SARATOGA SPRINGS — In the month of February, Saratoga Performing Arts Center adds three new programs to its virtual Learning Library that further its mission to promote inclusion, diversity, equity, and access in the arts. 

Created to bring free original arts educational content to students, families and educators at a time when in-school classes are often not feasible due to the pandemic, the SPAC Learning Library has collaborated with more than 25 professional regional musicians and dancers including Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company and Caroga Arts Collective, as well as summer resident companies New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and The Philadelphia Orchestra. 

SPAC’s Learning Library will offer new programming including lessons in Stepping and South African Gumboot Dancing, wheelchair-accessible dance lessons and a new series of music lessons that guide children through the beginning stages of learning an instrument. 

In 2019, SPAC’s free education programs reached more than 49,000 young individuals, offered more than 400 classes, presentations, performances, and events, and partnered with more than 120 schools and non-profit organizations across the greater Capital Region. 

To learn more about the programs, go to: www.spaclearninglibrary.org

GLENS FALLS — The founding producing artistic director at Adirondack Theatre Festival, Martha Banta, is returning to her former role on an interim basis while the organization conducts a national search for a permanent replacement. 

The theatre’s board announced that Chad Rabinovitz resigned after six years as ATF’s producing artistic director. Nancy Fuller, board president, in making the announcement about Banta, said “Martha will not only serve the organization artistically, she is helping guide us through the transition and search process.” 

Lake George native Banta – now NYC-based – has had a storied career in American theatre. She was the original resident director for the New York Theatre Workshop, Broadway, national tour and London productions of four-time Tony winner musical “Rent.” She was associate director of “Mamma Mia!” on Broadway and for one of the national tours. She also developed and directed “Playhouse Disney Live” for Walt Disney World, later called “Disney Jr. Live.” More recently, she directed a new tour production of “Rock of Ages.” 

The pandemic is a challenge for the entire theatrical field, but Banta said the timing is actually a good opportunity for a transition at ATF. “We are not under duress to put on the upcoming season,” she said, signaling that the pandemic will impact ATF’s summer schedule. “We have the time to focus on finding the right person.” 

Fuller said the board is committed to having the organization be active this summer with a scaled-back schedule. “There are a lot of artists who have been halted from doing what they do best, and I think they are willing to do projects to help out and we’ll definitely rope them in.” 

A full-scale show, perhaps outdoors, is possible. There have been only three artistic directors in ATF’s 26-year history: Banta (1995-2007), Mark Fleischer (2007-2014) and Rabinovitz (2014-2020). 

Each summer ATF produces a nine-week season– typically four mainstage productions and four special events –  for more than 9,000 audience members at Wood Theater in Glens Falls. The organization operates under a Small Professional Theatre Agreement with Actors’ Equity Association (the union of professional actors), casting Broadway-level talent. The actors seen on the ATF stage, as well as the designers and directors, have worked regularly on and off-Broadway, on television and in movies.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Arts announced its next First Thursdays staging will take place 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Feb. 4, when 18 Strings of Trouble will perform at the big picture window at 320 Broadway. Dress warmly, practice social distancing and wear a mask. Dancing is encouraged.

Additionally, as Saratoga Arts is unable to hold the High School All Stars exhibition in the gallery space this year, it will feature artwork created by high school artists in a virtual format on its website. The exhibition features artwork by students from Saratoga, Fulton and Montgomery counties, and will run Jan. 28–Feb. 28. For more information, go to: saratoga-arts.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Jewish Community Arts, along with Temple Sinai and a generous grant from the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, presents a Zoom panel discussion of I Am Not Your Negro, directed by Raoul Peck and based on the writings of James Baldwin.

The discussion takes place 7 p.m. on Feb. 7. 

I Am Not your Negro, a powerful but imperfect documentary by director Raoul Peck, is derived from James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember this House. 

This documentary received critical acclaim and a Best Documentary Oscar nomination before it opened nationwide.  Remember this House was intended to be a personal recollection of Baldwin’s friends – Civil Rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. – all of whom were assassinated within five years of each other. Peck’s film relies almost exclusively on Baldwin’s writings that are narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. 

Above all else, I Am Not Your Negro is a searing indictment of America’s failure to rectify its shameful history of racial inequality. Please join us for this thought-provoking panel discussion of this exceptional documentary and the powerful voice of James Baldwin.

