Arts MidHudson Announces Annual Awards

From Arts Mid Hudson: Arts Mid-Hudson is pleased to announce the recipients of the 32nd Annual Dutchess County Executive's Arts Awards, who will receive their awards on Thursday, October 4, 2018. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails and silent auction before moving on to a seated dessert and award presentation. Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro, community members, and civic leaders will honor this year's recipients at a reception held at the Villa Borghese.

"Dutchess County is blessed with vibrant, lively arts scene, enhancing the quality of life for our residents and attracting visitors from across the globe to our local communities," said Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro. "We are proud to partner with Arts Mid-Hudson in continuing to spotlight the wonderful talent and expression of the artists who call Dutchess County home. We are very pleased to expand the annual County Executive Awards to include the 'ThinkDIFFERENTLY in the Arts' category and thank this year's winner, The Arc Dutchess, for continually showcasing gifted artists, including those of every ability, and inspiring us all to reach our potential."

The awards are divided into 10 categories: Arts Organization, Arts in Education, Business, Individual Artist, Art in Public Places, Artivist, Patron, Special Citation, Student with Exceptional Promise in the Arts and ThinkDIFFERENTLY in the Arts (new for 2018).

The recipients are chosen based on their important contribution to the growth of Dutchess County's cultural life over a significant period of time, the extraordinary support they show of the arts, and/or their vision and leadership in using the arts to enhance community life.

The honorees are: Arts Organization: Barrett Art Center, Arts in Education: Jonathan Handman, Business: Towne Crier Cafe, Individual Artist: Decora, Art in Public Places: Andrés San Millán, Artivist: Lonna Kelly, Patron: The Millman Harris Romano Foundation, Special Citation: The Art Effect Senior Project, Special Citation: Visual Poets of Poughkeepsie, Student with Exceptional Promise in the Arts: Kyra S. Husbands, and ThinkDIFFERENTLY in the Arts: The ARC of Dutchess for The Sassy Chef.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, September 29th by calling: 845.454.3222 or by visiting our website: www.artsmidhudson.org

Details on all awardees follows.

The mission of Arts Mid-Hudson is to provide vision and leadership to support thriving and diverse arts in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Fostering a diverse offering of arts and cultural programs, many free, attract a range of age groups, and are produced across a broad geographic area.

Find Arts Mid-Hudson on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest, or call 845-454-3222.

Dutchess County Executive's Arts Awards Recipients:

Arts Organization: Barrett Art Center

The history of the Dutchess County Art Association (DCAA) tells the story of the origins of the arts community in Poughkeepsie in the 1930s. WPA artist Thomas W. Barrett, Jr., a Poughkeepsie native, founded the DCAA in 1935 because he understood the visual arts as a means to revitalize his community during the Great Depression. Since 1974, the DCAA has operated out of his family's home on Noxon Street. We achieve our founding mission to foster and perpetuate an appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and demonstrations. The DCAA maintains a strong presence in the community and inspires thousands of participants each year through high-caliber programs and national exhibitions that are free and open to the public. We invest in the future through the preservation of our past. The preservation of our landmark historic building and art and archival collections is part of our service to the community.

Arts in Education: Jonathan Handman

Jonathan Handman, conductor, teacher, and cellist, is co-founder and Artistic Director of Stringendo, a music school that is committed to furthering the growth and talents of string players in the Hudson Valley. Under Jonathan's direction, Vivace, Stringendo's most advanced ensemble has garnered numerous awards including the 3 years of Grand Champion Orchestra at the ASTA National Orchestra Festival and The American Prize winner in Orchestra Performance. Jonathan is also in his fourteenth year at Arlington High School in LaGrangeville, NY, where he is the conductor of two symphony orchestras and directs the chamber music program; where Arlington's Philharmonic Orchestra twice won Public School Grand Champion Prize at the ASTA National Orchestra Festival. Jonathan conducts the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and received the American Prize in Conducting/Youth Orchestra Division, 2013; the Distinguished Alumni Award in Music Education from the Oberlin Conservatory, (2012) and was Oberlin's invited guest speaker for the 100th year anniversary celebration of music education (2002).

