Thursday, May 28, 2009

Miami Herald Lauds KIDSART!

Artoconecto to offer free art program for children throughout Miami-Dade

KIDSART, a new art program by Artoconecto, will bring out the inner artists in kids ages 7-13 -- and it won't cost a thing.


Special to The Miami Herald

Painting a color-by-number mural, decorating bottles to be hung on a tree and making a giant collage of family photos. These are some of the activities offered in a free art program for kids that takes place this summer.....more

Artoconecto Awarded Grant for KIDSART!

Artoconecto, the dynamic Miami arts non-profit, has been awarded a Community Grant from the Miami-Dade County Dept. of Cultural Affairs, to help launch KIDSART, a Saturday morning arts program where children ages 7-13 will visit artists' studios to attend workshops led by the artists themselves. Each week the children will be given a community-oriented theme, like recycling, or diversity, and guided through arts projects correlating to those themes, culminating in a public exhibition. "We are very excited to begin KIDSART, especially now, at a time when arts programming has been cut back so severely in our public schools," said Alexandra Rangel-Brody, executive Director of Artoconecto. "We are also very excited to partner with national volunteer group, City Year, and we hope to add the arts as an additional component to their current mentoring programs in our schools."


Artoconecto is actively looking to partner with local artists who would like to share their studio space one Saturday morning, giving kids an opportunity to experience the artist's working environment. Any artist that wishes to participate can contact Artoconecto. The workshops will be followed by lunch, sponsored by World Resources Cafe on Lincoln Road, which will allow the children to interact informally with the artists and each other. Art supplies and materials generously donated by Utrecht Art Supplies; photo services by Tropicolor. Additional sponsors, as well as matching funds for the Miami-Dade grant, are being actively pursued as well.

KIDSART will include a partnership with 'City Year', the national service organization already working in 8 Miami-Dade public schools, who will have senior corps members attend the workshops and also write evaluations of the program for Miami-Dade, Artoconecto, and for the potential inclusion of KIDSART in their own volunteer programs. KIDSART will take place for five Saturday mornings from July 18th through August 15th, and culminate on September 12, 2009, when the participants will experience the Second Saturday Art Walk with a public exhibition of their creations.
KIDSART BLOG Coming Soon!
For more info and registration forms, please contact:

Danny Brody

Community Relations

artoconecto@gmail.com
786.246.2047




KIDSART made possible through the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners


Friday, April 17, 2009

PLAYWRIGHT COMPETITION

ARTOCONECTO ANNOUNCES: 

DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY


FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, GUIDELINES AND PRIZES GO TO:


For more information, please contact:

Ana Nuchowich

General Producer of the Hispano-American Playwriting Competition

E-mail address: TEATROBID@iadb.org

Or visit our website: www.teatrobid.org

e) We will not accept phone inquiries or scripts sent by e-mail.


THE HISPANO-AMERICAN

PLAYWRITING COMPETITION

In celebration of the

Fiftieth Anniversary of the IDB

The “Bárbara Simon” Theater Club of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Staff Association invites playwrights to participate in the Hispano-American Playwriting Competition in celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the IDB. The IDB Staff Association is an organization that represents employees

of the IDB. One of its purposes is to promote their wellbeing through social, cultural, sports, and recreational activities.  Contemporary Hispano-American playwrights have an arduous task in convincing theaters to premiere

their plays. This is where literary competitions play a crucial role: by endorsing the quality of a playwright, they create an opportunity that has the potential to advance his or her artistic career. The public has the

final word, deciding the fate of the playwright’s work by either accepting or rejecting it, but first, the curtain must rise. Competitions today are an important door to the stage for playwrights.

To participate in the competition, authors may choose one of the following categories:

a) Great Hispano-American Comedy for a minimum of seven characters (Written in Spanish)

b) Hispanos in the U.S.A., pero without stereotypes (Written in Spanish, English, or “Spanglish”)

c) Children’s Theater (Written in Spanish)

Participation in the competition is open to native citizens or foreigners with proof of more than five years

of residence in any of the IDB member countries:

Argentina, Austria, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, the People’s Republic of China, Peru, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

ARTOCONECTO ANNOUNCES


Artoconecto is excited to announce the opening of the Miami World Cinema Center. We recently created a partnership with the Borscht Film Festival, for which we obtained a grant from the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce.  Artoconecto, in conjunction with the Borscht's Visual Arts Committee will oversee the visual arts aspect of the Festival.  We are currently accepting donations. For more information please contact us at artoconecto@gmail.com.


