The Art Effect has been approved for a $20,000 award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the Art Institute, with a special focus on ArtsBridge, a new program within the Art Institute (piloted for 2 years under the name MAAP). ArtsBridge will engage underserved Poughkeepsie youth in the arts to provide them with training, support, and mentorship to help them succeed in higher education. The Art Effect’s project is among 1,073 projects across America totaling nearly $25 million that were selected during this first round of fiscal year 2021 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects funding category.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this project from The Art Effect,” said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. “The Art Effect is among the arts organizations across the country that have demonstrated creativity, excellence, and resilience during this very challenging year.”
The Art Institute, a year-long portfolio development and college preparatory program, engages over 200 youth ages 14-19 each year. The Art Effect helps students develop their ideas and master skills in both visual and media arts preparing them for their future college and career paths in the arts.
“Since 2000, our graduates have been offered over $50 million in merit-based scholarships to the nation’s leading colleges, universities, and art schools”. Says Nicole Fenichel-Hewitt, Executive Director. “Students in our most advanced programs created 153 portfolios this year and thanks to the support of our funders, sponsors, and community we have been able to provide $17,899.50 in financial assistance scholarships to low-income students, increasing access to arts education in our community.”
Responding to the need to interrupt the cycle of poverty and educational inequities in Poughkeepsie, ArtsBridge establishes a pathway for students to higher education through the arts. With the generous support of the NEA grant funding and other supporters, ArtsBridge will implement a comprehensive program in 2021. Participants will gain advanced artistic preparatory and portfolio development skills though the Art Institute as well as college readiness training, and emotional support through individual mentorship with a focus being on college scholarships and matriculation. This spring will also feature guest artists, exposing youth to a variety of college and career fields.
While programs at The Art Effect took a significant hit due to the pandemic last year, with lots of time, talent, hard work, and creative thinking we continue to offer high-quality arts and college prep courses for young people throughout the Hudson Valley. Spring and summer classes are planned for in-person instruction beginning this month. Click here for more information on courses.
For more information on projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
Posted January 19th, 2022 — Filed under Spark Studios
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Spark Studios produced a series of videos in the summer and fall 2020 for Scenic Hudson’s community change maker series. Many Spark Studios students worked on filming and editing, student, Jae Jones took the job as lead editor on these videos!
????? ??????? is a filmmaking and videography program for youth interested in developing film production and professional skills including:
Working with clients on commercial videos Explore cutting-edge media production techniques Bringing a creative vision to life across stages of production
Posted January 18th, 2022 — Filed under News, Art Institute
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The Art Institute’s, Senior Project 2021
The Art Effect has been approved for a $15,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support The Art Institute. Funding for the Art Institute supports high school students in developing advanced artistic skills, producing high-quality college art portfolios, and establishing college readiness. The Art Effect is among 1,248 projects across America totaling $28,840,000 that were selected to receive this first round of fiscal year 2022 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like this one from The Art Effect that help support the community’s creative economy,” said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers. “The Art Effect in Poughkeepsie, NY is among the arts organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being, and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts.”
Hudson Valley Regional Portfolio Day, 2019
The Art Institute engages more than 150 youth each year and provides them with access and opportunity to pursue their professional goals, attend college, and receive scholarships. The Art Institute goes beyond arts instruction, says Nicole Fenichel-Hewitt, Executive Director. “The student-centered, holistic program prioritizes personal and professional development. Classes are not only taught by professional artist educators with a rigorous curriculum that surpasses the New York State Standards of Art Education, but also provides mentorship, portfolio development support, exhibition and leadership opportunities, and access to college representatives to gain tools for success in college and career”.
