For Immediate Release ... The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. and The City College of New York’s Division of Humanities and the Arts are hosting a daring exhibition in historic St. Nicholas Park -- bringing contemporary art installations by new artists that mix history, community and landscape together for residents and New Yorkers alike. Public viewing begins June 16, 2010.

As apart of the college’s MFA program, a special “studio” was created last fall. Artists Scherezade Garcia and Marcie Revens were chosen from a panel to participate in the exhibition “In Dialogue”.  Historic St. Nicholas Park which slopes below the neo-gothic campus of City College was designed by George Browne Post and overlooks both West and Central Harlem.

The college’s motto: Respice (Past), Adspice (Present), Prospice (Future), suits this exhibition especially well. In result, this collaboration bridges new attitudes and forges bold artistic expressions.

The MFA program at The City College of New York provides an opportunity for students to study studio art in the heart of the art world -- New York City. The City College of New York’s Division of Humanities & the Arts insures an intensive professional experience and affords students the opportunity to follow their creative vision in a collaborative environment. The MFA Program offers instruction in the theory, practice, and teaching of the visual arts through a required sequence of courses as well as in-depth training in one or more of the following areas of specialization: drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, or ceramic design.

The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. is a twelve year old, cultural arts and preservation organization. WHAF offers exhibition opportunities for artists and creative professionals wishing to share their talent with residents in Northern Manhattan and around the city. The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. showcases art and culture in open, public spaces to add aesthetic interest to our part of the city; promote historical and cultural heritage; and support community involvement in local development. The organization’s African symbol is the double crocodile from West Africa. Funtunmmireku-Denkyemmirreku means unity in diversity

This exhibition is in partnership with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and its Public Art Program administered by the venerable Mr. Jonathan Kuhn and Ms. Jennifer Lantzas. Special thanks are given to Manhattan Community Board 9 and the Friends of St. Nicholas Park for their support.

For Immediate Release

New York, N.Y. … Savona Bailey-McClain, Executive Director of The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. will appear as one of an eminent group of panelists at NYC: State Of The Art, NYC's first-ever art industry conference, Saturday, March 6, at SVA Theatre.

With a focus on the challenges facing NYC's artists, the not-for-profit NYC:SOTA conference will bring together artists, arts leaders, and interested New Yorkers. Over 20 panelists from leading arts organizations will speak, including a keynote by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, chair of the New York City council cultural committee.

Attendees will learn about the most innovative initiatives and resources NYC has to offer emerging visual artists and get to ask questions and make suggestions. The goal is to help preserve New York City as a global art capital and a city that not only sells art, but fosters it's creation.

While general admission is $99, early bird tickets are available for only $69 until sold out. Quantities are extremely limited. Verified artists and students get a special rate of only $39.

Tickets are available at: http://nycstateoftheart.com/tickets.asp

Saturday
March 6, 2010
9:00 am to 6:00 pm (doors open at 8:30 am)
333 West 23rd Street

For questions, e-mail contact@nycstateoftheart.com or call 347.455.8878.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 25, 2010

New York, N.Y. ...."NYC: State Of The Art" is the first-ever art industry conference focused on New York City's emerging artists. NYC:SOTA 2010 will feature a full day of investigation and solutions from stakeholders: artists, non-profit galleries, charitable foundations, art collectors, developers, auction houses, galleries, museums, and government officials.

New York's visual fine artists have faced persistent challenges, and the current economy only exacerbates the problem. Because of the impact of New York's $21 billion art industry, economic fortunes and creative legacies are at stake. The need for dialogue is urgent.

NYC:SOTA 2010 will be an impressive inaugural conference. NYC:SOTA 2010 will open a dialogue and launch solutions, preserving New York City as a global art capital where art is sold and created.

Ensure the success of the conference and support NYC:SOTA by donating now--every dollar helps!

NYC: State of the Art is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions on behalf of NYC: State of the Art may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Morning Feature Panel: Background, Issues & Challenges
Moderator: James Wallace (me)
Jeremy Adams, CUE Art Foundation
Theodore S. Berger, Joan Mitchel Foundation
Norma Munn, New York Arts Coalition
Start time: 10:00 am

A: What more can be done to enable artists to live & work in NYC?
Moderator: Jason Bowman, Fountain Gallery
David Businelli, AIA
Zannah Mass, Two Trees
Savona Bailey-McClain, West Harlem Arts
Manon Slome, No Longer Empty
Gavin Sewell, Artist
Start time: 11:30 am

B: How can resources for artists be more clearly & easily accessible?
Moderator: Colleen Asper, Ad Hoc Vox (& artist)
Liz Dimmitt, Gawker Artists
Janet Hicks, Artists Rights Society
Heng-Gil Han, Jamaica Center of Arts & Learning
Peter Drake, New York Academy of Art
Start time: 1:30 pm
Latest arrival time: 1:00 pm

