Westchester News in Brief

Weekly Adult Jam Sessions at Lagond Music School

Lagond Music School (LMS) has announced an expansion of its current offerings in order to extend its reach into the local music community. LMS welcomes practicing and professional musicians of every skill level to its new Sunday night adult jam sessions at The Haven at Lagond, the School’s Elmsford rehearsal and performance space. Attending musicians, 18 years of age and older, will bring their instruments and participate in an interactive jam session on a fully-equipped professional sound-stage. Each week’s session will explore a new genre, such as rock, jazz or funk. Spectators are also welcome to attend and watch the lively performances. For more info, visit: lagondmusic.org.

Pelham Art Center Launches New Public Art Program

Pelham Art Center (PAC) has announced a public art program in conjunction with the grand opening of the newly-renovated Wolf Lane Park in Pelham. This “Public Art in the Park” program aims to promote free arts access for the public. The inaugural exhibition in the sculpture garden area of the park is Anki King’s Human Nature, which will be on view at both the Park and PAC’s courtyard through September 2. The Norwegian artist creates sculptural figures, composed of rebar, wood and natural materials, which explore the human connection to the natural world. King explains: “Human Nature speaks to humanity’s dependency on nature and the tension effected, as humanity … is at the same time capable of destroying [nature] – and thereby itself.” For more info, visit: pelhamartcenter.org.

                                              City of Yonkers Receives Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

The City of Yonkers has received a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for The Enslaved Africans’ Rain Garden, a public art project that will commemorate the enslaved Africans who once resided in the City. A portion of land in downtown Yonkers has been designated for the exhibit, which will consist of five life-sized sculptures by Westchester artist Vinnie Bagwell. The project also received support from ArtsWestchester’s Arts Alive grants program, as well as the City of Yonkers. The NEA grant funds will be used to create a pair of sculptures that depicts two children, Sola and Olemide. For more info on this project, visit: enslavedafricansraingarden.org.

Papermaking Enlivens the Classroom at Riverside High School in Yonkers

ArtsWestchester teaching artist Dene Ross recently presented a papermaking and bookmaking workshop for 11th and 12th grade students at Riverside High School in Yonkers. The students created cotton paper from pulp and incorporated design projects that were created in their Computer class in order to make handmade books. New York Assemblyman Gary Pretlow joined Ross and the students in the papermaking activity. This residency was funded by an ArtsWestchester Arts Alive Grant, which is made possible by the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, and with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

A version of this article first appeared in the June 2017 issue of ArtsNews, ArtsWestchester’s monthly publication. ArtsNews is distributed throughout Westchester County. A digital copy is also available at artsw.org/artsnews. 

Featured image: Adult jam session at Lagond Music School (photo courtesy of Lagond Music School)