Ten groups in Cayuga, Livingston, Monroe and Ontario Counties have secured grants totaling more than $71,000 from Preserve New York, including Genesee Country Village & Museum. The museum was given a grant of $7,560 to have an intensive-level Cultural Resource Survey of our site conducted by Blake Held, A.I.A. He will be photographing many of the buildings in the Historic Village, sifting through our archives, and ultimately creating a report based on National Park Service standards that we will hopefully use as the basis for a future nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

 Preserve New York is a signature grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Preservation League of New York State, and is made possible with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

The Creative Licence Theater Collective is partnering with the Albany County Historical Association to produce “Tales of Old Albany” - a new podcast that will engage audiences with true, historical tales from around Albany County, with the stories brought to audible life by a cast of some of the region’s top acting talent.

The program, researched and written by former ACHA intern and current Schuyler Mansion interpreter Jessie Serfilippi, will focus on the lives and friendship of two of Albany’s most important citizens, Brig. General Abraham Ten Broeck and Major General Philip Schuyler. The first of the four part series, titled “My Now Departed Friend,” will reveal the deep loss felt by both the Schuylers and the Ten Broecks following the death of Schuyler’s son-in-law Alexander Hamilton, as well as a look at how the Founding Father’s shocking death was felt throughout the city of Albany.

“It all started with a letter,” says Creative License co-founder and producer Aaron Holbritter., “written by Dirck Ten Broeck, son of Abraham Ten Broeck, to his father, describing in detail the circumstances surrounding Hamilton’s death.” As it happens, Dirck, who had served as a law clerk for Hamilton before starting his own practice, had a meeting scheduled with Hamilton at his office on what would be the day of the duel. Ten Broeck was en route to that meeting when he was stopped in the street and told that Hamilton had been shot. He rushed to the Bayard’s home, where Hamilton had been taken,and was there when he succumbed to his injuries the next day. “It’s this incredibly heartbreaking letter that you can just tell was written in the throes of grief,” explains Holbritter, “and the actor/director in me immediately thought, ‘This should be performed somehow!’”

After consulting with Serfilippi and discovering the close relationship between the Schuyler and Ten Broeck families through the letters they shared, the idea for the podcast began to take shape. “We try to take these letters and look at them in the broader historical context, but hearing them speak in their own words makes them feel very real.”

Serfilippi and Holbritter have also crafted dramatic scenes between characters to help create a dynamic experience for the listener. “The letters are tremendous, but we wanted to create a dramatic way to connect these people and stories and for that to work, you need some really strong actors. So we went for the big guns.” Local theater stalwarts Chris Foster and Patrick White will bring to life Abraham Ten Broeck and Philip Schuyler, respectively. They’ll be joined by Creative License mainstays Ian LaChance (Dirck Ten Broeck) and Isaac Newberry (Alexander Hamilton), as well as Krysta Dennis (Angelica Schuyler Church) and Angela Potrikus (Elizabeth Van Rensselaer Ten Broeck), among others. Holbritter and Creative License co-founder Casey Polomaine will act as the story’s narrators.

Episode one of the series will be released on September 1st on iTunes. People will be able to find links for the podcast at the ACHA’s website as well as Creative License’s. Subsequent episodes in the first series will look at the long friendship of Ten Broeck and Schuyler, their roles in the all-important Battle of Saratoga, and the lives of some of their offspring, including the couple that brought the family together officially, Philip’s son, Rensselaer Schuyler, and Abraham’s daughter, Elizabeth Ten Broeck. Those episodes are scheduled to drop every two weeks through October.

SARATOGA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY APPOINTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

BALLSTON SPA, NY, August 13, 2018–Saratoga County Historical Society (SCHS) announces the appointment of K. Michelle Arthur, Ph.D., as executive director.

“We are thrilled to welcome Michelle to the organization. She has dedicated her career to engaging, educating and inspiring others to better understand how the past influences our lives today in an increasingly global landscape,” said Ervin Murray, President of the SCHS Board of Trustees. “She brings an abundance of hands-on knowledge and demonstrated successes in exhibit curating, program and curriculum development, grant writing and fundraising, marketing, and community outreach.”

As executive director, Dr. Arthur is charged with fulfilling the vision of Saratoga County Historical Society: to lead Saratoga County in the preservation of its history and inspire the community to keep history alive for all to explore. She is responsible for the strategic planning and successful execution of all SCHS’s departments and teams.

