Arts & Culture in Syracuse & CNY
Author: Arts and Culture on www.YourCNY.com
Summary: Arts & Culture in Greater Syracuse and Central NY. Guide to arts, culture, museums, theaters, symphony and orchestras, plays, more.
Syracuse & Central NY - Art & Culture
See also: Finger Lakes Arts & Culture
- Arts Guild of Old Forge
- With workshops, gallery exhibitions and a performance program that includes concert, theater, dance, folk and children's series, the Arts Guild of Old Forge is a multi-disciplinary arts center in Herkimer county.
- Central New York Community Arts Council - Stanley Theatre
- In addition to the presentation of art exhibitions by local artists, the Central New York Arts Council owns and operates the Stanley Performing Arts Center, a magnificent movie palace built in Utica in 1928 in an unusual blend of Mexican, Baroque and Moorish architectural styles. The Stanley hosts regular theatrical performances, concerts by the Utica Symphony and an annual holiday staging of the Nutcracker.
- Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation
- Dedicated to the promotion and understanding of American Jazz music, the Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation holds concerts, cabarets and festivals year-round that celebrate this distinctive form of music. Its three-day Jazz in the Square festival held each July welcomes musicians from around the world to Syracuse to participate in a large-scale jazz jam.
- Chamber Music Society of Utica
- A presenting organization in Oneida County, the Chamber Music Society of Utica presents six concerts a year (Oct-Apr) at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute.
- Children's Museum of History, Natural History, Science and Technology
- The only children's museum in the nation to be adopted by both NASA and the United States Department of Energy's Office of Science, the Children's Museum in Utica encompasses 24,000 square feet of exhibition space. Interactive exhibits include a play village, an Iroquois longhouse reconstruction as well as transportation exhibits and artifacts from the Utica fire and police departments.
- Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum
- An industrial boatyard complex in Madison county, the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum presents exhibits on boats and the history of Erie Canal. The museum also hosts workshops, lectures and curricular activities covering topics such as archeology and the history of the area..
- Colgate University—Picker Art Gallery
- With a comprehensive permanent collection of more than 10,000 objects, the Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University serves as the area's primary fine arts facility. Located in the Dana Arts Center designed by architect Paul Rudolph, the Picker's broad holdings of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture and decorative arts provide a crucial resource for the Central New York region, and play an important role in the teaching mission and cultural life of one of the country's leading liberal arts universities.
- Cooperstown Concert Series
- Founded in 1969, this performance series which funs from May through September includes a variety of musicians performing in a number of styles, from folk music to dance to jazz to chamber music.
For more than 50 years, the Cultural Resources Council of Syracuse and Onondaga County has been promoting the local arts community through the organization of arts exhibitions, workshops and artist support programs. Held at venues both in downtown Syracuse and a number of surrounding suburbs, the Council offers an annual Irish Festival in March, the Michael Harms Theater Festival for high school students, the On My Own Time exhibition held at the Everson Museum of Art that features the work of more than 700 employees from 35 local industries and a seasonal Visual Arts Showcase series that highlights the work of local artists in a juried exhibition held at WCNY, a public television and radio station, in Liverpool.
- Erie Canal Museum
- The Erie Canal was finished in 1825, linking the Hudson River and by extension New York City to the Great Lakes. This museum in Syracuse celebrates and commemorates the influence of this important engineering innovation. Housed in the last remaining weighlock building, where boats were weighed in order to determine a toll, the museum mounts participatory exhibitions about the canal, western New York and 19th-century American culture.
- Everson Museum of Art
- Founded as the Syracuse Museum of Fine Art in 1897, the Everson as it is now called is housed in I.M. Pei's first museum commission, a building that dates to 1968. The Everson mounts temporary exhibitions of work by single artists as well as thematically oriented group shows. Its permanent collection focuses on American Art since the 18th century but boasts examples of European and Asian art from all periods.[pagebreak]
With more than 25 historic structures on the outskirts of Cooperstown, the museum offers visitors a walk through agricultural history. The museum also offers craft workshops and presents seasonal events such as the Junior Livestock show and the Harvest Festival.
Fenimore Art Museum
Founded in 1899, this Cooperstown association includes the Fenimore Art Museum, a research library, statewide education programs and the Cooperstown Graduate Program in museum studies. The Fenimore Art Museum, a 45,000 square-foot structure built on the site of James Fenimore Cooper's farm, holds key collections of American art, including the Thaw Collection of Native American Indian Art. The museum mounts 12–16 exhibitions each year.
Glimmerglass Opera
An opera performance organization, Glimmerglass Opera mounts four new productions each year in the 900-seat Alice Busch Theater in Cooperstown. An acclaimed training ground for new opera artists, the opera company's repertory reflects the company's interest in American, contemporary, Baroque and other, less frequently performed operas.
