Andrew Lamb a.k.a. The Black Lamb, plays saxophones, flutes, clarinet, oboe, and woodwind instruments from various indigenous societies. Also a composer, Lamb is known as an individual artist, with his own style and his own story. Lamb came into New York’s once heralded Loft Jazz scene and the avant-garde community in the mid seventies, and over time became an active presence in the vibrant Bedford-Stuyvesant arts world during the 90’s through 2004. He recently released the album Casbah of Love with his working trio of bassist Tom Abbs and drummer Ryan Jewell. Andrew Lamb’s Circadian Spheres Of Light, is a special ensemble of interest, a multidisciplinary outfit with works created to help heal those with Autism, Dementia, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

For this performance, Lamb welcomes heavy hitters Cooper-Moore, Hilliard Greene, and Marvin "Bugulu" Smith. 

Andrew Lamb - tenor sax, clarinet / Cooper-Moore - piano / Hilliard Greene - bass / Marvin "Bugulu" Smith- drums

​New York State Council on the Arts Awards Arts for Art $15,000
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New York State Council on the Arts Grants Support Vital Cultural Programs Statewide
New York, NY— Arts for Art today announced that it has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) for FY2020 with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. NYSCA grants support the transformative impact of the performing, literary, visual and media arts in New York State.

Arts for Art is one of 462 arts organizations across New York State receiving a total of $8,383,993 million in grants through NYSCA’s Round II FY2020 funding to support arts programs that drive New York State’s economic growth and community health.

“The arts and culture are a critical driver of health in people and places,” said Mara Manus, Executive Director, New York State Council on the Arts. “Our state’s creative industries generate a total of $120 billion to the state economy, account for 466,000 jobs, and play a significant role in revitalization, education and social justice.”
NYSCA will award a total of $41 million to arts organizations across New York State for FY2020. The second of three rounds of NYSCA funding for FY2020 includes support for museums, theatres, and arts organizations that drive tourism and anchor communities and arts education programs essential to learning for all ages, including public school students, aging populations and at-risk youth.

NYSCA Round II grants also support creative arts programs promoting physical and mental health and personal and professional development in historically underserved and vulnerable communities, including those in geographically remote areas; disabled communities; impoverished and homeless populations; and justice-involved youth and adults. Arts for Art received funding through NYSCA’s Music program support General Operations.

Annually, NYSCA grants are awarded in 15 discipline programs and the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. Over the last two years, NYSCA has awarded an additional $30 million in capital funding to 71 organizations statewide fueling community development and tourism, and will announce additional capital grant awards this year.

“New York’s cultural sector is a driving force in our state’s economy,” said Katherine Nicholls, Chair, New York State Council on the Arts.  “As our arts organizations expand their audiences and programs with NYSCA support, we will serve many more New Yorkers and build the vitality of our communities statewide.”    
NYSCA Round II grant awards were made through the agency’s Arts Education, Special Arts Services, Museum, Theatre, Music, Dance, Literature, and Visual Arts Programs. A list of NYSCA grantees searchable by program and location is available here.
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Additional NYSCA funding will be announced in late 2019, including support for presenting organizations, individual artist commissions, and, through the Regional Economic Development Council, programs driving economic growth and building New York State’s workforce.

About The New York State Council on the Arts
 
The New York State Council on the Arts champions community and creativity by preserving and advancing numerous aspects of the cultural heritage that makes New York State an exceptional place to live, work and visit.
NYSCA upholds the right of all New Yorkers to experience the vital contributions the arts make to our communities, education, economic development and quality of life. Through its core grantmaking activity, NYSCA awarded $51M in FY2019 to 2,400 organizations statewide through direct grants and regrants in our 15 programs, the Regional Economic Development Council initiative and the Mid-Size Capital Project Fund. NYSCA funding supports the visual, literary, media and performing arts and includes dedicated support for arts education and underserved communities. NYSCA further advances New York's creative culture by hosting convenings with leaders in the field and providing organizational and professional development opportunities and informational resources.

Created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1960, and continued and expanded to the present day with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, NYSCA is an agency of the Executive Branch of the New York State Government. For more information on NYSCA, please visit: www.arts.ny.gov. 

The inspiration behind Atomic Pigeons, in Nagano's words:

"I wanted to write my compositions that I can take time to really figure out what I like to write. I wanted us to rehearse as much as we can to make our sounds strong and unique. I just wanted to develop my own, kind of nerdy hardcore sounds and the world so bad because, that could be fun."