Life and Death by Ryan Garcia, Art Institute, 2021
Students participate in the Art Institute’s National Art Honor Society, The Art Effect’s Hudson Valley Regional Portfolio Week, and curate and display their work in public exhibitions such as “Teen Visions” and “Senior Project.” In addition, the Art Institute provides one-on-one mentoring to support students’ college applications and help students secure merit scholarships. Since 2000, Art Institute graduates have been offered over $60 million in scholarships. Learn more about the Art Institute, visit thearteffect.org/programs/art-institute.
For more information on other projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
Posted January 18th, 2022 — Filed under Spark Studios
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Applications are open for our Spring Workforce programs!
????? ??????? is a filmmaking and videography program for youth interested in developing film production and professional skills including:
Working with clients on commercial videos Explore cutting-edge media production techniques Bringing a creative vision to life across stages of production
Youth who complete Spark Studios get a $150 stipend.
All proceeds from Forge Media support our apprentices through this creative media mentorship program. By hiring Forge Media for your next production, you’re making an investment in our community, and the young people that will brighten its future.
The Art Effect is excited to announce its affiliation with Barrett Art Center, bringing together the largest arts organization with the oldest arts organization in Dutchess County. The affiliation will open doors of new opportunities for The Art Effect and Barrett Art Center, creating spaces that match the breadth of the combined mission and merged identity—a true manifestation of their shared vision where youth and community come together to create and experience art in all of its forms.
On March 10, with a staggeringly high measure of participation, the voting members of the Barrett Art Center unanimously approved an affiliation with The Art Effect. The final vote was 52 in favor and 0 opposed. “As part of The Art Effect’s mission to organize youth-led nationally-recognized art exhibitions and educational programming at the Trolley Barn Galley, I am thrilled to be partnering with Joanna Frang and the team at Barrett Art Center to bring a new level of expertise to The Art Effect. This exciting affiliation will not only maintain the knowledge, direction, and engagement that Barrett brings to the community, but also to our new curatorial initiative.” says Nicole Fenichel-Hewitt , Executive Director of The Art Effect.
Together, The Art Effect and Barrett Art Center will grow and deepen their impact in the community in exciting new ways. The current collaboration will expand to establish a teen curatorial program at the Trolley Barn Gallery, expanding opportunities for gathering, showing, and experiencing art in the community. Additionally, Barrett’s two art studios at 55 Noxon Street will continue to be actively used by working artists, the Barrett Kids after school programming, as well as The Art Effect’s Junior Art Institute this Summer.
Comments on the news: “It was refreshing to see the measure of participation and support from colleagues whom we’ve trusted and worked with for, literally, decades. Their unanimous endorsement confirms that The Art Effect/Barrett task force did its homework and came to the appropriate conclusions. Barrett, the region’s most established arts organization, will be integral to the efforts of The Art Effect in further transforming and reinvigorating the arts community in Dutchess County and beyond.” Michael West, Esq., Senior Attorney New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc.
“The staff and board at Barrett Art Center is excited to combine our experience and skill in presenting cutting-edge exhibitions and arts education programming with their commitment to, and proven success in, empowering young people to develop their creative voices and artistic skill to shape a more vibrant, caring, inclusive and sustainable world. Together, we will not only preserve the history of the arts in Dutchess County, carrying our Founder, Tom Barrett’s, legacy and his vision of a permanent center for the arts in the City of Poughkeepsie, but also drive their future.” Loretta Spence, President of the Board of Directors, Barrett Art Center “We are very excited to bring a profound new level of programming to The Art Effect and the Trolley Barn Gallery space. The combination of these two phenomenal arts organizations offers an exciting opportunity to strengthen and expand exhibitions, programming, and Poughkeepsie’s vibrant arts scene. I am honored to be a part of this great team and excited that together we will create an even more sustainable impact in the community.” – Gaye Mallet, Chair of the Board of Directors, The Art Effect
Anthony P. Musso for the Poughkeepsie Journal Located on the north side of Main Street, a half-block east of Clinton Square in the City of Poughkeepsie, is a building that once served as a horse, and later, electric trolley barn during the 19th and early 20th century. Established in June 1870, the original small four-wheeled horse-powered trolley cars could accommodate 20 passengers, who each paid 10 cents to ride it.
