JUNE 2012 news in brief


Neuberger Museum of Art Appoints New Director


Town Board Approves Lewisboro Arts Council


Paola Morsiani, newly-appointed Director of the Neuburger Museum of Art of Purchase College


The Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College will welcome Paola Morsiani as its new director on July 1. Morsiani is currently the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art and has worked in the curatorial departments of various American museums throughout her career. She served as Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, where she curated a number of acclaimed exhibitions. A native of Venice, Italy, she received her Laurea in Art History and History of Criticism from the University of Padua in Italy, and an MA in Arts Administration from New York University.


“I wish to support the work of the artists of the future,” said Morsiani of her new role. “I am joining an institu- tion with an exemplary track record of innovative exhibitions and generous support, and I intend to honor and build on this legacy.”


Maddalena Elected Copland Vice President


O. Anthony Maddalena, Senior Vice Pres- ident and Corporate Client Group Director at Morgan Stanley, has been elected Vice President of the Board of Trustees of Copland House, in Cortlandt Manor.


“I look forward to helping guide this special organization to institutional maturity as it heads into its second de- cade," said Maddalena, who has been a Copland House Trustee since 2005 and has served as chair or co-chair of their annual, acclaimed culinary and musical galas since 2006.


Musician and resident Peter Gross (photo credit: Bob Dumas)


Turning Lewisboro into a bastion of the arts in northern Westchester took a step toward fruition when the town board passed a resolution on May 14, supporting the creation of a Lewisboro Arts Council. The effort is being spear- headed by South Salem resident and musician Peter Gross, who proposed the idea at a Town Board meeting in April.


The arts council will be a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization so that it may receive tax-deductible private dona- tions. Under the current plan, the town board would not make appointments to the art council’s board, but will create a liaison position.


“I’ve reached out to many and got nothing but enthusiastic responses,” said Gross of the arts council plan. “But most encouraging is that poten- tial funders are starting to talk about putting some money behind it.”


Three Purchase Grads Nominated for Tony Awards


The spotlight at this year’s Tony Awards on Sunday, June 10, will shine brightly on three SUNY Purchase College graduates who have been nominated for awards in the category of Best Lighting of a Play. All three lighting designers–Jeff Croiter, Brian MacDevitt and Kenneth Posner–are


graduates of The Purchase College School of the Arts. Croiter, a 1993 alum, has been nominated for his work in Peter and the Starcatcher. He has his own lighting design company in New York City. Five-time Tony winner, MacDevitt, an associate professor at the University of Maryland and 1980 Purchase alum, has been nominated for his work in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Posner, a 1987 grad, has been nominated for his work in Other Desert Cities. He previously won a 2007 Tony for The Coast of Utopia.


Expansion of Hudson River School Art Trail Includes Westchester Sites


Scholarships Boost White Plains Art Students


Westchester County Business Journal • ARTSWNEWS


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One of six art students who received scholar- ships from the White Plains Outdoor Arts Festival. (photo credit: TheDailyWhitePlains.com)


View from Hastings-on-Hudson. (photo credit: Henry L. Miller)


Two sites in Westchester County have been added to the Thomas Cole National Historic Site’s renowned Hudson River School Art Trail, a series of hiking and driving trails that lead to the places that inspired America’s first great landscape paintings in the 19th century. Now included on the trail are Jasper Cropsey’s home at the Newing- ton Cropsey Foundation in Hastings- on-Hudson and the Hudson River from Croton Point State Park in Croton-on- Hudson.


The expansion of the trail highlights a total of nine new sites that are also in Dutchess, Columbia and Ulster counties. The expanded trail “com- bines nature and culture on a broad scale,” says Mark Castiglione, Acting Executive Director of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. “It offers the public a way to appreciate both while benefiting from exercise and emotional refreshment.” For more information, visit: www.ThomasCole. org/trail.


Six White Plains High School seniors were presented with scholarships to- taling $13,500 at the City Hall Rotunda in May, funded through the 2011 White Plains Outdoor Arts Festival. Holly Petre was awarded the $4,000 Ron- ald J. Topping Memorial Scholarship, named after the 35-year White Plains school art teacher and past festival president, who passed away earlier this year. In its 50th year, the scholar- ship will use the proceeds of the fes- tival to benefit high school seniors in White Plains who plan to pursue art in college. Other scholarship recipients were Robert Gold and Victoria Stan- garone for $3,000, Mae Berglas for $1,500, and Sara Espinoza and Anna Socolof for $1,000.


"It's an honor," said Berglas. "Being an artist can be really tough, but knowing people like the work you've done is good reinforcement."


The 2012 White Plains Outdoor Arts Festival will be held June 2 and 3, from 10am - 5pm in Tibbits Park. For more information, visit: www.wpoaf.org.


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