Chuck Close News

A slew of legendary stage and screen perfomers have contributed their insights, memories and recollections to a new book about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy titled SEVEN SECONDS by Holly Millea. Meryl Streep, Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, Tom Stoppard, Nora Ephron, Lauren Bacall and many more participate in the collective memory book, released on the fiftieth anniversary of the political icon's date of death.

Rooftop Films and Piper-Heidsieck Champagne present a special sneak preview of the documentary film MEDORA at the Angel Orensanz Foundation on November 6th. Directed by Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart, MEDORA follows the down-but-not-out Medora Hornets varsity high school basketball team over the course of the 2011 season, capturing the players' stories both on and off the court.

CBS News has been recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with 46 News and Documentary Emmy Award nominations – more than any other network.

Once the lowest performing school in the State of Connecticut, Roosevelt is one of eight schools around the country turning itself around through the arts. Roosevelt School was selected last April to be part of Turnaround Arts, an initiative of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities of which First Lady Michelle Obama is Honorary Chair. Thanks to the generosity of a very special donor, Roosevelt's accomplishments will be showcased this week in a musical theater production.

Once the lowest performing school in the State of Connecticut, Roosevelt is one of eight schools around the country turning itself around through the arts. Roosevelt School was selected last April to be part of Turnaround Arts, an initiative of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities of which First Lady Michelle Obama is Honorary Chair. Thanks to the generosity of a very special donor, Roosevelt's accomplishments will be showcased this week in a musical theater production.

Le Poisson Rouge celebrates its fifth anniversary tonight, June 7-16 with LPR X 5, a series of specially curated concerts that exemplify the venue's commitment to diverse musical programming. LPR has grown and evolved over the last five years, while staying true to the philosophy that inspired co-founders Justin Kantor and David Handler to open the venue. LPR is dedicated 'to the fusion of popular and art cultures in music, dance, literature, and visual art. The venue's mission is to revive the symbiotic relationship between art and revelry, to establish a creative asylum for both artists and audiences.'

On Friday, May 31, Tony nominated writer Nell Benjamin and legendary deep-sea explorer Sylvia Earle - one of the first women admitted to the real Explorers Club in New York - will engage in a conversation to talk about their experiences in their respective fields, following the 8 PM performance of Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere production of THE EXPLORERS CLUB, a madcap comedy now in previews at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street). The conversation will be moderated by Peabody Award-winning journalist and author Lynn Sherr.

Le Poisson Rouge celebrates its fifth anniversary June 7-16 with LPR X 5, a series of specially curated concerts that exemplify the venue's commitment to diverse musical programming. LPR has grown and evolved over the last five years, while staying true to the philosophy that inspired co-founders Justin Kantor and David Handler to open the venue. LPR is dedicated 'to the fusion of popular and art cultures in music, dance, literature, and visual art. The venue's mission is to revive the symbiotic relationship between art and revelry, to establish a creative asylum for both artists and audiences.'

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen today announced the programming for an exciting 2013-2014 season. The Company will commence its 50 year celebration this July with a tour to London, England where they will perform at the London Coliseum. In a sweeping gesture of gratitude to its home city, Boston Ballet will present the first-ever Night of Stars gala on Boston Common - a free performance for the greater-Boston community. Programming includes an astounding range of works, featuring stunning classics La Bayadere and Cinderella, two cutting-edge repertory programs containing American and world premieres, and Balanchine's masterpiece, Jewels. Bringing the season to a triumphant close, Boston Ballet will tour to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and end with performances at the Koch Theater in New York City's Lincoln Center.

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen today announced the programming for an exciting 2013-2014 season. The Company will commence its 50 year celebration this July with a tour to London, England where they will perform at the London Coliseum. In a sweeping gesture of gratitude to its home city, Boston Ballet will present the first-ever Night of Stars gala on Boston Common - a free performance for the greater-Boston community. Programming includes an astounding range of works, featuring stunning classics La Bayadere and Cinderella, two cutting-edge repertory programs containing American and world premieres, and Balanchine's masterpiece, Jewels. Bringing the season to a triumphant close, Boston Ballet will tour to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and end with performances at the Koch Theater in New York City's Lincoln Center.

