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6 years ago
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Art for Progress Summer Arts Program 2018
Art for Progress (AFP) is pleased to announce The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation has awarded the organization a three year grant in support of its Summer Arts Program. After a highly successful launch of the program in 2018, the foundation requested a multi year proposal to support the program which was recently granted in May.
Art for Progress will receive $52,500 to fund the program through 2021. The program was developed with the purpose of providing instruction in both music and visual arts over the summer months for students and young adults who are interested in careers in art and music. Although the focus is to provide instruction, knowledge and insight for career oriented students, the program is open to anyone interested (ages 13-24). Some of the key objectives of the program include:
providing a challenging curriculum while giving students the opportunity to choose and learn skills they desirepresenting professional, engaging artists to speak to attendees about the challenges of choosing a career in artssharing information and knowledge that's typically not offered in formal school programs such as "Key Tenets for the Professional Artist."providing teaching opportunities for students who are interested in education careers
The workshops will take place on four consecutive Sundays beginning July 14th (July 21st, July 28th, August 4th) from 10:30am-4:30pm. There is no cost for students and lunch wil[...]
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6 years ago
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Art for Progress (AFP) is thrilled and honored to present a night of empowering original music, created for a special evening to benefit AFP’s art education programs. Music for Progress will take place on Friday November 30th at NYC’s quintessential listening room, Rockwood Music Hall (stage 2) and feature psychedelic world-jam group Toubab Krewe, Brooklyn power trio Bad Faces, and 3Bridge Records and Flemcy Music recording artist and DJ, Gatto. Get your tickets [HERE]
Blending American and West African influences into a sound all its own, Toubab Krewe has set "a new standard for fusions of rock 'n' roll and West African music" (Afro pop Worldwide). Since forming in 2005, the magnetic Asheville, NC based quintet has won a diverse and devoted following while performing everywhere from Bonnaroo to the Festival of the Desert in Essakane, Mali. Mixing American rock with the musical traditions the band fell in love with on their travels to Africa, their sound also nods to surf and zydeco. This fusion of sound is what the Village Voice describes as "a futuristic, psychedelic, neo-griot frenzy" and Honest Tune hails as "one of the most innovative voices in music today."
Bad Faces are a Brooklyn power trio as deeply rooted in American traditional music as they are reaching for new stratospheric heights in their improvisational explorations. Led by singer/guitarist Barry Komitor, a fixture in New York's vibrant folk and bluegrass scene, the group has amassed a strong local foll[...]
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6 years ago
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This summer, thanks to a grant from the Matisse Foundation, I had the great pleasure of teaching the music portion of the Art for Progress Summer Arts & Music Program for high school students and young adults interested in pursuing creative careers. Consisting of series of four workshops held on Sunday mornings during July and August at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, the program was designed to explore the many real-world considerations inherent to careers in the arts and music. The focus was to look at some of the dynamics at play in the music and art worlds, and to provide support in the development of specific skills in the various media. Each week, a professional working in the arts was invited as a guest speaker and to host a short discussion. The speakers were happy to answer questions and were very informative and animated as they enlightened the group about the day-to-day life of a working artist. Everyone seemed to have a great time and to get a better sense of how to approach their work professionally going forward. On a personal note…I had the fantastic opportunity to study visual art in Paris while in college, and later jazz theory and improvisation, so it was auspicious to me to be able to work with the foundation representing French painter Henri Matisse, a personal favorite and early influence. Matisse was known to love American jazz music, and that added to my special sense of personal investment in this project. We at AFP are[...]
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6 years ago
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By Evan Jake Goldstein
August 30, 2018
It's hard to believe that nearly eight years have gone by since House of Vans Brooklyn first opened their doors, promising free concerts, art installations, and curated events for all to attend. Originally intended as a pop-up spot for Vans to showcase their signature skate style shoes, the repurposed Brooklyn warehouse became a major hot spot for skaters, hipsters, punks, and music connoisseurs alike. The first come, first serve, RSVP ticketing system for their free summer concerts offers equal opportunity for anyone to attend their events. You can't buy your way inside if you miss the sign-up period or are late to line up at the door. There are no $8 water bottles or VIP bathrooms, no balcony seating or members-only presales.
House of Vans feels like a magical place where beers are free for anyone of age willing to wait on line, and t-shirts, tote bags and posters are given away to attendees upon arrival and departure as souvenirs. Hispanic teenagers from the Bronx mosh with the middle-aged white businessmen of Manhattan, their mutual love for the music binding them. They book artists spanning all genres, decades,and levels of fame. The well-curated shows typically feature a headliner, a supporting act of the lead’s choice, and an unsigned opener. The penultimate show at House of Vans Brooklyn featured Deerhunter, Circuit des Yeux, and Standing on the Corner.
