Issue 1: February 2019

  • Welcome to the first issue of The Collaborative. We hope you’ll consider lending your voice and expertise to our publication. If performance or visual art is your preferred means of expression we’d like to feature your work on our podcast or in our pages. Please send art, story and column pitches to dking@proctors.org or kcusack@proctors.org.
  • If you’d like to perform an acoustic set, spoken word or poetry performance, contact kcusack@proctors.org.
  • Stay tuned for the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards, or “The Eddies,” at Proctors Theater in April. 
  • The routines in Nadine Medina’s new dance class at Troy Dance Factory are choreographed to local music only. The class reached capacity almost immediately and has since become an ongoing program at TDF. 
  • The Glens Falls Arts District, made up of 14 arts organizations within a square mile of the downtown area, has focused their energy on an arts trail to connect the institutions and build their audience.
  • Capital District arts leaders and freelancers weigh in on the state of the local creative economy and what it should be doing to serve its creatives in our 2019 report. 
  • Albany artist Samson Contompasis memorializes local WWI hero Henry Johnson with a mural on the street that bears his name. Check out a full gallery of his work towards the finished project from November 2018.
  • Rodney Alan Greenblat is the creator of the beloved cartoon video game character “Parappa the Rapper.” You can check out more of his colorful characters in his Catskill store, The Rodney Shop, at 362 Main Street. 
  • Basilica Hudson lets The Collaborative in on just how much it takes to put their Farm and Flea Market together. Taking place in the fall and spring, the market was created as an “antidote to Black Friday” five years ago and has grown to draw an attendance of over 12,000.
  • Leah Penniman’s talks about her new, community-driven, practical guide to agricultural history and development, Farming While Black. Penniman is on a book tour for Farming through May, in between her ongoing work at Soul Fire Farm.
  • Troy rapper Johnny 2 Phones navigates the business of hip hop and shares lessons he has learned over the course of his up and coming musical career. Listen and watch here.

RAMBLING ON: David Howard King explores Catskill, a burgeoning arts town.

 

MORE EVENTS WORTH THE TRIP:

Funky Ice Fest, Lake George
Commit to the cold and explore a Frozen Forest, ice bars, art gallery full of hand-carved pieces, ice game tables, and other interactive pieces at this sculpture filled, bring-your-own vinyl, ‘70s-themed dance party.
@ Adirondack Pub & Brewery | Feb. 1, 4PM and Feb. 2, 3PM | Free

Winter Carnival, Cooperstown
Starting  Feb. 9, venture to Cooperstown to embrace winter fun, sled on the lake side, ride a pony, roast some marshmallows, view handmade quilts at the village library, check out the wares of the local makers, or maybe run the 5K.

Bodies in Motion Festival Week 4, Northampton, MA
A wide array of dance workshops and performances that bring together some of the area’s most talented dancers. Visit apearts.org for tickets.

Hudson Jazz Festival
February 15-17 at the Hudson Opera House
Live jazz by celebrated musicians, film screenings and workshops. Saturday’s solo piano summit featuring Kirk Nurock, Lynne Arriale and Sullivan Fortner looks particularly intriguing. Visit hudsonhall.org for tickets and more information.

Columns

 

DANCE 
Never do anything for free (or something like that anyways): Choreographer Nadine Medina on valuing your creative work. Tune into the CollabCast Ep. 5, where Medina dives deeper into her creative process.

THIS MONTH: Check out Tango Lessons at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs on Tuesdays. Find schedule and ticket information at the Tango Fusion Dance Co. website.  

– On Saturday, Feb. 9 and 23, A Place Called Om will hold a sober “ecstatic dance party.” 7 PM. $15 for adults.

– The 25th Annual Flurry Festival in Saratoga Springs takes place Feb. 15-17. Find tickets and more information at flurryfestival.org.

 

 

VISUAL ARTS 
Sarah at home: Richard Lovrich explores the home studio of local photographer Sarah Pezdek. Check out her work.

THIS MONTH: The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy is building an indoor skate ramp in their main gallery in partnership with On Deck Saratoga for an exhibit called “In Ply,” running Jan. 22 – April 5. The public reception is Feb. 28, 6 PM. 

– Submit your photography to PH Gallery + Studio in Troy for their “PHOTO21: FUTURE FORWARD” exhibit on March 29. Submissions are open through Feb. 2, apply here. 

