2014 Grantee & Award Recipients

Click a grant or award named below to read about the recipients in that category.

• 2014 Cultural Entrepreneurs Track A

  8 awards, awarded $3,000 each
  Funded by JPMorgan Chase Bank

  Janice Monger – Alice Austen House Museum
  Alice Austen House seeks to develop an annual fundraising plan to focus, organize and diversify development efforts. The museum has a new Executive Director as of April 2013, after a gap in leadership and loss of dedicated development support staff, and the museum has been largely dependent on a few key funders. An outside consultant would be hired to provide the framework to strategize and prioritize fundraising efforts for that the current staff to implement and identify areas to further grow and develop over time.

  Malissa Priebe – Art Lab
  Art Lab is currently attempting to purchase computer equipment to increase their office efficiency. Their current computers and software systems are out of date. They currently have two working computers in the office, while they have four office workers. They would like to purchase two computers, and to update software on the other computers. This way, everyone in the office can be working productively at the same time. While this can seem like a minor issue, it decreases productivity as the majority of Art Lab’s office work consists of a need to be on one’s personal computer or to have the equipment to have the accessibility to needed information. Not having the proper computer equipment is not merely an inconvenience; rather, it is affecting their efficiency and at times, does not allow Art Lab to expediently provide service to their customers.

  Michela Traetto – Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
  They would like to produce a video that demonstrates their services to the community, and that will help create more earned income and individual donations. Script, filming and editing will be conceived to produce a 3-5 minute story. DVDs will be mailed to various Italian American Organizations all over the country to be screened at their monthly meetings. The video will be uploaded to YouTube and to the museum website.

  Arlene Sorkin – IlluminArt Productions
  lluminArt Productions seeks to hire a designer for re-branding and a web developer to reorganize their website utilizing the new branding, with landing pages that coincide with AdWords ads for their various program offerings.

  Meg Ventrudo – Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
  The Tibetan Museum seeks greater engagement with the citywide Tibetan and Himalayan Community and is requesting funding in the category of material culture. The aim of this project is to restore a Tibetan shrine and install it in the Museum to create a space for greater engagement with the Tibetan Community.

  Carolyn Clark – Staten Island Philharmonic
  They want to purchase their own equipment for amplifying the choruses that often sing with the orchestra, as well as equipment for recording each of our performances for archival purposes. Purchasing equipment will save the organization a significant amount of money over the next 5-10 years.

  Tamara Jenkins – Harbor Lights Theatre Company
  The Harbor Lights Theater Company is seeking support for a direct mail campaign that is part of a larger, multi-year Audience Development – Company Branding initiative that was launched in 2013. This Direct mail campaign, which would be in conjunction with their 2014 Season announcement, would be sent to their mailing list of 2,700 patrons as well as a list from The Schubert organization which consists of the names and addresses of 16,000 recent Broadway/Off Broadway ticket buyers who reside in Staten Island.

  Rashida Ladner-Seward – Universal Temple of the Arts
  Universal Temple of the Arts seeks to support the development of a comprehensive business plan for their organization. Funds will be used to hire a consultant, who will shepherd the planning process for UTA by providing ongoing direction, coaching and support for the duration of the project. Funds will also be used to subsidize a board and staff retreat, which will serve as the springboard for the overall success of the project. The retreat will solidify buy-in and enable the consultant to clarify and delegate specific roles and responsibilities for the board and staff to ensure successful project outcomes.

• 2014 Cultural Entrepreneurs Track B

  8 awards, awarded $3,000 each
  Funded by JPMorgan Chase Bank

  Daty Kaba – Preserving the African Oral Tradition of Storytelling in the Community of Staten Island
  They are requesting grant funds for a consultant and professional development to teach them the protocol for collecting folklore on Staten Island and beyond (consent forms, recording process, how to edit and transcribe). They are also seeking assistance in the digital development of their website and to create online and offline promotional materials so that they can be a source for the community to share their stories.

  Joseph Botros – Enhancing online/offline presence of the Egyptian American Art and Cultural Organization
  They would like to capture, strengthen, and sustain the networks we have had for the past 10 years in Staten Island and New York City both offline and online by purchasing an Ipad to hold data, hiring a computer web consultant to help them develop a website and brochure, and hiring a lawyer to establish 501(C)3 status and pay application fees.

  Samuel Owusu-Sekyere – Amaneebo (Amen-A-Boh): Sharing news of the Ghanaian Civic Association of Staten Island
  They are seeking funds that will help in the following areas: staff development in the area of educational presentations. Their website, photos, presentation, exhibits, and programs have garnered them attention from communities of Ghanaians throughout the country. They are often asked to give presentations to schools and community groups about Kente Cloth Weaving and traditional Anansi stories and dance. It is also important to communicate to people requesting their service about how much it costs for their members to travel. They need the technology and resources to share their traditions and the digital materials they have collected through their activities. They would also like help presenting the breadth of their cultural resources to potential clients interested in presentations. They would like to train one or two of the young members of the Ghanaian Association of Staten Island in how to give formal presentations.