“Saratoga County Historical Society is a vital resource of information, educational programs for all ages, art, culture, and, of course, history. I have made it my priority to share all that this organization has to offer through out the Capital Region,” said K. Michelle Arthur, Ph.D. “I look forward to connecting with and forging strong relationships and partnerships with Capital Region leaders and organizations.  The Brookside Museum stands as a center of community in the region, and I am committed to exciting, engaging, and welcoming all of the members of our community.”

Dr. Arthur is an educator who employs a multitude of innovative approaches to engage her audiences, from interactive simulations to visual thinking strategies. She most recently was the education coordinator at Shaker Heritage Society and an educator at MiSci in Schenectady. She has been a curator at the Yager Museum of Art and Culture at Hartwick College, as well as at The Morgan Library and Museum, in the Department of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts.  Additionally she lectured for thirteen years at The Cloisters, which is the Medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art besides teaching at The Brooklyn Museum, S.U.N.Y. New Paltz, S.U.N.Y Oneota, and Hartwick College.

True to her profession, Dr. Arthur is affiliated with numerous professional organizations including the Association of Art Museum Curators and the New York Council of Nonprofits. She has compiled an impressive list of published articles on a variety of topics, as well has having presented papers at national and international conferences.

Dr. Arthur is proficient in French, Middle French, German, Italian, and Latin. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from Binghamton University, a master’s degree in art history from Hunter College, and a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Brandeis University.

For more information on SCHS, visit brooksidemuseum.org.

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Saratoga County Historical Society’s mission is to keep history alive through interactive educational programs and innovative exhibits that engage Capital Region communities with the exciting stories of

Saratoga’s past, instill a deeper understanding of how the past and present connect, and inspire all about how this knowledge impacts the future. As a non-profit organization, programs and services are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information, please visit brooksidemuseum.org or call 518.885.4000.

BETHEL, NY (August 01, 2018) – Today The Museum at Bethel Woods, located at the National Register Historic Site of the 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair in Bethel, NY launched an online archive of Woodstock photography and video from its collection; making rare archival images available to the public for the first time on the eve of the festival’s 49^th Anniversary.

Part of Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a 501c3 nonprofit cultural center located 90 miles from New York City, The Museum immerses visitors of all ages in the story of the societal evolution of the 1960s. Through engaging exhibits, artifacts, and programs guests are connected to the roots of today’s freedom of expression and resurgent human spirit that defined the politics, music, art and societal issues of that remarkable and challenging decade which culminated in the Woodstock festival. The 800-acre campus also includes an outdoor amphitheater with a capacity of 15,000, an indoor performance space, festivals and creative learning programs for all ages.

The archive features iconic photos and video from almost 30 contributors including aerial photography of the massive crowd of 500,000 gathered on Max Yasgur’s farm, the iconic field and festival stage, infamous traffic, and festival attendees who gathered for three days and showed the world the power of peace, love, and music. It serves as a lens to explore the historic festival and is available for license and download for commercial, media, tourism, educational, and personal use providing a never-before available resource for the press, students, historians, documentarians, designers and advertisers in advance of the festival’s 50^th Anniversary in 2019. The Museum also invites the public to contribute to its permanent collection and help to preserve this important moment in history by sharing their photos, videos, and artifacts. To learn more or view the collection visit BethelWoodsCenter.org/PhotoArchive.

The public can also support Bethel Woods’ preservation efforts and leave their mark on history by purchasing an Anniversary Paver.  Each 4″x8″ commemorative brick is etched with a personal message, stamped with an exclusive 50^th anniversary insignia, and incorporated into the classic design of the center’s pathway. Individually, the pavers are a unique way to celebrate a loved one; together, they exemplify the arts’ ability to unify the masses. To learn more visit bethelwoodscenter.org/paver.

Recently, I found myself outside a jam-packed bar chanting “Ospina! Ospina!” – the last name of the Colombian national soccer team’s goalkeeper – joining an emphatic chorus of World Cup fans. I was on my way home after work, delayed when I became swept up in the dramatic final moments of the “knockout round” match. The mood on the street was powerful, combining a celebration of athleticism with a celebration of cultural pride. It was impossible to walk past without feeling the magnetism of hopeful, positive energy generated by this vast cross-section of people.

The emotional effects of sports are multi-pronged. They course through every society and country, and can be unifying, particularly in times of crisis and upheaval. As ESPN staff writer Tommy Tomlinson observed, “This is the blessing of sports. They help you remember when you want to remember, and they help you forget when you need to forget. They heal us an inning at a time, quarter after quarter, play by play.”

