'A Life in the Arts' Interview with Kico Govantes

 

Enrique "Kico" Govantes is a Cuban-American artist and art collector. Kico shared details on his creative process as a painter and a summary of his works, including his more recent "pandemic series" which will be featured in a gallery show at Time and Space Limited (TSL) in Hudson, New York this spring.  We were fortunate to have some time with Kico earlier this week. Recorded here is our interview, hosted by Masterwork's own Joseph White.  

Our thanks to Kico for sharing his story with us. 

About the Masterwork Music and Art Foundation

The Masterwork Music and Art Foundation has been supporting excellence in the arts for over 50 years. 100 percent of your donation funds art and artists through community grants, competitive awards and a premier award for an emerging artist. Find out more at www.masterworkarts.org 

'A Life in the Arts' Interview with Arjay Lewis

 Actor, Magician, Author - Arjay Lewis is a man of many talents. We were fortunate to have some time with Arjay earlier this week and recorded our interview, with Masterwork's own Joseph White, here. 

Arjay credits one characteristic for the dexterity of his long and varied career. Can you guess what that is?

Our thanks to Arjay for sharing his story with us. 

About the Masterwork Music and Art Foundation

The Masterwork Music and Art Foundation has been supporting excellence in the arts for over 50 years. 100 percent of your donation funds art and artists through community grants, competitive awards and a premier award for an emerging artist. Find out more at www.masterworkarts.org 

The 'A Life in the Arts' Interview with Duke Dang

 On Monday, 2/8, we were honored to be able to interview Duke Dang, general manager of Works & Process the performing arts series at the Guggenheim Museum. To view the interview, hosted by Masterwork's own Joseph White, click here.

More about the Interview

Since 1984 Works & Process made it possible for audiences to go behind the scenes, illuminating the creative process of performing artists. Programs blending discussion with performance excerpts of new works serve as a laboratory of sorts for artists to test their ideas, prior to the pandemic Works & Process produced approximately 60 performances annually.

Faced with a shuttered theater among other pandemic challenges, Duke developed a residency program that would allow artists to safely gather, create and perform in a series of COVID-free bubbles across the Hudson Valley. His work and views of the struggles facing performing artists today are featured in Isolation to Creation - a four part series streaming on ALL ARTS, a public media channel of WNET, which you may find streaming on www.allarts.org.

Next up for 'A Life in the Arts'

On Monday, 2/15 we're be interviewing actor, magician and author Arjay Lewis. To participate in our series live, email masterworkarts@gmail.com.

The Masterwork Music and Arts Foundation has been supporting excellence in the arts for over 50 years. 100 percent of your donation funds art and artists through community grants, competitive awards, and a premier award for an emerging artist. Find ou more at www.masterworkarts.org.

Announcing the 'A Life in the Arts' Winter Series

February 2021 

The Masterwork Music and Art Foundation is pleased to continue our series of Zoom events this Winter, celebrating the lives of artists and art lovers. With the Winter series, our friends and followers can participate! 

'A Life in the Arts' was created by Masterwork Arts as a Zoom series to celebrate people who've dedicated their life to the arts or a specific arts discipline. In doing so we're intent on showcasing the ingenuity and innovative thinking that an arts education provides, as well as offer some inspirational material for young artists. Our subjects prove there are many paths to a life in the arts. 

Each Zoom event is free and open to the public, comprised of a thirty minute interview by the host Joseph White, followed by ten minutes for questions from attendees. To participate in the live events, simply email masterworkarts@gmail.com or look for the link on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. 

Here's our Winter Schedule: 

Monday, February 8 (8PM) - Duke Dang, General Manager of Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim.

Monday, February 15 (8PM) - Arjay Lewis- Actor, Magician, and Author. 

Monday, February 22 (8PM) - Kico Govantes, Painter and Art Collector

Monday, March 1 (8PM) - Dorothy Darlington, Oboist 

About the Masterwork Music and Art Foundation

The Masterwork Music and Art Foundation has been supporting excellence in the arts for over 50 years. 100 percent of your donation funds art and artists through community grants, competitive awards and a premier award for an emerging artist. Find out more at www.masterworkarts.org 

<end>

Announcing Our 2021 Premier Award for Organ Performance

February 2021

 The Masterwork Music and Art Foundation is pleased to announce a premier award for an emerging young organist. $10,000 will be awarded to the winner of our competition. The selected finalist for this award will also perform at a benefit concert for Masterwork Arts at a date and time to be announced.  

Long committed to supporting “excellence in the arts,” Masterwork Arts recently revised their offerings to provide three levels of support — community grant awards which are issued to organizations, smaller competitive awards which are issued to contest winners in a variety of arts and the premier award – a $10,000 monetary gift issued to a single artist. While this year the premier award is going to an organist, Masterwork rotates the award across a number of arts disciplines. Our primary objective with this award is to support “excellence in the arts” by helping an aspiring artist get to the next level of their artistry. The Organ Competition Award is accepting applicants through midnight, March 15, 2021 via the Masterworkarts.org web site. (see: Organ Competition Award)

 

Each application requires a $30 processing fee, which should be sent to:

 

       Masterwork Music and Art Foundation

       P.O. Box 1116, 

       Madison, NJ 07940.

 

Application Criteria

Applicants should be under the age of 40. Each entry must include a twenty to thirty minute video of organ performance. The video should contain works from the North German School, a work representing 19th or 20th century French masters, one work based on hymn tunes, and one work of the applicant's own choosing to demonstrate technical and interpretive ability. The video will be submitted through the competition web site. A 500 word essay on the importance of the award to the applicant's career, a bio and two letters of recommendation from past instructors should be emailed to masterworkarts@gmail.com. 

See the competition web site for full criteria. The contest will be adjudicated by a jury of professional musicians, as well as the organization’s Board. 

 

The awardee will be announced on June 11, 2021. 

 

The inspiration for our premier award came from Wayne Walters, a longtime community arts leader, the conductor or the Morris Choral Society, composer and singer. Wayne is also a Board member of Masterwork Arts and has adjudicated a number of competitions. 

 

For questions or more information, email masterworksarts@gmail.com.

About the Masterwork Music and Art Foundation

The Masterwork Music and Art Foundation has been supporting excellence in the arts for over 50 years. 100 percent of your donation funds art and artists through community grants, competitive awards and a premier award for an emerging artist. Find out more at www.masterworkarts.org 

#MasterworkArts #LovetheArtist #LovetheArts