Experience a wide range of art activities by supporting our Creative Engagement, Creative Learning and UMEZ Arts Engagement grantees and their events this month.

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The Japanese Folk Dance Institute of NY
Fun Fest Japan
Sunday, October 1, 2023 at 12:00 PM
Corlears Hook Park, 397 FDR Drive, New York, NY 10002

Fun Fest Japan is an all day free cultural festival featuring traditional Japanese performances and activities for children! Taking place on October 1st (12:00PM – 4:00PM) in the Lower East Side’s Corlears Hook Park, come and enjoy Japanese culture! Performers include The Japanese Folk Dance Institute of NY, Samurai Sword Soul, Taiko Masala, and Shamisen musician Yuzu Natsumi.

Find more information at http://www.friendsofcorlears.org/events/japanfunfest2023

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Joanne Schultz*
A Tale of Love and Perimenopause – from the East Village and Beyond
Sunday, October 1, 2023 at 3:00PM
Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, New York, NY 10003

Theater for the New City Executive Artistic Director Crystal Field is presenting the premiere of “A Tale of Love and Perimenopause – from the East Village and Beyond,” a seriocomic theater fable written and directed by Joanne Schultz, featuring Isabelle Garbani and Peter Welch,* with original music composed and played live by Ralph Denzer and Susan Hwang. The show, about the ups and downs of a woman’s romantic relationships during perimenopause, is running in the Community Space at Theater for the New City, at 155 First Avenue at East Tenth Street in Manhattan, Sept. 28 – Oct. 1, 2023. Tickets are $18/$12 for Seniors and Students. For tickets, call (212) 254-1109 or visit www.theaterforthnewcity.net. This project is made possible in part with funds from Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council. *Appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

Find more information at https://theaterforthenewcity.net/shows/a-tale-of-love-and-perimenopause-from-the-east-village-and-beyond/

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Composers Now
Composers Now Cheswatyr Commissions
Monday, October 2, 2023 at 6 PM
The Forum at Columbia University, 605 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027

Tania León hosts the Composers Now Cheswatyr Commissions 2023. Free Admission! RSVP encouraged, World premiere of Alyssa Regent’s “The Island Before Open Waters” (2023), which will be performed by the Harlem Chamber Players. Bora Yoon served as the composer mentor for Ms. Regent and will perform her own music and a piece by Meredith Monk. Complementing these works will be chamber music by Missy Mazzoli and Julia Wolfe, also performed by the Harlem Chamber Players. The event is part of the “Composers Now in Manhattan 2023” Creative Engagement project.

Find more information at https://www.composersnow.org/cn/programs/Commissioning/Cheswatyr/

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Fundación Yolanda Laprea Inc
LATINOAMÉRICA HABLA BAILANDO
October 4th & October 5th, 2023 at 2:30 PM
Amsterdam Nursing Home, 1060 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025

LATINOAMÉRICA HABLA BAILANDO is a group of live musical performances spanning four nursing homes in Harlem and Washington Heights to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Each presentation is a journey full of color, joy, and tradition through some of the most famous Latin-American rhythms around the world.

Grants Program: Creative Engagement

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Cosmic Orchid
#∞
October 1 – October 8, 2023
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8:00 PM. Sundays at 3:00 PM
Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, New York, NY 10003

With a cast of women whose ages span six decades, #∞ weaves personal stories reflecting women’s oppression through video, spoken word, monologue, and scenes – integrated with a rhythm which evolves from the flow of music and movement into words. Developed from interviews of women sharing their experience, all inherently anchored to the essence of being a woman, it is set in a playground during a game of Tag with a home base, representing safe and unsafe spaces on the stage. Whereas #MeToo became prolific, we amplify, in performing landscape, that women’s exploitation is beyond prolific, it is infinite. #MeToo is just the tip of the iceberg. Written & directed by Liz Amadio** This Equity-Approved Showcase will be followed by a short talkback after each performance. N.B. This production contains material of a sensitive nature that may be triggering to some viewers.