This Saratoga Jewish Community Arts presentation of the panel discussion of I Am Not Your Negro is to be viewed ahead of time and can be found on outlets such as Amazon prime, Netflix, or others.  Register to receive the Zoom link for the discussion at: sjca-sjcf@gmail.com and follow SJCA at saratogajewishculturalfestival.org and saratogasinai.org.

LAKE GEORGE — Lake George’s newest event, Winterfest, is planned for the four weekends of February, welcoming visitors to enjoy socially-distanced safe outdoor events such as cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, winter “fat tire” mountain biking, axe throwing, dog sled rides and more while they dine and relax in the Lake George area.

A wristband is $30 and with it comes your choice of adventure, plus access to horse-drawn carriage rides around Lake George, hot cocoa stations, 15% off your hotel stay and 10% off at many participating restaurants, which are all listed on the website. Many of the restaurants offer takeout and delivery options. Children’s wristbands are $15.

Your wristband is valid to enjoy these perks every weekend in February, from Thursday through Sunday. The activity must be chosen at the time you reserve, however. 

“WinterFest is designed with safety being top of mind,’’ says Americade organizer Christian Dutcher, who is heading up the event. “In addition to providing unique experiences that will provide lasting memories and excellent photo ops, these are all healthy, outdoor activities with social distancing in place. Meanwhile, we are keeping a watchful eye on public safety and are poised to respond and change events should the need arise.”

WinterFest is funded by Warren County and supported by the Warren County Board of Supervisors, the Town and Village of Lake George, Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce, and major hoteliers and restaurateurs. 

Wristbands are on sale now at www.lakegeorgewinterfest.com

SARATOGA SPRINGS —
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College invites the public to experience a double feature of exclusive videos starting this week on the Tang website at tang.skidmore.edu.

In an online version of the Tang screening series, Whole Grain: Experiments in Film and Video, the Museum presents a limited-access presentation of Eve Fowler’s With It Which It As It If It Is To Be, Part II (2019) in conjunction with the exhibition Never Done: 100 Years of Women in Politics and Beyond.

Fowler’s video is the second installment in her planned ten-part video series that explores the working practices of women artists in their later years of their career, in their studios, and interacting with their art. In this collaborative work, Fowler visits the studios of women artists in New York City and Los Angeles. The soundtrack consists of different artists and writers reading Gertrude Stein’s 1910 story Many Many Women. The repetitive stream of consciousness oration is hypnotic and provocative in its consideration of the lives and works of these prolific artists. The video will be available for streaming on the Tang website through Feb. 7 at tang.skidmore.edu.

Also this week, the Tang will release a special recording of a commissioned performance by Silver the Void in the installation Nicole Cherubini: Shaking the Trees – an improvisational music/art project of artist Susan Jennings, who makes sculptures and plays those sculptures with her husband and daughter. Watch the video on the Shaking the Trees exhibition page. 

This double feature is part of the Tang’s ongoing commitment to supporting artists and to bringing engaging experiences to its audiences, even as the Museum building remains closed to the public at least through the end of the spring semester. 

Access to the online videos is free and open to the public.

The museum has also announced the release of a new publication – Culture as Catalyst – focused on the most urgent issues of the day. The book is a collection of compelling dialogues and new writings by artists, scholars, activists, and influential thinkers who present new perspectives that disrupt the status quo by encouraging a “getting comfortable with discomfort” attitude to work through big ideas to drive change.

Edited by Isolde Brielmaier, the first Curator at Large at the Tang Teaching Museum, Culture as Catalyst accompanies the 2017–2019 Accelerator Series of public conversations she organized at the Museum to shed new light on the topics of whiteness, migration, mass incarceration, feminism, monuments, citizenship, cultural appropriation, forgiveness, and food justice. These dialogues were part of a three-year project called Accelerate: Access & Inclusion at The Tang Teaching Museum, which was supported in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

Culture as Catalyst (276 pages; $30) is edited by Isolde Brielmaier, designed by Beverly Joel / pulp, ink., and includes an introduction by Brielmaier and a welcome by Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang Teaching Museum. It is now available from the Tang website at tang.skidmore.edu/shop. 

