'll be good opportunities to experience what the venue can do:
October 11: Double Quartet: Strings and Spaces
"Double Quartet: Strings and Spaces will serve as an initiatory journey for guests of the 10YEARS event. Beginning and ending in the EMPAC Concert Hall, Taiwanese-American string quartet the Formosa Quartet will lead their audience through the EMPAC Theater and Studios 1 and 2, performing classical works specifically selected to complement the architectural acoustics of each space." 7 pm -- $18 / $13 students and seniors
October 13: Lost Highway Suite by Olga Neuwirth
"Performed by 25-members of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), with conductor Timothy Weiss and live electronics by Gilbert Nouno, the Suite will be staged in the EMPAC Concert Hall with a 64-speaker Ambisonic dome surrounding the audience. Going beyond traditional surround sound, this audio system is capable of spatializing the music performed by the ensemble, moving sounds around the listening space, and expanding and altering the acoustics of the hall. Creating a sonic environment in which sound clouds and particles seem to come from beyond the walls of the space before retracting back to the performers onstage, the composition pursues a series of existential questions, including: How do we know what is real and what is imagined? How do we differentiate between what is inside of us and what is outside?" 8 pm -- $18 / $13 students and seniors
EMPAC is a remarkable venue -- in terms of its architecture, its technology, and its programming. It also might, at times, not exactly feel accessible to a general audience.
Probably the best way to think of it is not just as a performance venue, but as a flexible research space for artists that allows them to push the boundaries of technology and form and, through that work, create new experiences. That's a rare opportunity -- for artists and audiences -- and it's worth checking out.
Alliance for the Creative Economy at The Lumberyard in Catskill
The new Lumberyard Contemporary Performing Arts in Catskill had its grand opening, hosted by Alan Cumming, the first weekend of September. And there's an opportunity coming up to get a better sense of what's going on there.
The Upstate Alliance for the Creative Economy has a free mixer at the Lumberyard October 3 that will include a tour and discussion. Blurbage:
LUMBERYARD Contemporary Performing Arts is the only organization in the United States dedicated to providing technical residencies that culminate in out-of-town premieres.
At the campus in Catskill, NY and at partner venues in New York City, LUMBERYARD provides artists and their companies with at least one week of unrestricted theater access prior to a premiere. This includes a fee, dedicated use of our production staff, equipment, and production materials as well as photo/video documentation, housing and meals during the residency. Each residency concludes with a premiere of the artist's work.
The ACE event is Wednesday, October 3 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. As mentioned above, it's free, but registration is required.
By the way: Catskill is worth a visit sometime to just check it out. The drive down 9W from Albany to Greene County is beautiful in the late summer/early fall.
photo via Lumberyard Facebook
Young Futures
From the paint-your-own-cone art activity during Free Cone Day. / photo courtesy of Young Futures
A little boy is painting a picture of an ice cream cone outside the Ben & Jerry's on Madison Ave in Albany during Free Cone Day; he's covered it all -- cone and ice cream both -- in bold, energetic black paint.
"Hey, he envisioned what he wanted, he formulated a plan, and he successfully executed it," says Young Futures founder James Mitchell, grinning.
Young Futures is an Albany organization dedicated to bringing free arts education to kids, especially those neighborhoods where that sort of opportunity can be hard to find.
Albany Word Fest 2018
The Albany Word Fest -- the annual celebration of spoken word organized by Albany Poets -- returns April 16-22 at venues around the area.
This year's festival includes readings, performances, and a regional poetry slam. There will also be a 24-hour Readings Against the End of the World:
All word-lovers and writers are invited to share readings - original work or favorite passages, poems and rants, raps and stories, spoken word and personal visions- enough to fill twenty-four hours the power of words. The event will kick off Friday, April 20 at the Husted Hall Café on the UAlbany Downtown campus, and will continue until Saturday, April 21.
There's info at that second link about how to sign up. The read-a-thon will be benefit the South End Children's Cafe.
An Inspector Calls, for a different sort of casting
The cast of An Inspector Calls at Schenectady Civic Playhouse.
This weekend Schenectady Civic Playhouse is opening a production of An Inspector Calls. It's an English drama from 1945 that has a lot to say to US audiences in 2018, but this production will say it a bit differently.
The show, usually been produced with an all-white cast, has been cast entirely with actors of color.
It's an interesting move the director says amps up the message of the play -- and maybe in the process it will expand the way people think about casting roles here in the Capital Region.
Things people made in 2017
With 2017 about to end, we're talking with people about favorite/interesting things from the past year.
Today we talk with a few people about things they made in 2017.
An award-winning tale of Victorian robot sex
Check it out: Local artist/author Jess Fink won the 2017 Ignatz Award for outstanding series for her comic Chester 5000 XYV.