Press release


Miami, Florida – On December 1st, 2008, the John S. and James L. Foundation recognized the Miami World Cinema Center (MWCC) as one of the 31 recipients of the Knights Arts Challenge Grant with a matching-funds grant of $750,000 over four years. Out of 1,643 entries, Patrick de Bokay – Former Director of the Miami International Film Festival – and University of Miami graduates Josh Miller and Sam Rega, directors of the documentary Miami Noir: The Arthur Teele Story, proposed to create a hub for creative talent in filmmaking and promote local production. Today, after much research and planning, the Miami World Cinema Center inaugurates its new offices in Wynwood, Miami„s newest up-and-coming arts district. As the first non-profit film studio in Miami, MWCC‟s mission is to provide tools for filmmakers and ensure an increased production of high quality films. In order to achieve these goals, MWCC has assembled a Board of Directors comprised of established professionals in the industry with ties to Miami. Their role is to ensure that MWCC will fulfill its mission with the strongest support and guidance. The members are: South Florida resident David Frankel, director of films such as Marley & Me and The Devil Wears Prada, Ben Odell, Partner and Head of Production for Miami based feature film company Panamax, Sam Grogg, Dean of University of Miami School of Communication, Deborah Liebling, President of Production at Fox Atomic and Steve Krams, President and CEO of Continental Film and Digital Labs. “Miami is a young emerging metropolis with about 100 years of film history and plenty of creative artistic talent. Since films only exist because of creative artistic talent, our mission is to find it and facilitate the filmmaking process”, said de Bokay, CEO of Miami World Cinema Center. “We are delighted to have such a distinguished group of professionals on our board of directors. We hope that MWCC will be the catalyst for the South Florida industry to become compact and cohesive.” 

The MWCC lot welcomes the Borscht Film Festival, a yearly event held at iconic Miami venues showcasing the work of local filmmakers under the age of 30 who specialize in telling Miami stories that go beyond the typical portrayal of the city. MWCC and Borscht have teamed to transform the underground festival‟s fifth year into one of national recognition. This year‟s festival unites acclaimed local directors with Miami‟s top emerging talent in the creation of Miami-centric films. 

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Robert F. Merton's 'Temperatures' Coming to Miami!

ROBERT F. MERTON’S 'TEMPERATURES' 

 
Artoconecto is excited to present painter Robert F. Merton’s first solo exhibition ‘Temperatures’, on Thursday, April 9, 2009, for a sneak VIP preview, followed by an exhibition open to the public on Saturday, April 11, at The Buena Vista Building in Miami’s Design District. The painter, who resides in the colder climes of New England, in the seaside village of Cohasset, will unveil his exciting new work in the tropical climate of Miami, where his work has received considerable early attention. His vibrant work, like his family name, demands historical perspective-his grandfather, Robert K. Merton, was a groundbreaking sociologist, who coined terms like 'self-fulfilling prophecy', and 'unintended consequences'. His father, Robert C. Merton, won a Nobel Prize in economics in 1997 for his work on a new method to determine the value of derivatives. And his own study of 15th-17th century European history, when a human-powered economy evolved into a mechanized economy (and a mechanized society), has influenced his understanding of the transitions through whi ch society and its members must evolve. "The transition period is what interests me," says Merton. "We are in an era of change, and we must embrace that."
Perhaps the natural progression of generations, from preeminent sociologist, to Nobel Prize winner, to visual artist, to whatever the future may bring for the youngest Merton, his son, Robert A. Merton, not only defines Robert F. Merton's work, but bestows upon it its enduring resonance. "Not everything has an immediate 'cause and effect'. But everything in the past has an effect on the present." Through his exacting work he alludes to the creative sweep of time; but Merton remains firmly rooted in the present, while acknowledging the ever-evolving and challenging journey towards our future.
 
Artoconecto, the dynamic arts non-profit based in Miami is adding a new layer to its mission statement of promoting emerging artists with Robert F. Merton’s Temperatures, by providing one artist with the tools to prepare for their first solo exhibition. “We would like to be able to create the first solo show for artists whose work we believe in; and who also have the drive, the talent and completed works ready to exhibit, but have not yet been approached or selected by a commercial gallery”, says Alexandra Rangel-Brody, Executive Director of Artoconecto, which has been operating since 1999 in Washington, D.C.
Robert F. Merton’s Temperatures is made possible by the generous support of Ms. Cosette Alves, President and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of The Inter-American Culture and Development Foundation and the support of Dacra. For more information, please visit:

When: VIP reception, Thursday, April 9. Second Saturday opening, April 11
Where: The Buena Vista Building, 180 NE 39th Street, Gallery 120, Miami, Fl, 33137
Private viewing: by appointment only.
Ends: Thursday, April 30
Contact: Alexandra R. Brody
R.S.V.P:  (786) -246-2052