Archive by Author

Two Things I Learned From Koch

I can’t wait to see the movie “Koch” not just because he was a colorful Mayor. But, let’s just say, I knew the man. He was my boss, so to speak. Some time ago…actually a long time ago in the late seventies, I was Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for New York City when Koch […]

Continue Reading

Singing Her Heart Out

Christine Andreas is Westchester’s “Fair Lady” having appeared in many Broadway revivals including “My Fair Lady,” “On Your Toes” and “Oklahoma.” This Tony-awardee is bringing her  newly arranged cabaret show “Bemused” to a Westchester Community College soiree on April 17th at Tappan Hill.  It’s all about raising funds for need-based scholarships to give deserving students of […]

Continue Reading

Literacy Gone Visual

Literacy Gone Visual

As a child, I remember being so inconsolable watching the wicked queen poison Snow White, that I actually ran out of the movie theater. Steve Apkon would no doubt say: “It was the power of the image.” Apkon, Founder of the Jacob Burns Film Center, explores visual literacy in his book, The Age of the […]

Continue Reading

Heroes of Hurricane Sandy

When people ask where I’m from, I most often say, “I’m just a kid from the Rockaway’s.” This used to evoke a querulous “Where?” But no longer. Unfortunately, the Rockaway’s are recently famous, but not for the charm and fun I knew riding my bike on the boardwalk on a brisk winter’s day from Beach […]

Continue Reading

Nature is Art

Beauty, we are told, is in the eye of the beholder. So for some beauty is a sunset.  For others, it’s a sports car or a diamond.  For Robert Wiener, Chairman of Maxx Properties and ArtsWestchester board member, beauty is a geode.  For more than 40 years, Wiener has been collecting geodes, some 2,000 of […]

Continue Reading

Beyond the Bed

Beyond the Bed

For some reason unbeknownst to me, I have this thing about the arts.  Call it an obsession? A calling? It’s hard to explain, but whatever it is, I found myself last week spending a rainy day in Albany asking for a mere $4 million dollars for the arts in a $142 billion state budget.  Feeling almost […]

Continue Reading

Rainy Day in Albany

Rainy Day in Albany

It was a rainy day in Albany, but the mood was upbeat as a group of arts advocates made their way to legislative offices. The mission was a $4 million lift for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). A contingent from Westchester, including Dominick  Balletta from the Jacob Burns Film Center; Eileen […]

Continue Reading

Rainmaker

Last week, ArtsWestchester lost a dear friend. Bill McNamee, our board member for nearly ten years passed away all too soon. As a busy senior executive, he travelled the world for Citigroup, yet always found ways to help ArtsWestchester, and in doing so, helped thousands. More often than not, he’d return our calls from some […]

Continue Reading