C: What art industry incentives can be offered to help NYC artists?
Moderator: James Wallace
Elizabeth Koch, Brooklyn Borough President's office
Sharon Louden, Artist
Marisa Sage, Williamsburg Gallery Association
Keats Myer, Children's Museum of the Arts
Start time: 2:30 pm

D: What more can be done to facilitate NYC artists selling art?
Moderator: Peter Drake
Wesley Miller, art:21
Jason Bowman, Fountain Gallery
Heather Hubbs, New Art Dealers Association
Cary Leibowitz, Phillips de Pury
Dianne Smith, Artist
Start time: 3:30 pm

Afternoon Feature Panel: Solutions & the Future of NY Art
Moderator: James Wallace
Susan Ball, New York Foundation for the Arts
Johnathan Bowles, Center for an Urban Future
Will Maitland Weiss, Art & Business Council of New York
Start time: 4:30 pm

The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc.

212-690-0867

Myrah Brown Green, Ph.D./The City College of New York

212-650-8836

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

West Harlem, NY … The West Harlem Art Fund and The City College of New York are pleased to announce the finalists for the “In Dialogue” exhibition. All of the proposals are being reviewed by the City of New York for final approval. The winners are:

Ø      Scherezade Garcia – Unity Ribbon

Ø      Brett Seamans – Home Ground

Ø      Mary Sweeney – Respite

Ø      Marcie Revens – Closer: In Conversation

The exhibition is being planned for early May, 2010 with City approval. Three finalists are graduate students in the Fine Arts program and one finalist is a graduate student in the Landscape Architecture program at the college.

According to Executive Director, Savona Bailey-McClain, “The collaboration that The West Harlem Art Fund and The City College of New York have formed is extremely important for both the West Harlem community and the City at large. Think tanks around the country have stressed the need for colleges to interact more in cities and spur entrepreneurship, production and new technologies. The partnership we have created shows that the “arts” is an important industry too that can affect tourism, land use and economic development.”

To listen to the panel discussion “A Conversation with Public Artists” that was apart of the student exhibition held in December; visit the website Art on Air. The link to that recording is below:

http://www.artonair.org/archives/j/content/view/2881/147/

###

SAINT NICHOLAS PARK PROPOSALS

The Unity Ribbon

Artist: Scherezade Garcia

Description

My piece The Unity Ribbon was inspired by the history and geography of St. Nicholas Park. As one of Harlem’s historic ribbon parks, the site is lodged between St. Nicholas Avenue on the east and the curving ridge of St. Nicholas Terrace on the west. I acknowledged in my work the cultural and geographic distinctions that makeup most of Northern Manhattan, thereby creating three wooden ribbons representing the neighborhoods of East, Central and West Harlem.

These sculptural ribbons will be somewhat different and should prompt independent conversation about the three Harlems. To spur this dialogue, I intend to achieve this physically by varying the dimensions of each ribbon by height and length. I also chose wood as the material for this project as a way of representing the spine of a green, open space -- a green space right in the middle of a lively urban neighborhood.

Historically, the site was an outpost for George Washington’s troops during the Battle of Harlem Heights that was fought in 1776. Later, Samuel Parsons, the City’s first Park Commissioner, designed what is now the park in 1906. St. Nicholas Park was a beloved neighborhood green space for decades until its condition deteriorated in the 1970’s caused by a city fiscal crisis.

Renewed interest in the park sprang during the early 1990’s. There was the renovation of the playground, new plantings, local programming and the presence of a gardener. Between the years 2000 and 2009, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation spent more than three million dollars renovating the park’s paths, steps, and sidewalks. All of this history will be “carved out” on the exterior of the ribbons.  I chose to “carve out” these events as a way of marking a moment, the same way we carve out our names on a tree and to show the layers of the park’s skin.

I want viewers to understand that the work was inspired by the park and that it also belongs to the park. In addition, I hope The Unity Ribbon will serve as an educational tool that will encourage curiosity and move viewers to learn more about the historical events that shaped the life story of St. Nicholas Park.

The piece is intended for the Main Lawn of St. Nicholas Park located at 135^th Street for public viewing and interaction.

Home Ground

Artist: Brett Seamans

Description

American landscapes and in particular New York City parks follow the deep traditions of the English Picturesque landscape. Our parks are designed in such a way that allows a user to experience the restorative action of the landscape by creating passages of scenery, and a varied palate of vegetative and physical conditions.

Samuel Parsons Jr, the designer of St. Nicholas Park was an associate of Calvert Vaux, co-designer of Central Park and Prospect Park with the legendary Frederick Law Olmsted. All three men adapted design principles through British writers such as Uvedale Price, Humphrey Repton, William Gilpin and John Ruskin as a means of moving American society away from frontier barbarism and toward what they considered a civilized condition. The goal of creating the parks in New York City were largely based on the experience of scenery and designed so as to counteract the artificiality of the city and the stress of urban life.

In Home Ground I want to provide an invitation to users of the park to learn more about the American landscape and the deeply engaging dimension of American character. This installation will attempt to increase one’s relationship with the landscape by setting up a dialogue about space, memory, history, tradition, and an investigation into the natural world.

