You’re probably thinking, “are you crazy?”. I assure you, I’m not. You don’t have to disconnect from everything all the time, just take a break. I know this is easier said than done. I promised myself I would get up and walk around once an hour. I haven’t done that in 2 months. When I do get up and walk around, I’m proud of myself, which is a pretty pathetic accomplishment. So if you’re like me, and the millions of other people out there who need a break during the day but can’t remember to take one, check out these tips, and if they don’t work, you can at least applaud yourself for trying.

Do you have any tips on how to disconnect/take a break?

Deadline: May 23, 2012 – Midnight

Attend an APPLICATION WORKSHOP to learn more about the online grant system.

The JPMorgan Chase Arts in Our Communities Regrant supports:

(1) Traditional artists and communities from immigrant groups working in a range of disciplines: music, dance, material arts, narrative and foodways, that are working to help preserve and pass down their cultural heritage.

(2) Artists and arts organizations working in collaboration with communities to explore issues of immigration and/or share traditions from their culture that continue to take place on Staten Island.

The grant must culminate in a public display or performance of the artist’s or craftperson’s work.

*NEW* The JPMorgan Chase Achieve Your Mission (AYM) Regrant supports:

The primary goal of the grant, is to help nonprofits pinpoint the needs and goals of the organization, and determine a clear and realistic plan to meet those goals for long-term organizational growth.

In conjunction with the $3000 award, grantees will receive up to 20 hours of professional consultant time, provided by COAHSI. The consultant will meet with the grantee organizations to create a plan of action based on the original application, assessing the needs of the organization, and the best way to meet those needs in respect to the grant award. The consultant will act as a coach and advisor to the organization throughout the project. Only eight (8) grants will be awarded.

What will be funded:

Arts and culture nonprofits AND nonprofits with primary missions unrelated to arts and culture but offer arts and cultural programming may apply for arts-related projects which will increase their capacity to engage new communities, increase their capacity to provide art services, and increase their outreach.

Requests must fall into one of the following categories:

• Technology (i.e. Software/Equipment purchases and upgrades)
• Marketing (i.e. Social media campaigns; branding; logo redesign; website)
• Staff Development (i.e. staff & board training)

Can’t make it to a workshop? Want to meet to talk about your project? Need assistance developing or editing your narrative?

SIGN UP FOR 1-on-1 technical assistance!

EVERY THURSDAY at COAHSI’s offices while the grant application is open.

Charlie & Jack Coen (left to right): The Branch Line was recorded Jack Coen's living room in the Bronx, New York, February and July 1976.

There are times when New York City feels like a small town. Times when the passing of one person, within a city of 8.5 million, lays heavy upon so many. The passing of Irish flautist and NEA National Heritage Fellow, Jack Coen, is one of those times. I had never had the chance to hear Jack Coen play but his name has been mentioned in so many of interviews with local Irish musicians in New York City. He was also the brother of our friend Monsignor Charles Coen. May he rest in peace. If you would like to hear the Coen brothers, download their “Branch Line” recording here.  Jack Coen will be missed greatly.  His music and settings will live through the strong traditions of Irish music and dance.

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman’s Statement on the Death of NEA National Heritage Fellow Jack Coen

For immediate release
April 11, 2012

Contact:
NEA Public Affairs
202-682-5570
“On behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts, it is with great sadness that I acknowledge the passing of Irish-American flautist and 1991 NEA National Heritage Fellow Jack Coen. A gifted musician dedicated to bringing the music of Ireland to audiences in the United States, Coen not only performed on and taught students to play the traditional wooden flute, he also learned to handcraft the instrument. We join many others in the Irish music community and beyond in mourning his death while celebrating his life.”

Jack Coen was born in 1925 in Woodford, County Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, the second of nine children. His family operated a subsistence farm and earned money from raising cattle. When Coen was about eight years old he received a tin whistle for Christmas. This instrument, combined with the old-fashioned tonic sol-fa system of sight singing he learned in the village school, taught him the rudiments of traditional music. At 16, he adapted his tin whistle skills to the fife and joined the “local defense force,” becoming a member of its parish fife and drum band. There the band’s senior members tutored him on the wooden flute, though he was probably most influenced by his neighbor, Jim Conroy. After Coen finished school, he continued to practice the flute. By then, he was playing regularly in public and supporting himself with farm and road work.

In 1949 Coen moved to the United States. For the first six months, he lived with an uncle in the Bronx, New York. From there, he moved to a thriving Irish community in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where he worked in a produce market. During this period, he didn’t play his flute much, except for an occasional party or with another flutist who worked near him. After about a year and a half, Coen moved back to the Bronx, and his uncle helped to find him a job as a lineman for the railroad. At the time, there were many Irish fiddlers in New York, but few flautists, and he came quickly to the fore. In the late 1950s, Coen became active in New York’s growing traditional Irish music scene. Recently arrived accordionist Paddy O’Brien and fiddler and tenor banjo player Larry Redican were influential in reviving Coen’s flute playing. He formed an association with the New York Ceili Band, and in 1960 the band qualified for the All-Ireland championship.

As the band’s popularity waned, Coen started teaching tin whistle and flute to neighborhood children and at community arts centers. Increasingly, his students were attracted more to the silver flute than the traditional wooden flute; the silver flute was more available and easier to play. To save the wooden flute from extinction, Coen and two of his carpenter friends began making their own flutes in the late 1970s. These handmade instruments were acclaimed among Irish music enthusiasts and steadily gained the interest of younger generations of aspiring flautists.

For more information on Jack Coen, visit the NEA’s website.

It was an important hub for Albanian music, video, and cultural symbols that were imported from Albania. A place like Video Ulqini contributes greatly to a sense of communal identity, customs, and traditions.  If anyone knows the whereabouts of Video Ulqini, please let me know!

There is a rich culture of traditional music and dance within the incredibly diverse Albanian community.  Recently, I have had the pleasure of meeting with some fantastic folklorists and ethnomusicologist at the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD).  For over 40 years, CTMD has been woking directly with diverse communities in New York City, to preserve traditional arts and music.

Back in 1993–when they were known as the Ethnic Folk Arts Center–they helped put together a concert of Albanian Music and Dance at the Williamson Theatre at the College of Staten Island.  The program was called “Song Brings Us Together” and featured musicians and dancers living in New York City.  I wish I was there to see it!

That’s what the Staten Island Teaching Artist Institute (SI TAI) is about – helping working artists to become teachers, or to become even better teachers; making those connections between mastering your art and communicating your art form. SI TAI, now in its third year, is a program of COAHSI, Sundog Theatre, and the Center for Arts Education. It brings nationally known practitioners and master teaching artists to provide training and information to local Staten Island artists.

COAHSI will be holding an information session about this year’s SI TAI at our offices (1000 Richmond Terrace, Snug Harbor, Building G) on Thursday, March 22nd, from 6:00-7:30.  RSVP is required, to kkuwabara@statenislandarts.org. This year will be particularly geared towards advanced and intermediate teaching artists; beginners can also apply, and those who are accepted into the program will be given a special prerequisite session on Saturday, April 14th. The rest of SI TAI will be held on April 21st, April 28th, May 5th, and June 2nd. All sessions are 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Past graduate Hiroko Otani, a multi-disciplinary folk artist, says “Staten Island Teaching Artist Institute was one of the best professional workshops I have ever attended. Above all, exchanging information and forming friendships with other teaching artists was really beneficial for me, and a great networking opportunity.”

The application form for SI TAI is available at www.statenislandarts.org. Contact Kelly Kuwabara (kkuwabara@statenislandarts.org) or Gena Mimozo (gmimozo@statenislandarts.org) with questions!