Category archives: Art for Progress
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10 years ago
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The theme of this post is how my approach as an instructor can make or break a learning moment with a student, and how every day is an opportunity to start over if I take it.
Having begun a new semester, many of the students I am now teaching are having their first experiences with me, and I with them. As a music teacher, I often establish a much more informal environment in my classroom and allow students more autonomy than they are accustomed to in traditional academic classes. I also develop a friendly, and mutually respectful rapport with students over the course of a semester. Sometimes the beginning of a new semester feels like I just switched horses in mid-stream. I often need to remind myself that the new students in front of me are not the same ones I’ve been watching learn and develop. I need to start from the beginning and be patient while a new class takes their first steps toward understanding how music works. Especially challenging is that I need to make known all over again what my expectations of students are and that, although music is ultimately a “fun” class, that there is a lot of earnest hard work involved in successfully learning to do it.
It’s easy to get caught in the trap that arises when someone in the class is reluctant to participate or acts out. Sometimes it takes every bit of cool I’ve ever learned to keep not to take sticky situations personally. When a teacher calls upon a student, it’s often the case that that student was either not payi[...]
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10 years ago
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Premiers aren't just for Hollywood theaters anymore. Now movies and entire TV series can materialize on Netflix or on some other streaming service sans the red carpet party and garner just as much success. This is due partially to the raise of the internet. While box office sales are still important, the web has an increasingly important role in a film's pre and post release existence. You can follow films from funding to box set all via Twitter feeds and emails.
For new movies, the internet has somewhat infinite potential when it comes building hype. Think of how many times Netflix tried to get you to watch Blackfin or YouTube showed you yet another trailer for The Great Gatsby. In this day and age, you don't have to go to a theatre to see a trailer anymore. You can watching a clip on infinite loop until the film premiers and then long after.
Here are some recent music documentaries/bio-dramas that have utilized it in different ways. Some used the web purely as a promotional tool, one used it to crowdsource the filming and another used it as its release platform. The main tread that ties them all together is that they have been popping up in forum discussions, some for years now, and the have the internet talking.
Straight Outta Compton
“Our art is a reflection of our reality”
Due out August 13th, this film follows the rise of rap group NWA. Raised in Compton, California, the group's members Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella translated their experie[...]
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10 years ago
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What Leslie Feinberg and Brooke Siem of NYC's Prohibition Bakery find most fun about baking amazingly delicious alcohol-laden cupcakes is doing something that makes people happy. “There’s very few people who are incorporating boozy cupcakes into a sad occasion, Feinberg says with a laugh. “It’s always a good time. It’s always a positive experience.”
Their magical cupcakes even helped to bring Leslie Feinberg and her boyfriend together. "He was actually one of our first customers," she shares.
Before they started dating, in the early days of Prohibition Bakery, Feinberg delivered to her now-boyfriend's job. "He knew that if we delivered cupcakes I would have to hang out with him, she chortles. "So I delivered to his job and I told everybody that it was his birthday, which it was not. They all sang to him and it was wonderful."
In retrospect, Feinberg remembers it as a pretty adorable moment. "One of his co-workers said, “Dude, she definitely likes you, she says. "I would say within weeks we were dating."
Now isn't that sugar and spice, and everything nice!
Click on link below to find out more about this boozy baker’s most prized fashion items after the jump.
Jacqueline Colette Prosper, @yummicoco
Hoodie
Oddly enough, this hoodie is kind of one of my favorite things. I got this at an event when I was still bar tending, in the very early days of the bakery. I was working at a terrible gastropub in Murray Hill, and I went to a Jameson event, where the[...]
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10 years ago
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Art for Progress is proud to announce their upcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing. One of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies, Much Ado also takes a complex look at love, relationships and searching for "self," This production will use the classic language of Shakespeare in a modern setting - demonstrating the relevance of the writer's work in present day. This incredible show will also feature some of NYC's finest actors, comedians and public servants all on stage for a good cause. After production costs - all profits will go to Art for Progress's Education Program - helping young people tap into their artistic abilities. We hope you can contribute towards this important work and look forward to seeing you at the show.
We need your support to present 'Much Ado About Nothing'!
Your donation will go to:
•Theater rental
•Our musicians
•Rehearsal space and rehearsal pianist
•Publicity
To thank you for your support we have the following perks:
•VIP tickets to the show
•Signed programs and posters from our cast and crew
•An invitation to our wrap party
•A private concert in your home
•And much more!
Any funds we receive will go towards paying our production costs. Any additional funds past our goal plus all tickets sales will go directly to Art for Progress in support of their educational programming.
Please help us spread the word about our fundraising campaign, Arts for Progress: Much Ado About Nothing, and our upcoming performances!
•Share our[...]
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10 years ago
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For 40 years, the Brazilian-born photographer Sebastião Salgado has been documenting people and events around the world, driven by curiosity, adventure, and deep empathy for the human condition. Trained as an economist, he left the security of that profession to travel to such farflung places as the Arctic Circle, remote Andes villages, Kuwait, and several African nations, where he lived among locals and immersed himself in the culture. The resulting collections of stunning black and white images include his books Other Americas, Workers, Terra, Exodus and Africa.
