Please join the Loeb Student Advisory Committee for the virtual two-part event, Celebrating the Sister Arts. Past winners of the Sister Arts Poetry Prize will read their works on April 8th (register here) and all participants are invited to return the following week, April 15th, for an intimate writing workshop led by the Dutchess Poet Laureate, Raphael Kosek (VC `75), (register here). Students will be able to workshop their own poetry in time to submit their own pieces for the English Department’s Sister Arts Poetry Prize. In doing so, participants will connect and develop an enriching relationship not only with the art in the galleries but also with Vassar’s wonderful network of alumni/ae.
Celebrating the Sister Arts (part 1)
Please join the Loeb Student Advisory Committee for the virtual two-part event, Celebrating the Sister Arts. Past winners of the Sister Arts Poetry Prize will read their works on April 8th (register here) and all participants are invited to return the following week, April 15th, for an intimate writing workshop led by the Dutchess Poet Laureate, Raphael Kosek (VC `75), (register here). Students will be able to workshop their own poetry in time to submit their own pieces for the English Department’s Sister Arts Poetry Prize. In doing so, participants will connect and develop an enriching relationship not only with the art in the galleries but also with Vassar’s wonderful network of alumni/ae.
Journeys Toward Justice – Beyond the Dream
Journeys Toward Justice is a multi-college collaboration spotlighting changemakers across the country who are driving justice and equity forward. The goal is to connect students, partners, and communities with one another and help us all understand the local and historical contexts of universal social justice issues and the work communities are doing.
Beyond the Dream
In this session, we will explore how activists of the past and conscientious rappers of today used their words to encourage action. Dr. King talked about his dream, Langston Hughes wrote about a dream deferred. What does that mean today? How do the lyrics of Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar unite, encourage or motivate? Participants will consider how poetry and music can bring us together in conversations and help develop an action plan to address challenges in community.
Speakers:Sheryl Davis, Executive Director of the SF Human Rights Commission
Hosted by the University of San Francisco’s McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good
Journeys Toward Justice – Public Art as a Form of Activism and Untold Narratives of BIPOC Voices
Journeys Toward Justice is a multi-college collaboration spotlighting changemakers across the country who are driving justice and equity forward. The goal is to connect students, partners, and communities with one another and help us all understand the local and historical contexts of universal social justice issues and the work communities are doing.
Public Art as a Form of Activism and Untold Narratives of BIPOC Voices
Brandan “BMike” Odums is a New Orleans-based visual artist who, through exhibitions, public programs, and public art works, is engaged in a transnational dialogue about the intersection of art and resistance. From film to murals to installations, Odums’ work encapsulates the political fervor of a generation of Black American activists who came of age amidst the tenure of the nation’s first Black president, the resurgence of popular interest in law enforcement violence, and the emergence of the self-care movement. Most often working with spray paint, Odums paints brightly-colored, wall-sized murals that depict historical figures, contemporary creatives, and everyday people. In his otherwise figurative work, Odums departs from realism to play with color – blending lavender to paint the skin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King and robin’s egg blue for Harriet Tubman, for instance – suggesting an ethos of boldness that unites the subjects of his work and surpasses race, time, or any other aspect of physical reality. Join us for conversation with BMike and Fredrick “Wood” Delahoussaye, the Artistic Director at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center of New Orleans, as we explore the use of Public Art in all spaces.
Speakers: Brandan “BMike” Odums, Lead Artist & Curator and Studio BE, and Frederick “Wood” Delahoussaye, Artistic Director at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center
“Painting with Sunlight:” Imagery of Poughkeepsie & Its People by S.L. Walker, Daguerrist
The Dutchess County Historical Society presents an event on photography, Poughkeepsie, and its people. Soon after the invention of the daguerreotype, Samuel Lyon Walker was one of America’s first practitioners of this new art. His love and devotion to his craft ran deep and he was continually experimenting, even to the detriment of his health. Known for his great artistic taste, his images were considered some of the finest ever made. Though mostly unknown today, he was devoted to recording and promoting nineteenth century Poughkeepsie and its people.
Kirk Moldoff is a medical illustrator and animator with a passion for industrial archaeology, local history and cast iron stoves. His research into the work and life of Poughkeepsie’s S.L. Walker stems from an interest in the 19th Century Hudson Valley as a nexus for art, innovation and invention.
Performance and Artist Talk: The Plantings
Local Poughkeepsie artist, Suprina Sculpture, invites you to attend her first performance piece, titled The Plantings. This piece is part of a larger collaborative exhibition, “We Are The Forest,” located at Queen City 15 Gallery.
PoughETRY Fest
PoughETRY Fest will be held in the month of April (which is also known as Poetry Month) on Saturday the 24th, 2021, 12 pm to 8 pm EST. Curated by the 2017 & 2018 Dutchess County Poet Laureate – Poet Gold, in collaboration with the Cunneen Hackett Arts Center, PoughETRY Fest is a one-day festival, free and open to the public highlighting the art of poetry – both written and spoken, as well poets of the Hudson Valley and beyond. Spelled, PoughETRY, to signify where the Poet Gold resides, Poughkeepsie, NY in the Mid-Hudson Valley – PoughETRY Fest 2021, being mindful of social distancing requirements, will be a hybrid event with online programming and an in-person finale streamed Live on social media platforms.
Deadline to Enter: Talent United!
United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region (UWDOR) is hosting our first Talent United contest. The winner will be announced at our virtual Celebration of Service Awards on June 8, 2021. The winner is determined by the most votes. To enter the contest, contestants must fill out the form below online and include a link to your talent video. Let’s bring a spotlight to you and your community.
The History of Gospel Music in the Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley Gospel Festival committee is pleased to announce the third of our monthly presentations about the history of gospel music in the Hudson Valley, to take place via zoom. On April 5th at 7:00 pm we will feature a conversation with Ray Watkins and Lyric Small about gospel music in the Hudson Valley and his family’s involvement.
Sign up here, even if you can’t attend to get the link for later viewing.
THRIVE: Making a Career in the Arts
Bringing college students and businesses together. Are you a college student studying art? Would you like to know what your prospects are once you graduate? Would you like to be better prepared for the workforce?
Now more than ever college students need to be equipped with the best information on how to be the most qualified candidate for an arts position. Those with experience in the fields you’re studying can help guide your choices and inform your decisions.
Businesses such as Orange County Arts Council, Opus 40, Shadowland Stages, Phoenicia Festival of the Voice Foundation, Albany Center Gallery, Woodstock Film Festival, New York Stage and Film, Woodstock Art Association & Museum, OPositive Festival, DIA, R & F Paint, Art Therapist Allison Miskulin, and more are on the panel!