Art-Reach is pleased to announce this year’s theme for the annual fundraising brunch: “Dixieland Jam: A Celebration of New Orleans Jazz.” Jazz has been a part of New Orleans just as much as Mardi Gras and Cajun cuisine since the turn of the twentieth century, and it has influenced music across the nation and the world from the time of its inception right up through the present day.
In the beginning, it gleaned influences from the brass bands that were popular at the time and also from West African and Creole styles. As the two modes merged, the result was a rhythmic, syncopated, improvised ragtime with cornets, clarinets, and trombones bleating out different tunes against a rhythmic section of drums, guitar, and bass. And while we may not be lucky enough to have been among the saloon-goers of the 1920s who danced and swayed along to the hot new thing called jazz, we are lucky enough to have Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Mortonchannels on our personal Pandora and iTunes accounts to enjoy a little nostalgia.
On top of that, jazz is still alive and well and is celebrated at the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Festival-goers can expect to hear new jazz and gospel artists performing their own compositions as well as already famous stars drawing on New Orleans jazz from eras gone by, as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan did at the 2006 festival following Hurricane Katrina. But whether they play old or new music, the one thing that all jazz musicians seem to have in common is that they find solace and resonance in jazz as the music that gives the city part of its identity, helps it overcome hard times, and makes good times that much better.
-By Alli Blum
The 18th annual Art-Reach Jazz Brunch is around the corner, kicking off at 11:30am tomorrow. Don't forget to turn your clocks back for daylight savings time in order to be on time for the festivities.
If this post is the only article visible, be sure to check our older posts for more information on this event and many others! Visit our archives in the right hand column or click "Older Posts".
This year’s Jazz Brunch will honor the rich history and spirit of New Orleans. To give back to a region still facing so many challenges, Art-Reach has formed a unique partnership with New Orleans non-profit, YA/YA (Young Aspirations, Young Artists). This organization, which provides cultural and entrepreneurial education for artistically-talented inner-city youths, has contributed an original painting by one of its young artists, 19-year-old Quinton Gilmore, to Art-Reach’s Jazz Brunch. This artwork (pictured left) depicts popular New Orleans musician Trombone Shorty. It is featured on the Jazz Brunch invitation and the original piece will be auctioned at the event, with proceeds benefiting YA/YA.
YA/YA has a broad vision for its young participants, which is why their programs focus on artistic growth and business savvy. These young artists are also encouraged to give their time to various community service projects and create socially-conscious artwork. Galleries around New Orleans display and sell the students’ artwork, and the artist earns a commission on each piece sold. As they progress through the program, passing milestones, their commissions increase. It’s no wonder these young people emerge from the program as well-rounded individuals primed for personal and professional achievement. According to YA/YA, “students who join YA/YA for at least one year achieve exceptional rates of high school graduation, college enrollment, and professional success.” Many graduates of the program return as apprentices and mentors to inspire a new generation of artists.
Art-Reach is thrilled to partner with an organization whose mission aligns so closely with our own. To buy a ticket to the Jazz Brunch and have a chance to bid on the YA/YA artist painting, please visit the Art-Reach website. For more information about YA/YA, visit their website .
Hi folks, we will be posting many fantastic articles over the next two days in celebration of our annual brunch. To start off the day, we bring you the inner workings of our office in brunch preparation mode. Sage Young is heading the whole shebang and doing a tremendous job. However we fear the stress may be getting to her. She's gone from 'glam' girl to fuzzy little monster --- take a look!!!!!!!
That is Sage, behind the desk, directing Rachel and Nicole in creating brunch packages.
Do you think she needs a break?
Actually, as you may have guessed, this is an auction item that will be paired with our brunch package entitled "For Your Little Monsters". It includes two tickets to Sesame Place (donated by one of our fabulous ambassadors who works at Sesame Place, Curtia Goode) and this fuzzy little friend provided by Cutesy but not Cutesy. Our staff has fallen in love with her, and will be sad to see her go, but you can have a chance to bid on this great package at the event.
