FestivalBuzz Pages

Friday, September 21, 2012

Bronx - Native American Festival

Explore aspects of the beautiful cultures of the Native American Tribes at this day-long festival in Pelham Bay Park. Pelham Bay Park will host four hours of performances, exhibits, arts and crafts, delicious food, storytelling, nature programs, and more.

When: September 23, 2012 12-4PM
Where: South Picnic Area, Pelham Bay Park, Bronx
Website:  http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2012/09/23/native-american-festival?utm_source=bit.ly&utm_medium=smlink&utm_campaign=social-media

Friday, September 7, 2012

Vote DANCEWAVE - It Counts!

Hello all! It's me, Hanna, the crazy festival lover behind FestivalBuzz. I'd like you to join me online in another venue: Facebook

The occasion is the Chase Community Giving grant drive. You've probably seen it before: you go on Facebook and vote for a charity.

Here's where I come in: I am on the board of DANCEWAVE, a Brooklyn-based dance center with an innovative teaching style that exposes students to top level professional choreographers and pre-professional dance training. Simply put, our student dancers are 100% amazing and hold their own well against even adult dance companies, as they did in August at the Downtown Dance Festival.

Dancewave gets amazing results on a shoestring budget. We are up against nonprofits with budgets up to $10 million dollars, but our budget is only $750,000. So a grant of $10,000 will go a long way! And to a very visible place: our new studio!

Dancewave is in the planning phase to build out a studio that we can actually fit our classes into. They've grown so big, we have to rent satellite spaces! And our staff has grown to bursting out of the tiny office in our storefront studio - 5 plus interns in a space meant to fit no more than four at a time. We've located a new space and will be signing the lease any day. We've obtained sufficient capital funds through our allies in New York City government.

But that money can only go to hard construction costs. It can't go to all the non-construction expenses that we're going to incur in the 18-24 months it's going to take to get this done. For one thing, we have to pay rent on the new space even while we can't use it! Doesn't seem fair, does it? Unfortunately if we want to use City funds (and we pretty much have to), that's what has to happen.

So, I'm hoping you see where your vote becomes VERY important. Nonprofits often run the problem of not being able to use program funds for general operating expenses. Dancewave is lucky in that we do take in some tuition funds which we can use for general operating expenses, but this period of capital growth is going to stretch us. In fact, it could bring us over the edge. This Chase grant would help us get through the most perilous time and let us keep serving the students who need us for support and who are blooming and growing into beautiful people as they dance with us.

I had a chance to sit down with our scholarship candidates just this week, and it struck me what a bunch of smart, funny, hopeful and VERY talented people they are. I want to create a more permanent dance center for them, and also for all the Brooklyners who will be able to use the space for recreation, as another performance or rehearsal space, or just want that particular block of Fourth Avenue to be beautiful.

So, please join me in voting this period for Dancewave on Facebook. In two minutes you can be helping to support Brooklyn small nonprofits, education in the arts, and over 1000 young people who are served in our companies, studio classes and afterschool programs.

Thank you!
Hanna
When: NOW through September 19, 2012 
VOTE: https://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charity/view/ein/11-2726558?ref=0df919e580

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

New York Clown Theatre Festival at the Brick

 Starting with a celebration parade and ending with a funeral procession, the NY Clown Theatre Festival features more than two dozen theatrical clown performances, a clown silent film night and clown cabaret performances, plus free talks on clowning's influence on society and mainstream show business.

If you aren't familiar with classical clowning (think Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Marcel Marceau), or if it's something you thought you left behind after a brief semester in college, this is a great way to appreciate the pure art form of classical clowning, and see it with a few twists. See one performance or buy a 5-pack.



When: September 7-30, 2012
Where: Brick Theater, 579 Metropolitan Ave Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Website: http://bricktheater.com/