Originally using stables near the P&E Railroad Depot to house its cars and 42 horses overnight, the company erected its own stable on Main Street in 1874, which became the terminus of the system. During the blizzard of 1888 the snow and considerable drifts were so high that the company dug out tunnels for the horse trollies to pass through; the Garden Street sector resembled a temporary subway.
In 1894, the transformation from horse power to electricity saw the 63-foot square, 25-foot high Main Street building’s interior experience a major remodeling. Interior studding and beams were removed and a 12-inch partition was erected, which enabled the trolley company to utilize boilers on one side of the building and engines on the other.
The roof was raised 4 feet, an extension spanning 30-feet by 90-feet was added to accommodate the large fleet of electric trolleys and a power plant and the front of the building was reconfigured to include a superintendent’s office and waiting room. Office space was utilized on the second level while a repair shop was established in the basement.
Six trolley tracks, each fitted with car pits underneath, provided access for general maintenance and repairs. Of the six tracks installed in the building, four accessed the street.
“The building experienced a fire in 1906 and they rebuilt it,” said Roy Budnik, director of the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center farther west on Main Street, who recently purchased the old trolley barn. “The trolley ran from the Hudson River to Vassar College and the same company ran an urban line down to the Village of Wappingers Falls.”
The latter line had a regular stop at the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, where a trolley waiting shelter still stands just inside and north of the property’s front gate. From that point, the trolley accessed South and Market streets, and made its way back to the barn.
“The trolley replaced stage coaches that used to transport people from Wappingers Falls to Poughkeepsie,” Budnik added.
The trolley operation shut down in 1935 and the city housed its buses in the building through 1954. Afterward, Diesing Supply Company set up shop there, offering auto supplies. That company’s name still exists on the side of the building.
In 1994, the building was sold to the Alamo Ambulance Company, which resold it in 2004 to a group of businessmen from New York City, but it remained empty. In September 2015, Budnik purchased it to relocate and expand the Heritage Center.
“We’re working with a number of different not-for-profit groups to create a multi-organization, multi-cultural center there,” Budnik said. “This space is much bigger than our current location and we’ll be able to stage many different kinds of events there.”
With Art Centro, an expansion of the Heritage Center that was established next to the trolley barn in 2013, Budnik said the goal is to make the location a cultural campus. Off-street parking, located in a lot between Art Centro and the former trolley barn that was once occupied by a hotel, will also benefit visitors.
Opened in 2010, the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center promotes appreciation of the
Hudson Valley’s cultural diversity through arts events, film screenings, lectures and workshops open to the community.
“Many people think of us as two separate organizations,” said Art Centro Director Alexis Feldheim. “Once we are on one campus people who know about Art Centro will become more aware of what’s happening at the Heritage Center, and vice versa.”
The historic former trolley barn is at 489 Main St., Poughkeepsie.
Want to call the shots on the next big arts exhibition in Poughkeepsie? Ever wonder how galleries or museums choose what’s on the walls? What even IS a curator? Learn to generate a theme, jury a national call for entries, and hang the work as a part of the Trolley Barn Gallery youth curatorial team!
The Trolley Barn Gallery youth curatorial team is the team of youth who will be leading the decision-making around Trolley Barn Gallery exhibitions for Winter/Spring 2022. Successful applicants will be able to commit to attending all sessions (which adds up to about 3 days per month) and will receive a $500 stipend in bi-weekly installments, as well as recognition for their leadership.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Questions? Contact Gigi@thearteffect.org for more information.
Embracing compromise when making decisions as a team, creates an unbiased understanding for me as both as artist and juror. — Harrison Brison-McKinnon
The team has given me constant perceptions of art that explores and offers a diverse experience while keeping the art and artist identities intimate. — Karla Zarate
Working with clients on commercial videos