Hamilton College—Emerson GalleryWith three temporary exhibition spaces, the Emerson Gallery at Hamilton College has a collection containing more than 4,000 objects with strengths in American prints and works on paper, British art of the 20th century, ancient vases and glass, and Native American and Pre-Columbian art.
Kirkland Art CenterOneida CountyWith three performance series—folk music, jazz and family programming—as well as a film series, the Kirkland Art Center offers a wealth of art programming at its Clinton home.
A 20,000-square-foot performance venue built in 1999, the Coyne Center for the Performing Arts is home to 11 resident student-based theater and music groups that regularly present performances during the academic year. The center also presents visiting music and dance ensembles.
Light Work
Exploring the artistic media of photography and digital imaging since 1973, Light Work offers public exhibitions, lectures and gallery talks revolving around the field of contemporary photography. In addition, Light Work publishes five yearly issues of Contact Sheet, a journal that includes essays and images by renowned historians and emerging artists. Light Work maintains a permanent collection of over 2,100 artworks and is housed in the Robert M. Menschel Media Center at Syracuse University.
Madison County Historical SocietyChartered in 1900, the society is now headquartered at Cottage Lawn, an 1849 Gothic-revival villa in Oneida that was designed by noted architect Alexander Jackson Davis. With period furnishings, exhibition space and a genealogical library the society presents the history of this central New York county. The society also offers special events throughout the year such as the Country Roads Antique Appraisal, Craft Days, Madison County Hop Fest and the Victorian Christmas Open House.
A regional arts center in Utica, the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute occupies Fountain Elms, a restored 1850 Italianate mansion and a new museum building designed by Philip Johnson. The museum of art hosts temporary exhibitions of decorative and fine art and houses a renowned collection of 19th- and 20th-century American work in all media. The institute also hosts a film series and many performing arts events, including the Munson-Williams-Proctor Festival of the Arts in June.
New York State Blues Festival In venues in and around Syracuse's Clinton Square, the New York State Blues Festival presents jazz, blues, pop and R&B performers during a three-day period in July.
Old Forge LibraryHoused in an historic Tudor mansion, the Old Forge Library hosts book and poetry readings, art exhibitions and a variety of lectures on regional topics year-round. [pagebreak]
Oneida Community Mansion House The site of a Utopian community in the latter half of the 19th century, the Oneida Community Mansion House preserves the effects of the community's lives and labors with house tours, conferences, lectures and other forms of educational programming.
Onondaga Historical Association
Photos, paintings, maps and rare artifacts chart historical change in the museum's displays. Changing exhibits explore particular themes or issues, while the War Memorial Gallery specifically explores 200 years of military history. The association also houses the Underground Railroad Heritage Trail Regional Interpretive Center. The "Freedom Bound: The Story of Syracuse and the Underground Railroad" exhibition tells the story of the Underground Railroad utilizing a video presentation and interactive exhibit.
Open Hand Theater International Mask and Puppet Museum
A museum in Syracuse committed to the history and art of puppetry and masks, Open Hand organizes exhibits that range from thematic displays to supervised interactive involvement. Open Hand also houses a performance group take place at Open Hand and throughout central New York.
Paul Robeson Performing Arts Company
Named after the noted baritone and Civil Rights activist, this company devoted to the promotion of African-American performing artists presents numerous performances at venues affiliated with Syracuse University.
- Rome Art & Community Center
- Housed in a 1923 Tudor mansion in Oneida County, the Rome Art & Community Center hosts classes, exhibits, readings, concerts, lectures and workshops. The center also hosts numerous activities for school children, ethnic cultural festivals and serves as a meeting place for local community groups.
- Sculpture Space
- For 28 years, Sculture Space has invited artists from around the world to its facilities for a two-month residency program focused on the development of new and experimental forms of sculpture. The center holds receptions at the end of each residency period during which the public may view the works created during that cycle. Many of the these works are ultimately placed in museums, sculpture parks and galleries around the world. Alumni of the program include Lee Boroson, Minji Kim and a number of other sculptors of note.
- Stone Quarry Hill Art Park
- Begun in 1991 as one of the first theme-specific outdoor sculpture parks in the United States, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Madison County offers a variety of artworks situated throughout the park's 100 acre grounds. The park, located in Cazenovia, is open year-round and offers a special series of exhibitions from April to November in the Winner Memorial Gallery. Artworks in the collection are inspired by the relationship between art and nature, and many of the outdoor pieces will eventually dissolve back into nature. The park holds an annual Art in the Sky kite festival every summer in which a number of artworks go airborne.
- Utica College—Frank E. Gannett Library
- The Frank E. Gannett Library at Utica College hosts the Ruth and Harry Jackson Lunch Hour Reading Series that brings esteemed authors to the region 16 times a year.
- Utica Symphony