Business: Towne Crier Cafe

In 1972, Phil Ciganer opened the Towne Crier Cafe in a historical stage coach/general store in Beekman. Since then, he's presented thousands of concerts from six continents and nearly every genre of music, as well as dance, theatre, and film, coupled with fine dining in an intimate setting. Through his friendship with Pete Seeger, Phil worked with the Clearwater organization to transform its annual Folk Picnic by directing and producing the Great Hudson River Revival, a renowned music & environmental festival. Phil also produced and directed the Bear Mountain Festival of World Music and Dance. In 2000, he directed the Bi-Centennial World Peace festival. Over the years, Phil has presented concerts all over the Hudson Valley and assisted other events and festivals in places such as Switzerland, Canada, Costa Rica and the United States. From 1988-2013 he operated the Towne Crier in Pawling, currently (since 2013) in Beacon in a state-of-the-art facility, where paintings are exhibited by such artists as Ron English, Michael D'Antuono, George Frane and more. The Towne Crier is the area's longest running venue of its type.

Individual Artist: Decora
Decora is a hip-hop artist, DJ, and performance poet based in Beacon, best known for his unique brand of composition, uniting folk music ethos with hip-hop for social change. Since his debut album "Bread and Oats," Decora has shared bills and stage with T.I, DJ Khalid, Fat Joe, Meek Mill, Lauryn Hill, Lenny Kravitz, Kaytranada, Saul Williams and Run DMC. Decora curated large productions intertwining performance and visual arts centered around his music. After performing across the U.S. and Canada, headlining a festival in the Pacific Northwest, interviewing for MTV and NPR, Decora received rave reviews by the influential media publications such as Highsnobiety, Chronogram, Upstater and AfroPunk. Decora completed 100 concerts during his 2017 world tour and is headlining four festivals and selling out Lincoln Center with his album, "Beyond Belief." Decora plans on going triple platinum with his newest single "Blindfold," followed up with new singles from an album debuting later this fall.

Art in Public Places: Andrés San Millán
Andrés San Millán's vision and a mission is to "nourish the creative powers of artists of all sizes." A Dutchess County resident since 1993, he has submerged himself in the creation and collaboration of projects in the visual and performing arts. With his wife, Marguerite San Millán, they have founded the Cocoon Theatre's Soirees in the Parlor where his sculptural work is visible in front of the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center. The Poughkeepsie Float Project is an unforgettable replica of the Cunneen-Hackett Theatre, featured in parades. San Millán states that his public art projects have one aim in mind; "to nurture the imagination of the public at large, the child public at large, the child of all ages at large, in unexpected, spectacular, and accessible ways. Because when we foster creativity we enable the human spirit to soar in the world of imagination and inspiration and the result is the expansion of the mind into the infinite possibilities of the universe."

Artivist: Lonna Kelly

"Creativity and expression have always been a part of my life whether it's been with fiber, food or raising two boys. Photography has been a constant, documenting my life and all that surrounds me. A few years back, I lost my job and found it impossible to land an equivalent one. I decided to change my focus and work towards a job in the arts. I doubled down on my commitment to the leadership of the ArtEast Open Studio Tour and set a goal of learning video production. With a strong team of artists ArtEast has flourished, last year we were awarded the Art in Public Places Award. I learned video (not well) and it led to an interview program at a Comcast public access TV studio. I've interviewed almost 100 artists, writers, musicians and creatives. I invite them to discuss their work, to explain and promote what they do. I've engaged the public with a dollar bill project and recently with an ongoing postcard project, inviting participants to modify the cards and mail the results to me."