At one point, soul-sick from the tragedy he had witnessed in Rwanda, Salgado lost his desire to work, but regained it when he and his wife/work partner Lélia decided to replant the forest around the family ranch. That project ultimately became Instituto Terra, a thriving ecological reserve. Salgado’s current work involves the discovery and documentation of untouched landscapes, a tribute to the beauty of the planet.
When Sebastião’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, a documentary filmmaker, decided to make a movie about his father, he enlisted the help of renowned German auteur Wim Wenders, a friend and admirer. The result of their collaboration, The Salt of the Earth, is a beautiful, profound work about a remarkable artist, his family, and the bonds he forges with his subjects. Following are excerpts from a recent roundtable discussion with Wenders and Juliano Salgado:
Did you think about the differences be[...]
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10 years ago
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Gina Brillon is incredibly funny. Since jumping on the comedy scene at age 17, the Bronx native made appearances on Comedy Central’s “Live At The Gotham,” ABC’s “The View,” E!’s “Chelsea Lately” and comedian Gabriel Iglesias’ theatrical release, “The Fluffy Movie.” She’s also the first (and only) Latina winner of NBC’s “Stand Up for Diversity Showcase.” Discover more about her at GinaBrillon.com
And, if you are in the Denver-area, Brillon will be performing at Denver Improv from March 19 to March 22, 2015. She’ll be doing a college tour in April, and then performing in San Antonio, Texas from May 27 to May 31, 2015!
Click on link below to find out more about this comedic artist’s most prized fashion items after the jump.
Jacqueline Colette Prosper, @yummicoco
Red Shoes
I have a pair of red BCBG shoes that I wore for my first hour-long comedy special [“Pacifically Speaking”] that are literally the perfect shade of red. They go with so many different dresses, I fell in love with them the minute I saw them.
I knew they were going to be a hit, and everybody loves them when I wear them. They are super sexy, in a ‘not-over-doing-it kind of red.’ I’d say the color is more like an orange red. I love them. I would wear them with every outfit if I could. It’s not a chunky heel, it’s more slender—sort of like a stiletto, but a little asymmetrical in the design. The outside of the foot is covered and the inside has a dip where it shows a little more of the arch [...]
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10 years ago
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Join us for another excellent night of live music featuring NYC based artists that stretch across all genres of music and style.
This month we're very pleased to have The Tall Pines performing for our HomeGrown series. They've played with the likes of Charlie Louvin, Norah Jones and Justin Townes Earl among other greats, and their first self-titled album was named one of top ten best albums of the year by NPR's Meredith Ochs.
We're equally pleased to have Daughter Vision performing the late set. When they take the stage you can expect a multimedia, theatrical, sexy, philosophical experience. Blythe Sword is a new project featuring the vocals of Blythe Gruda and the music of Anton Sword. The band recently returned from a European tour where they delighted fans with their electronic textured dark ballads. Skunkmello returns to follow up on their great performance at HomeGrown last year. The band will be fresh off their date at SXSW and energized for a top notch set at Bowery Electric.
--March 18th: The Tall Pines, Blythe Sword, Daughter Vision, Skunkmello
8:00pm - Skunkmello, 9:00pm - The Tall Pines, 10:00pm - Blythe Sword, 11:00pm - Daughter Vision
Doors: 7pm, Music: 8pm, Cover: $10
The Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery Street, NY, NY
Hosted by Art for Progress
--April 22nd
We Deliver presents “Mother Earth Jam”
In celebration of Earth Day…
Featuring: Wyland, Polyvox, Blythe Gruda, Idgy Dean
Doors: 7pm, Music: 8pm, Cover: $10[...]
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10 years ago
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Frank Whaley is probably best known for his acting roles in Pulp Fiction, Swimming with Sharks and The Doors, but he’s also written and directed a few movies over the years, most notably 1999’s gritty Joe the King, about the hellish life of an abused boy from a badly broken home.
His latest directorial effort, Like Sunday Like Rain, is about an entirely different sort of boy. Twelve-year-old Reggie (played with remarkable poise by newcomer Julian Shatkin) is a New York City rich kid and all-around prodigy who not only plays cello beautifully, but composes serious music. The film centers on the growing rapport between him and his 20-something nanny Eleanor, an equally lost soul played with nice understatement by Leighton Meester. Like Sunday Like Rain is a somewhat conventional film about an unconventional relationship. Though bumpy in places, this buddy movie/love story is elevated by Jimi Jones' languid cinematography and the two leads' performances and repartee.
At the movie’s start, Eleanor breaks up with her boyfriend Dennis, an undependable musician who causes her to lose her barista job. Played by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong in his feature film debut, Dennis is a bratty loser type and Armstrong doesn’t add much to the part. Meanwhile Reggie’s distant, preoccupied mother (Debra Messing in a one-note role) is planning to visit her husband -- Reggie's stepfather -- overseas and needs a new nanny pronto. With no real experience or references, Eleanor is sent [...]