This year the 1st Annual Ambassador Appreciation event was held on September 23rd at the Arden Theatre Company’s final dress rehearsal of The History Boys. At the event, we presented the Ambassador of the Year Award to this year’s recipient, Christine White.
Christine is an Administrative Ambassador, which means that she volunteers in the Art-Reach office. “Programming” at Art-Reach is a huge undertaking and incorporates many different types of programs, including In-Facility, Livearts and Museum ticketing, and more. Just ask Program Manager, Matthew Bryan, who has seen the programs grow firsthand. As our programs grow, we realized we needed a computerized system that could keep track of it all, so that we can best serve our members. Enter “the database”. For the past five years, Art-Reach has been developing a database that will manage our programming and streamline our ticketing system. It was created from scratch specifically to handle the work that we do here at Art-Reach. After years of development, all of the information from the past year’s events had to be entered into the database in time for our yearly audit. Thanks largely to Christine White, it happened!
Christine exemplifies what makes Art-Reach Ambassadors so special. They are committed, and always remind us through their smiles and dedication why we are involved with this organization.
GETTING TO KNOW CHRISTINE BETTER
Rachel Robbins (Art-Reach Program/Development Assistant): Christine, what made you want to get involved with Art-Reach in the first place? Christine White: I wanted to volunteer for an organization that was involved with something that I enjoy and had a mission that I could support.
RR: What do you find most rewarding about being an Art-Reach Ambassador? CW: Doing small acts of kindness means so much to others. That's a great feeling.
RR: What has been one of your favorite Art-Reach moments? CW: I was at the Morris Arboretum for Earth Day. There was a group of school children who were giggling and screaming as they raced toward a straw structure in the garden. As they ran in and out of it, they were so excited. It was touching to see them having so much fun!
RR: How do you feel about winning the Ambassador of the Year? CW: I was truly touched by the award. I'm very happy to be part of such a great organization and group of people. I smiled the entire next day (and still smile today)! Thank you!
Christine’s Favorites: Book: Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff Art form: Painting Philadelphia Museum or Attraction: The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Logan Circle
Join Art-Reach on Sunday, November 1st at the 18th Annual Jazz Brunch and Silent Auction where we will honor Christine White as well as our 2009 Commitment to Cultural Access Awardees Christine Rouse (Founder & Executive Director, Acting Without Boundaries) and Arden Theatre Company.
- Rachel Robbins
Click here to learn more about the Ambassador Program and how to get involved.
Help us name the Database! Now that it will be a part of daily life here at Art-Reach, it needs a name. Have ideas? Send them to Rachel Robbins at rrobbins@art-reach.org.
8 days to go! When we say we have great items for bid, WE MEAN IT!
Do you have your tickets yet? When the auction officially begins on Sunday, November 1st in the Grand Ballroom, Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue - be ready for some bidding wars!
The Daily Show
Yes, we are auctioning off four VIP tickets to attend a taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Yes, the winner requests the taping date at least three to six weeks in advance. Of course it takes place at the Daily Show Studios in New York City. Yes, I think it’s a great opportunity as well. But no, I’m sorry, you can’t bid early. See you at the brunch!
Fair Market Value: “Priceless" http://www.thedailyshow.com
Reading Terminal Market: Ice Cream Party!
For those of you with a sweet tooth, here’s an auction item you don’t want to miss. Reading Terminal Market has donated a free ice cream sundae party at Bassett's Ice Cream. Grab a few friends, forget about vegetables, and enjoy your choice of Bassett’s “World Famous” flavors. Don’t worry about diets, it’s a party! And this ice cream is too good to pass up.
Fair Market Value: $35.00 www.bassettsicecream.com/index.html
Mural Arts ASL Tour
The Nor’easter rains finally cleared and Sunday, October 18th turned into a fine, soft and gray day for the first ever Art-Reach/ Mural Arts Program (MAP) ASL tour. A small but mighty group of about 14 tour participants got together with Art-Reach Director Michael Norris, Donna and Brian, our ASL interpreters from Hands Up Productions, and me, Maureen Zug, Mural Arts Guide and Art-Reach Board Member for a tour of Broad Street murals. Our group included both hearing and deaf participants who came from Bethlehem, Hopewell, NJ and the Philadelphia area.