Home Ground will consist of four 5’h x 2.5’d x 3’w words intimately grounded in landscape tradition. These words will be placed in St. Nicholas Park at the specific location that relates to those defined physical conditions of each word. Each letter within the select word will be constructed of galvanized wire mesh fencing in a three dimensional block format. The letters will be anchored into the ground with stakes to form words along the hillside of St. Nicholas Park.

Samuel Parson also was devoted to designing parks with an emphasis on planting. Below each letter, a selection of aggressive growing vines will be planted into the ground and allowed to group up the letter to create topiary of words over the four to six week installation period.

The intention is for viewers to discover new relationships to familiar places as the once subtle galvanized wire letters and words seem to “appear” over time with the growing of the green vines. The installation will take on an ephemeral quality associated with time and memory. While non-invasive plants will used, the vines growing on the inside of each of the wire letters can be viewed as a metaphor for keeping invasive plants caged and under the control of man. Because the aggressive plant material will continue to grow and fill the “caged” letters, one might question the relationship of man and nature.

Is the man-made object just an armature for the organic? Does this temporary installation render the landscape more permanent? Or are the actual words more or less permanent than the landscape they describe? The play between what is permanent and that which is temporary is ultimately left up to the viewer to decide.

Closer: In Conversation

Artist: Marcie Revens

Description

Closer: In conversation is an informative and interactive public artwork speaking to the park’s history and inviting the community’s experiences with St. Nicholas Park to be shared. The nature of public art today has been talked about in relation to the notion that the collective experience is based on simultaneous private experiences verses a single public monument. With this in mind I propose a work that offers many points of interaction that is often met on an individual basis.

The work consists of eight individual black metal rectangular mailboxes mounted on 2x2 wooden posts standing 3.5 feet tall and anchored in the ground with a metal stake. Each mailbox has a wooden shelf mounted next to it covered with a clear, acrylic box which holds a pad of paper and pen. These mailboxes are placed along the various paths of the park as noted on the included park map. This way individuals walking on the paths in the park will come across the mailboxes and be free to interact with them by reading a piece of the park’s history and significance printed on the mailbox. At the same time, they may share their own stories of the park by using the paper and pen provided and placing a note in the mailbox. The history of the park is presented in text form printed on each of the eight mailboxes for example “The Battle of Harlem Heights” was fought on these grounds on September 16^th, 1776 during the American Revolutionary War. One of the mailboxes will act as visual focal point in the form of a glass paneled wooden door with a mail slot. Mounted behind the door is a clear acrylic box that will hold letters written by viewers placed in the door’s mail slot. Printed on the front of this door is a map of the park denoting the locations of the other mailboxes acting as kind of scavenger hunt for viewers to walk the park and learn more about its history. This door will be located near the main lawn at the 135^th street entrance. In this location the door functions as the visual focus of the work.

People walking through the park will also encounter the individual mailboxes having an individual experience with the work and in this way can share their thoughts. Relating to the concept of a public artwork connecting with the community and being accessible the conclusion of this interactive work is a zine compiled from the stories left in the mailboxes. The zine will be printed and handed out to the community the day before the work is de-installed further distributing and sharing the work with the greater St. Nicholas Park/West Harlem community. The intent of this work is for viewers to read about the history of the park and share their stories and experiences of today.

Respite

Artist: Mary Sweeney

Description

The proposed installation will consist of three black and white beds sited at the southwestern end of St. Nicholas’s lawn at 135^th Street. Each bed measures 6’4” feet in length, 2’6” wide and 3’8” at the headboard’s tallest point. They will function as public seating, secured by anchors. Each unit will be constructed using welded steel pipe as an armature and ridge foam and an acrylic polymer/mineral resin to create the form. The surface will be created and sealed with automotive grade paint.

Placing beds in an urban natural area is meant to prompt the viewer to question the two poles of the Romantic view of nature: as a sacrosanct external world and a self-sufficient inner experience. Our notion of nature as a pristine wilderness, unsullied by civilization’s polluting presence, has its origins in the late 18^th century. Nature seemed to offer a respite from the transgressions of so-called civilized society, then embarking on the initial phases of industrializations.

The problem with this Romantic conception is that nature is set on a pedestal, something forever destined to remain “over there”, somehow separate from our daily lives. It marks the difference between “us “and “it”. The presence of beds in St. Nicholas Park will confront the viewer with this disjunction, and attempt to bridge the divide by creating a dialog between a public space designed as an escape from the urban environment and a private space in which we all seek refuge every night. The beds will offer a space for reflection on the future of dwelling together in a vulnerable world.

The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc.

 212-690-0867

Myrah Brown Green, Ph.D./City College of the City University of New York

212-650-8836

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

West Harlem, NY….On Tuesday, December 1st 2009 a prestigious panel of artists, professors and administrators will dialogue together about the future of public art in New York City. Beginning with a reception at 4 p.m. at the Library Gallery of the North Academic Center Building at City College, visitors will also be able to review student proposals from the Master Studio Art and Landscape Architecture Programs for a new assemblage piece at historic St. Nicholas Park scheduled for next spring.