  Hiroko Otani – Creative Educator: Japanese Cultural Ambassador for the Communities
  Otani started her mini Japanese lecture series as a part of the SPARC program. She would like to use the funds to purchase a projector, so she can make more professional presentations for her mini lecture series. She would also like to create a professional online catalogues so she can notify people of her new programs and her free events. She would also like to formally make her business an educational enrichment cultural service by filing with the proper channels.

  Dona Kiriella – Spicy Essence
  Kiriella would like to open up a new small business making therapeutic spicy Eco- friendly candles. The funds will used to buy the basic materials such as wax, natural scented oil, colors, wood carving tools and silkscreen printed manufacture tag with the product logo. Her eco-friendly candle business will educate the community about Sri Lankan spices and their Aryrudevic therapeutic potential in a traditional artistic way.

  Irma Bohórquez-Geisler – El Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Staten Island
  Bohorquez-Geisler would like to purchase an Apple iMac computer, software (Final Cut Pro, Photoshop), a membership to the Apple Genius Bar program, a field recorder, and a microphone that will provide efficient means to improve marketing materials, documentation, outreach and publicity of the event, support the development and maintenance of a project website and the archiving of fieldwork materials. It will enhance the documentation and presentation of traditions and the project through quality recording and video footage and the ability to edit still and video photography. It also will eliminate future equipment rental expenses. Those resources can be used for artist fees and supplies.

  Gayle Heyward – Rossville AME Zion Church’s Lois A. Mosely Choir
  The Lois Mosley choir seeks to enhance the professional quality of their performances by purchasing proper sound equipment. They will seek assistance from a professional that can evaluate their space and help them choose the proper equipment. They will need the following equipment: microphones; 3 Tripod with Boom microphone stands; Mackie Fourteen Channel Mixer with 6 XLR Mic Inputs; and Public Address Speakers. Due to the architecture of their building, the acoustics are very difficult for them to understand. The acoustics of the room determines how well any audio reinforcement system can work. The same can be said for speaker location. They will need to hire an expert to help properly set up the system to take full advantage of the room’s acoustics.

  Matt Travers – Celtic Cross
  Travers would like to use the funds to pay consultants to help formalize Celtic Cross as a legitimate organization and to create materials that represent the mission of their organization to serve this tradition and the culture around it. This will be accomplished by paying a lawyer and accountant to fully achieve status as a 501c3; hiring a consultant to help develop a strategy and business plan that will help brand & market the organization, including both online & traditional print outlets, that demonstrates the mission and role in the community as independent of other piping clubs but as an enhancement of them; hiring a designer to create a professional logo; and to build a website to promote their activities and goals.

• 2014 Premier Grantees

  13 awards, total awarded: $35,531
  Funded by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

  Arlette Cepeda – My Neighborhood, My Time
  My Neighborhood, My Time is a series of photography exhibits, each coinciding at four local Laundromats in the Staten Island neighborhood of Port Richmond. The photographs that will be exhibited at each Laundromat will present everyday architecture, environment, and objects that are often overlooked on in daily life. Each individual exhibit will feature photographs of objects within a six-block radius of each Laundromat, which plays an important role for those that live and work in Port Richmond. The project will not only create new ways of seeing the neighborhood, but will create access to the arts.

  Daty Kaba – A Day of African Stories
  A Day of African Stories is an event that will cater to the many different African communities living on Staten Island. Each African community (i.e. Liberian, Ghanaian, Sierra Leonean, Guinean) tends to live in “pockets” on Staten Island. This project seeks to bring all of the communities together at a venue to share and listen to folktales from their home continent. Storytelling is a big part of their culture. The functions of Storytelling is to provide knowledge and as a learning tool. The event will allow children to get a glimpse into the cultural traditions that surround Storytelling. Storytellers will be recruited from within the African communities living on Staten Island.

  The National Women’s Dance Troupe of Sri Lanka – Pahim Path Mangalya
  The National Women’s Dance Troupe (NWDT) will present the program Pahim Path Mangalya at the Music Hall at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center during the Spring of 2014. Pahim Path Mangalya is a Sri Lankan phrase for a stage performance that an art student gives, after undertaking years of training. It is a rite of passage for young dancers to perform their Pahim Path Mangalya and it often considered a debut dance of a new generation of tradition bearers that will teach the next generation. This project will deepen the understanding of dance of Sri Lanka and the important ways it carries the language, knowledge, and heritage ancestors.