In the aftermath of 9/11, sports helped to shape a national response to the terrorist attacks extending far beyond America’s stadiums and playing fields. That phenomenon is explored in “Comeback Season: Sports After 9/11,” a new special exhibition at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

Included near the exhibition’s start is a roster for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team match, scheduled to take place on the evening of 9/11 in Columbus, Ohio. Set to face Japan in the Nike U.S. Women’s Cup, the roster had been prepared for distribution to the media. It included names familiar to American fans such as Heather Mitts, Abby Wombach and then-captain Julie Foudy. Fate intervened, however, and the match was canceled that afternoon, along with the rest of the tournament, mirroring the shock that gripped the nation.

Recalling the decision to suspend play that evening, Foudy said, “We felt it wouldn’t be right. Even being the National Team, we felt that the focus should be on getting with family and starting the rebuilding, mentally and emotionally. It was that raw.”

Most major sporting events were canceled through the weekend following 9/11, marking the longest period of major league sports stoppage in American history. Instead of playing, athletes dedicated themselves to visiting with first responders, 9/11 survivors and families of victims. Some ventured to Ground Zero to distribute supplies, serve food and do whatever they could to raise the spirits of those working the around-the-clock relief effort.

When sports resumed, stadiums became communal settings for memorialization and demonstrations of national unity. The resumption of ritual provided comfort and solace for the bereaved, a welcomed distraction for anxious Americans, and the promise of a comeback that we, as a collective society, would make it to the other side of this monumental tragedy.

Today, we can revisit this unprecedented time in sports history and modern American history, through “Comeback Season,” and find inspiration in the stories within it. As Philadelphia Distance Run Director Mark Stewart wrote in a letter to the parents of a World Trade Center victim registered to participate in the city’s half marathon on Sept. 16, 2001, “We hope that the image of athletes of many races, religious beliefs and nationalities standing together at the start of the Race will make a statement which counters the horror of the week.”

On the cusp of the 2018 World Cup Final, poised to electrify and unify sports fans around the world, these words maintain relevancy as we reflect on 9/11 and take stock of the violence that has rocked our separate but interconnected communities and global well-being since then. 

By Alexandra Drakakis, Associate Curator, 9/11 Memorial Museum

The Barrett Art Center in Poughkeepsie has added SEO with AI to www.BarrettArtCenter.org.   It’s breathing new life into their digital archives and bolstering sponsorships.

Visitors like variety and choice, and SEO with AI lets them explore the Barrett’s online collection with a real-time menu of 1-on-1 suggestions tailored to each visitor individually, in addition to the traditional menu at the top of the page.

“The success of our gallery depends on the bond we make with members, visitors, artists and sponsors,” writes Joanna Frang, Executive Director of the Barrett. “SEO with AI has been a great addition to our website, and we have received very positive feedback.”    

“The service is breathing new life into our archives, which is great for artists as well as the Barrett,”  reports Frang.

It is also helping the Barrett retain current sponsors and add new ones, she noted.  For any art, historical or cultural institution, that is big news.  Important news.

“I like being able to feature Fun House 2018, which is a big biennial event that is very popular with artists and visitors,” she added enthusiastically.

MANY member Trajectory SMG works closely with the Barrett Art Center and others to identify and maintain innovative solutions for online collection management.

Posted on behalf of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 8, 2018) — The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will offer a second round of its new Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants, with an application deadline of August 9.

NEH announced the new grant program, designed to create and sustain humanities infrastructure, in January. Under this program, cultural institutions such as museums, libraries, archives, colleges and universities, scholarly associations, and historic sites are eligible to receive up to $500,000 for projects that build institutional capacity or infrastructure for long-term sustainability.

These challenge grants, which require a match of nonfederal funds, may be used toward capital expenditures such as construction and renovation projects, purchase of equipment and software, sharing of humanities collections between institutions, documentation of lost or imperiled cultural heritage, sustaining digital scholarly infrastructure, and preservation and conservation of humanities collections.

NEH’s first Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grant awards will be announced in August. However, in response to marked demand for infrastructure support, the agency will offer the program for a second time in 2018; click the following for application guidelines.

“For decades, NEH has played a vital role in helping build the humanities infrastructure of the United States,” said NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede. “These new grants expand that role by leveraging federal dollars to spur increased private investment in our nation’s libraries, museums, and cultural centers to ensure the long-term health and growth of these institutions. The result will be greater access to historical, cultural, and educational resources for all Americans.”

The grant program includes a special encouragement to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving Institutions, and two-year colleges.  

The application deadline for the second round of NEH Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants is August 9, 2018. Please direct questions about grant proposals to challenge@neh.gov or 202-606-8309. 