Featured panelists include: Chakaia Booker, Colin Chase, Harriet Senie and Sandy Winters. The panel will be moderated by Executive Director, Savona Bailey-McClain of the West Harlem Art Fund, Inc.

As the City of New York explores ways to broaden economic opportunities on multiple fronts, the “fine arts” are finally being recognized as an important industry cluster with quantifiable products and needed services. The benefits of this  marketing, production and packaging can best be analyzed from The Gates exhibition in New York City.  Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude made millions for the City of New York. Thousands of visitors  swarmed the city, hotels were booked to capacity, souvenirs, tours, publications and renderings were sold by the hundreds. But the artists also pushed New Yorkers to look at open spaces very differently with new purpose and meaning.

Panelists will explore how public art could help expand a necessary dialogue to help our city face new challenges like -- climate change, economic and commercial development, illiteracy and improved quality of life.

In addition to hearing the panelist, a short introduction will be made for Ms. Wendy Feur, Assistant Commissioner for Urban Design & Art for NYC Department of Transportation who will share her agency’s initiative on this front.

For further information contact: Myrah Brown Green, Ph.D., Distinguished Lecturer of Art & Arts Advisor to the Dean, Divisions of Humanities or the West Harlem Art Fund, Inc.

& the Arts

###

 WEST HARLEM ART FUND & CITY COLLEGE OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK ARE CONDUCTING A FALL STUDIO TO CREATE A SCULPTURAL INSTALLATION FOR SPRING 2010

The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc.

212-690-0867

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

West Harlem, NY….Two important institutions in West Harlem have joined forces to develop more public art in New York City. This collaborative project between the West Harlem Arts Fund and MFA students in the Art Department of the City College of New York, examines how one’s artistic voice communicates with the community through installation art displayed in a public space.

In the fall semester of 2009, Graduate Students taking Studio Art courses at City College are invited to create formal proposals for a temporary installation on the main lawn at St. Nicholas Park. 

Student’s proposals will address a common theme and contain detailed information including images/models, budget, materials and installation/de-installation methods. The proposals will be exhibited as works themselves in a public art gallery where a committee will choose the winning proposals. 

In the spring semester of 2010, the winning proposals will be built and installed at St. Nicholas Park.

The graduate Sculpture and Installation classes at City College are covering special topics in their syllabi to coincide with the St. Nicholas Project.  Students are considering various types of installation work and exploring how art can “come off the wall” and alter an entire space.

Students are discovering how their work relates to the viewer, a space, and to the community/neighborhood. The public gets to experience and consider artwork in a historical, yet free and inviting setting, outside the confines of the traditional institutions that house art.

According to Executive Director, Savona Bailey-McClain, "Public art is finally taking hold in New York City. We are pleased to push the envelope a bit and to connect West Harlem to other art communities. We encourage diversity on multiple levels and that includes significant partnerships that offers different perspectives and approaches to visual arts."

Proposals for the installations will be on display in December for the general public in December.

###

West Harlem/DUMBO/New York City… On Saturday, October 24, 2009 along Pearl, Water and Front Streets in Brooklyn, provocative images by visual artist Patrick Singh will be projected on the buttress wall of the Manhattan Bridge. Since 1997, Singh’s career has been punctuated by international exhibitions – collective and individual – along with artistic residencies throughout Europe, South America and Asia. Singh’s work is exhibited in multiple collections, including the Anne Cros Gallery in France.

His visions come to life under his brush with out his using models. Sudden appearances resulting from his intercultural journeys, which have impregnated him with indelible words, mental photographs, feelings of torment ….

The West Harlem Art Fund in partnership with ALSO PLUS (Lighting/Sound/Projection) and guest photographer Brenna McLaughlin are projecting Mr. Singh’s works in an interactive installation onto the Manhattan Bridge in DUMBO. There will be almost fifty images shown in this one night outdoor exhibition. Original music will be provided by Queen Esther & the Hot Five.

The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. has presented six outdoor sculptural works and three digital projections in partnership with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and with the NYC Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program. WHAF has also sponsored over (40) individual artist exhibitions, (6) storefront installations, concerts, theatrical events and historical re-enactments.

ALSO + (Aacappella Light, Sound, Organization Plus Inc.) fills a cultural void in underserved areas of New York City. Our organization provides theater arts programs to diverse populations around the city; provide all aspects of training in production and stage crafts; internships to children and young adults and maintain a cultural center that encourages everyone to bring the arts into everyday life.

Photographer Brenna Marie McLaughlin attended art school at the Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois. Then Brenna went on to the University of Pennsylvania receiving her Master’s degree. She now is advancing her career in arts education and teaches at the Harlem School of the Arts. Originally from New Jersey, Brenna now lives in Brooklyn.

