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contents news in brief
arts award nominations free arts day highlights calendar
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Westchester County Business Journal • ARTSWNEWS
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ArtsWNews, your guide to the arts and culture in Westchester County, NY is published by ARTSWESTCHESTER, a private, not-for-profit organization established in 1965. The largest of its kind in New York State, it serves more than 150 cultural organizations, 43 school districts, hundreds of artists, and audiences numbering over one million. Our goal is to ensure the availability, accessibility, and diversity of the arts in Westchester.
Janet Langsam, Chief Executive Officer Salina Le Bris, Director of Communications Mary Alice Franklin, ArtsWNews Editor Vanessa Reitz & Clare Maker, Designers Lisa DiCarlucci, Calendar Editor Alison Kattleman, News in Brief Editor
On cover: Debbie Harry by Allan Tannenbaum and Jerry Pinkney, Cover illustration, The Lion and the Mouse, 2009, © 2009 Jerry Pinkney Studio, All rights reserved.
For more information about ArtsWestchester, please call 914.428.4220 or visit
www.artswestchester.org.
Our work is made possible with support from Westchester County Government.
Robert P. Astorino, County Executive Kenneth W. Jenkins, Chair, Westchester County Board of Legislators Westchester County Board of Legislators
Catherine Borgia Gordon A. Burrows David B. Gelfarb Peter Harckham Michael Kaplowitz James Maisano
Sheila Marcotte Judith A. Myers Virginia Perez William J. Ryan MaryJane Shimsky Michael J. Smith
Bernice Spreckman John G. Testa Alfreda A. Williams Lyndon Williams
Thanks to our generous sponsors: A&A Maintenance, Anchin Block & Anchin, Benerofe Properties, Con Edison, Entergy, Ethan Allen Interiors, First Niagara, IBM, Jacob Burns Foundation, John Meyer Consulting PC, Joseph & Sophia Abeles Foundation, Journal News, JP Morgan Chase, Key Bank, The Liman Foundation, Macerich Cross County Shopping Center, Macy's, The Margaret Cargill Foundation, MAXX Properties, Morgan Stanley, New York Power Authority, Nordstrom, Peckham Industries, Inc., PepsiCo, Pernod Ricard, Reckson, A Division of SL Green Realty, Ronald McDonald House Charities, RPW Group, TD Charitable Foundation, Wells Fargo Bank, Westchester Community Foundation, Westchester Magazine, White Plains Hospital.
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Rodney from Robots and Scrat from Ice Age
ARTSWESTCHESTER: YOUR COMPLETE ARTS GUIDE
thisandthatbyjl.com “IMAGINATION TAKES
YOU EVERYWHERE” by Janet Langsam
The presidential election is less than two weeks away and American entrepreneur- ship is on the line. We are told by candidates that 60% of all jobs come from small businesses. So, I thought I’d check in with Chris Wedge, who is the brains, the heart and the innovator of Blue Sky, an animation studio that produced Ice Age, Robots, and the soon-to-come Epic. Blue Sky, once a very small business, started out in Elmsford, then located in White Plains and now has expanded, moving its artists, writers, producers, designers, modelers, riggers, filmmakers, cameramen, photog- raphers, sculptors, composers, lighting and costume designers, editors and other creators to new studios in Greenwich, CT. With roots still in Westchester, however, (Chris and family reside in Katonah) Wedge has collaborated with the Katonah Museum and Jacob Burns Film Center on a joint exhibition, film and education pro- gram about the art of animation. This unique program introduces observers to Blue Sky’s creative process, from initial concept to finished frame using original drawings, storyboards, props, movie clips, and hands-on technology.
Though Blue Sky is a small business, in comparison, say to Twentieth Century Fox Animation, with whom they work, it is also a creative business of which there are some 3,988 in Westchester alone, employing 15,279 people, according to a study by Americans for the Arts. So, as one left brain person to another, I asked Chris Wedge what it takes to be a creative entrepreneur like himself. "You just can't put a limit on possibilities,” he says. ‘You must be open to discovery and surprise. Don’t think too hard. Fun is important. Get out of your own way. Do the work that feels right. The more one investigates, the clearer the potential becomes.”
His response sounded to me like a page out of the creative process playbook, so I pressed on. In his incredible business, Wedge depends on the collaboration of the most talented people he can find. Many talents makes a project bigger than any one person. “It gives an epic presence.” Wedge admits he “ learned early to surround myself with people better than me.” What kind of people? Well, according to the Blue Sky website: “to become a feature film animator you must be equal parts artist, actor, puppeteer, and nerd…as well as one of the most patient humans on earth.” How many people? Well according to Wedge, 172 worked on “Ice Age”; 250 worked on “Robots” and 500 will work on “Epic”, when all is said and done. It’s clear that Blue Sky is one of the creative economic engines in our area.
So, in this era when the world is crying out for creative solutions, let’s hear it for the creative talent in our midst! Historian Eugene Ferguson opined: “Pyramids, cathe- drals, and rockets exist not because of geometry, theories of structures, or thermo- dynamics, but because they were first a picture-- literally a vision--in the minds of those who built them.” The trajectory for the future is innovation. As Einstein put it: "Logic can take you from A to B. Imagination takes you everywhere."
For more information:
www.blueskystudios.com www.katonahmuseum.org www.burnsfilmcenter.org
NOVEMBER 2012
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