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New York City 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, Art for Progress (AFP) will bring its support and celebration of equality during NYC's Gay Pride Weekend, with "Artists 4 Equality" June 28th through 30th, 4-11pm. The organization's second annual music and arts festival will take place at Solar One Park, located in Manhattan on the East River at 23rd Street. Featuring live bands, DJ's, performance and installation art, along with great food, beer and wine, it will be a top destination during NYC's Pride Weekend.
Solar One Park is the perfect outdoor summer venue for the festival which will kick off on Friday evening June 28th. The opening night will feature live music performances from some of the most exciting emerging artists in NYC including the super talented Ellis Ashbrook, while Saturday's focus will shift to DJ and electronic music culture with DJ/Producer Hector Romero headlining the evening. On Sunday, NYC Cielo resident DJ/Producer Tedd Patterson will headline the night as both live music and DJ's share the stage. Cutting edge performance and installation art will be featured all three days as we turn the park into a virtual adult playground of art & music.
Confirmed Artists: Hector Romero, Tedd Patterson, Ellis Ashbrook, Michael Alan, Kim Holleman, Idgy Dean, Andy Slate, Roxy Cottontail, Kevin Graves, Daniel Maldonado, Gatto, Lachi, Cat Del Buono, Tunacola, Berette Macaulay, Bass Control, Comandante Zero, Sindy Butz, Bonesugar, Caridad Sola, Atilla the Hun,[...]
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11 years ago
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On Sunday, we have another spectacular line-up of music & art, and the festivities get started just around the time the parade ends. Sunday's DJs & performers will take us on a bit of a different trip with a little more electro, a hip hop beat, or two and of course that big pop remix, but we're not trying to categorize Mr. Tedd Patterson. That would be impossible.
When Tedd steps to the decks a true musical journey will begin. Those who are familiar with his sets understand what to expect- a perfectly selected fusion of many dance music genres, and even a little bit of the unexpected. Tedd's long running residency at NYC's Cielo is a mainstay in the dance music community and a place where dance music aficionados gather every month to experience Tedd's creative, dynamic sets. On the other hand, if you like the more popular vibe in today's dance music sound, we have plenty of that as well.
We're pleased to have Ms. Chaisley Lussier playing with us for the first time, Chaisley will be joining us from Philadelphia where she's been creating a name for herself with her many talents. Though she hales from the city of brotherly love , NYC has a lot of love for Chaisley too. You can find her playing at some of the cooler spots around town quite regularly.
Next to take the stage will be AFP favorite Kevin Graves. When Kevin's not remixing the latest pop chart buster, he's traveling internationally spinning at top spots, creating major buzz and doing what he does bes[...]
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11 years ago
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After an inspiring night of live music, DJs will takeover the spotlight Saturday and they will set the tone for a night of dancing under the stars in the greatest city in the world. While many of the performers are veterans of the underground NYC scene, we do have a long time NYC favorite who's at the top of his game right now, and that DJ is Hector Romero.
Hector, once known as "Baby Hec" in his early years in the biz, is a taste-maker, a so-called DJs DJ, who always delivers for the masses. Currently, you can find him tantalizing crowds from Italy to Tokyo with his eclectic sets that cross dance music genres. We're fortunate to have him for this special night in support of equality and art education in NYC. But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we'd like to introduce our other talent on hand for the evening.
Brooklyn's Sal Leone is stepping back into the scene after a short hiatus and we're sure Sal will bring his best Saturday. Sal formerly part of the Deepa crew, who have thrown raucous deep house parties around these United States for many years, knows how to rock a party and he's not just spinning deep house anymore!
Next up is Atilla Da Hun who's the ever-present Saturday resident at his East Village mainstay Key Bar. Atilla has a keen sense of knowing what his guests want to hear and on any given Saturday you can catch him playing extended sets of great house music to a dedicated crowd that knows who they came to see.
AFP's own, DJ Gatto brings [...]
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11 years ago
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We are gearing up for an incredible festival next weekend, and look forward to experiencing art and music in all their glory. With some of NYC's most innovative artists on board for installations, look no further than the East River.
For AFP's "Artists4Equality," Michael Alan will be drawing his life long love who will be donned in a hand made painted dress and custom designed accessories created by Alan. In a 5 hour act of love, devotion and romance, witness Alan, the line maestro, will create many drawings live while celebrating their love in a piece titled, "Love is the Only."