  Don Arangio – Mount Lawrence
  Mount Lawrence is a documentary film focusing on Chandler Wild, a transplanted Texan living in New York City where he has been living since his adventure seeking and outdoor loving father committed suicide in 2007. The film follows Chandler as he travels by bicycle 6,500 miles to Alaska to name a mountain after his father. Along the way, the people that Chandler meets are asked what their purpose in life is and their answers help Chandler begin to piece together what he sees as a purpose for himself. Funding will go to post production and completion of the film.

  Ed Coppola – Property Lines: Staten Island Photographs
  Coppola will exhibit works from his ongoing color digital photography series of Staten Island’s domestic vernacular architecture, and how homes and yards reveal people’s relationships with one another and the world around them.

  Francisco Osorio – 365 Days
  Osorio will produce 365 drawings chronicling the changing seasons. During each month, through his drawings, he will produce a painting representing the elements of the seasons. There will be total of 12 paintings. The paintings of each season will complement each other as they share commonalities.

  Jarred Sutton – After Hurricane Sandy: A Look at Conserving Our Seashores & Marshes
  In the wake of the mass destruction Hurricane Sandy what many people do not realize is that the loss of our marsh and shore habitat has greatly increased the amount of destruction that can occur during a storm surge. Using his photographic talent, Sutton will bring attention to this pressing matter. Sutton will be travelling from New Jersey to Maine following the shorelines all along the way including State and Federal Parks. Once all the photographic documentation has been taken a presentation, photo essay power point presentation will be created and presented to the public at High Rock Park at the Staten Island Green Belt followed by a photo walk. An additional presentation will be made with a walk that details the photographic techniques and procedure Sutton used to capture and tell the story so others can be inspired to go photograph endangered and important habitats as well.

  Kristopher Johnson – Black and White Makes Grey
  Black and White Makes Grey (BWMG) will explore the trial and tribulations of being mixed race in America in the past 80 years. America has gone from the end of mandated segregation under the Jim Crow laws (1876-1965) to the election of Barack Obama in less than 50 years. Through interviews with people of varying ages, BWMG will share the experiences of people born of black and white parents. Johnson will reach out to people from all over the country through Facebook and Craigslist to take part in the film. Johnson’s goal is to document these varied experiences through the eyes and words of the people who live/d it. BWMG will be shown at the Staten Island Museum and at Deep Tanks at the end of 2014, as well as submitted to film festivals across the country.

  Lathleen Ade-Brown – United Minds: Arrested Development’s Cultural Movement in Hip Hop
  United Minds: Arrested Development’s Cultural Movement in Hip Hop is a 30-minute documentary about Grammy Award winning Hip Hop group Arrested Development (AD). It is told from the personal perspective of lead band member Speech “Todd” Thomas who lost his brother and grandmother a week apart from one another in 1991. Then in 1992, came a #1 Grammy Award winning single “Tennessee” which led to unprecedented success and fame. In an epoch where “gangsta’” rap permeated the minds of the youth, AD still managed to be the seminal group of the 90s with their positive lyricism. They kicked messages of hope, cultural pride & respect for womanhood where the Hip Hop culture had a propensity for disrespecting it. The film will address the void of positive messages in Hip Hop. Through commentary from other notable Hip Hop artists and experts, the film will amplify the cry for a more balanced and tolerant music industry sans lyrics marred with gun violence & negative banter. The film intends to ignite discourse on the current state of positive and self-identifying music since Bob Marley. The film is currently in its pre-production stage and the funds will support camera rental equipment, travel expenses & artistic personnel.

  Lucille Hanson – Count to Ten
  The film Count to Ten is a psychological thriller that portrays what it is like for a person that suffers from extreme anxiety and how it affects the body and mind. The story begins with the lead character waking up alone in the woods, his hands are stained with dried blood, and his clothes are covered in dirt. He does not know why or how he got there. The character will only speak when words are absolutely necessary. And when he does, each word will be very carefully chosen. The film will utilize music as a tool to portray raw emotion, sentiment and inner monologue.

  Phoebe Blue – Songwriting and Music Recording Workshop
  The funds will support an eight-week Songwriting and Music Recording workshop designed to accommodate 10-15 Staten Island high school students with an interest in music production at low cost through implementing a sliding scale/suggested donation tuition model. The workshop series will provide professional guidance and education in the topics of songwriting, lyric composition, song arrangement, recording software and hardware, recording techniques, mixing, mastering, and publishing of music in both CD and digital format. The workshops will provide students with industry knowledge from local musicians of genres including folk, anti-folk, hip hop, jazz, electronic, pop, and rock, and will offer a full hands-on experience in the recording process. The workshops will be held at Deep Tanks Studio with a culminating concert that will showcase the songs recorded during the workshop and give students, who are interested, the opportunity to perform live in a reputable Staten Island venue. A digital release of original work recorded by students will be published on the popular platforms of iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Google Play, as well as on the independent publishing website, Bandcamp.

