ArtsWestchester’s Arts Award Celebration – held Wednesday, April 19, at Brae Burn Country Club in Purchase, New York – was a moving affair and not just because I was lucky enough to be chosen for its President’s Award for my 43 years in covering the arts.
What made it moving was to see how the 10 honorees, some 300 attendees and nine vendors continue to find the arts a transformative experience in their lives and how the White Plains-based ArtsWestchester, perhaps the flagship arts council in New York state, continues to act locally but think globally.
The recipients have ties around the world, beginning with Samara Joy (Emerging Artist Award), a Purchase College graduate who took two recent Grammys as well and is building a big career for herself as a jazz singer. The French American choreographer Carole Alexis (Artist Award), founder of Ballets des Ameriques in White Plains, is also a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, bestowed by the French Republic. (Her company presented a charming pièce d’occasion in which the dancers transformed themselves into scintillating hummingbirds.) Joy’s and Alexis’ are the kinds of professional lives that The Picture House Regional Film Center (Arts Organization Award), with Jazz Age theaters in Pelham and Bronxville, often explores in its international offerings. Indeed, Joy’s and Alexis’ careers might offer aspiration and inspiration to the Westchester Children’s Chorus (Education Award), which made its Carnegie Hall debut last year and is set for the Sing A Mile High Children’s Choral Festival in Denver, Colorado, in June.
My President’s Award from ArtsWestchester for 43 years of covering the arts in Westchester County, New York and its environs. Photograph by David Hochberg.
Yet the transcendence the arts bestows is not only geographical but interior. Judy Troilo, executive director of The Loft LGBTQ+ Center in White Plains (Advancing Equity Award) spoke about the deep connection between the arts and social justice in a world driven increasingly by hate. Many of the recipients reflected that connection and a desire to enlarge the presence of those who’ve often been marginalized. Haifa Bint-Kadi (Advancing Equity Award) explores her Arab heritage in her public mosaics. Farooq Kathwari (Arts Patron Award) – president, chairman and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. in Danbury, Connecticut – is a Kashmiri immigrant and longtime New Rochelle resident whose philanthropy embraces not only the arts but combating anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish biases.
Lisa Levart (Larry Salley Photography Award) has spent the past seven years creating a photographic series, “Women of the Ramapough Lenape Nation,” under the guidance of Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk. Todd Shapera (Larry Salley Photography Award), who has since 2016 documented the lives of the Cuban people, spoke of how bipartisan sanctions against the Communist government in Cuba have only hurt its citizens. His acceptance speech was warmly received.
But then we all were showered with applause. Tony Aiello, the WCBS-TV reporter, was once again the smooth, complimentary emcee. Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres; a lunch of grilled-chicken salad, cookies and chocolate mousse cake; and a boutique – curated by Paula Kelliher, former director of marketing at The Westchester in White Plains – that featured Chakarr Jewelry, Design Studio 7, Devine Modern Art, Kara Marc Shoes, L’Occitane The Westchester, Manor Sangria, Max Mara Weekend, Mustkies and Stacey Ross Cohen, founding CEO of Co-Communications and author of the new “Brand Up: “The Ultimate Playbook for College & Career Success in the Digital World.”
For more, visit artswestchester.org.