Queen Esther & The Hot Five is a collective of New York City’s finest jazz musicians that play intimate reconfigurations of rare all-American standards while creating original modern classics.

Executive Director, Savona Bailey-McClain is pleased to have pulled so many talented artists and creative professionals together for this ensemble installation.

Viewing will begin at 7 p.m.

The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc.

www.myharlem.org / 212-690-0867

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September, 2009

West Harlem, New York… Originally created by Rebar, a San Francisco based art and design collective, PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.

It is strictly a non-commercial project, intended to promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, unscripted social interactions, generosity and play. The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc., an eleven year old cultural arts and preservation organization is developing five installations in various locations around the city in partnership with Transportation Alternative, NYC’s Park(ing) Day organizers www.parkingdaynyc.org. According to Executive Director, Savona Bailey-McClain, “installation art offers artists and viewers the room to experiment, analyze social ideas and then bring them to a reality. Through Park(ing) Day, the organization will spotlight the issues of food access, sustainability, civic engagement, recyclable fashion and furniture.”

Artist Sai Morikawa is developing the installation “Old meets New + East meets West= Welcome to the New Planet!”  For me, parking day is a very special occasion to participate in. We are making a peaceful world right on the street. I do love this idea of collaborating with artists in public spaces. Through the city’s cooperation, we are able to make unusual small green worlds in the midst of the bustle of everyday city life. I hope we (participants, visitors …. everyone!) will share a very heart warming moment on September 18^th 2009 for peace and the earth.

Dianne Smith, visual artists shared that the concept behind her mixed media installation Remix Repurpose, “is to simply use what we have to produce fun, exciting and creative environments in our lives, families and communities.”

The team that developed the Farm(ING) Day installation, led by Richard Gonzalez, feels “that by using this approach in the urban city, the Marketa de Parquimetro can be an experiment which utilizes the curb side parking zone and reprograms the use for public market functions. Such use enables the widening of the public sidewalk for smoother pedestrian movement while stimulating incubator business development for self starting business entrepreneurs. This model has been an example that has maintained many neighborhoods and communities in Latin nations. The public street is the main street of business and commerce. By supporting these markets, they stimulate interest and activities thereby making them resilient and sustaining economic incentives for neighborhoods and communities.”

Lastly, the artist Shintaro Tokairin represented by Anna Aoki states “I've been making 'ZORI', not only because they are cute and comfortable to wear, this is just my way of expressing what I value the most in life. It's about sharing the experience and connecting our society. There is no more explanation or reason to come. Being Japanese and my identity were also a big motivation which will never stop influencing me ever since I started, but I'm more focusing and grateful to share the idea of connecting people as I take a strip of the fabric to weave. I'm honored to showcase these 'ZORI' to you at this annual event, Park(ing) Day which allows us to reconsider that we are all one.”

Special thanks to our community sponsor Mr. Rene Munoz for helping us with our installations. The West Harlem Art Fund is also asking New Yorkers to view the Michael Jackson music video Earth Song on You Tube. It’s a powerful message about the planet and how we must protect it.

The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc.

www.myharlem.org / 212-690-0867

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September, 2009

West Harlem, New York …. Access to healthy foods is becoming a problem in NYC for everyone. At one time, only the poor suffered from lack of access to fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. But supermarkets have been closing in New York City because of high commercial rents, labor costs and low profits. To combat this problem and prevent it from becoming the tsunami of our times, urban farms are being proposed all over the country. And in West Harlem, the matter is being studied, analyzed and rendered out through a “pop-up” installation led by Richard Gonzalez, Juan Manuel Mansilla and Jimena Roesch with the West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. for Park(ING) Day 2009. The team shares examples that are being reviewed all over the world and developed a schematic to show what might work in West Harlem.

"To search for solutions to hunger means to act within the principle that the status of a citizen surpasses that of a mere consumer"

City of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

"Growing healthy food is part of a larger transformational project that will create a more just society."

Will Allen, Growing Power.

"What is entrepreneurship, after all? Bigness is not the issue. All people are entrepreneurs."

Muhammad Yunus, Creating A World Without Poverty

West Harlem, NY… Beginning October 18th through November 12th, several window installations, digital projections, local tours and events will take center stage uptown. The West Harlem Art Fund will again offer its successful Hallelujah – Harlem Public Art Fest.
 
In 2006, the West Harlem Art Fund placed sculptural works in park settings and digital projections that were site specific in Central and West Harlem. This year the organization will offer installations in West Harlem and Washington Heights that do not freeze time like a painting or sculpture, but offer an experience that surrounds the viewer.
 
West Harlem and Washington Heights are experiencing a transformation – new restaurants, waterfront developments, housing. Art will lead the way for a vision for Broadway that will offer more trees, retail, plazas, culture and tourism.
 
Installations will include a "pop-up-shop" for emerging designers.  The space will house up to three emerging designers per weekend selling their wares on both Saturday and Sunday. The space is being organized by Enyinne Owunwanne, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Heat Indx. Enyinne will be launching the The Heat Indx Mrkt in December, in an effort to bolster community support of local emerging designers.
 