Sana Nagano has been a mainstay of free jazz giant Karl Berger’s Improvisers Orchestra and world-renowned, innovative percussionist Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra. Nagano also worked with Joseph Jarman, Yusef  Lateef, William Parker, Daniel Carter, Oliver Lake, and many more.

“Nagano is the kind of improviser that recalls the very best of avant-jazz-rock violin, resurrecting the spirit of Billy Bang, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and the full breadth of modernism all in one. Nagano’s acoustic violin is clean, cutting, sinewy, regal, magical. Yet nothing seems to please her more than ripping into a lightning bolt like, electric sounding improvisation using her pedals intermittently. This die-hard improviser grew from many years of formal classical and jazz training, all put to excellent use. She clearly musses the conservatory up with the intentional/unintentional chaos and musical play in the best imaginable way.” - John Pietaro (Dissident Arts)

Sana Nagano - violin / Keisuke Matsuno - guitar / Paolo Cantarella - drums / Tyler Luppi - bass

The Music was Inspired. The Art was Beautiful. The Poetry was Profound. The Dance was Patricia Nicholson in community.

We rejoiced together. We had cake, fine wine, and delicious food. 

We did this together and we raised some money.

Thanks to all who attended our birthday celebration and benefit, in recognition of our Founder and Artistic Director, Patricia Nicholson Parker. If you were there, you experienced the heart of this community. In performing, the musicians exhibited a depth, commitment, and a unified statement in support for the woman who started it all and has continued to make it happen, staying strong, for decades.

We are grateful to New York City Councilmember Carlina Rivera, her chief of staff Pedro Carrillo, and staff member Sheila Rodriguez for presenting Patricia with a citation in recognition of her work in service to the cultural community, and the community at large.

Thank you,

Todd Nicholson
Executive Director, Arts for Art

Photos by Eva Kapanadze

Pianist Mara Rosenbloom was introduced to the Arts for Art community through her mentors Connie Crothers and Cooper-Moore, and her trio project Flyways was assembled after meeting vocalist/percussionist Anaïs Maviel at an AFA event. Flyways has embraced both fully improvised and composition based music making, but always leaves room to redirect, reconfigure, and reinterpret as determined by group interaction. 

The unique presence of the Surdo drum over a trap drumset contributes to a strong sense of rhythm and groove while freeing up space for a full group texture. Bassist Ken Filiano, who makes his first appearance with the group, is known for his virtuosity and ability to adapt to any musical situation.

Rosenbloom will be guiding the flight from the piano, and has prepared new music for this performance.
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Mara Rosenbloom - piano / Anaïs Maviel - voice, surdo / Ken Filiano - bass​

So I organized Arts for Art and the Vision Festival. It did come out of our conversations and the need to bring attention to this wonderful music that was being so overlooked. All of the great music that had been happening with the Improvisers Collective just wasn't getting noticed, so we had to do something that would get the audience's attention. I was thinking about the Sound Unity Festival, which also had gotten almost no press, but I figured having done the Improvisers Collective for two years would help the festival. It laid the groundwork for the Vision Festival, which is what I ended up calling it. I believe that everyone has a vision, and they have more than one, especially artists. Visions are our inspiration, our highest moments, and the Vision Festival brings together all of these wonderful, bright visions that leave people inspired. I also feel that putting yourself on the line as an artist is similar to putting yourself on the line as a human being, standing up for what you believe. So I always try to create opportunities where people can make the link between great art and some sense of social responsibility.

The Vision Festival is an artist-run festival - that was really important.  There has always been a group of artists who have been involved in various aspects of the Vision Festival, especially in helping choose the artists.
 
I wanted the Vision Festival to become a place where you bring together all that's wonderful, to get to hear artists and great groups, artists of all ages, poets and dancers, so that you can get a sense of the scope of what is possible. In a sense it would be a kind of ideal zone. And there you are together with your whole community. To make the festival happen takes a tremendous amount of people to run it each day, and all of them are important. You bring all of these unique elements together and you get to hang out with each other, in a place where everyone is given respect. We are all together and we are having a wonderful time. The festival creates the opportunity. The heart of the Vision Festival music is New York-specific with New York's particular intense and spiritual connections. But even though this New York music is the core of the Vision festival, we don't believe that it's the only thing. It's about coming together. That's why we bring people from all over the United States and Europe. It's about bringing people together and making sure no one is left out.

These free Sunday afternoon concerts are designed to give audience members an inside look into how performers approach improvisation.  The final 15 minutes of each performance encourage audience participation, building off of themes introduced by the artists.  Children are welcome and will be provided with simple drawing materials.