Patron: The Millman Harris Romano Foundation

Established in 2001, The Millman Harris Romano Foundation honors the memories of Samuel K. Millman, James R. Harris, and Salvatore Romano, who were dedicated to "giving back" to the communities that had been so instrumental to their lives and those of their neighbors, friends and families. Like these individuals, the MHR Foundation is a community-focused organization dedicated to fostering positive change through its support of the Arts, Education, and Human Services. Since 2001, MHR has donated over $500,000 to charities and has been instrumental in promoting non-profit educational and arts activities, including Reel Expression International Teen Film Festival, Poughkeepsie City School's Literacy Project, Bardavon 1869 Opera House and New York Stage and Film. Since 2014, the MHR Foundation has organized Movies Under the Walkway, which presents five free, family-friendly movies at the Upper Landing Park in Poughkeepsie - the program has entertained more than 15,000 people with free films, music, kids contests and fun for the whole family.

Special Citation: The Art Effect Senior Project

The Art Effect empowers youth in the Hudson Valley through the arts and media. Their programming sequence supports the personal and professional development of youth and provides them with the tools and support necessary to explore the arts, gain meaningful experiences, and eventually excel in their chosen discipline. The "Senior Project" was formulated to prepare students for college-level classes or a career in the arts, and create a strong work ethic supported by self-confidence. The program encourages students to communicate with an artist-mentor as they would an art director/client and creates a platform from which students can develop work at a professional level of practice. Since its inception, almost 100% of the students completing the course have received scholarships to college and many have gone on to incredible careers in the arts where they continue to demonstrate that the arts are a viable and significant career pursuit.

Special Citation: Visual Poets of Poughkeepsie
The Visual Poets of Poughkeepsie are a five-member art-making group (Melanie Klein, Leigh Williams, Dorothy Albertini, Jeff Johnson, and Jeep Johnson) with collaborative projects including video poems, drawings, and individual work in multiple disciplines. Although we showed video works in the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center's summer film festivals and had five collaborative drawings included in Cut & Paste, a regional juried exhibition at The Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery, Ulster Community College (March 15th - April 19th, 2013), the Visual Poets' most exciting exhibition opportunity by far was at Dutchess Community College. We showed Receive - Respond - Release, a 100-piece project encompassing almost two years' work in the Mildred I. Washington Gallery from April 10 - May 12, 2017. Each of the five artists contributed twenty pieces. As a component of the exhibition, we gave two gallery talks, one geared toward the college community and one toward the community at large.

Student with Exceptional Promise in the Arts: Kyra S. Husbands

"By the time of this event I will already have started my freshman year at the School of Visual Arts, where I will be majoring in Visual and Critical Studies. This summer was my fourth and final year being a part of the Dia:Teens program at Dia:Beacon, where I worked collaboratively with other teens my age. I also have participated in my schools' art club over the past years in high school. I have had the honor to be one of the youngest artists to have their work displayed in the 2016, 2017, and 2018 Black History Month art show at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon. I have had my artwork displayed in many school-related galleries and other local shows through the school. Recently through my school and community I have been given the opportunity to have my original artwork displayed in the 2018-2019 Beacon Arts and City Bus Shelter Project."

ThinkDIFFERENTLY in the Arts: The ARC of Dutchess for The Sassy Chef

"The Sassy Chef" is a narrative film written, produced and cast by people supported by The Arc of Dutchess, one of the county's largest nonprofit organizations serving individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The organization worked side-by-side with The Art Effect, a Poughkeepsie-based nonprofit focused on arts and media education for youth in the Hudson Valley, throughout the course of six months. Participants had an integral role in all aspects of the filmmaking process from storyboarding, plot identification, auditions and casting to learning to use filming equipment and performing on camera. "The Sassy Chef" puts a spotlight on what can happen when individuals of all abilities are empowered to achieve their dreams through the arts, and the resulting pride and inspiration such cooperation and respect engenders.

Image via Arts Mid Hudson