  Robert Geronimo – Little Maia and the Coral City
  Little Maia is a wordless picture book in the same vein as David Weisner’s Flotsam, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are & Winsor McKay’s Little Nemo & the Adventures in Slumberland. The tale begins with Maia waking up scared during a thunderstorm, during which the world floods & her house is swallowed by a giant sea monster. Luckily, there is a city thriving inside the monster, full of fish-people. The city is called Coral City. She is greeted by Walter, one of Coral City’s residents, & the pair roams Coral City together. Walter helps Maia devise a plan to escape, & with the help of her new friends, Maia is able to return to her home.

  William “Starda” Perry-Pratt – Forever Live Fly presents The Let’s Start With Art Concert
  The Let’s Start with Art Concert will celebrate and encourage the freedom and unity of creative expression among youth, on Staten Island. The event will feature three visual artists, Arjuna Routte- Prieur, Tina Bowman and J. REAL, and a live concert featuring Jessie Kuffner, Laya LaRoche, and Starda at the Alice Austen House. This free public program will be a way to create a platform that encourages creative expression and collaborations to open young people’s minds to art as a positive outlet.

• 2014 Art Fund Grantees

  7 awards, total awarded: $28,424
  Funded by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

  DB Lampman – The Dance
  Lampman will install a public sculpture in Tappen Park called The Dance. The sculpture consists of five interconnected dancing figures suspended inside a rectangular box that is mounted on four poles in the middle of a grassy area, about 15 feet in the air. The structure creates an informal pavilion that can be utilized for public performances by members of the community. At night the sculpture is illuminated by lighting that is mounted inside the figures. This sculpture examines the connection between people and the places that they occupy. Tappen Park is an old-fashioned town plaza in a culturally diverse neighborhood that includes immigrants from Sri Lanka, West Africa, Mexico, and Central and South America. The architectures of dance from these cultures vary widely, but they also share many similarities and can act as a means of cross-cultural communication. “The Dance” is an architectural space specifically created to foster community and highlight these connections. The dancers in the sculpture are interconnected, just as the immigrants in the neighborhood are. Their bodies flow in a circular form, but are tethered inside a box, capturing a memory of a joyous moment in time. The figures are also holding hands- a symbol of unity and strength in times of crisis and in times of joy.

  Janet Robinson – Kwanzaa Fest
  Kwanzaa Fest is a community festival held in July, to share the culture of people of African heritage. During this day-long summer festival, the empowering ideas of Kwanzaa are explained & demonstrated through music, dance, & spoken word. The Festival will consist of live music, vendors, arts & crafts, food, dance & poetry. African American vendors sell handmade & traditional African & Caribbean items, such as beads, artwork, foods, & body lotions/oils. Performers include St. Philips Baptist Church Youth Drum Corp, Milton Henry & Eloise Hayes performing popular Caribbean music, Broad Street Karate youth demonstrations led by Jean Adams, & a variety of talented local young musicians from the community.

  Irma Bohórquez-Geisler – El Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) in Staten Island
  El Día de los Muertos in Staten Island is a joyful Mexican tradition and a special occasion for families to gather and welcome the souls of deceased love ones who, it is believed, return to visit the living. The Festival aims to unify the new American-Mexican community, to share their experiences from diverse regions of Mexico, and to help pass on the traditions to younger generations of Mexican-Americans who have largely separated from their family’s spiritual and geographic origins. In the festival, Mexican families and the larger SI community come together to remember departed loved ones and celebrate their lives with art, altars, live music and dance. This festival provides a venue to build bridges and connections among people leading to better relations and builds a stronger community.

  Jennifer Lytton – St. George Day Festival
  The St. George Day Festival is named both for the neighborhood and for the day dedicated to the mythical saint who slew the dragon. The centerpiece of the festival is a larger than life puppet show retelling the St George myth. In our version of the story, the Dragon and St George find a way to work out their differences in a spirit of community and positive problem solving. Auspiciously, the day also coincides with Earth Day and International Day of the Book. The festival neatly interweaves the themes from each, emphasizing cooperation, awareness of the environment and each other, and the role of stories and literary works in creating community. Programming includes: a staging of a GIANT St George and the Dragon puppet show (with a 35ft dragon & a 20ft St George); all day, local music and dance; a live reading stage for spoken word, improv and a poetry slam encouraging novice and professionals to perform and create together; a Dragon parade featuring musicians, flower fairies and huge handmade dragon puppets; a literary fair with local authors, readings, journal workshops and a book swap; kids’ activities including performances by and for children, and craft workshops; Earth Day activities including seed ball making and solar cooking, exhibits about growing herbs and composting, recycling games and demonstrations; a drum circle to cooperatively create a communal rhythm, and more.

