Sunday, January 18, 2015

Branford Arts and Cultural Alliance (BACA)


Greetings,

Perhaps you have heard about this group which has been working on promoting the arts in Branford. I signed up to receive information, so I'm receiving their email reports. Here are the minutes from their January meeting, which may be of interest to you, especially if you are a Branford resident. For more information or to join their mailing list, contact Richard Blacher at dblacher@snet.net.

/j
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January 13 Monthly meeting (next meeting Tuesday, February 10, 7:00 PM)

Frank Carrano began the meeting by iterating our 3 major goals for 2015: 

-        Bringing back the “ARTS” to the Branford Festival. 
-        Gaining access to and establishing the Academy as a viable venue for arts events initiated by BACA.
-     Planning the first Plein Air “happening” on the green in late spring (annual – if it works as well as we expect).

DEVELOPMENTS:

The First Congregational Church on the green is considering allowing us the use of their facilities for arts and performance events.  Our thanks to Rev. Heeckt for his enthusiastic support (welcome [back] to Branford).

BCTV (Branford Community Television, Inc.) is interested in taping and airing our events.

Nominations for BACA officers:
            Chair:              Frank Carrano
            Vice Chair:     Robin Sandler
            Treasurer:       Rosemary Rubsam
            Secretary:       Richard Blacher

IDEAS:

Branford Festival (June 20th): 
- reserving a number of booths and linking them, to be shared by several artists interested in showing and selling their work.    The cost (relatively nominal) of renting the booths would be shared by the artists. 

- having a “gallery” display of those artists’ works at the same time at the First Congregational Church which could remain on display that Sunday, June 21st (Branford Road Race – see: http://branfordroadrace.net/events/) possibly attracting many of the thousands of racers, other participants, and viewers. 

Plein Air:
- having an exhibition/display of completed work(s) by these artists at the First Congregational Church or the Academy while they are painting on the green. 

- displaying the artists’ finished work the following week in store fronts/windows all around the green.  They would be for sale,    with the store receiving a commission for hosting the work.  

In our first news letter we asked for your suggestions/thoughts/ideas for possible arts and/or performance-related projects or events for Branford.  Several excellent ideas were put forth.  One idea was enthusiastically embraced – creating a public sculpture park at the Branford Train Station.  Needless to say, this would be a MASSIVE undertaking, with all sorts of likely obstacles (insurance, etc), but everyone agreed it would certainly be worth pursuing. If progress is made, the person who suggested it will be thanked publicly.

BCTV - in-studio interviews with individual artists and performing groups, and BACA members about planned or upcoming events.

Pursuing the idea of utilizing the huge tent erected by the Blackstone Memorial Library for their annual book sale in September, empty for several days prior to the sale.  They have offered to let BACA use it for art-related events.  

GOALS:

Meet with and establish an on-going dialogue with the Branford Economic Development Commission.

Establish a dialogue with the Branford Foundation for grants and/or fund raising.

We ask for your ideas/comments/feedback, and names/e-mails to broaden our data base.  PLEASE do forward this news letter to any (and all) you think may be interested in the (hopefully soon-to-be) burgeoning art scene in Branford.  Suggest that they contact me if they would like to receive these news letters and updates from BACA.  My e-mail: dblacher@snet.net

And, if you would like to be/get involved in this exciting undertaking, please let us know.

Richard


Saturday, January 17, 2015

Art donations for benefit event


Greetings,

I hope you're all enjoying your various mid-winter art courses, workshops, dvd's, and just plain studio time. For me, it's a course in abstract painting and some serious studio time. I'm sure you, too, are preparing for the upcoming show season. Soon I will be developing my annual show schedule and calendar, but for now, it's time to focus on production.

On another tack, A.W. Cox School PTO (elementary school in Guilford).is seeking donations of art work for a benefit event. Mary B is  donating a pet portrait commission, and she asked me to pass on this information about the benefit, in case any of you might want to also make a donation.  If you're interested or would like to know more, contact Lisa Labadia - lmlabadia@aol.com.

Stay warm, and keep painting!

/j