Post-post-genre openers Standing on the Corner were the first to hi[...]
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6 years ago
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Humanities Preparatory Academy, our flagship music education program, suffered a budget cut of $130,000 this year. As a result, they have to eliminate half of the music classes AFP has been providing for the past 6 years. The school is located in Chelsea, but it’s mostly attended by students from under-served communities in Harlem and the Lower East Side. AFP’s music program is the only music program at the school. With each year, there are more students that want to take music classes than we can accommodate.
As we've seen time and again, music and art classes are the first to go when cuts like this happen. Our goal is to raise $10,000 to supplement the budget and fund the program for the upcoming school year. If we can raise the necessary funds, we can continue to serve as many kids as possible and maintain the vital music and arts presence that has become a signature of the school's culture. Our mission is to provide creative arts programs for all New York City public school students. Every child should have the opportunity to learn creative skills and problem solving.
Please make a donation right now to help us fulfill our mission. We have some exciting gifts that we're offering to exceptional contributors as an added incentive, including artwork and private music performances and lessons. Thank you in advance for your help!
Please watch this short video from AFP's Director, Frank Jackson and Educator, Barry Komitor.
Take a look at the suggested donation le[...]
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6 years ago
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A raw, unconventional film about the last years of iconic German musician/muse Nico, Susanna Nicchiarelli’s Nico, 1988 portrays its subject as an earthy, unglamorous woman and an uncompromising artist. It’s a far cry from the popular image of the icily mysterious chanteuse who performed with the Velvet Underground in the late 1960s, and that’s a big part of the movie’s fascination. As embodied with fierce intensity by Danish actor/singer Trine Dyrholm, Christa Päffgen (Nico’s real name) in her late 40s was as dismissive of her younger incarnation as Warhol figurine and rock star paramour as she was passionate about reconnecting with her troubled son, Ari. Nico, 1988 is a refreshingly unromantic portrait of a heavily romanticized persona.
Nicchiarelli based her loose, impressionistic film on actual events, including interviews with Nico that are recreated throughout. There are also hazy flashbacks, actual footage of the Velvet Underground and the young Nico, provided by filmmaker Jonas Mekas. In casting Dyrholm, who bears no physical resemblance to Päffgen, Nicchiarelli opts to create her own character for this story, which may not sit well with some diehard fans. Truer to history is the film's sound, and Dyrholm, an impressive musician in her own right, nails Nico’s deep, stark vocals. (Dyrholm performs all songs in the film, including "These Days" and "All Tomorrow's Parties.")
Nico, 1988 begins in 1986, with the singer giving an interview in Manchester, Englan[...]
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6 years ago
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One of the things I used to detest so much as a child was watching the Spanish actress Charo shaking her ass and screaming out “cuchi, cuchi!" on stage. Her famous act would make my blood boil. Please, Charo, forgive me (for we are both Spanish, Latin women) but you're capitalizing on broken English and the need to be sexy all the time, and I wonder if you helped shape the brand, image for Latin women.
There is more to my personal history with Charo's legacy than growing up watching her on television: my paternal grandmother was a performer too and there was a crossing of paths between these influential Latin women. Seeing such a beautiful Latin woman depicted in Charo’s characteristic way was beyond me. I questioned this image constantly, wondering about the advantages of being famously sexy and vulnerable. As opposed to all the women in my family who were immigrants and championed higher education. They worked as professionals, speaking fluent English, and every single one of them was extraordinarily attractive.
On one hand, I saw Charo as a brilliant entrepreneur. She seized the opportunity to commoditize a stereotype and hence became a star with a net worth of twelve billion dollars. In a society where money is synonymous with power, that is a ton of power.
In contrast to Charo's sexy Latina character, Panamanian artist Sandra Eleta tapped into another Latin female stereotype by photographing housemaids, albeit, with a much different attitude depicted in her su[...]
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7 years ago
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It was the industrial revolution that first attempted to record sound “as a medium for preservation," activating the phenomena of noise as an integral source when documenting history. Thomas Edison received notoriety for the phonograph in 1877, but it was really Edouard-Lèon Scott de Martinsville who invented the phonautograph in 1857, the first recording device. The device was specifically created to study frequency found in sounds, an intention much different from the phonograph invented by Edison which was to play and “reproduce the recorded sound… originally recorded onto a tinfoil”. As per historical reference ( author unknown ), “The phonograph revolutionized the art of music. Performances were recorded and people could listen to them at their leisure. It also made music and communication more public. The invention signaled the birth of a new form of entertainment and an entirely new field of business that fed the demand for the new invention, the music industry”- hence both inventions put an end to the masses' naiveté to the sense of hearing, and introduced the start of audio’s sensational future possibilities.
