Fifty for 50.
Fifty artists recognized for their accomplishments in and beyond Westchester.
Fifty new artist residencies serving the most disadvantaged students.
Fifty new arts and business partnerships.
- Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino speaks at the launch of ArtsWestchester”™s “50 for 50” campaign, celebrating its golden anniversary. Photo by Georgette Gouveia
These are among the initiatives that ArtsWestchester, the White Plains-based nonprofit arts council, has set forth for its golden anniversary this year.
Janet T. Langsam, CEO of ArtsWestchester, launched the “50 for 50” campaign at a breakfast for about 100 of Westchester County”™s movers and shakers at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester in White Plains on Thursday. Among the upcoming events will be “ArtSee,” a festival of new work on view from March through July; “Crossing Borders” (March 14 to May 2), an exhibit exploring memory, identity and culture; and the Arts Awards 50 for 50 Luncheon (April 16), saluting 50 selected artists; along with the annual Arts Bash open house (May 15-16), golf tournament at Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle (June 15), Jazz Fest (Sept. 13-19) and gala fundraiser (November or December).
Given the heavy hitters in attendance, however ”“ they included County Executive Rob Astorino and developer Robert Weisz, CEO of the RPW Group ”“ the focus was on ArtsWestchester”™s partnership with local government and businesses like BNY Mellon, Consolidated Edison, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Wells Fargo.
Much of the talk centered on corporate sponsorship of exhibits like last spring”™s “STEAM,” which considered the role of the arts in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education with support from related companies like Con Ed and Regeneron. But Jean Marie Connolly, senior director at BNY Mellon, also touched on how her investment firm was able to use ArtsWestchester”™s two-story galleries to enhance its corporate events.
The tangible and intangible benefits of the arts were on the minds of others as well.
“The reason the housing market is so hot in Westchester ”“ we can”™t even get inventory ”“ is that people want to live here,” Robert Weisz said. “We want to keep attracting corporations to the county, and the cultural life of the county is an important part of that.”
ArtsWestchester has been an important part of the county”™s cultural life ”“ investing more than $35 million in arts and cultural programming, supporting more than 1,300 artists and 300 cultural institutions and bringing arts into the classroom. And perhaps no one has been more important to Arts Westchester than Janet Langsam. At the breakfast, she was hailed for her visionary leadership, although she took some affectionate ribbing from her “main squeeze,” Astorino.
He described her as “a scooch, but in a good way.”