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10 years ago
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It was a cold Saturday afternoon, but I was motivated to trek over to Chelsea to check out the Kitchen Girls & Toy Boys show at Rush Arts Gallery. Artists Sindy Butz and Sol Kjok are participating artists in the show and have both worked with AFP on various projects.
It didn't take long for me to identify Sol's very large piece, "Strings Attached" as I walked into the gallery. Her figurative work bursts off the canvas with great detail and her use of color brings out the emotion in her characters. In this piece the characters are strung together and appear to be grasping and climbing over each other while still maintaining a certain co-dependence.
I was impressed with the overall quality and diversity of the work in the show. The work of Reinhold Gottwald caught my attention. His colorful, small, abstract pieces on wood are hung/arranged as if they are a group of planets sharing the same solar system. I found Markus Fiedler's beeswax sneakers quite intriguing and an interesting piece(s) to be included in the show. I was impressed with the incredible detail he was able to achieve using beeswax.
I noticed Sindy crouched down on the floor, but I didn't realize that her performance had already begun. What is she up to this time? Sindy's not afraid to take on the not so obvious social issues of the day. Her thought provoking work continues to evolve and this performance would not disappoint. The message on the floor read, "The West Tastes like Gold." As Sind[...]
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10 years ago
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Brooklyn by way of D.C. band Jukebox the Ghost playing Irving Plaza Saturday night to a packed house. For what was effectively a hometown show, the fans showed up in force. Openers Secret Someones and Little Daylight warmed up the crowded venue and around 10 the band finally took the stage.
They began with “Postcard” off of their newest album, Jukebox the Ghost, which came out earlier this year. It’s an upbeat follow-up to the more somber, but still poppy Safe Travel that the band released in 2012. The record was the first on their new label Cherrytree Records. Jukebox signed to the branch of Interscope Records in late January. The month turned out to be a busy one for the band. In addition to releasing a new records, the band also played Conan, did a cover swap with Twin Forks, recorded a Bangels cover with Secret Someones and did a Bands and Brews sessions with Baeble Music. The band's guitarist Tommy Siegel also spoke to the Nerdist for their Car Tunes and Cartoons series and released a book of his "van doodles" after a successful Kickstarter campaign.
For their Irving Plaza appearance, the band played a mix of songs from each of their albums. This included tunes from their debut Let Live and Let Ghosts, like "Static to the Heart" and "Victoria", and songs from their second album Everything Under the Sun, like “Schizophrenia” and “The Stars”. For long-time fans, a highlight of these older songs was the combination of “My Heart’s the Same” and “Lighting Myself on [...]
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10 years ago
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This week, Brandon Ballengée, artist/ biologist/environmental activist, is preparing to transform the Feldman Gallery booth at The Armory Show into a space to mourn the massive extinction of species. It's an incredibly weighty topic, often referred to as the Holocene or Sixth Great Extinction, which continues at an alarming rate. In promotion of this important showcase, called "Frameworks of Absence," I requested to interview Ballengée, asking him to share with Art for Progress his favorite personal fashion items. After hesitating, Brandon said "oh well, that would be fun!"
Pioneering in ecological art, Ballengée has been described by the critic and curator Kim Levin “as taking these issues to a new level of intensity.” His work has been included in Documenta 13 (Germany), Prospect 2, (New Orleans), 3rd Moscow Biennale (Russia), Biennale for Electronic Arts, (Australia), and the Venice Biennale (Italy). And, Ballengée was awarded a Conservation Leadership Fellowship from the National Audubon Society’s Together Green Program in 2011-2012. "Frameworks of Absence" features physically cut images of missing animals from historic prints and publications printed at the time in history when the depicted species became extinct. A portion of proceeds from Ballengée's "Frameworks of Absence" will support the Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) efforts to defend and protect endangered wildlife and wild places. To find out more about this thrilling exhibition, go t[...]
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10 years ago
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The first feature from writer/director Lance Edmands (who previously served as editor on Tiny Furniture, among other movies), Bluebird is quiet, brooding, and visually stunning. The film’s slowly unfolding narrative tracks the reverberations of an accident on a small Maine logging town and its working-class inhabitants. Meditative and highly atmospheric, it’s as much a portrayal of a harsh, bleak environment as it is of the individuals who live there.
Amy Morton plays Lesley, a longtime school bus driver who becomes distracted at the end of her shift one day and fails to notice a sleeping boy in one of the rear seats. Her husband Richard (John Slattery), a logger, is largely preoccupied by news of an impending mill shutdown and probable layoffs while the couple’s sensitive teen Paula (Emily Meade) is engrossed in negotiating the beginnings of a new romance.
In the accident’s aftermath, the affected parties react in various ways: the boy’s young, irresponsible mother (Louisa Krause) hires a lawyer against the wishes of her own mother (Margo Martindale); the devastated Paula lashes out at her father and seeks comfort in her budding relationship. Though seemingly impervious and a bit distant, Richard shows clear signs of stress and the outwardly stoical Lesley herself eventually and quietly breaks down. These are not demonstrative people; though there are outbursts of emotion, much is kept under wraps.
The gradual unraveling of these characters is shown amid the[...]
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