ACE PEOPLE

Creative Beginnings: Angelique Powell

July 30, 2018 By Maureen Sager

[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_image type=”none” src=”https://upstatecreative.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG_0825.jpg” alt=”” link=”false” href=”#” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][cs_text]Angelique shared her advice about growing within your organization. We talked about the limited roles/jobs available in arts nonprofits, and how that can lead to high competition and discouragement for people trying to break into the industry.

Where are you from, and where do you live now? I’m from Latham, NY and I live in Albany, NY

Where did you attend school? What did you study? I graduated from Shaker High School and then graduated from Ithaca College with a BA in Psychology.

Family? I’m the oldest of six kids and really only grew up with my immediate family, but they all live locally to this day.

What Job titles have you held? I’ve been at the Palace for a year and 7 months. I started in the Box Office as a Ticket Seller and then after 6 months I was promoted to Part-Time Event Night Supervisor and 10 months later I was promoted to Development Manager and Community Events Coordinator as a part of the Development Department here.

What got you interested in performing arts and acting? I honestly feel like I was born this way. I am the oldest of a tribe of children and I always turned our play time, into full scale productions in which I did costumes, constructed the set, directed and was the lead actor, hahaha! Everything I was involved in, until I finally began to perform in middle school, I brought to it, this very dynamic, performance aspect to it until I finally found my home on stage.

Do you have a favorite role you’ve played? Which? Last March, I played Mrs. Mueller in DOUBT at Schenectady Civic Playhouse.

As an actor and an administrator, how does this impact your daily life and how do you find balance? I wish I could answer this in a more beautiful and inspiring way but the honesty and transparency is that I don’t always succeed at finding the balance. There are some days that I’m learning my lines frantically, backstage, as I’m awaiting my scene to approach. There are some days when I arrive to work two hours early because of the guilt of not being able to stay later the night before. There are days when I’m so exhausted, I feel like I feel it in the very tips of my fingers and toes and I’m just praying to get through the week and I ask myself, why do I continue to do this? The answer; I can’t NOT do this. On days when I am unsure about everything, that is the one thing I am completely certain of; I was meant to be an actor.

What does your job at The Palace entail? What do you enjoy about your job? I have a really big, community relations, aspect to my position here at the Palace. A key component to my roles and responsibilities is being the point of contact for all of our non-commercial events and help engage and potentially reengage the community in a way they may not have otherwise had a relationship with the theatre. I love the community. I truly and genuinely enjoy and am filled with immense gratitude to be afforded this opportunity to truly serve my community and through arts engagement. I have been so impacted by the arts and the ability to use the arts to connect, include, build, rebuild, and heal and to be able to share that with the community as both a professional and an artist; let’s just say the beauty isn’t lost on me.

Many people leave a job in order to grow and move ahead in their career but you’ve been able to grow and see opportunities for growth in your field while staying at the Palace. How have you navigated that? Well, I actually had a long-standing, retail managerial career that I left before I ended up at the Palace. I took a major pay cut and decided, that it was time to think about and take a chance on myself and what truly makes me happy.

Life is so unimaginably short and we only get one; what is the point if we don’t take every gift, privilege and opportunity afforded us and do something really amazing with it? My time, here at the Palace, has been relatively short in comparison to that eight-year career, but it has been so rich in experience and fulfillment. From working in the box office and getting to give amazing customer service and be a part of how excited people would get over their favorite artists or children absolutely beaming at the opportunity to see a movie or performance for the very first time in a theatre, to working in Development and getting to put together a film screening of, “I Am Evidence,” during Sexual Assault Awareness Month to call attention to the significant number of cases that have had justice impeded by backlogged evidence and then to take on the amazing, “Summer in the City” Program, to allow the community children a free movie series, incorporating their favorites, that allows them to enjoy the place that has really become my second home; this has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.

I truly believe in the mission and vision of the Palace Theatre and what we have and will continue to contribute to the local arts community and now, when I’m at home, still working or thinking about something work related, it’s not simply to hit a sales goal. I have a real opportunity to make a difference, in my own, totally unique way. That being said, it’s easy to think of longevity here instead of moving on to another job, because here, I can create opportunities for myself and others.

What’s one thing you want the community to know about the local arts scene? It’s larger than you think and probably just a Facebook invite away. [/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]

Four Questions With Kyle Patzwahl, Art Omi

July 23, 2018 By Maureen Sager

[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_image type=”none” src=”https://upstatecreative.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Untitled-drawing.jpg” alt=”” link=”false” href=”#” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][cs_text]Nestled in the woods of Columbia County, Art Omi is a not-for-profit arts organization offering a stunning 200-acre Sculpture Field and internationally respected residency program, in addition to our innovative and expansive education programs. Over 30,000 annual guests enter through the Charles B. Benenson Visitor Center and Gallery, to attend concerts and lectures, view paintings and video exhibitions, enjoy a farm-to-table lunch on weekends, attend Camp, and much more.