  Larissa Schiano – Moving Memories: A Collection of Movement from Past to Present
  This project will be a collaboration between Schiano’s dance company (Living Through Movement) and the residents of Clove Lakes Nursing Home, particularly those with Alzheimer’s. The purpose of this project is to depict 6-8 residents’ lives, experiences and current emotional state through dance. The dancers and residents will explore movement together. The dancer and resident will meet twice a week. An exchange of movement sounds & connection will be completed. The dancer will establish a relationship with the resident. Observe and partake in the habitual and non habitual movement patterns of the resident, document there experience and create free movement based off of their experience of that day. The dancer, with Schiano’s assistance, will create movements based off of what they learned through movement, speech and sounds from their partner.

  Raja Rajeswari – Incredible India: An Enlightening Afternoon of Indian Dances
  Rajeswari and her dance troupe will perform traditional Indian dances while dressed in traditional costumes and jewelry. There will be interactive segments where the audience will be taught what certain hand gestures and facial expressions in Indian dance means. Rajeswari will also distribute colorful Bindis (dots) worn by the dancers and explain their significance. It is traditional in India to welcome a guest to a joyous celebration with Bindis or native sweets or flowers and the Bindis are practical and affordable. Performances like these aid in fostering understanding and respect for the rich diversity and heritage that is present here and will help build a climate of tolerance.

  Sarah Yuster – Small Truths: The Immigrant Experience through the Eyes of Children
  In Small Truths, children use their personal experiences in context to create art. A documentary film of second grade students at Port Richmond’s PS 20 will be made as they illustrate written pieces and present their finished work. PS 20 is home to a transient population, largely Hispanic, primarily Mexicans, many illiterate in their native language as well as English, some speaking only indigenous dialects. Collaborating with filmmaker Michael McWeeney to document the student’s efforts, Small Truths aims to reach a swathe of the community who may have reservations or preconceived notions about immigrants, and to heighten the self esteem of the newcomers and their children by acknowledging them in this popular medium.

• 2014 Encore Grantees

  8 awards, total awarded: $31,220
  Funded by the New York State Council on the Arts

  Alice Austen House – Vintage Camera Day
  Vintage Camera Day, is a celebration of the history of the camera in a day long free event scheduled for June 1, 2014. The Alice Austen House will have their vintage glass plate cameras on view. They will also invite the community to bring their own vintage cameras that can range from glass plate cameras to 1990’s Polaroid cameras for participants to learn about their own camera or just see and learn about vintage cameras. They will have professional photographer and camera historian, Eric Mayer offer information about the vintage cameras as well as a demonstrate how to clean both vintage and digital camera lens. There will be scheduled events during the day. Photographer and archivist, Melissa Cacciola will talk about the tintype process which was used extensively during the Civil War. She will demonstrate aspects of the process and discuss why and how she uses tintype photography in her own riveting tintype images. Photographer, Imara Barnett will demonstrate and talk about the glass plate camera which is in the Alice Austen House collection. She will show some of the photographs that she has taken with this camera as well as images taken by Alice Austen using a similar camera. Photographer, Mitch Goddard will not only demonstrate his vintage cameras but take photographs of participants with his cameras for a family photograph or individual portraits. Photographer Jennifer DeLuca will provide hands-on fun with sun-prints as families explore the effects of light and shadow and learn about early photography.

  Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries – Staten Island Historic Cemetery Remembrance
  Their yearly public programming will commence on Sunday, May 4th at 2 pm. 10 years ago the State of New York found and exhumed the Marine Hospital-Quarantine Cemetery that was located under the pavement of the St. George Municipal Parking lot at Hyatt St. The cemetery was reconstructed and an underground burial vault was installed at the site. On May 4, 2014 Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries of Staten Island (FACSI) will bring the remains back to the site for burial. 150 years since their death, FACSI will provide them with a dignified and proper burial. An Undertaker will bring the caskets to Hyatt St, pall bearers will be the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) in traditional dress, S.I. Pipes and Drums, Andy Cooney-Tenor, local dignitaries and foreign embassies. On May 23, FACSI will hold the Neighborhood Remembrance Day Celebration at Lake Cemetery. The event includes IS51 band and choir, US Navy or Coast Guard, Civil War Re-enactors, and S.I. Fleetweek. The event is a celebration of Memorial Day and of the long honorable history of Staten Island’s contributions during war from the Revolution through current.