Floral installations will be designed by Tara Simone Powell, Principal owner of Barbara’s Flowers that create special events floral arrangements and installations. Born to a family of floral enthusiasts, it is no surprise that Tara Simone Powell grew to adore flowers and all things beautiful. Following graduation from Carneige Mellon University, Tara Simone worked as her father’s apprentice in the family’s business, learning the details of retailing flowers and styling events. Tara Simone quickly gained esteemed recognition from an impressive and extensive list of corporate and celebrity clientele including Con Edison, CBS, City College of New York, Lehman Brothers, McGraw Hill, Essence Communications, Merrill Lynch, Senator Hillary Clinton and Alicia Keys. Tara Simone has been requested to design special events for Sarah Jessica Parker’s latest perfume, Beyonce’s Armani Diamonds Perfume, Fergie’s handbag line, NAS’ record album release party, Essence Magazine’s Women Who Shape the World Event and variety of events hosted by nationwide retailer, Macy’s.
 
Digital works will spotlight British artist Sandor Camille and East Harlem’s Julio Valdez on 12th Avenue along Harlem’s new restaurant row. Sandor Camille, whose formidable work includes large-scale portraits of Heavyweight Champions, owes as much to the influence of post 1950 American abstract painters as to British figurative masters like Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Sandor Camille has focused his efforts on bridging the gap between modern contemporary art and the common man. Art can be intimidating and imposing – Camille has endeavored to create a point of entry for all who are interested.
 
Julio Valdez water images references his childhood memories of the Caribbean, as well as contemporary issues of displacement and cultural identity. Both projections are supported by the NYC Department of Transportation and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.

Vantage Properties, the main sponsor of this event has donated five street level commercial spaces for this festival. Neil Rubler, President and CEO of Vantage Properties, LLC said: “As a major investor and believer in the future of Harlem and Washington Heights, Vantage is particularly thrilled to participate in this exciting celebration of Uptown arts and culture. We have always believed that neighborhoods are most vibrant when there is dynamic activity at street level, and for this reason, we are particularly pleased that our storefronts will be put to great use displaying wonderful works of art to be enjoyed by local residents and visitors alike.”
The West Harlem Art Fund has been in the forefront of transforming Northern Manhattan using art and culture. On the heels of a community planning process, the West Harlem Art Fund received $475,000 Environmental Protection Fund award to recommend streetscape improvements on upper Broadway and develop a cultural corridor plan in partnership with the Office of the Manhattan Borough President and the NY Department of State as well as a NY Main Street grant and Preservation League of NY award totaling $127,000 dollars combined to nominate Upper Broadway to the National Registry and enhance storefront facades.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact West Harlem Art Fund, Inc.: (212) 690-0867
 
HARLEM LAUNCHES NEW CELL PHONE TOURS
 
West Harlem, N.Y.   The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc., a cultural arts and preservation organization, has launched this weekend FREE CELL PHONE TOURS ABOUT HARLEM in English and French, with a Japanese version to be available in August 2008. The tours guide domestic and international visitors, as well as fellow New Yorkers, through the streets of Central and West Harlem from Lenox Avenue to 12th Avenue.
 
“Harlem is undergoing a major transformation into a New Harlem, becoming more hi p, funky and internationally diverse, “according to the Fund’s Executive Director, Savona Bailey. “Our cell phone tours will make the New Harlem more accessible and friendly to visitors, allowing them to really connect with and appreciate the vast history the area has to offer ,” she said.
 
Lenn Shebar, co-owner of N Boutique stated "As an owner of a new upscale retail business, I'm thrilled that tourists finally have a user-friendly personalized tour, in multiple languages, that directs them to the best businesses that are opening new vistas and providing fresh, new texture to Harlem."

This launch starts a new tourism campaign that will include a neighborhood guide, the Harlem-Heights Culture Loop and a public arts festival in the fall.

Below are the visitor numbers:
 
English Visitor Number (347) 534-2334 -- French Visitor Number (347) 649-9040
 
For more information, please call (212) 690-0867.
 

News

Manhattan Borough President SCOTT M. STRINGER

City Limits WEEKLY
Week of: November 20, 2006
Number: 562
WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE:
RENEWING A W. HARLEM PARK     

New proposal would spruce up Riverside Park, adding new amenities for neighbors. > By David Giles     
   
The northern section of Riverside Park, stretching from 145th to 155th Streets on the west side of Manhattan, has much to recommend it. It’s one of the few places on the island of Manhattan where a person can stretch out and put her toes in the river while eyeing beautiful views of the George Washington Bridge and the ancient diabase rock of the New Jersey Palisades. But the park is also isolated from the surrounding West Harlem neighborhood by a series of unusually forbidding obstacles, both natural and manmade.

The eastern half of the park is on a steep incline, at the bottom of which are both Amtrak train tracks and the enormous, partially elevated Henry Hudson Parkway. Local residents can reach the waterfront by crossing Riverside Drive at 148th Street, walking down the limestone steps of another park, continuing over a rickety footbridge near the Amtrak line and through a long and unlit tunnel by the Parkway, and then past a fenced-in basketball court and parking lot.   