ACE met with Art Omi’s Director of External Relations, Kyle Patzwahl, ahead of our August 1st Mixer Event to give members a glimpse into what has made their operation so successful and what to expect when touring the campus. He works closely with Executive Director Ruth Adams, who directs all of Art Omi’s programs..

Kyle parlayed a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Architecture into a career in commercial real estate before joining Art Omi. He proudly states “there’s no need to leave Columbia County because we bring the world to you”, and that’s no idle boast: since 1992, artists from 130 countries have participated in Art Omi’s residency programs. Specialized Program Directors work year-round on planning, selecting and executing their residencies in five disciplines: architecture, dance, visual art, writing, and music.

Location: 1405 Co Rt 22, Ghent NY
Employees: 9 full-time, 37 part-time and up to 20 seasonal
In business since: 1992

How do you draw world-class artists to Ghent for residencies?

Our residencies are unique – we focus on the process behind each of the art forms. We don’t require any participant to complete a project while on campus, which creates a different dynamic than many other residencies by allowing free-form thought and ‘best practice’ discussions to emerge. There are no costs to any artists beyond travel, so they are truly free to explore the campus and consider their work and process. We allow for a lot of open-ended time and work space, while bringing in guest critics to enhance the experience and push the artists in a thoughtful way to achieve something meaningful.

After 26 years are there still fresh hurdles and successes?

Funding is always a hurdle. Federal and State art budgets are being cut, like school budgets following the 2008 recession: art, music and theater are the first things to be cut. Public and private programs rely on these grants to expose children to the arts early in their life. Here, these cuts also impact our operation – we lessen staff to allow more scholarships for kids to attend summer camps or more artists to come to our campus. It is the life of a non-profit: you work hard and take less because you believe in the greater good and continuation of art and education.

As for successes, the staff pitches in to ensure we are moving forward; our success is bringing talented individuals to our team who ask questions and develop a sustainable growth model which will allow us to continue to engage with the community and our visitors from around the world. We pride ourselves on being a community organization – we have a $1.5 million economic impact on the county and Capital District. Buying local products and using local partners may be marginally more expensive but it is important to invest in our community, as they invest in our organization.

What advice would you give to someone looking to work in a creative business?

Keep at it and read. A mentor once told me that if you read on any subject for seven years you can become an expert; you have to find what you’re passionate about and always keep at it. You can’t be timid in the face of failure or adversity. Going in with an open mind and a strong sense of ambition and innovation makes you unstoppable. Be the most positive, have the most energy – people feed off that.

What should ACE members expect to see when visiting Art Omi for the August 1st mixer?

Art Omi is an experience – you will see some beautiful things and interesting things but really it is about discovery. The main public draw is the sculpture park and gallery space which brings well known and emerging artists to the attention of visitors. There is such an energy here when you enter the building – if you are looking to build relationships and connections while discovering great things about yourself and the creative economy Art Omi is on the short list to achieve those things.[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]

Local Producer Commemorates Juneteenth with ‘Talk Eat Art’ Event

June 6, 2018 By Maureen Sager

*Kaciem Swain, Founder and Creative Director of Velvet Rope Group*

This was necessary since the Emancipation Proclamation, announced by President Lincoln about three years before, did not have jurisdiction over Confederate states like Texas and technically didn’t free a single enslaved Black person. Even after it was law, there was minimal support in enforcing the law.

In the Capital Region, a local entrepreneur is producing an event that not only celebrates the Emancipation of Black people, but celebrates the creative impact Black people have made in the region. Through art, poetry and music, Talk Eat Art, or T.E.A. is an event that has been happening for 4 years in the Capital Region, but this year, the event also commemorates an important day in Black History.

Kaciem Swain (aka @CampaignSwain) is the Founder and Creative Director of Velvet Rope Group, an experiential special events company. He says he decided to celebrate freedom and economic development for people of color rather than a history of slavery and inequality. Six venues, over a thousand tickets sold, and 100 performances later, this year’s event will be held at Proctors Theatre on June 15th.

Swain wants to provide a platform for artists, musicians, and creatives of color to share their talents. His event promotion career began as a teenage protegee with a series called “Rock The Mic.” That started Swain on a path to creating a diverse range of experiences and events, like He said She said, a forum about love, intimacy and relationships, and a writers forum called “A Penny for Your Thoughts”.

Swain wanted to offer a safe space for people to come together, eat, drink, and share constructive criticism in a safe creative environment.

Swain has also teamed up with entrepreneur Liska Wilson, marketing consultant, founder of the nonprofit She’s a Boss, and Busy Day co-owner. Together they created Think Tank Thursdays, a mastermind event series in which aspiring entrepreneurs, small business owners, and visionaries meet up and share ideas about success, innovation, and growth.

“The goal is to build relationships that are diverse and inclusive. Instead of focusing on us having seats at the table, we should focus on building a table together.” Swain also wants to help the creative economy as well through events like T.E.A., whose business model has changed to a profit sharing model where creatives are empowered to deliver and understand that they can create their own financial destiny. The new business model has allowed creatives to see the impact they can have from a business perspective.