  Deep Tanks Studio – Deep Tanks Programming 2014
  Deep Tanks Programming 2014 is a year-long program, encompassing over 37 events featuring music, poetry, theater, vaudeville, dance and performance art, exhibitions, and monthly open studios. The major programmatic elements for 2014 include a continuation of successful events piloted last year and also some new features: Four Anti-Folk music concerts organized by Phoebe Blue, four experimental theatrical productions organized by Margaret Chase, six poetry reading events organized by Thomas Fucaloro, three variety shows organized by Christine Dixon, an experimental music series featuring SI-musician Peter Zummo, a theatrical and musical presentation by Greg Nissen, three vaudeville shows developed by Lys Riganti specifically targeted for the LGBTQ community and four musical explorations with Vernon Reid. In addition to all these performances, they will also continue to feature one or more visual artists, a performance artist or dancer and a musical act as part of the Second Saturday Staten Island Art Walk, a free monthly event. The artwork stays up for the month and is seen by the audience who attends subsequent events. They will also produce the third annual Deep Tanks Block Party on Sept. 13, 2014 on Central Ave at Bay St., featuring art workshops and performances.

  Riverside Opera Company – PoPera II 2014
  PoPera II 2014 involves two operatic singers singing arias. In addition to popular Broadway musical theatre pieces that will be incorporated into the program to encourage outreach to a broader audience. The Richmond County Orchestra will be the accompanists. PoPera is a unique combination of opera and pop singing styles featuring two talented performers, soprano, Iris Karlin and tenor, Hugo Vera. Riverside Opera Company will offer free tickets to children accompanied by their parents to expose them to another level of live musical entertainment, introducing them to opera and its broad base of song, language and voices.

  Staten Island Creative Community – Art By The Ferry 2014
  Art By The Ferry 2014 a weekend arts festival in the downtown neighborhoods of Staten Island. This festival involves artists, photographers, musical groups, literary performers, street performers, and craft tables.

  Beth Gorrie – Staten Island OutLOUD
  Staten Island OutLOUD will present 50+ community literary events throughout SI, poetry spotlighting diverse communities, contributions of neighbors with varied abilities. They will highlight poetry and texts of US civil rights history, the Civil War, poetry by Island writers: Perform Dr King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Brown v Board of Education, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Moby Dick, James Joyce’s Ulysses. They will have participatory readings (some bilingual) of poetry by local writers, global classics, historic documents & interfaith texts as well as bi-monthly creative writing/memoir/performance studios for adults; OutLOUD published memoirs in their 2012 & 2013 workshops; they will publish a third book in 2014. The NEA has chosen Staten Island OutLOUD 3 years in a row to present Island-wide readings of compelling literature, building readership, arts awareness & new audiences.

  Harbor Lights Theatre Company – Season 2014
  Grant funds will go towards Harbor Lights Theatre Company’s Season 2014 which will include West Side Story and Driving Miss Daisy. Each production will include 12 performances.

  Tottenville Historical Society – Art From The Heart
  The goal of Art From the Heart is to showcase the Society’s collection of art including paintings, ceramics, drawings, terra cotta, prints and folk art through an exhibition that will also serve to recognize our community’s local artists and artisans, past and present. Many of these works will be seen by the general public for the first time. They are currently working with a designer to create a virtual tour of each of their exhibits that will be available on our website.

• 2014 Original Work Grantees

  4 awards, awarded $2,500 each
  Funded by the New York State Council on the Arts

  Mandy Morrison – What Makes My Day
  What Makes My Day will involve local community participants who work within the NYC Parks system, in addition to a drumming artist from Brooklyn. This call-to action invites parks staff to create personal narratives about their play/work/labor; what it brings into their lives and what they give back to the community in service. At a time when support for public services is often vilified, this project’s themes aim to illuminate participatory systems from an aesthetic perspective. This project will include a Drumming/Spoken Word performance at a NYC Parks site (Lyons Rec. Center), a photographic mural of participants that posits an imaginative mapping of their movement based on patterns of ‘flow’ that follow their gestures through daily play and work, and possibly a blog with images of each participant that displays their own narrative, to which local community could contribute or respond. This project is a re-imagining of public staffers in life and work.

  Barbara Wesby – “We Four Women,” a multi-cultural music drama
  “We Four Women” is a music drama in 5 scenes that explores the interaction of four female family members of different ages, ethnicity, cultures and religion. The work explores the private tensions, sorrows and joys of living in a family trying to coexist despite very different beliefs, creeds, and politics. The music drama is for 4 female singers and piano.

  Sarah Yuster – Serendipity Chronicled – with Footnotes
  Yuster will create new paintings of urban landscapes of Staten Island. The works will be part of a lecture/slideshow that will also include Yuster’s past works in conjunction with the SI Museum’s inaugural exhibit, “Staten Island Seen” in fall 2014 at its new Snug Harbor location.