However, if an alliance of local residents and community groups get their way, this long and treacherous journey will soon change for the better with new efforts to renovate the park and ease waterfront access.
The West Harlem Arts Fund, the Riverside Park Fund, the Community League of the Heights and Community Board 9 have been clamoring for these improvements for years. According to Savona Bailey-McClain, director of the West Harlem Arts Fund, the neighborhood has been cut off from the Hudson River for over 40 years, and thanks in large part to her own efforts, the Environmental Protection Fund of New York State recently awarded a total of $725,000 for the rejuvenation of the park and surrounding neighborhood.

Using these funds, the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Transportation will explore and begin to implement the recommendations of a concept plan called “Take Me to the River,” created by landscape architects Bonnie Harken and Donna Walcavage.
First on the list of proposed projects is an “enchanted forest” along the hillside near Riverside Drive, where a well-lit and historic path winding through the trees will replace ad hoc chain-link fencing and dense underbrush. Next in line is streetscaping along Broadway and the 148th and 151st Street gateways. That would include planting trees, explained Bailey-McClain, but hardly end there. “It’s about lighting and circulation,” she said. “It’s about widening the sidewalks, taking care of the trash receptacles, organizing transportation and much more.”

The goal of both projects, of course, is to begin to erase the barrier between this West Harlem neighborhood and the great public resource that is its waterfront. But the traffic over that rickety footbridge goes both ways, and residents are hoping that a more inviting park will encourage park users from other parts of the city to venture into their neighborhood. “To strengthen the link between the economic corridor along Broadway and the waterfront was always our main goal,” said Bonnie Harken. “The waterfront park is extremely popular in the summer months, but we found that visitors almost never visit the neighborhood.”

State Assemblymember Herman Farrell recently earmarked $10 million for a pedestrian bridge accessible to the disabled, stretching over the Parkway from 151st Street to the waterfront. If built, the bridge would help mitigate the layers of highway infrastructure on the northernmost side of the park, clueing visitors in that there's a bustling neighborhood on the other side.

Meanwhile, the park itself could use some work. Its eastern half is literally crumbling. Just around the corner from the baseball field and right under a highway billboard advertisement for Movado watches, there is a forgotten pile of rusted scrap metal, a foot of black standing water on cracked asphalt, twenty discarded dumpsters and a corrugated metal shed with a caved-in roof.

The “Take Me to the River” concept plan calls for this area to be eventually turned into a basketball court, skate park and community garden. Cacherel Jean-Baptiste, a young resident of the neighborhood who likes to walk his dog in the park, said he had trouble envisioning the concept plan ever becoming a reality. “I’m not sure it’ll work,” he said of plans for the enchanted forest. “It’s not that it’s dangerous, it’s secluded … a good hiding place for drug dealers.”

Nevertheless, Anthony Borrelli, director of land use in the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, said the search for a project manager is already underway and that the necessary feasibility studies are to follow this winter. “I can’t say if all the proposed projects will be funded,” he said, “but we’re beginning to meet with other agencies and will take it one step at a time.”     
 

The New York Times
October 22, 2006

North and South Don’t Share the Same View on Conditions at One Manhattan Park

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS

On a warm, cloudless day a few weeks ago, Riverside Park hummed with activity. At the annual Oyster Festival, crowds of people downed freshly shucked oysters and drank pints of Guinness as the Hudson River lapped softly in the background. In the same park, about 30 blocks to the north, the scene was less genteel. Two homeless women, one speaking animatedly, the other silently combing her hair with her fingers, negotiated with a crack cocaine dealer. “Come over here a minute,” he told them, gesturing to an overgrown section where soiled mattresses lay in a tangle of weeds. Both episodes took place within half an hour of each other at one of the city’s most popular open spaces. The park’s southern tier, which stretches some 266 acres along the river from 59th Street to 125th Street, has among its highlights immaculate lawns, sand volleyball courts, a preserve for bird watching, and tennis courts and baseball and soccer fields that have been resurfaced in the past 18 months.

The park’s 50-acre northern section, which continues along the river from 125th Street to 158th Street, has none of those amenities. The divots in the two ball fields are so deep that they remain full of water for days after rainstorms, leading children to place sections of cardboard over them in order to play baseball. In the north, as well, a thriving open-air sex market exists, with mattresses and lean-tos fashioned out of plastic bags and cast-off clothes for privacy. There are discarded hypodermic needles, crack cocaine paraphernalia, mounds of trash and the stench of human waste. Outside a playground at 141st Street and Riverside Drive, the walkway is sinking — taking a picnic table and two benches with it. At another playground, there is a hole in the granite pavement about the size of a child’s foot. The Parks Department has placed a metal sheet over it, but people who use the playground said the hole has gone unrepaired for more than two years.