The annual Ignatz Awards are the festival prize for the annual Small Press Expo, which was this past weekend in the DC area. "The Ignatz recognizes exceptional work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression." (The actual award is a brick, in honor of the character Ignatz from Krazy Kat.)
Chester is an erotic, Victorian, sci-fi, romance comic. As she told us a few years back of the story's origins:
I've been interested in how people in eras past have dealt with sexuality for some time. A big inspiration was the Tijuana Bibles which were these little dirty comics people sold illegally in the 20s-50s.
I also had an interest in early erotic photography. Basically the Victorians are famous for being prudes, having no knowledge of the female orgasm and little sex education, yet there is a lot of erotic art from that era. I thought the juxtaposition of sexual discovery and prudish Victorian values would be fun.
The story has been collected into two books, which are both available for sale.
Capital Rep buys production space north of downtown Albany, another developing project in that spot
Updated
Capital Rep has bought the old warehouse building that sits on the northeast corner of North Pearl Street and Livingston Ave -- the former Gomez Electrical Contracting building -- the theater company officially announced Friday afternoon. From a Cap Rep/Proctors press release:
The Gomez building, located less than a half-mile from theREP, affords over 30,000 square feet of work and storage space.
For many years, theREP has rented production facilities from The Egg, at the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza. Having its own nearby facility offers permanence, malleability and much greater capacity, while reducing costs and providing an economic anchor on the N. Pearl Street corridor.
Going forward, the theatre's technical staff will build, repair and store all set pieces and scenic elements at 251 N. Pearl Street, which also houses offices for the production team.
The theater company has no plans to hold performances there, spokesman Michael Eck said via email Monday.
The purchase isn't a surprise -- word about the potential deal surfaced earlier this year, and the Business Review reported in May the building was under contract. But its use as a production space instead of a performance space is a twist on what had been circulating. And it sounds like the change was a bit of a surprise to the owner of the building -- Mike DeMasi reports a closing date hasn't been scheduled, yet. [Biz Review x2]
That area of Albany, just north of downtown proper, has a lot projects in development right now. The redevelopment of the Ida Yarbrough Homes across Pearl Street is in progress. Just down the hill on Livingston, Albany Distilling Co. is repurposing a building as a new tasting room and retail shop. Around the block on Broadway, developer Patrick Chiou is renovating a row of vacant housing. And on the block just to the south, between Pearl and Broadway, work has started for new construction that will include 100 residential units on a former parking lot.
The business of art
Passion, talent, work ethic -- all things that go into making art. Also: money -- because you gotta eat and have somewhere to live.
The Arts Center of the Capital Region is hosting two courses starting this fall that focus on the business of being an artist -- planning, marketing, legal, and making money. One is a weekend-long boot camp, the other a class that meets regularly across several months. Both are a free, but require an application.
Here's a quick overview...
SPAC x NYCB
The New York City Ballet will be back at SPAC July 5-15. And leading up to residency, SPAC is posting a series of short dance videos:
In advance of its 2017 residency of the New York City Ballet (July 5 - 15), Saratoga Performing Arts Center will be releasing a series of unique, locally-shot dance videos created by videographers and NYCB dancers, Emily Kikta and Peter Walker. The eight videos feature NYCB dancers performing short pieces at iconic locations in Saratoga Springs and Troy, including the Gasholder Building, Yaddo, the Race Track, Congress Park, Saratoga Lake and the Saratoga Train Station.
That's the first one above, from Monday. The second, out Tuesday, has a bit of a dreamy feel to it.
They're a nice, little visual break.
Kennedy of Albany: A Writer and His City
WMHT has a new documentary about William Kennedy -- Kennedy of Albany: A Writer and His City -- lined up to premiere June 29. Blurbage:
Discover the life and legacy of William Kennedy as told by the Pulitzer Prize winning author himself. In this intimate documentary, learn about Kennedy's humble beginnings in his hometown of Albany, which would become the backdrop and fodder for much of his work, and his incredible career spanning nearly five decades.
The doc premieres Monday, June 26 at 9 pm on WMHT.
There's also a preview screening Monday, June 19 at 6 pm at the WMHT studios in North Greenbush, with a discussion and reception following. Admission is free, but you must RSVP by June 16: rsvp@wmht.org or call 518-880-3400. (We're guessing it will be a popular event and could fill up.)
image: WMHT
#518Day 2017
Nipper says: Happy #518Day!
— Michael Janairo (@mjanairo) May 18, 2017
Take a moment on May 18, 5/18, to share what you like about the arts in the 518 with the hashtag #518day pic.twitter.com/Y8KlfCiPuL
Today, Thursday, is May 18. That's 5/18. That's 518. Hey, that sounds familiar...
