Metroland Online - Art Murmur

IT CAN’T BE 30 YEARS Ruth Pelham and Music Mobile have been celebrating 30 years of community building and arts-in-education in the Capital Region (and beyond—as far away as Sri Lanka) with a variety of events. The latest event has been a series of five Children’s Art Shows at Stewart’s Shops in Albany: 164 Morton Ave. at S. Hawk Street; 515 Washington Ave. at Quail Street; 285 New Scotland Ave.; 204 Henry Johnson Blvd. at Livingston Avenue; and 542 Central Ave. at Manning Boulevard. As Pelham explains in the notes about the shows, “displaying the Children’s Art Shows in central community locations is a way of communicating positive messages of hope and possibility through the voices of children for whom a peaceful future is essential.” The shows won’t be up much longer, so visit one of these friendly, locally owned Stewart’s locations soon, won’t you? For more info about Music Mobile programs and events, visit www.musicmobile.org.

IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN eba Theater, once and forever at the corner of Lark Street and Hudson Avenue in Albany, is again the place to check out this season’s edition of Maude Baum and Company’s Brave New Dances. This program features new works by Maude Baum, Maria Esposito, Lynn Hasselbarth, Isabelle Holmes, Katie Newhall, Deb Rutledge, Sarah Schmidt and Carla Domenico. The opening shows were last weekend; the last performances are Friday and Saturday (Nov. 9-10) at 7 PM. Tickets are $10, $8 students and seniors. Making reservations isn’t a bad idea, so why not call 465-9916?

ARE YOU ON THE FRINGE? Bazaar Productions has sent out a call for artists to submit works for next year’s Berkshire Fringe Festival, to be held, again, at Simon’s Rock College of Bard in Great Barrington, Mass., next July and August. What kind of artists? Well, the Berkshire Fringe Festival “will feature 21 days of dynamic new works of theater, dance and multimedia performances by emerging artists from across the United States.” So, if you are an emerging dancer, playwright, videographer-DJ or whatnot here in these United States, please apply by Feb. 1, 2008. Visit www.berkshirefringe.org for info and an application.

DO YOU HAVE A CAMERA (AND WE DON’T MEAN SOME CRAPPY CAMERA PHONE)? The 5th Annual City of Troy Photo Contest is eagerly awaiting your entry. This year’s theme is Now and Then, and the photo can be of “any person, place or thing in Troy, present or past.” Why not take a picture of City Hall—it’s the present and the past, if things go as the just-reelected-by-a-wide-margin mayor would like. Anyhoo, there are a couple of $100 prizes, one in a “student division” and the other for “best combination Now and Then theme.” The deadline is Nov. 26, and the winners will be announced and photos exhibited on Dec. 2 at the annual Victorian Stroll. Submit entries at Troy City Hall, as per the instructions/entry form available at troyny.gov.

PENNIES FROM HEAVEN I can faintly hear Bing Crosby crooning just over the horizon, in Western Massachusetts: “Every time it rains, it rains/pennies from heaven.” Why? The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute recently announced that “it has exceeded its fundraising goal for Stone Hill Center, raising nearly $17 million for the project to date.” (That would be $17 million of the $25 million total.) The Stone Hill Center, designed by award-winning architect Tadao Ando, will “house new exhibition galleries, a meeting and studio art classroom, an outdoor café . . . and a new home for the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.” The most recent addition to the fund came from the Kresge Foundation—the skies opened, and the good folks at this $3 billion organization rained $800,000 on the Clark’s fund. Kresge, you may or may not know, is the “K” in K-Mart; once upon a time, predecessor Kresge stores were five-and-dimes almost as ubiquitous as Woolworth’s. Hmm . . . I can hear Bing singing again: “I found a million-dollar arts grant/in the five-and-ten-cents store.” The Stone Hill Center, the Clark reports, is on track to open in Spring 2008.

—Shawn Stone

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