I also got a chance to speak to a musician Jordan Taylor-Hill, who will be a part of the opening performance at T.E.A.

“Juneteenth for me personally means freedom of expression as an artist and a drummer. Practices like drumming were condemned and banned on plantations and places where Africans would gather. So to be able to perform , and commemorate people who have laid the groundwork and made this possible is an honor. I’m excited to be involved in this event.”

Tickets for TEA can be purchased at Proctors website. The event begins at 7pm. For more information, contact Velvet Rope Group.

Guest post by Ashleigh Kinsey, owner, AK Design[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]

Four Restauranteurs Give Capital Region Its Sizzle

July 7, 2017 By Maureen Sager

[rev_slider alias=”Restaurant”][/rev_slider]The house was jam-packed at Albany Center Gallery on Thursday, July 6, for a discussion with four of the region’s most innovative restauranteurs — Vic Christopher (Peck’s Arcade, Lucas Confectionary), Claudia Crisan (Crisan Bakery and Edible Art Gallery), Corey Nelson (Troy Kitchen), and Ric Orlando (New World Bistro Bar) — who gathered in support of photographer Richard Lovrich‘s “Makers 365” exhibit.

These four restaurant owners were able to inspire multiple people who dream of opening their own food business in the near future. Starting your own restaurant is no easy task, even with this great inventory on restaurant supplies to help you. Although there are already many restaurants about, these business owners were able to tell people about other ways they can achieve their own food brand. One of them suggested that people should consider looking at franchising opportunities, from companies like mattsbigbreakfastfranchising.com, instead of opening a brand new restaurant which might never take off. These days, it’s about differentiating yourself from the competition and it’s much easier to do that when your restaurant already has an established brand. However, the restauranteurs were also able to discuss how their food businesses were able to flourish and grow.

Quite interestingly, all the restaurateurs involved in the debate stated that traditional marketing methods such as custom yard signs still proved to be popular with regards to promoting their establishments. In the digital age, it can be easy to forget just how much impact a physical advertisement can have on passers-by. Other marketing incentives discussed by the restaurateurs included printed discount cards, promotions, and loyalty schemes. In addition to marketing signs, it’s also important for businesses to have safety signs too, especially in restaurants. As so many of the public are entering these establishments, they need to have fire exit signs and other signs to help people stay safe during their time inside. Other restaurant owners can always click here to see some of the other signs that they might need to keep their guests safe.

The 90-minute discussion offered many thoughts on the advantages of living and working in the Capital Region. “The reasonable cost of living draws creative people to an area,” said Orlando, who paid just $390 a month to live in Soho in his youth. “Nobody’s getting rich when you’re starting out in a kitchen.” Crison added, “Albany has meant opportunity for a lot of people and you can own your own property,” she said, while also being open about the challenges of doing business on Lark Street, including lack of foot traffic and parking. Christopher had a different take on parking in Troy. “Young people don’t drive — they don’t want a car, they think it’s a pain,” and all agreed that Uber and Lyft will be great for their communities and businesses.

The ever-optimistic Nelson have shout-outs to all of his creative friends and collaborators in the audience, and spoke about the joy of offering food to friends and neighbors. “When you sit everyone down at the same time, you realize things ain’t so bad,” said Nelson.

Many thanks to Tony Iadicicco and Anna Wettergreen of Albany Center Gallery, and interviewers Michelle Hines Abram of Albany Chefs’ Wine and Food Fest, and David Alan King of The Alt.

Photos by Jamel Mosely | Mel eMedia

Click here for more on Makers 365.

ACE Spotlight: Sophie Moss, Albany Symphony

June 23, 2017 By Maureen Sager

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Sophie Moss joined Albany Symphony two years ago and is already on her third job title. “Albany Symphony has really allowed me to take the initiative on many projects, so it’s been easy to gain a lot of experience very quickly,” she said. “There is always a LOT to do!”

Her interest in music began with violin lessons when she was 6 (she continued playing through high school, and considered a career as a performer), and she worked in the Music Department for all four years at SUNY Buffalo. When she completed her Masters degree in Liberal Studies at the University at Albany, she was happy to find a job that combined her experience as a performer, music fan, sales and marketing professional, and administrator. In her words, “It’s a perfect fit!”

Her latest role as Program Manager for Albany Symphony’s “Water Music NY” came about when she was lead grant writer on the project in 2016. “David Alan Miller had been developing the idea for Water Music NY for over ten years, so when we saw that NYSCA and Market NY were offering funding for programs celebrating the Bicentennial of the Erie Canal, we were ready,” she said.

You can see Albany Symphony Water Music NY from each evening at 8:00 — 9:30pm from July 2nd through July 8th at a wide variety of beautiful Erie Canal locations. Click here for the location and performance details, and here for more about Albany Symphony Water Music NY.[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]