GSCA is seeking submissions for artists to participate in our next two instillations of BoardedUP. Already in it's second successful year, BoardedUP highlights the potential to transform areas of urban decay into palettes for artistic expression. Using boarded up windows on the Madison Avenue side of GSCA's art center, this series highlights the artistic presence often overlooked in our community.

Mediums used are open to artist's discretion, but materials used should be able to withstand outdoor elements and fit the dimensions of your assigned board. The subject matter of artwork is open-ended, however, GSCA reserves the right to deny submissions that do not align with our mission to promote diversity and community. Our next instillations will go up on September 4th, and October 2nd. Email Lauren Jacobs at lauren@grandarts.org with with submissions and inquiries. Please include a .jpg photo sample of your work for review.

GSCA introduced African Dance and Drum Classes this summer and they were a huge hit! GSCA is proud to announce that African Drum and Dance is BACk BY POPULAR DEMAND.

African Dance & Drum Classes

Come move your body every Monday to traditional drum rhythms of West Africa with dance instructor Leah Young accompanied by master drummer Saeed Abbas.

Drum Class 5-6pm, $10 per class

Dance Class 6-8pm, $15 per class, specials available.

To sign up or to apply for a scholarship contact Leah Young at LYoung6275@gmail.com or (518) 253.9095

This will be a series of 4 workshop style classes. Workshops include a history of traditional rhythms and movement, warm-up, breakdown of steps and choreographed routines.Class is taught with live drum accompaniment. Come to understand the symbolic nature of music and dance as you learn the beautiful and athletic art of West African Dance and the energetic percussion that accompanies it!

August 28th, 2009 the culmination of our Out of the Margins series will be the groundbreaking and extraordinary performance entitled Hurricane Season: The Hidden Message in the Water. Presented by the phenomenal spoken word duo, Climbing PoeTree, the performance is described as "a multi-media show and movement strategy that draws vital connections between shared struggles and common solutions in a critical moment in national and global history".

Check out the previews below, but more importantly- join us on August 28th at 7pm at GSCA, 68 Grand Street, Albany NY for a transforming experience unlike any other.

June through August, GSCA will be hosting Out of the Margins- a series of performances and workshops which seek to illuminate the creative expressions of artists who have traditionally been marginalized in the art world. Made possible in part by a Community ART$ Grant funded by the Arts Center of the Capital Region, and collaborations with a multitude of local organizations, this exceptional series will invite performers, participants and viewers to engage in dialogue and bear witness to voices that are too often silenced.

The series will begin on June 19^th with a performance by members of SWAP, a diverse collective of performers and songwriters from Philadelphia, NYC and the Capital Region. Featured artists will include Taina Asili, dancealisadance and Monica McIntyre. The event will begin at 7pm with a $5-20 sliding scale fee for entrance. All performances will take place at our historic St. Anthony’s church at 68 Grand Street in Albany, NY.

Join us on Sunday, June 7th for the Youth FX Screening Benefit!
Before we embark on another summer of creative filming, please join us in a screening to celebrate the work of last year's crew at WAMC's The Linda located at 339 Central Avenue. Refreshments will be served at 6pm with film screenings and panel discussion at 7pm. Suggested Donation - $10/adults, $5/kids under 13

*All proceeds will go toward this year's summer program.

On March 21st, 2009 the Albany Free School, at 8 Elm Street, will be transformed as it again plays host to the Youth Organics Secret Cafe! Join us from 6:30-8:30pm, for a delicious meal that will celebrate the Spring Equinox and help fund our Spring & Summer programming. Food for the meal will be provided by local farms & prepared & served by GSCA staff and volunteers. We suggest a $10-40 donation for this meal.

To volunteer, or make a reservation, please contact Rana at (518) 495-5055, rana@grandarts.org

 

 

 

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Part of our youth's summer eXperience with youthFX was to explore all aspects of filmmaking with local film industry professionals. Here's a teaser of the film we made. Enjoy:

BoardedUP! organizers: Emily and I made an artbook on the project, and the introduction best sums up our thoughts on how things went:

The idea for BoardedUP was simple: utilize the boarded-up windows on the face of long-abandoned St. Anthony's church for a public art exhibition. Across six months with the help of 40 adventurous and gnerous area artists, the BoardedUP community art project exceeded all of our expectations as organizers.

At Grand Street Community Arts (GSCA) we seek to promote the arts as an accessible tool of self-expression and as a valuable community resource. The BoardedUP exhibition was designed to further our mission.

BoardedUP is also something of a tribute to favorite local artists and arts organizers that have expanded conventional ideas of who makes art and who views art, explored the distinction between public and private space, and have challenged the boundaries between sanctioned and unsanctioned displays of art.

In fact, the primary inspiration and literal centerpiece of this show is a work of street art that was not selected or approved by GSCA. Area artists installed a beautiful stencil of a child jumping rope, on the fifth of these nine boarded-up windows. This works pre-dates GSCA's ownership of the building. BoardedUP is an opportunity for us to recognize the role of artists and the creativity of expression as more valuable than our mission as arts organizers. We're not alone... this is the view of many arts organizers.