This and That by JL

Growing up in what may be considered the jazz era, I have learned to tap my feet in appreciation of most any old beat. In fact, it’s an involuntary action. It occurred to me that others may also have feet they can’t control, which led to ArtsWestchester featuring the best of jazz in our historic […]

    There’s a reason we named our New York State Grants funding program Arts Alive. That’s because it is a grassroots program that recognizes that arts are an expression of the people. So in every corner of this great County, artists and citizens are working together to bring to residents unique programs that reflect […]

Now that it’s over – past history, at least for this year – let’s talk about the 15th annual Pleasantville Music Festival. What a great all-day event, featuring 18 bands such as Everclear, Soul Asylum and Aimee Mann. But, let’s not get too distracted by the music, or for that matter the food, which was […]

“History got under my skin.” That’s the way Waddell Stillman explains his 27-year stint at Historic Hudson Valley (HHV), first as CFO and now as President and CEO. It’s what led him and his team to develop a groundbreaking education program about slavery in the Colonial North. People Not Property is an interactive website and […]

    Next week, we will be celebrating philanthropy. Derived from the Greek words “philos,” which means loving, and “anthropos,” which means humankind, philanthropy is just that: a love for humankind. It is centuries old and crosses cultures. Conceptually it is not simply about “giving” but about improving the well-being of humankind. Each year, ArtsWestchester presents […]

There’s something to be said for freezing a moment.  That’s what photographers do. One Westchester photographer I know has been freezing many moments as the construction of the new Mario M. Cuomo bridge has been underway. David Rocco, a retired civil service carpenter, is happy when he is photographing construction projects. For the past few […]

Recently, I have been thinking about walls….not the Berlin wall, the Pink Floyd wall or even Robert Frost’s Mending Wall, but the ironic oppositional interpretations which love walls or hate them depending on their purpose. In this case, I am watching with excitement the new exhibition and partition walls going up in our gallery thanks […]

    Was it by chance? Or, was it ordained… that I would meet the extraordinary widow of James Van Der Zee, the noted Harlem Renaissance photographer at an ordinary gathering of the Mt. Vernon Arts Council. As we went around the room introducing ourselves, I was pleased to meet Donna Mussenden Van Der Zee […]