Find more information at

#∞ (Hashtag Infinity)

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Sonora Collective*
Sonora Collective Season 4 opener
Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 7:00 PM
Hashimoto Contemporary, 54 Ludlow Street, New York, NY 1000

Join Sonora Collective at Hashimoto Contemporary for our Season 4 Opener! The program includes works inspired by the themes of Minimalism and Themes on a Variation. The program is largely inspired by the work of Brooklyn-based artist Scott Albrecht’s exhibition The Shadow of The Sun, and features works by all female composers: Jessie Montgomery, Missy Mazzoli, Caroline Shaw, Amy Beach, and Katherine Hoover. Doors open at 7:00 PM for a wine reception and a chance for audience members to get a closer look at the acrylic-on-wood paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Scott Albrecht. Performers include Katie Althen (flute), Clare Monfredo (cello), Sophia Stoyanovich (violin), Julia Danitz (violin) and Hannah Burnett (viola). The concert portion of the evening will begin at 7:30 PM and last approximately one hour. We hope you can join us for this special evening of music and art!

Find more information at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/sonoracollective/1008051

Grants Program: Creative Engagement

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Regina Evans*
Our Blues
October 5 – October 31, 2023
Thursday(Opening Night) at 7:00 PM
Tuesdays -Thursdays at 6:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM
Word Up Community Bookshop, 865 Riverside Dr, New York, NY 10032

Our Blues, a Healing Arts Textile Exhibition by Artivist Regina Y. Evans, focuses upon the stories of Black women as they traverse life through their own coded sacred chapters, strategic stillness, divine wailings, and communal jubilation. The exhibition excavates the truth of historical trauma, and reveals the joyous insistence of liberty of spirit. From the melancholy notes of the musical blues to ancestral voices whispering up nourishment from the blue ocean deep, these stories are the wisdom birth of beautiful healing. This is “Our Blues”.

Find more information at https://www.wordupbooks.com/events

Grant Program: UMEZ Arts Engagement

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Experiential Orchestra*
EXOChamber: Act
Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 7:30 PM
Church of the Advent Hope, 111 East 87th Street, New York, NY 10128

Ling Ling Huang (NYT Best-selling author) is also a former Experiential Orchestra concertmaster and freelance violinist. She picks up the pen for an interactive Verklärte Nacht with Experiential Orchestra as part of their residency at Carnegie Hill Concert Series (111 E. 87th street) in a program curated by Henry Wang and Lady Jess, members of the EXO Creative Team, which is led by Pauline Kim Harris. Audience members will be invited (not required) to submit anonymous confessions, which will be woven through the Schoenberg score.

Find more information at https://www.experientialorchestra.com/calendar/exo-residency-at-carnegie-hill-concerts-3#tickets

Grant Program: Creative Engagement & UMEZ Arts Engagement

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Matthew Westerby Dance Company, Inc.
Uptown Dances on the Lawn
Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 2:00 PM
In case of rain, the event will take place on Sunday, October 8, 2023.
Dongan Lawn, Fort Tryon Park, New York, NY 10040

Matthew Westerby Company presents Uptown Dances on the Lawn. An afternoon of performances by MWC and community movement activities, free for everyone! The event will take place at the Dongan Lawn in Fort Tryon Park, Inwood.

Find more information at https://www.matthewwesterbycompany.org/calendar-1

Grant Program: Creative Engagement & UMEZ Arts Engagement

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24/6: A Jewish Theater Company
TELEPHONE PLAYS 2023
Mondays, October 9 – October 30, 2023 at 12:00 PM
Telephone

Come enjoy a short one-person, uplifting and comedic play followed by a conversation with 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company’s Artistic Director. During COVID, the effects of social isolation have been acutely felt by senior citizens and those who are housebound. In response, 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company has commissioned a diverse group of 16 playwrights to write 10 minute plays which are performed live over the telephone to seniors and those who are housebound. Each Monday at noon a different play will be performed via DOROT’s University Without Walls.

Find more information at https://twentyfoursix.weebly.com/

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Simona Smirnova
Kanklės in New York
October 11 & October 18, 2023 at 6:30 PM & 8:30 PM
The Cutting Room, 44 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016

Kanklės in New York: a book release event, which presents the national instrument of Lithuania to New York audiences. The project consists of a live performance at The Cutting Room on October 18th at 8:30 PM and an open lecture about the instrument held at National Opera Center on October 11th at 6:30pm.

Find more information at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kankles-in-new-york-an-open-lecture-about-the-lithuanian-folk-zither-tickets-708673671027?aff=erelexpmlt

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Kaiser’s Room
Jurassic Adventure
October 14, 2023 at 11:30 AM
The Drama League 32, Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10013

JURASSIC ADVENTURE will be our newest 45-minute multi-sensory, interactive theatrical production specifically designed for people with developmental disabilities. We’ll create a safe space where five performers will take a maximum of 10 “Junior Paleontologists” back in time to when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth and help a Mama Dinosaur find her nest, using costumes, projections, song, movement, a map for reference, and most importantly: their imagination!