When we fast forward through the history of music and sound, we could say that the underground rave music scene (which famously erupted somewhere in between Chicago and the UK during the late 80’s), had a lot of thanking to give the founding fathers of sound, more so Edison’s phonograph. It was the phonograph that gathered groups of people before a speake[...]
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7 years ago
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It never ceases to amaze me. The abundance of extraordinary talent in the NYC music scene is obvious to anyone who seeks to experience it. Yet, so many people talk as if the scene is terrible and how difficult it is to find quality music at the venues in NYC. I will admit, the Bleeker Street music clubs do leave much to be desired, but one venue, le possion rouge, is certainly doing it the right way. LPR has made a name by bringing in experimental, eclectic and alternative artists over the past 10 years, and this past Saturday night was no exception.
Yonatan Gat performed in support of his new album, "Universalists" which was recently released on Joyful Noise Recordings. He played three different sets, and we were fortunate to catch the last two which were truly epic. The long transplanted New Yorker showed off his masterful guitar skills, (The Village Voice named him "Best Guitarist in New York, 2013.") shredding through an eclectic mix of ethnic sounds with merely a vocal, but it didn't discourage fans in attendance as they marveled at his guitar playing skills. I was also impressed with his band as they were on point throughout the set, and as the sound changed, their energy was consistent and at a high level throughout. Gat's sound is clearly focused on guitar, but I couldn't help but watch his drummer relentlessly pounding on the skins and his evident passion for the music. This brings to mind the most anticipated part of the evening for me and apparently man[...]
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7 years ago
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Jean-Michel Basquiat was a well known plastic artist based in New York and sponsored by Andy Warhol. Music was very important in the life and work of this artist, and in 1979 he formed an experimental band with the artist and actor Vincent Gallo.
They named the band "GRAY" as a tribute to the book of anatomy published by Henry Gray in 1950.
The band arises in the middle of the punk explosion of New York, but especially to a more experimental branch known as No wave. No wave has a very industrial sound where the electric guitar is used not as a musical instrument, but as a tool that generates noise. He was also interested in the frenetic and eclectic rhythms of the seventies and eighties, like the incipient rap of the hip hop movement.
Basquiat played the clarinet and the synthesizer and the band frequented famous venues like CBGB where Blondie and The Ramones made their debut, the Mudd Club, etc.
The music from "Gray" can be heard in several films including "Downtown 81," starring Basquiat, talking about his life as an artist in New York.
Nerea T. Ruiz
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7 years ago
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"A professional studio starts at around $50,000 and up" according to Rick Camp, who has produced the music of Dr. Dre, Beyonce and the likes. However, he also asserts that "a home studio, or a project studio, can cost anywhere from $300-400 dollars." With such a wide range of music production equipment out there, creating your own home studio has never been easier, cheaper and more accessible. Expensive equipment isn't always necessary to produce top quality work, as many low to mid range products on the market are actually competing with some of the top brands. Here are the top 3 tips on how to start producing your music without spending too much or sacrificing the quality of your sound.
Research the best equipment in your price range
When you begin any new practice, research is always key. And with an art form as technical as music production, it's almost essential to look into what audio interfaces you need and how to use them. If you go in blind, then you risk overspending on unnecessary, fancy equipment. In order to feel at ease with what you're doing, don't let yourself feel out of your depths:
Break down what you need: the interface, a mic/instruments and sound outputs
Research what both the amateurs and pros use
Compare the equipment based on quality and price
Take advantage of free recording software
Whilst 'freemium' software may not always have the advanced functions that paid software does, it's still useful when you're starti[...]
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7 years ago
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Art for Progress wants to say goodbye to 2017 with the best electronic music albums of the year.
Below you find our year-end top ten AFP picks that we have selected especially for you. The list includes a video and the label info where the records have been published.
2017! It was a great year for music in the world with many awesome, high quality albums created by the most talented artists from across the world.
Enjoy the new year and may your 2018 be full of good music!
Happy 2018!
1. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream. DFA and Columbia Records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKeJFxwuBBE
2. Björk - Utopia. One Little Indian Records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqbv7cCM5AI
3. Laurel Halo - Dust. Hyperdub.
4. Four Tet - New energy. Text Records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWInZ4N6C2g&t=2357s
5. Bonobo - Migration. Ninja Tune.
6. James Holden - The animal spirits. Border Community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj35YNtP3IE
7. Powerdance - The Lost Art of getting Down. Powerdance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHrBXKtc0Sc
8. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Rest. Because Music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRwgL_PrQYQ
9. Errorsmith - Superlative Fatigue. Pan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fsCgZh6E8k
10. Arca - Arca. XL Recordings.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZqsyBiYZFQ3bQ6wAHoeYkkt[...]
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