Every other Thursday through May 27, the Tang Teaching Museum will launch a video trailer on social media for each chapter of the book and make that chapter available as a downloadable PDF on the Museum’s website at tang.skidmore.edu.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Universal Preservation Hall presents a live-stream virtual concert Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. of Williamstown, MA recording artist Misty Blues. The group is celebrating the release of their 10th album in over two decades together. 

Following a live performance of their new album, “None More Blue,” the band will celebrate Black History Month with a performance of the “Queens of the Blues” soundtrack. The “Queens of the Blues” movie showcases the lives of four African-American female blues artists – Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Ruth Brown and Koko Taylor – who left an indelible mark on popular blues for generations to come. 

All original compositions on “None More Blue” were written during the pandemic and shed light on the creative connections band members were able to maintain in a primarily virtual and remote environment. The early single release from the album, “Nothing To Lose,” has taken the Roots Music Contemporary Blues Charts by storm. The album release date is Feb. 14. 

Tickets for the livestream event are $20 and available at: universalpreservationhall.org 

SARATOGA SPRINGS ­— The music goes on at Caffe Lena. For information about how to livestream events from the café, go to: caffelena.org.

THIS WEEK: 
Friday, Jan. 22 | 8 p.m. Meadow Mountain Watch Party
Saturday, Jan. 23 | 7 p.m. Stephane Wrembel
Sunday, Jan. 24 | 7 p.m. Nellie McKay
Monday, Jan. 25 | 3:30 p.m. Teen Book Club
Tuesday, Jan. 26 | 7 p.m. Storytelling Night 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Northshire Bookstore Saratoga, which is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at its Broadway location, additionally offers a series of Northshire Live events, which can be experienced virtually several times per week from the comfort of your home.   

This week Edward Schwarzschild presents ‘In Security’ in conversation with Adam Johnson at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22; Bookseller Chat literary conversation takes place 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, and a special Saratoga Book Festival Online event at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, featuring a cook-along demonstration with Anna Francese Gass, author of Heirloom Kitchen: Heritage Recipes and Family Stories from the Tables of Immigrant Women. 

For more information about Northshire Bookstore Saratoga and how to view Northshire Live events, go to: northshire.com. 

NASHVILLE — Each year, The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), along with presenting partners Martin Guitars and Strings and CMT hold an annual song contest inviting aspiring songwriters around the world to enter their songs and/or lyrics into one of two categories for a chance to win several incredible prizes including up to $5,000 cash and mentor sessions with some of today’s greatest songwriters.

Mark Giufre, of Burnt Hills, won the 20th annual contest’s Lyric-Only category with his entry “Cast Away.” As contest winner, Giufre was awarded a mentor session with legendary songwriter Tom Douglas, $2,000 cash, and Martin OME Cherry guitar. 

With nearly 3,000 entries, each of the total 21 placing songs advanced through several levels of judging with the final judging event taking place Spring 2020, where the Grand Prize-winning song was determined by a panel of elite judges. In the Fall of 2020, each of the winners connected via Zoom with their mentors, receiving valuable insight and inspiration to propel them into the new year. 

Mark Giufre is an educator from the small town of Burnt Hills.  He began his career teaching Kindergarten and currently works at a private school for students with autism and special needs. Mark’s love of country music and lyrics is rooted in his love of early country music from the fourth generation up to the great storytellers of today.   Mark’s motivation for writing is to tell a story.  He says, “The power of song lies in its ability, in only a couple of minutes, to tell a story that may span many years and evoke the strongest of emotions in the listener.”  His winning song Cast Away does just that.  It tells the story of the life and evolution of the relationship between a Father and a Son, but it goes far beyond that. It includes memories so many of us can relate to. Mark’s ultimate goal is to draw out memories that the listener may have forgotten about and give them something to relate to as they navigate life’s ups and downs. Another song he is currently working on titled “Pixiedust and Whiskey” alludes to life’s highs and lows and how we get through it all with a little bit of faith. His latest work, “If I Could Write A Country Song,” tells a story of fate, life and love that many may relate to. 

Established in 1967, NSAI is the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters trade organization with more than 5,000 members spanning the United States and several foreign countries. Consisting of a body of creative minds, including songwriters from all genres of music, professional and aspiring, for over 52 years, NSAI has been committed to protecting the rights and future of the profession of songwriting, as well as carrying a commitment to educate, elevate and celebrate the songwriter, acting as a unifying force within the music community and the community at large. For more information, visit nashvillesongwriters.com.