Find more information at https://www.kaisersroom.org/jurassic-adventure

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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John P Hastings
Forest Song
Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 2 PM & 4 PM
Sunday, October 15, 2023 at 1 PM & 3 PM
Inwood Hill Park, Manhattan, New York, NY 10034

Forest Song is a free music performance that takes place in the last, original site of Pre-Columbian Mannahatta: Inwood Hill Park. Nestled within a valley, near ancient glacial potholes, caves, and cold springs, musicians are spread throughout the forest, performing a variety of sonic materials. Harmonies are reflected, words appear, and the melodies from revolutionary hymns are re-cycled, all conjuring a human and arboreal conversation. A Forest Song gathers everyone together over distance, a unitary statement that underscores the fundamental relationships that foster all our existences in this world. Over the course of an hour performance, the audience is free to wander the park, to hear the musicians at a distance, while also observing them close-by.

Find more information at https://www.johnphastings.org/forestsong

Grant Program: Creative Engagement & UMEZ Arts Engagement

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Cinna Vesterberg*
Tillie the Terrible Swede
Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 1:00 PM
Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, NY 10016

On October 14, join us for Tillie the Terrible Swede, a show featuring marionette puppets, live performers and most importantly — a bicycle! Based on the true story of pioneering sportswoman Matilda Anderson, the play shows us how Tillie emigrated from Sweden to Chicago in 1891, working as a seamstress to save money to buy herself a bicycle. And once she was riding, she became good — like, best female bicyclist in the world kind of good! Not everyone liked what she was doing, including friends and family — she was even ridiculed in some newspapers. But that didn’t stop Tillie from competing. And by the time she was 20 years old, the League of American Wheelmen recognized her as the best woman cyclist in the world. Written and directed by Cinna Vesterberg, puppets by Kevin White, Tillie the Terrible Swede takes audiences across a journey to follow your dreams.

Find more information at http://tillietheterribleswede.com/

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Creative Stage Collective
Summer Shebang
Sunday, October 15 at 10:30 AM & 1:30 PM
The Battery Playscape Performs ShowBox Theater State St & Peter Minuit Plaza, 20 State Street, New York, NY 10004

Join Creative Stage Collective for our annual Summer Shebang! as our mega-talented multi-generational troupe of kids and professional adults dream up, write down, polish and perform a musical sketch comedy revue in just three short weeks! This show is clever, full of heart and seriously FUNNY!

Find more information at https://www.creativestagecollective.org/

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Fable Jones*
Fable Jones Studios: Dynamic Watercolor and Artist Development Course
Monday, October 18, 2023 at 12:00 PM
McLaughlin East Harlem Residence Community Room, 55 East 110th Street, New York, NY 10029

Watercolor is a beautiful, expressive, and dynamic painting medium with an infinite realm of possibilities, but many artists struggle to control and manipulate the medium to their desired effect. The frustration watercolor can cause pushes many artists to abandon or avoid the medium completely. Through learning the core fundamentals, my 8-week watercolor course will demystify the techniques professional watercolorists use to achieve complex and subtle paintings, allowing students to become confident in their technical application, manipulating the medium to their desired effect. Artists will learn how to prepare their painting surface, layering watercolor, value, form, color application, studio setup, and how to preserve and archive their work. Through hands-on learning, class assignments, and instructor demonstrations, artists will develop skills they can expand on and implement in their personal style of artwork.

Find more information at https://www.fablejones.com

Grant Program: Creative Learning

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Elissaveta Lordanova
ROSES ACROSS THE SEA
Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 4:00 PM
JCC Manhattan 334 Amsterdam Avenue, New York , NY 10023

Gorana Sixth International Dance Festival “ROSES ACROSS THE SEA”, featuring Bulgarian and Georgian Folk Dance Art and presenting GORANA DANCE and Dancing Crane Georgian Dance companies. This event is the third collaboration between the two companies and a great opportunity to acquaint yourself with the dance traditions of Bulgaria and Georgia. The red and the white roses are the two countries’ state flowers, which is the theme of this festival.