– The Lake George Arts Project is showing an arts-science collaborative exhibit “Adaptations to Extremes” in the Courthouse Gallery Jan. 19 – Feb. 22. The opening reception is Feb. 2, 4-6 PM, and a panel talk will take place Feb. 3, 3 PM, at the Bolton Historical Museum with artist Michael Coffrey.

– The Tang Teaching Museum are opening two major exhibitions in February: “Like Sugar” runs Feb. 9 – June 9 and “The Second Buddha: Master of Time” runs Feb. 9 – May 19. 

 

 

MUSIC 
Discovering “Smallbany”: Experimental musician André Foisy relocates to the Capital Region. Learn more about his musical career with Locrian and more in CollabCast Ep. 4. 

THIS MONTH: Foisy recommends…
– Murderer’s Row, Girth Control, Arch Fiends
@ Desperate Annie’s, Saratoga Springs | Monday, Feb. 4, 9 PM | Free

– Car Seat Headrest, Naked Giants
@ MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA | Friday, Feb. 15, 8 PM | $24-$50

– Hatcher, Maunu, K Irshner
@ Tubby’s, Kingston | Saturday, Feb. 15, 8:30 PM | $ TBD

– In Good Nature, Castlefield, Becoming a Ghost, The Winning Season
@ Pauly’s Hotel, Albany | Friday, Feb. 16, 8 PM | $12

– Dying Fetus and Brick By Brick CD release party with RAMALLAH, I AM, SNAPMARE 
ASSAULT ON THE LIVING, CLOSE TO NOTHING
@ Upstate Concert Hall, Clifton Park | Feb. 22, 6:30 PM | $23-25

 

 

FILM 
Investing in the scene: Filmmaker Jon Russell Cring on attracting filmmakers to the region. Cring delves into this subject and his recent projects on CollabCast Ep. 3 with editor David Howard King.

THIS MONTH: WMHT’s TvFILM is currently taking short film submissions from local, independent filmmakers for the program’s 11th season. Check out the eligibility requirements and entry form, the submission deadline is May 31.

 – Youth FX celebrated its 10th anniversary in December 2018. They announced a new program in January, DOC (Documenting Our Community) Lab, for Albany youth aged 14-19 to explore documentary filmmaking, Feb 21-22. Each completed film will screen at the annual Youth FX screening at Spectrum 8 Theaters this spring. Find more information and apply here.  

– Iowa invester and screenwriter Beth Hinde committed funds to local filmmaker Joe Gietl’s short “A Void.”

 

 

STAGE 
The substance of attendance: Actor, director and theatre teacher Patrick White on how filling a venue is a powerful force necessary to the creative development of the arts. White also takes a look back on local theatre in 2018.

THIS MONTH: White recommends…

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey by James Lecesne
@ Curtain Call Theatre, Latham through Feb. 16
A 14 year old boy goes missing and under the detective’s investigation everyone in his orbit must account for their lives, loves and what they’ve loss. Written by the founder of The Trevor Project, the search is on for the young man ‘who could so thoroughly express himself with jazz hands.” A rending one-man show.
 
The Babylon Line By Richard Greenberg
@ Schenectady Civic Playhouse through Feb. 3
In 1967 a frustrated Greenwich Village writer makes the reverse commute to Levittown to teach a creative writing class to an assemblage of participants with varying degrees of success. Tensions flare, obstacles are hurdled, romance beckons and everyone’s story gets told.
 
Red Maple by David Bunce
@ Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany through Feb. 17
A World Premiere by esteemed longtime local theater artist David Bunce, this riotous comedy explodes the mid-life anxieties and fears of downsized professionals in the suburbs of Albany. 
 
 
ROAD TRIPS
If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhf**ker by Tori Sampson
@ Playwrights Horizons, New York City | Feb. 13 – March 3
A contemporary gloss on a West African fable using live music and dance it pits young girls against each other striving for an ideal forever out of their reach. Winner of the 2017 Paula Vogel Award for new writing.
 
Native Gardens by Karen Zacarias
Syracuse Stage | Feb. 15 – March 31
A semi-retired Georgetown diplomat and his defense contractor wife battle over a few feet of land in their backyard with their neighbors, a Chilean lawyer and his doctoral student wife. One of the most discussed plays in the country gets its first showing in the area two hours away.