Round Two!

In what seems to be an endless cycle of grant applications, I am on to round two. With the LMCC and BAC applications safely tucked away and in the review process, I attended a seminar at NYFA the other evening to learn more about their fiscal sponsorship program. This would be a great resource for me since with it I can tap into foundation grants regarding environment, social change, and community arts.

I got a phone call from LMCC the other day to let me know that I had forgotten to sign the front page of the grant - whoops! They were nice enough to let me sign it and fax it in. There was an awful lot of hullabaloo at the last minute before the deadline, so it seems fair. Although frequently with the size of applicants that these guys get they could easily just dump it for incomplete application.

A little bit of advice here, if you are applying for a program and that program offers an information seminar - I don't care how many you have attended or how much you think you know - go. Absolutely attend, you can get so much insight into the program and what they expect. We have some really amazing programs here in New York and they all offer informational seminars - what an abundant and informative resource.

Currently I am trying to get bids on design and printing for the outreach part of the project, as well as an estimate from the ad space agency which holds the rights to the bus shelters and bus sides. I have met again with the wonderful people at Solar One and they are really excited about putting together training for people within the community who can then go out and teach members of their own neighborhoods. So I have to start getting in touch with schools in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. One really great program that I have learned about is the "City as School" program. They "offer students a multitude of Learning Experiences that encompass the depth and breadth of New York City's businesses or resources." I heard that one project traced garbage in NYC. I would have loved this program - they have pretty high expectations of their students too, offering something that more closely resembles college studies (with term papers, portfolios, etc).

In other art news, I did make it over to Chelsea on friday - seems that painting is really popular this year. Even the one interesting installation - Matthew Ritchie at Andrea Rosen - was entirely based on paintings and was clearly executed by a 2-dimensionally based artist. I stumbled onto the work of Kwan-Young Chun whose work had been featured in Sculpture magazine in September. I had really liked the photos of the work, but it was less impressive in person. I missed the Jesse Bercowetz and Matt Bua show at Derek Eller which is unfortunate because not only did it look good, a friend of mine assisted on it.

I also got myself down to Dumbo for the Art Under the Bridge festivities. Always nice to drink a way too chocolate-y hot chocolate (is that possible?) from Jacques Torres, while looking at art. The most interesting work was probably the work in the rented Ryder trucks parked on water street. That and Mary Temple at Smack Mellon - I really love her trompe l'oiel paintings of light and shadow. They have such a serene sense of whimsy and mystery.