December 08, 2006
Dr. William Henry Banchs, President, National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, 12-8-06
Headquartered in Miami, FL, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) was founded in 1981 and is supported nationally by a broad base of individuals, corporations, foundations and philanthropic institutions. NFAA encourages artistic growth and career development through workshops, public performances and exhibitions, internships, underwriting of creative projects and residency fellowships. These fellowships include stipends from Fellowships in the Visual Arts.
The foundation awards high school seniors more than $500,000 in cash prizes each year for achievement in the performing, literary and visual arts. It also nominates presidential scholars in the arts, and some colleges refer to its rosters for recruitment. The program draws from a diverse student population. The foundation sends out information to 26,000 high schools across the country. Applications come from every state, more than 90 percent of them from public schools. About one-third of the applicants and about 40 percent of winners identify themselves as members of minorities.
NFAA serves as a springboard for successful careers in the arts by helping young artists realize and pursue their dreams in the fields of Classical, Jazz and Popular Music, Voice, Dance, Film and Video, Photography, Theater, Visual Arts and Writing.
Past winners, have included the novelist Allegra Goodman, the actress Vanessa Williams, the dancer and choreographer Desmond Richardson, the actor Ron Eldard, at least 15 dancers from the New York City Ballet and eight members of the New York Philharmonic.
Last year 160 of the more than 6500 applicants were chosen to spend a week in Miami for the annual ArtsWeek, all expenses paid, working together and taking master classes with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Michael Tilson Thomas and Plácido Domingo, among others. From this group 38 winners were chosen to perform in New York; top prizes are $10,000 and $5000.
Dr. William Henry Banchs has been President of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts since 1991. Dr. Banchs received his B.A. in Physics and Chemistry (1970) from Harvard University, and his M.A. (1976) and Ph.D. (1978) in Music Composition and Theory from Harvard University. In 2004 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Posted by David Lemberg at 08:31 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2006
Rey Bustos, Artist and Educator, 11-17-06
Rey Bustos is one of the leading artistic anatomists in the country today. A former freelance illustrator, he is now almost solely dedicated to art education at every level. Mr. Bustos not only has students at the college/university level, but also works with professionals and teachers. Along with his specialty of teaching anatomy through écorché — the teaching of anatomy through sculptural means — he also teaches figure drawing and composition. Mr. Bustos is currently teaching at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena; the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, Van Nuys; Cal State L.A., Los Angeles; and Disney Feature Animation, Burbank.
Mr. Bustos is also an accomplished artist with two main subjects — figurative drawings and a type of painting he calls SURREAL-REALISM, whereby he uses collage and paint to create a surreal new environment. He is represented by the San Marino Gallery in San Marino, CA.
Posted by David Lemberg at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2006
Edward Morgano, Arts Supervisor for The New York City Department of Education’s Region Five Learning Support Center, 7/14/06, Part One
Edward Morgano is the Arts Supervisor for The New York City Department of Education’s Region Five Learning Support Center. He supervises visual arts, music, theater and dance for 113 schools in three community school districts in Brooklyn and Queens. Mr. Morgano is one of ten Regional Arts Supervisors assigned to oversee the kindergarten through high school arts programs for schools in their regions. Prior to that assignment he supervised arts education for Brooklyn high schools. As an experienced visual arts educator with over 35 years in New York City, he brings his experience as a classroom teacher and high school supervisor to his current role.
An important aspect of Mr. Morgano’s work is building strong ties between schools and cultural institutions, community based organizations and local artists and studios. In partnership with these organizations, he provides professional development workshops for superintendents, school based supervisors and teachers. While these workshops focus on arts education, they also provide professional development for teachers in other academic disciplines in an effort to integrate arts learning into all academic areas.
Mr. Morgano was on the committee to create the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts, an innovative curriculum guide for arts teachers. Key components are its five Strands for Learning: arts making, arts literacy, interdisciplinary connections, using community and cultural resources and careers and lifelong learning in the arts. The second component is its benchmarks for students in grades 2, 5, 8 and 12. Teachers reach these benchmarks using the Blueprint as a guide rather than as a prescriptive lock step curriculum. The Blueprint is available at the New York City Project ARTS (Arts Restoration for the Arts) website. There are Blueprints for Visual Arts, Music, Theater and Dance, also listed on the Project ARTS website.
Mr. Morgano is on the Education Advisory Committee of the Queens Museum of Art and was the recipient of The School Art League, Charles Marshall Robertson Award, for outstanding contributions as an arts educator.
Posted by David Lemberg at 02:02 PM | Comments (0)
Edward Morgano, Arts Supervisor for The New York City Department of Education’s Region Five Learning Support Center, 7/14/06, Part Two
We continue our conversation with Edward Morgano, and talk about the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts and the Arts and Cultural Education Services Guide [PDF], and New York City schoolchildren participation in the acclaimed documentary, "Mad Hot Ballroom".
Posted by David Lemberg at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)