  Tamara Jenkins – Sophie Tucker: Last of the Red Hot Mamas
  Jenkins will write and develop a one woman show entitled, Sophie Tucker: Last of the Red Hot Mamas, to be originated in a local Staten Island venue and then sold as a package that can be licensed to other regional theaters. Sophie Tucker was a woman ahead of her time – the show argues for a bigger place for Tucker in the popular-music canon — as a proto-feminist and taboo-shattering sensualist in Victorian times, and as a herald of pop musical modernity. Songs from Tucker’s extensive anthology will be used in the context of history all the while revealing the heartbreaking facts of her lonely life as the sole support of her extended family. Emmy Nominee, Broadway star, and Staten Island resident Kathy Brier (Marcie on ‘One Life To Live’, Tracey Turnblad in ‘Hairspray’ on Broadway) will star as Sophie Tucker. Ms. Brier portrays Sophie Tucker on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. The first season soundtrack in which Kathy is featured won the Grammy in 2012. Tucker’s songs are all in public domain and her god-son has offered to provide access to her bevy of risqué jokes.

• 2014 Excellence in the Arts Awardees

  8 Awards; $1,000 each
  Funded by the Department of Cultural Affairs

  Cat Cosmai: Staten Island Soul
  Cat Cosmai is a Staten Island-based Soul, R&B singer, and songwriter, steeped in the grand tradition of the great soul divas of old while adding a modern punch to her own music. Her powerful, impassioned vocals evoke Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, Amy Winehouse, Etta James and a host of other women in history who knew how to sing their hearts out. Cosmai, having gotten her career off the ground, now strives to bring that soul to Staten Island, hoping to carve out a place for herself and other local artists to express themselves within the community. Her performance will include mostly original tracks, written by herself and partner Frank Schiazza, as well as cover versions of songs by artists that have inspired them and compliment the sounds of the original music.

  Divya Gadangi: Please Maintain Your Original Indian Beauty
  Divya Gadangi is a South Asian-American artist interested in exploiting and exhausting significant moments from her daily life. Inspired by text messages sent by her mother, Gadangi aims to explore the personal and private as well as the larger cultural themes associated with their relationship by creating a digital environment. The finished project will be presented via a site-specific installation at LUMEN festival as an interactive game open to the public.

  Jessie Kuffner: Grey Matter Release
  Jessie Kuffner’s performance will feature all 5 songs from her newly recorded EP, Grey Matter, as well as some of her earlier work. She will play various instruments and sing lead vocals alongside her bandmates: Steve Cipriano, Guitar; Thomas Cintula, Bass; and Joey Picciotto, Drums. Since recording Grey Matter, she has envisioned this performance as an official album release designed to promote their new EP and connect with a wider audience.

  Laura Neese: Mandala
  Neese will produce a site-specific movement installation for a Staten Island outdoor location titled “mandala,” involving both professional and non-professional dancers/movers from Staten Island and other boroughs, to be performed on the floor and seen from above. The concept is based upon the intricate patterns of Tibetan and Native American sand mandalas, Celtic designs, the ideas of individual expression within a unified group, and the transient but powerful nature of our human interactions and relationships. The installation will involve participants meticulously setting up the mandala by lying down in a circular pattern in relation to one another, as if spokes of a wheel, one at a time. Once all movers have taken their places the mandala morphs through slow tempo unison and canon movement in which bodies are connected through crossing limbs, changes of direction, etc. The human mandala is deconstructed as one-by-one the participants peel away from the constructed shape, as grains of sand in a Tibetan mandala would be blown away after being intricately arranged.

  Hiroko Otani: Cadre – Tonic Stapleton Sound
  Cadre’s song writer, Dennis Green has recorded in a number of Staten Island recording studios over the years, including, Laughing Dog Studio in St. George, Moon Studio in Rose Bank, SOR Studio in Tottenville and most recently Red Room Studio in Stapleton. Cadre will be performing their new album which consists of all original songs. Dennis Green, the primary songwriter for all songs, performs lead vocal, guitar and harmonica. Hiroko Otani performs percussion, keyboard, and chorus. Tom Bones plays the bass for the band; he is an active member of the Staten Island music community who plays with several bands including his band The Acquaintances. Michael Ables is a professional actor, contributing a unique singing style to the band. Cadre is transcendent entertainment for any kind of audience.