Grant program: Creative Engagement

Find more information at https://ticketbud.com/admin/events/4c941740-45d8-11ee-94de-42010a717028/dashboard

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Heather Massie
HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr
October 25-27, 2023 at 7:30 PM; October 28, 2023 at 5PM; October 29, 2023 at 3 PM
Morningside Players Theatre Co., 100 La Salle St., New York, NY 10027

“HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr”

A True Story of Hollywood Glamour & Scientific Genius

“Captivating” –Huffington Post

The 26x Award-Winning, World-Renowned Show to Feature in the Artist’s Harlem/Morningside Neighborhood for the First Time!

Written, Performed, & Produced by Heather Massie

Directed by Leslie Kincaid Burby

Hedy Lamarr, glamorous siren of the silver screen, was more than ‘The Most Beautiful Woman in the World’. She invented Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum Technology which makes the world of wireless communication tick. From Austria to Hollywood, WWII, torpedoes, ecstasy, and intrigue to the very cell phone in your pocket, Hedy Lamarr is there! Heather Massie enchants the audience as Hedy Lamarr, along with Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis, Louis B Mayer, and more! A 36-character solo play where the audience summons Hedy to unearth the truth behind how a glamorous Hollywood film star could create an invention which launched today’s wireless technology revolution!

Find more information at: https://www.morningsideplayers.org

Grant Program: UMEZ Arts Engagement

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29th St Playwrights Collective
29PWC New Works Series
October 26, 2023 at 7:00 PM
Polaris North Studio, 245 West 29th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001

29PWC NEW WORKS SERIES presents a staged reading of PARK SLOPE QUARTET by Catherine Rogers. Synopsis: Harry Michaels believes he may be at the end of his life. As he prepares to cross over, he receives hints of a world beyond. Harry hires a poetry tutor, Elsie, to help him put words to his visions. As they work, Elsie finds his willingness to let go of life transforms her own deep fear of living fully. Together they create an age-defying love affair with life and death.

Find more information at https://www.29thStreetPlaywrightsCollective.org

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Adrian Sas*
Broadway: Now & Then
October 26, 2023 – March 24, 2024 at 6:00 PM
Ilka Tanya Payan Park, Edward M. Morgan Place & Broadway, New York, NY 10032

A lenticular composition, installed at the intersection where Broadway meets West 157th Street, alternates between a 1910 photograph of the location from the Museum of the City of New York’s archive, and the artist’s contemporary photograph of the same location. This dynamic visual interplay encourages contemplation of how time shapes our surroundings. Join us for the opening reception!

Find more information at https://www.adriansas.com/broadway

Grants Program: UMEZ Arts Engagement

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Makam New York, Inc.
Pearl Beneath the Sea
Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 6 PM
St. Paul Chapel, 1160 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027

A collaboration between modal music and Jazz focusing on improvisations. It will explore both musical traditions and focus on bridging differences through art. Artists will reflect on the symbolism of the movement of melody, cultivated in the atmosphere of multiculturalism and universal spiritual harmony.

Find more information at https://www.makamnewyork.org

Grant Program: Creative Engagement & UMEZ Arts Engagement

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Siyan Wong
Lives of Three Canners: New York’s Immigrant Elderly
October 28 – November 17, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 2 PM
Exhibit Hours: Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun, 1 PM – 5 PM
Chinese American Arts Council, Gallery 456, 456 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10013

Featuring Siyan Wong’s paintings of three canners who live and collect cans in the Lower East Side and Chinatown, this exhibition celebrates the immigrant spirit for a better life and questions blatant inequality and our collective responsibility for our aging population.

In collaboration with Picture the Homeless’s Canners Campaign, excerpts from its Oral History Project will be presented as part of the exhibition. Organizers of the Canners Campaign and the Oral History project will be conducting a workshop on the history of the Bottle Bill and its effects on the working poor at 3:00 pm on Saturday, November 4, 2023. Please follow IG@artistsiyanwong for updates.

Find more information at https://www.siyanwong.com/events

Grant Program: Creative Engagement

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Christine Toy Johnson
RIDING OUT THE STORM Screening and Panel
Monday, October 30, 2023 at 6:00 PM
Tribeca Screening Room, 375 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10013

RIDING OUT THE STORM Screening and Panel discussion is a public showing of a short musical film by Christine Toy Johnson and Michael Mott, with direction by Bruce Alan Johnson about a woman who must decide whether to evacuate her house during Hurricane Sandy or stay to protect it, accompanied by a discussion with the filmmakers.

Find more information at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/riding-out-the-storm-screening-and-panel-tickets-678441565987?aff=oddtdtcreator

Grant Program: Creative Engagement