So it's 518 Day. And local writer Michael Janairo is once again rallying people to use the #518Day tag on social media to share/highlight what they like or appreciate about local arts and culture. The tag on Twitter has already collected a bunch of tweets today.
Michael's also put together a Storify stream to collect the mentions across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Also, important future consideration:
Of note, this May 18 will be the last May 18 in which the 518 region is only the 518 region. Starting this fall, new phone numbers in the 17-county 518 region will be given an 838 area code. That means the region will become the 518 and 838 region. What that means for May 18, 2018, isn't certain yet; however, considering there isn't an August 38, it is likely May 18 will remain #518Day.
"The 38th of August" does sound like a good title for something, though.
Checking out the new Albany Center Gallery space
The Albany Center Gallery opens its new members show exhibit Wednesday -- and it's doing so in a new gallery space in the Arcade Building on Broadway in downtown Albany.
We got a look around the new space this week and talked with executive director Tony Iadicicco for a few minutes...
Creative Every Day book launch
Earlier this year we mentioned Creative Every Day, a series of illustrated mini-biographies of local people created by artist Ira Marcks as a project aimed at inspiring kids to explore careers in the creative economy.
Well, the book of those tiny stories is now finished and it's great -- interesting, beautiful, and fun! You can check out a pdf of the book online at the first link above. We've also clipped a few pages after the jump in case you'd like to take a quick look. (But, really, go check out the whole thing.)
The book's creation was sponsored by the Work Force Development Institute. And Marcks says the institute and Proctors will be distributing the book for free to schools around the region as part of program to help kids learn about how artistic skills can be applied to a wide range of jobs.
There's a party to celebrate the release of Creative Every Day Thursday, October 27 at Troy Kitchen from 6-9 pm. There will be music from Jecco Trio, Sudharsana Srinivasan, Taina Asili, and Jamel Mosely. And everyone who attends will get a free copy of the book.
New home for Albany Center Gallery
The Arcade Building. / photo: Paul Gallo
The Albany Center Gallery announced Monday that it's found a new home: ACG will be moving to the Arcade Building on Broadway in downtown Albany around the end of this year/beginning of 2017.
The 40-year-old gallery has been located at 39 Columbia Street -- just off Broadway near Tricentennial Park -- for many years. But its lease is up in November and it's been in search of more affordable space. Press release blurbage:
ACG began to explore a new location starting in 2014 due to a 10-year lease with the United Group ending in November 2016. "We toured over two dozen properties and had offers to move to places such as Troy and Schenectady. We thought it was important to stay in Downtown Albany," said Brian Tromans, board member and chair of the ACG's relocation committee. "The United Group has been very supportive throughout our lease. It was not an easy decision to leave 39 Columbia Street, but the Arcade will bring a new chapter for the Gallery's creative history."
The Arcade Building is just about two blocks south of ACG's current location. Its owner -- Fairbank Properties -- recently converted the upper floors to apartments. The street level includes storefront space. (Stacks Espresso is also set to open a location there.)
In addition to showing art work in its gallery space, Albany Center Gallery has also been involved in many arts projects around the city -- including the large mural that went up on the parking garage by the I-787 Clinton Ave off-ramp earlier this year.
ACG Gala: The Albany Center Gallery's 40th Anniversary Gala is November 19 at the Renaissance Albany.
The Creative Life at UAlbany: Joyce Carol Oates, Savion Glover
UAlbany announced a new series -- "The Creative Life" -- this week that's bringing Joyce Carol Oates and Savion Glover to the university this September and October. Blurbage:
The Creative Life: A Conversation Series at UAlbany is an exciting new initiative of the New York State Writers Institute, UAlbany Performing Arts Center and University Art Museum, all of which are housed and function on the main campus of the University at Albany. Presented by the University at Albany Foundation, the series features live onstage interviews conducted by WAMC's Joe Donahue with artists of national and international prominence in conversation about their creative inspiration, their craft, their careers and the demands of sustaining an artistic practice over time. A question and answer period will close all of the programs.
The event with author Joyce Carol Oates is Thursday, September 15 at 7:30 pm in the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the uptown campus.
The event with tap dance king Savion Glover is Saturday, October at 1 pm in Page Hall on the downtown campus. (And, as mentioned, Glover's also set to perform at The Egg October 15.)
Both events are free and open to the public.
UAlbany says it's planning for events of this type for the spring.
photos: Joyce Carol Oates - Dustin Cohen | Savion Glover - Savion Glover Productions
VanCurler Music is closing
This Saturday marks the end of an era in Capital Region music.