"Even the reclining male figure of Prostitution looks restless- the angular, attenuated limbs and their busy surfaces bring to mind one of Egon Schiele's more anxious self portraits." - Robert Shuster, The Villiage Voice, Best in Show
Kim Holleman is best known for her seminal work, “Trailer Park: A Mobile Public Park,” which has been featured in the NY Times and shown at several different sites in the city.
In Holleman's words, her installation at Solar One Park is an enormous Festival Flag which will fly in Stuyvesant Park. The fabric flag is huge, brightly colored and has metallic elements, so it acts as a terrific visual marker and color-pops against the sky. I designed to have some dimensionality too, so when it catches the wind, it fills out creating some interesting 3D shapes as it flows.
I had the idea that the patchwork in the flag was the perfect symbol for the gatherin[...]
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11 years ago
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We’re thrilled to be featuring three days of interactive, thought-provoking performance art at Solar One Park for our upcoming “Artists4Equality” Festival. Artists Caridad Sola, Sindy Butz, and Cocoon NYC will perform original pieces on all three days. We are so pleased to have these talented artists on board, and their performances are not to be missed!
Caridad Sola is known for pushing boundaries and creating emotional, thought-provoking art. If you have been fortunate enough to see one of her performances, you know that it is always fresh and exciting. Broaching topics from romantic relationships to politics, Caridad is sure to bring us performance art filled with energy and emotion.
We were fortunate to work with artist Sindy Butz during our “Mixed Greens” series last year. Through an artistic form of experimental dance called “Butoh,” Sindy creates edgy, ethereal performances. As an artist, Sindy Butz is not afraid to touch on human experiences that are common to us all, and cross racial and sexual boundaries. This time she will have us thinking of marriage and getting married.
Cocoon NYC, curated and led by artist Sherry Aliberti, is a project that revolves around multiple persons and experimental dance in a very special “cocoon.” Interactive and symbolic of life, their performances breathe energy and newness to the air.
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11 years ago
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Art for Progress is pleased to present its 2nd annual music and arts festival, Artists4Equality which will take place on Friday, June 28th through Sunday 30th at Solar One Park on NYC’s East River (East 23rd Street). Artists4Equality will feature three incredible days of music, performance and installation art from exciting emerging artists and more established headline acts.
Solar One Park is the perfect outdoor summer venue for the festival which will kick off on Friday evening June 28th. The opening night will feature live music performances from some of the most exciting emerging talent in NYC including the super talented Ellis Ashbrook, while Saturday’s focus will shift to DJ and electronic music culture with DJ Hector Romero headlining the evening. On Sunday, NYC Cielo resident DJ Tedd Patterson will headline the night as both live music and DJ’s share the stage.
Cutting edge performance and installation art will be featured all three days as we turn the park into a virtual adult playground of art & music.
Confirmed Artists: Hector Romero, Tedd Patterson, Ellis Ashbrook, Kim Holleman, Idgy Dean, Andy Slate, Gatto, Roxy Cottontail, Kevin Graves, Daniel Maldonado, Cat Del Buono, Berette Macaulay, Dennis Sebayan, Comandante Zero, Sindy Butz, Bonesugar, Atilla the Hun, Sal Leone, Sherri Aliberti, Barry Komito, Chaisley Lussier, Caridad Sola and many more TBA..
Artists4Equality will take place on gay pride weekend in NYC and will feature many artists from the LGBT[...]
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12 years ago
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On Tuesday March 12, the AFP music program at Humanities Preparatory Academy was fortunate to host Jeremy Danneman of ParadeOfOne for a special multimedia presentation to students. Mr. Danneman is a truly unique artist with a poignant social message that made a palpable impact on the students and their perspective on art, music and world events. The presentation involved showing students slides, playing both live and recorded music, and discussing his experiences having visited Rwanda and Cambodia, two countries that have been recently ravaged by genocide. He shared stories about and recordings of musicians he was fortunate to encounter in these locales, and collaborations he performed with them, despite having possessed no other means of communication with them save for an interpreter. His enthusiastic explanations of his motives for doing this type of work and colorful retelling of his experiences illustrated beautifully the potency of music and arts to bridge social divides, and to introduce a new, living meaning to cultural exchange and painful, but important world events. The presentations culminated with live performances by Mr. Danneman on saxophone and clarinet, and in one case included myself playing guitar in an impromptu musical improvisation that tied together the power of all the skills that students have been learning in class for the past semester. AFP would like to thank Mr. Danneman for visiting our classes, and look forward to hosting him again soon along wi[...]