In a recent interview, William Castro, the Parks Department’s Manhattan borough commissioner, said he had been unaware of many of the trash and maintenance problems at the northern end of the park. Mr. Castro, in fact, said the department spent roughly the same amount to maintain each end of the park. “The capital dollars that go to the northern part of the park is approximately equal to the south,” he said. “And the cleaning in both parts is about the same.” But the disparity in conditions between the two sections is so stark that longtime residents say it is as if a line has been drawn at 125th Street. Savona Bailey-McClain, a Harlem resident and executive director of the West Harlem Art Fund, said she has been working for years to win what she defines as parity for the northern tier of Riverside Park and has recently helped develop a master plan for an overall improvement of the area. “That area of the park has been neglected for decades — not weeks, not months, not years — decades,” she said. Park advocates say public complaints about uneven maintenance in city parks is not new, but at Riverside Park, the differences seem particularly conspicuous. The northern end includes areas where wild vines grow out of broken lampposts and the park’s benches have been removed, leaving holes in the pavement. Barricades have also been posted across entry stairways with “No Trespassing” signs. Mr. Castro said the economic differences between the neighborhoods that border the two sections of Riverside Park — the more affluent Upper West Side and the more economically uneven streets of Harlem — had nothing to do with the way the department maintained either end. According to the Parks Department’s Web site, its inspectors have consistently rated the cleanliness of the northern section as being “acceptable,” the highest rating it awards.

Still, last month, after inquiries were made about cleaning and maintenance in the northern tier, the Parks Department began a cleanup that included evicting homeless people and dismantling their shanties, removing truckloads of garbage, and using high powered hoses to cleanse urine and feces stained staircases. Left behind was a massive pile of trash that neighbors said has been growing for years. Mr. Castro said Parks Department workers had not found it during the cleanup. “We need to do a better job of cleaning it,” Mr. Castro said of the northern section. He said he planned to place an extra cleaning crew in the area. But Mr. Castro said some portions of the northern tier were magnets for litterbugs. He said cleaning the northern section’s steep slopes was difficult because workers have a hard time keeping their balance. “It’s very dangerous, dirty, hard work for our park workers to clean the slopes,” he said. Mr. Castro acknowledged that sex and drug trades in the northern tier has been a problem for years. Mr. Castro said the city could do little to stop the illegal activities or to fix the section of the northern tier that is sinking. He said the metal plate covering the hole outside the playground made the play area secure. “It is safe,” he said. But William Artist, 42, who said he refuses to let his son play in the playground anymore, disagreed. “I stopped letting him go there because the whole thing might collapse,” he said. “It’s dangerous, and they won’t fix it.”

Jim Dowell, president of the Riverside Park Fund, a private, nonprofit group that he said spends about $2 million a year on various projects in the park, said he has heard few, if any complaints, about inequality between the south and north sides of the park. “I could take you places up there that are just as well-maintained as anywhere else in the park,” he said. While parks officials say there are no homeless encampments in the southern park, the people who live in the northern part said they remain there because they are undisturbed by parks workers. “We come here because nobody bothers us here,” said a man in his 40’s who gave his name as Georgie. “We like it dirty.”
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 FREE CONCERT FEEL THE EXCITEMENT! COME ALIVE! HALLELUJAH MUSIC CONCERT- Jazz on the Green JUNE 30, 7pm 2006

Featuring Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Arturo O’Farrill & His Quintet (New York, NY – June 26, 2006) The West Harlem Art Fund Inc., Jazz at Lincoln Center and Sugar Hill Golden Ale kick-off Harlem’s summer outdoor performance season with a Hallelujah Music Concert on Friday, June 30, 2006 at 7PM in Harlem’s St. Nicholas Park. Arturo O’Farrill & His Quintet will headline this free public event for the first time. Arturo O'Farrill is an internationally recognized musician and educator whose performance and recording collaborators include Wynton Marsalis, Papo Vazquez, Carla Bley, Steve Turre, Dizzy Gillespie, and Joseph Bowie.

He is music director for Jazz at Lincoln Center's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, which was co-created with Wynton Marsalis in 2002. Mr. O’Farrill has been commissioned by Meet the Composer, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and most recently, The Big Apple Circus. Mr. O’Farrill is the son of world renowned jazz musician Chico O’Farrill, who died in 2001. For a half-century, Chico O'Farrill was an innovator who, with his Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, fused the soul-wrenching rhythms of African-Cuba with the harmonies of American jazz. Upon his father’s death, Mr. O’Farrill took the helm of the Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra and still tours widely with the band. Arturo O'Farrill, winner of the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award for 2003, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City.

Located on the magnificent lawn of St. Nicholas Park at St. Nicholas Avenue and 135th Street, the Hallelujah Harlem Concert- Jazz on the Green is guaranteed to put everyone in the mood for summer shimmies and warm, languid evenings. Chairs, blankets, neighbors, family and friends are welcome to see Mr. O’Farrill and company perform. Cadillac is the lead New York Sponsor of Jazz at Lincoln Center.