This and That by JL

Ordinarily, one wouldn’t mention the Erie Canal, Carnegie Hall and the Croton Aqueduct in the same breath. But they do have a shared history that will be explored in a new, highly anticipated exhibition called Brick by Brick, which will be presented by ArtsWestchester at its stately White Plains gallery through January 2019. The exhibition tells […]

Just when I think that collaboration is one of the hardest ways to work in the arts world, I become encouraged anew by what I see happening among artists in Westchester. What makes collaboration so difficult is that its success depends upon a shared vision. This shared vision may be hard to achieve, but it […]

    Upward bound in an elevator in a Tel Aviv hotel, I shared a lift with an Israeli preteen chattering in Hebrew but wearing a t-shirt that announced “Hear Me Roar”. The reference on her shirt was of course a reference to the Helen Reddy song of 1973. I wondered how those lyrics made it to a kid’s t-shirt in Israel. […]

    Good news comes in many forms. Yesterday, there was good news out of Washington D.C. which is, in itself, is a “surprise” since good news out of Washington is as rare as hen’s teeth. Indeed, it seems that the U.S. Senate has voted to support funding of the Arts and Humanities Endowments at […]

    In order to learn about Baroque music, I checked in with Karen Marie Marmer and Jorg-Michael Schwarz of the duo the Black Marble, who tell me that Baroque music, popular from about 1600 to 1760, is “absolutely glorious…a blending of different voices…and emotional without being melodramatic.” These two musicians take their Bach and Handel so […]

Graduation season is daunting for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that every family I know is boasting at least one graduate. So bragging rights were out the window, even though I had two beautiful graduates to brag about this June. As I wallowed alone in that oh-so-mushy nostalgic feeling, my emotions […]

    I am worried. And I am not alone. My concern is what’s in store for the bottom lines for not-for-profits this coming year. The predictions in the media are troubling. Some are estimating that a loss of contributions to not-for-profit organizations will be in the billions…perhaps somewhere between $13 and $20 billion. These […]

Some kids are special. That’s because they have special challenges. Recently artist Diane Cherr wrote me about some special kids she worked with to create a mural at the headquarters of The ARC Westchester. “The mural is a surprise being dedicated to Ric Swierat, the Executive Director who is retiring in June after many years […]