After nine decades in business the Schenectady music shop VanCurler -- its motto: "All Music in Print" -- is closing its doors. It's been selling sheet music and music books to musicians, actors, teachers and students in the Capital Region since the 1920s, and it's been across from the stage door in the Proctors arcade since the 30s.
Current owners Rhoda Luborsky and her mother, Florence Luborsky, have been operating the VanCurler since 1984, but in recent years business has been steadily declining.
The reason probably won't surprise you.
The Troy Poem Project
Meghan Marohn at Troy Flea
Meghan Marohn is terrible at small talk. She'll tell you so herself.
But if you want to talk about the meaning of life -- or love, time, repetition, or the Collar City Bridge -- Meghan is happy to oblige. You'll find her sitting by the river at Troy Flea, or along River Street at the Enchanted City festival or Troy Night Out. She's the red-haired writer behind the manual typewriter next to the sign that reads: Troy Poem Project.
Tell her about a person, a place, a feeling, an idea -- whatever is on your mind. Twenty minutes later, she'll hand you a poem, something fresh and new, your thoughts, distilled, refined, milled into metaphors for you to consider in a new way.
The Troy Poem Project, she says, is about more than poetry. It's really an effort to get to know people in a different way, and, if only for a moment, change the way we communicate in this busy world.
Andrea Gibson at The Linda
Poet Andrea Gibson is set for a spoken word performance at The Linda October 17. Tickets are on sale now -- they're $18.
Poets don't typically end up in the "star" category in modern culture. But Gibson's page has more than 76,000 likes on Facebook, and a Twitter stream with almost 27,000 followers. And Gibson has produced six spoken-word albums and published three books of poetry.
Gibson identifies as gender queer. From a conversation with Tig Notaro in Interview last year:
That just means that I don't necessarily identify within a gender binary. I've never in my life really felt like a woman and I've certainly never felt like a man. I look at gender on a spectrum and I feel somewhere on that spectrum that's not landing on either side of that.
And later in the conversation:
I think that I have a lot of repeating themes [in my work]. I just made a t-shirt that says, "Feelings are not the enemy." I guess that's what it's about--just being expressive with your feelings and the ways that we're culturally expected to closet our emotions. The idea that there's just a closet around love or sexuality is sort of hilarious. I think we're also that way with grief and panic and anxiety and depression, and I think we also closet our bliss. We're culturally expected to taper it all down. I would say that's sort of the theme of my show.
The opener for the show at The Linda is poet Sarah Kay.
[via @thomjob]
EMPAC fall 2016 season
In September Mabel Kwan will be at EMPAC to perform a piece. On two pianos. At the same time.
The slate for the upcoming fall season at EMPAC is out. And, as usual, it includes all sorts of unusual, challenging, or experimental performances. A condensed schedule is after the jump.
Also at the venue this fall, a new tool for performances. Blurbage:
A hallmark of the fall 2016 season is the unveiling of EMPAC's recently constructed wave-field array. Consisting of 496 independently controllable loudspeakers, this audio system is one of the most precise in the world, and capable of creating a 3D "holophonic" sound environment. More immersive than ordinary surround sound, "wave field synthesis" allows composers to place sounds in specific spatial locations around the audience and will figure heavily into future EMPAC electronic music programming.
An installation opening later this month, as well as a performance in early September, will make use of the new system
OK, onto that schedule...
The NYC Ballet is back at SPAC
The New York City Ballet starts its summer residency at SPAC Wednesday night (July 20), and it will be performing there through July 30. Tickets for the performances start at $40.
This summer's schedule includes classic works such as George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream -- and more contemporary works, including the world premiere of Justin Peck's Scherzo Fantastique.
A quick version of the schedule is after the jump.
Opera Saratoga summer season 2016
If you're looking to try something new: The 2016 summer season of Opera Saratoga is in progress.
This season's slate includes productions of The Marriage of Figaro (with music by Mozart), the American premiere of The Witches of Venice (with music by Philip Glass), Il Postino (an adaptation the film), an "An Evening on Broadway!" concert.
The schedule is after the jump.
Opera Saratoga performances are in the Spa Little Theater in Saratoga Spa State Park.
New season of TvFILM premieres this week
The new season of TvFilm -- a showcase of local film -- premieres this Thursday, June 23 on WMHT at 10 pm. Show blurbage:
Hosted and produced by Brandon Bethmann, TvFILM engages dialogue with winning filmmakers to discuss the inspiration, ideas and concepts behind their work. In addition, TvFILM profiles the people, places and events that are shaping WMHT's growing independent film and media community.
Here's a preview of the season 8 premiere. It looks like the episode includes a bunch of short works from a range of local filmmakers, including the award-winning YouthFX short Falling by Maya Suchak and Imani Peterkin.
By the way: Previous episodes of TvFilm are available online.
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?