Media Contact: Paula Wasley at (202) 606-8424 or pwasley@neh.gov

Derfner Judaica Museum + The Art Collection at Hebrew Home at Riverdale is pleased to announce its latest exhibition, Swords into Ploughshares: Sculpture by Jay Moss on view in the Pauline and William Goldfine Pavilion Lobby Gallery from July 15–October 7, 2018. A reception will take place on Sunday, July 15, from 1:30–3 p.m. in the Goldfine Pavilion Lobby Gallery, located at 5901 Palisade Avenue in the Riverdale section of The Bronx. This event is free and open to the public. R.S.V.P. 718.581.1596 or art@hebrewhome.org. Photo I.D. required for admission.

The exhibition includes 13 sculptures made between 1980 and 2012. Many of them reflect Moss’s experience on the front lines during WWII when he served as a combat engineer. Moss has worked for more than seven decades crafting sculptures that resonate with his experience of the horrors of war and his hope for a lasting peace. In these relief and tabletop works assembled with  wood, metal, sheet lead, plastic and other materials, Moss addresses a range of social issues. Sometimes whimsical or ironic, they comment on such subjects as the corrupting influence of power and the treatment of prisoners from German prison camps to Guantanamo Bay.

In an assemblage that resembles an artillery shell, Anzio (2003), made from materials leftover from when he was a professional lamp designer, Moss has collaged mementos from his war experience: a letter from his mother, a patch spelling out A-N-Z-I-O, a photograph of the German howitzer that ran on a railroad track, currency from the occupation used in Italy and a photo of his brother. The work is titled after the beachhead where, despite being a combat engineer, as a newly arrived soldier he had to replace combat troops in a flooded foxhole in the winter of 1944.

Another work, GI Joe (2012), depicts a tall and lanky figure in relief, made up of fragments and with a skull-like face, at the ready with his helmet and rifle. Moss’s unit arrived in Europe on August 15, 1944, for Operation Dragoon—the Allied invasion of Southern France. Months later, not far from the front, in the forests of the Vosges Mountains, Moss built what were called corduroy roads—“trees that they knock down to make a roadway so it’s very bumpy to the front,” he has explained. That’s when he saw dead soldiers on the back of an open track—a traumatic memory that lingers to this day and which Moss has said is the “essence of the front for me.”

During those final months of the war, thousands of enemy soldiers were captured. That time is reflected in The Prisoner (1991), a carved wood piece with a hand-drawn and painted bandana covering the eyes. The base of the head is carved wood covered with sheet metal, a material the artist frequently employs and which is soft and malleable, ready to be hammered or molded.

About the artist

Born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 1923, to immigrant parents—Isadore Moskowitz, a clothing maker and store owner born in Russia, and Josephine Goldsmith Moskowitz, who was born in Romania—Jay Moss attended the High School of Industrial Art (later the High School of Art and Design), where he studied graphic arts, three-dimensional design, display and studio drawing. The family first lived over the tailor shop and later moved to Flatbush and Greenpoint before settling in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Moss was drafted into the army in 1943 after working as a page at CBS, and trained as a combat engineer in Fort Belvoir, VA. His unit, the 36th Engineer Regiment, traveled through North Africa before arriving in early 1944 at Anzio, a key campaign of the Allied forces on the Italian coast. After Italy, he was stationed in Marseille and on the French front in the Vosges Mountains on the eastern border with Germany.

Moss attended the Art Students League as a benefit of the GI Bill, studying under José de Creeft, Morris Kantor and M. Peter Piening. A mahogany head he carved while a student at the League was exhibited at Jacques Seligmann & Company in 1947. Moss also received a sculpture prize at the Nassau County Art Association in the 1960s. He was head of NBC television’s art department where he worked for 12 years and then was the owner-designer of a company that made decorative mirrors and wall pieces. After selling the company, he worked as a design consultant and lighting product designer. He also taught lighting product design at the Parsons School of Design and television graphic arts at the RCA Institute. All the while, he worked at his passion, sculpting in the basement studio of his family’s Long Island home and at their second home in Stockbridge, MA. Moss has worked both figuratively and abstractly, creating forms using a table saw and chiseling a variety of woods that he then assembles with other materials, including lead, metal and cloth.

Moss has had two previous solo exhibitions, at Manhattan College in 2014 and the Historic Wells Gallery in Lenox, MA, in 2001.

In 2008 he and his wife, Sabina, who have two sons, moved to Riverdale, where Moss continues his artistic practice.