  William ‘Starda’ Perry-Pratt: The Starda Kit
  Starda’s performance will feature approximately eight to eleven songs, curated into a timeline tracing details about my life, starting with songs about my home and leading all the way to songs about where I am currently in my career. He will perform songs from older records that first got him recognition, as well as new material from his up coming debut album to represent the growth that comes along with staying true and working hard at the craft. Starda will demonstrate how Hip-Hop can be fused with many genres of music by collaborating with diverse artists like Laya LayRoche (local R&B queen) and drummer Charlie Rock (local rock artist).

  Florence Poulain: Moth Ball – A Nocturnal Butoh Offering
  Moth Ball: A Nocturnal Dance is a performance that fuses the movements of Moths and Butoh dancers. Butoh takes impulses from nature and the surroundings. It is a movement investigation from Post-war Japan and it attempts to defy cultural and social models. This dance examines our modern technology in relation to the insect world. The scene is set up between a moon-like illumination and a stationary bicycle, that generates light when the biker pedals. The performance tells the story of the “Hu-moths”. This includes human sculptures that slowly metamorphose into moth movements when the moon light glows.

  Lance Reha – A Dance with Andrea
  Reha, a life long Staten Islander that has been making films since the age of 12, will screen two short films he’s recently completed. The first is his dramatic film “A Dance with Andrea” and the second is “Help Wanted,” a short thriller. “A Dance with Andrea” stars lifelong resident and actor Frank Albanese from ‘The Soprano’s.’ “Help Wanted” will keep you on the edge of your seat as you get a glimpse into the troubled lives of the two main characters. These two films were made here on Staten Island using local establishments and talent.

• 2014 ABC (Arts Bring Change) Regrants

  5 awards, total awarded: $9,526
  Funded by the New York State Council on the Arts

  Alice Austen House Museum with IS 7 – Portraiture
  Alice Austen House will partner with Intermediate School 7, the Elias Bernstein School, to introduce early photographer Alice Austen to students with a focus on her portraiture and self-portrait photography.

  DB Lampman with PS 69 – Marine Life Mural
  Third and fourth grade NEST students (mixed special education and general education class) will design and paint a mural in the main corridor of the school outside the office. The mural is based on marine ecology and will feature animals that students are studying from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

  Janice Patrignani with PS 5 – Silk Story and Song
  Three PS 5 classes will be guided through a series of visual arts explorations to support and illuminate NYS Science and Language Arts curriculums visually, theatrically, and musically.

  Sara Signorelli with The Hungerford School – Find your voice through Photography
  The objective of the project is for the students to come to a realization that photography can be an outlet for self-expression, communication and exploration. It can bridge the gap for those with disabilities in writing, reading and speech.

  Michael Mcweeney with PS 20 – Small Truths
  Students will create a gallery of artwork, CD or display book based on illustrated writings about events or situations that are important to them. Referencing personal experiences, those related to family life or their various cultures and national origins, the children focus individually with efforts of writing, portraits and images that are significant and self defining.

• 2014 Arts Investment Regrants

  5 awards, total awarded: $32,000
  Funded by the Staten Island Foundation

  PS 57 with IlluminArt Productions – Write A Play
  Students in grades 3 and 4, including special education classes, will each spend 10 weeks, once a week for 45 minutes, with teaching artists Randy Topper and Antonio Smith learning about the elements of play-writing and theater techniques including improvisation, movement, character development, voice projection, as well as teamwork.

  Staten Island School of Civic Leadership with Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble – Sessions
  The residency will provide direct, ongoing interaction with a professional musician and teaching artist, teach the foundations of ensemble music making, and practice the craft of performance, with the additional intention to inspire budding musicians, teach them the critical thinking and technical tools for musical success, and spark creativity.

  I S 51 with Janice Patrignani – Cultural Mask
  This residency will reinforce Social Studies learning by utilizing the mask as a representation of peoples & periods in history. Students will create ceramic Masks & Face Pots inspire by historical observations drawn from their global studies curriculum.

  PS 373R with Sundog Theatre – Dancing Together
  Approximately 60 special needs students in five classes, Grades K-5, a series of modern and urban dance theatre classes at PS 373 will be taught by Maria Mitchell, a dance instructor from Sundog Theatre. This dance series will culminate in a final theatrical presentation at our school’s Main Site.

  The Hungerford School with Sara Signorelli – Teaching Tolerance
  The objective of the project is for the students to come to a realization that photography can be an outlet for self-expression, communication and exploration. It can bridge the gap for those with disabilities in writing, reading and speech.

• 2014 Lark Fund Grantees

  2 awards, total awarded: $1,000
  Funded by a grassroots community effort

  The School of Civic Leadership
  The School of Civic Leadership used the grant to buy new instruments so its music students will not have to share and will be able to bring instruments home to practice.

  PS 5 Huguenot
  PS 5 used funds for repairs and to purchase two new sets of orchestra bells to enhance their percussion section.