We saw over 32 murals -- the day’s gray diffused light really made the paintings colors pop from the walls. As a special feature of the tour, we stopped at the “Independence Starts Here” mural located at Broad and Race Streets. MAP artist Don Gensler boarded our trolley and talked about his work with the disability community to make this mural a reality over a period of three years. Don answered our questions about the artist’s process of painting this very large and complex work. Of particular interest was the ASL alphabet depicted on the wall. Don worked with students from the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf who modeled the individual letters. He talked about the challenge of retaining the kinetic nature of the ASL letters on a static medium, which is the painted wall. After our stopover with Don, our group proceeded on our tour. Along the way, we talked about the individual murals we viewed, MAP’s community-based art program, the Broad Street neighborhoods, and buildings, a little history of the city and the importance of providing art access to all Philadelphia communities.
Louis, our trolley driver, negotiated the narrow streets in North Philadelphia to give us great views of murals just off Broad Street. With the street traffic, weather, and other external factors, mural tours are not like a visit to a gallery or art museum! I always say that mural tours show “real-time art” in a community context. The final phase of our tour showcased murals on the Avenue of the Arts South and the 2 “Lincoln Legacy” murals on the return to the Independence Visitors’ Center.
Our tour was a great way to celebrate Mural Arts Month and the 25th Anniversary of MAP. The post-tour surveys were very positive and a typical response was “I would love more ASL tours…it was amazing…More, More, More Please!” As a tour guide working with Donna and Brian, I realized the exciting possibilities of including more folks in the beauty of the art experience.
If you are interested in finding out more about accessible cultural events in Philadelphia, please visit www.PhillyFunGuide.com/access.
-Maureen Zug
Serving Reshaped My Thinking
Tonight will be my first time serving as a Host Ambassador for Art-Reach and I’m really excited! I find the opportunity to help serve the community through the arts to be uplifting and fulfilling. Over the summer I served an abbreviated internship in the Art-Reach office as an Intern Ambassador. Though not the best fit for my serving interests and capacity, the Intern Ambassador track had lasting impact and helped reshape my thinking about the accessible needs of others. This became apparent to me a few weeks ago when attending class.
I am an architecture major enrolled in the Drexel University part-time evening track program. This term I’m attending classes with a gentleman who uses a wheelchair. Our first assignment required a site visit to Mt. Pleasant – a historically commissioned mansion here in Philadelphia which is not accessible. Upon visiting the site, I thought of my classmate who uses a wheelchair and how I could help serve his need to complete the assigned task. I photo documented the site and e-mailed the photos to the professor to forward to my classmate.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m neither saint nor sinner but, I’m convinced that volunteering with Art-Reach helped reshape my thinking and encouraged greater consideration on my part for the accessible needs of others. Some have said to me “oh, poor guy; that was nice of you”. I beg to differ however. Poor us who don’t take the time to share our experiences with others who may not have the good fortune to experience them in the same capacity… thanks Art-Reach for sharing your capacity to serve with me.
For more information about serving with Art-Reach's Ambassador Program visit www.art-reach.org.
Our mission is to connect underserved audiences with cultural experiences so that they may enjoy and benefit from the transformative powers of the arts. Our Blog, Art-Reach: The Experience, serves to connect Art-Reach with its constituents and the general public to celebrate our successes, share information, and highlight mission related items.
Art-Reach is pleased to announce this year’s theme for the annual fundraising brunch: “Dixieland Jam: A Celebration of New Orleans Jazz.” Jazz has been a part of New Orleans just as much as Mardi Gras and Cajun cuisine since the turn of the twentieth century, and it has influenced music across the nation and the world from the time of its inception right up through the present day. 