About Hebrew Home at Riverdale

As a member of the American Alliance of Museums, the Hebrew Home at Riverdale by RiverSpring Health is committed to publicly exhibiting its art collection throughout its 32-acre campus, including the Derfner Judaica Museum and a sculpture garden overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades. The Derfner Judaica Museum + The Art Collection provides educational and cultural programming for residents of the Hebrew Home, their families and the general public from throughout New York City, its surrounding suburbs and visitors from elsewhere.  RiverSpring Health is a nonprofit, non-sectarian geriatric organization serving more than 18,000 older adults in greater New York through its resources and community service programs. Museum hours: Sunday–Thursday, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Art Collection and grounds open daily, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Call 718.581.1596 for holiday hours and to schedule group tours, or for further information, visit our website at http://www.riverspringhealth.org/art

This exhibition is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

I love museums, but face a challenge whenever I visit a museum’s website: finding what interests me, personally. 

All museums have websites and most are constantly adding content. It may be archives that have been digitized, or recent exhibitions, or blogs written by the museum staff or visitors. In fact there is now so much content on a site, that I need a docent! You know, someone who knows every piece of art at the museum and how it relates to every other piece of art. 

A Digital Docent has been developed by Trajectory SMG and Datanomers to recommend content on a museum’s website based on a current visitor’s interests. 1-on-1 in real time. It does this regardless of the site’s size or platform.

The Digital Docent looks at and reads every page on the site in its entirety.  Hundreds to thousands.  It knows what page I am currently looking at, and instantly recommends other like-minded pages that will interest me, personally.

This digital employee interacts 1-on-1 with each visitor, and breathes new life into online collections. As a result, website visitors are more engaged and stay longer.

The Barrett Art Center in Poughkeepsie, NY, is using the Digital Docent.  Visitors, artists and sponsors are giving it great reviews. Take a look at www.BarrettArtCenter.org and see how it works. Or read what they say about it at www.dsitogo.com.

AI, Digital Docents and Online Museums. A winning combination.

 

BETHEL, NY (June 8, 2018) – In a multi-day activity that invites public participation, a team of archaeologists from the Public Archaeology Facility at Binghamton University will commence an archaeological exploration, excavation and discovery on the historic Woodstock festival site at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, NY during the week of June 11. The team will set up operations on the 1969 concert field and begin a series of micro-excavations to establish with the greatest precision possible the location of the stage, sound and light towers and other features on the field.

After a set-up period, archaeologists will be on the field 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, June 13 to 14, and Monday through Thursday, June 18 to 21. Bethel Woods and the archaeology team invite the public to assist with screening the soil and making an inventory of the artifacts. The field is located at Hurd and West Shore Roads in Bethel, just north of The Museum at Bethel Woods.

Using preliminary locations from computer-assisted design maps, the archaeologists will seek out soil disturbances, discoloration and other evidence to pinpoint the outline of the main stage, stage fencing, performers footbridge and towers.

The team will flag the locations and, working with cultural landscape historians, Bethel Woods will then be able to apply for funding for a more permanent and appropriate marking of where the features were sited. Once marked, the features will more readily be incorporated into tours of the historic grounds which are now given by volunteer docents associated with The Museum.

“As stewards of this highly significant historic site, it is our responsibility to have the most accurate information possible,” said Wade Lawrence, director of The Museum and the overall project manager for preservation activities at the historic site. “It is exciting to have these archaeologists from Binghamton University on site to help us determine with certainty, where the stage was, and where the towers were so that we can make that part of the stories we tell visitors.” Some of the work at the site is underway in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock festival which will be commemorated in 2019.  The Woodstock festival site, including the 37-acre concert field, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. A cultural landscape report completed in 2015 recommended more than 20 preservation and interpretation activities at the site. The marking of the stage and other features was one of them.

This project has been funded by donors to Bethel Woods for the preservation of the historic Woodstock site and by an EPF grant administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, as well as funding from the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation, the Hart Family Fund for Small Towns at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Sullivan County Plans & Progress Small Grants Program.

To learn more visit bethelwoodscenter.org.

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About Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

 

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts inspires, educates, and empowers individuals through the arts and humanities by presenting a diverse selection of culturally-rich performances, popular artists, and community and educational programming.  Located 90 miles from New York City at the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival in Bethel, NY, the lush 800-acre campus includes a Pavilion Stage amphitheater with seating for 15,000, an intimate 440-seat indoor Event Gallery, the award-winning Museum at Bethel Woods, and a Conservatory for arts education programming.

 

Through the in-depth study and exhibition of the social, political, and cultural events of the 1960s, as well as the preservation of the historic site of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Bethel Woods educates individuals about the issues and lessons of the decade while inspiring a new generation to contribute positively to the world around them. The not-for-profit organization relies on the generous support of individuals, corporations, and foundations to develop and sustain programs that improve the quality of life in the region and beyond.

 

For more information please visit www.BethelWoodsCenter.org.