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12 years ago
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This week's update on the Art for Progress art education programs features a brief introduction to some of the students in the AFP music programs, as well as some photographs by Paula Parker from the AFP visual arts programs, including student artwork. Sherif, a senior at Humanities Prep, moved to New York City from Cairo, Egypt last summer, and was always an eager student in my music class throughout the past semester.
Sherif spent most of the first several weeks of the semester playing a D chord rather roughly on the electric guitar. Although I continuously suggested that he learn another chord, he continued to focus on the D chord, lifting one finger at a time to hear the variations. Since he seemed to derive such joy from that one chord, I encouraged him to listen to the tone of the strings and demonstrated to him that there were different sounds that could be evoked coaxing them out of the instrument rather than hacking at the strings. Sherif has since developed his D jam into a more coherent developing piece, and after I lent him one of AFP's classical guitars, he recently exchanged it for an electric guitar and is avidly practicing at home. Sherif fulfilled his arts requirements last semester, but continues to come by the music room at every opportunity and is a regular participant in the Tuesday afternoon student/faculty jam, playing drums, guitar, and occasionally gracing the microphone with his own inimitable brand of freestyle rapping/storytelling. Ever the eager[...]
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12 years ago
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Thanks to all who attended our opening at Gallery Bar this past Friday. It was an exceptional night, and we were pleased to have many of the participating artists in attendance. The show will run through January 3rd. If you have the opportunity to check it out, please do. We also have some photos below for your viewing pleasure.
It's been a very busy year for AFP. In March, we leased the Armory on Lexington Avenue in partnership with Fountain Art Fair to produce one of the largest art exhibitions in NYC during Armory Week. This past summer we hosted AFP's first annual 3 day music & art festival- Brooklyn Beat Festival and then launched a 3 month series of music & performance art at the same venue.
In November, we were thrilled to host Michael Alan's "Living Installation" and work with his crew of incredible artists. The show was a great success, and we look forward to working with Michael in the future.
To round out the year as we began, "What's Your Religion" opened on Friday night at Gallery Bar. As mentioned above, the exhibition will run through January 3rd.
AFP's Art Education Program continues to grow and flourish. We are currently working with 5 schools and hundreds of students providing music, visual art and theater classes. We just received this new promotional video that was created by Jewel Fiore, a college level film student.
As of January 1st 2013, AFP will no longer charge a fee for artist memberships. Applications will still need to be approved, [...]
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12 years ago
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Art for Progress presents “What’s Your Religion”
Group Art Show. Opening: Friday, December 14th, 7PM – 10PM
The exhibition runs through January 3rd
“What’s Your Religion” delves into the broad perspective of what motivate/inspires people to approach life in a certain way. The artist’s perspective can be personal or just a general perspective on the topic. Is it religion or faith that leads the way? Is it money, power, fame or being of service to others? What’s Your Religion?
Featuring artwork from Ted Barr, Jef Campion, Hunter Clarke, Bill Claps, Pablo Damas, Lance Dehne, Carmen Ghecca, Berette Macaulay, Juan Manuel Pajares, Jeanne Wilkinson and Kristina Zallinger
Gallery Bar
120 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 529-2266
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12 years ago
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We had the opportunity to work with Michael Alan and attend the show on November 9th. It was a great experience to work with Michael and his crew. They really put their hearts and souls into this production, and there is a great sense of community among them. We also used this opportunity to help some of the people in Staten Island who are having a really difficult time. Guests brought food and made donations throughout the evening, and Michael personally delivered the goods to his hometown people in need.
The show itself tells a lot about the man. Given his physical state and the demands of the show, it's clear Michael is a giver and a fighter. The show on November 9th was 8 hours long with a short break after a 4 hour stint. As people came to the door and were greeted by the lovely Caridad Sola, they were asked to pay $20 if they were not on the guest list. There were very few names on the guest list for this show. Many who might have expected to be on the guest list responded, "I'll pay the $20 to support Michael."
To our surprise, Michael contacted us a few days after the show and said he wants to do another show on November 24th. He was so pleased and energized by the last show that he wants to do it again. We're proud to be part of the show again. Below are some great shot's from the show and you can view a fantastic video that captures the essence of the performances.
photos courtesy of Joseph Meloy
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