Guild Hall, the visual and performing arts center on eastern Long Island, recently honored the recipients of the 28th Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Awards: John Alexander for Visual Arts; Walter Isaacson for Literary Arts; Nathan Lane for Performing Arts and Mickey Straus, who received the Special Award for Leadership and Philanthropy. Marshall Brickman was the Master of Ceremonies with special guest presenters: Ken Auletta, Alec Baldwin, Jack O'Brien and Lorne Michaels. The awards were presented during a benefit dinner on Monday, March 4 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. BroadwayWorld has photos from the starry gathering below!

Opening in October 1981, on Trinity Avenue in downtown Atlanta, Alan Avery Art Company formerly Trinity Gallery led the way in converting open warehouse spaces in fringe neighborhoods into art, gallery and coffee house venues. The gallery was the hip, chic place to be seen when opening night rolled around. In 1994, shortly after the announcement that Atlanta would be the host city for the Olympics, it was decided that the new home of Trinity Gallery would be the iconic space that once housed the famous restaurant Rue de Paris, in the heart of Buckhead. In 2007, the name of the gallery was changed to Alan Avery Art Company. The gallery and its director have been credited for some of the most original and lavish opening receptions in Atlanta.

East End artists will be in the spotlight at the 23rd Art Miami, anchor art fair for the city of Miami. Art Miami, the premiere international contemporary and modern art fair, has long been recognized for its high quality presentation of important artworks for the serious international collector. So, it is no surprise that many of the galleries participating will be including works by acclaimed artists from the East End of Long Island alongside such great artists of the 20th & 21st Centuries such as Picasso, Damien Hirst, Raoul Dufy, Chagall, Jean Michel Basquiat, Milton Avery, Alexander Calder, Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg and scores more of the art world's most celebrated names. Last summer Art Miami presented the wildly successful inaugural Art Southampton that proved to be a game-changer on the Hamptons cultural landscape.

East End artists will be in the spotlight at the 23rd Art Miami, anchor art fair for the city of Miami. Art Miami, the premiere international contemporary and modern art fair, has long been recognized for its high quality presentation of important artworks for the serious international collector. So, it is no surprise that many of the galleries participating will be including works by acclaimed artists from the East End of Long Island alongside such great artists of the 20th & 21st Centuries such as Picasso, Damien Hirst, Raoul Dufy, Chagall, Jean Michel Basquiat, Milton Avery, Alexander Calder, Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg and scores more of the art world's most celebrated names. Last summer Art Miami presented the wildly successful inaugural Art Southampton that proved to be a game-changer on the Hamptons cultural landscape.

The Monterey Museum of Art's (MMA) presentation of Chuck Close: Works on Paper 1975-2012 from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation, showcases an important private collection that has never before exhibited in its entirety.

The Parrish Art Museum's Midsummer Party, a major highlight of the Hamptons summer season, will take place tonight, July 14. This year's gala will celebrate the "creative spirit of the East End" by honoring director/choreographer Patricia Birch, visual artist Chuck Close, author/historian Barbara Goldsmith, interior designers Tony Ingrao and Randy Kemper, musician G.E. Smith, and choreographer Paul Taylor. This years Midsummer Party Co-Chairs are Deborah F. Bancroft, Carlo Bronzini Vender, Etta Froio, Dorothy Lichtenstein, Michele Pesner, Douglas Polley, Frederic M. Seegal, Marcia Dunn Sobel, and Alexandra Stanton.

For decades, critics have observed that Andy Warhol's influence is dominant in contemporary art, but as of yet no exhibition has explored its full nature or extent. Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the first major exhibition to do so through approximately 45 works by Warhol alongside 100 works by some 60 other artists. This innovative presentation, structured in five thematic sections, juxtaposes prime examples of Warhol's paintings, sculpture, and films with those by other artists who in key ways reinterpret, respond, or react to his groundbreaking work. The exhibition shows the dialogue and conversation between works of art and artists across generations.

The Parrish Art Museum's Midsummer Party, a major highlight of the Hamptons summer season, will take place Saturday, July 14. This year's gala will celebrate the "creative spirit of the East End" by honoring director/choreographer Patricia Birch, visual artist Chuck Close, author/historian Barbara Goldsmith, interior designers Tony Ingrao and Randy Kemper, musician G.E. Smith, and choreographer Paul Taylor. This years Midsummer Party Co-Chairs are Deborah F. Bancroft, Carlo Bronzini Vender, Etta Froio, Dorothy Lichtenstein, Michele Pesner, Douglas Polley, Frederic M. Seegal, Marcia Dunn Sobel, and Alexandra Stanton.

Today the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced the launch of a new artseducation initiative to help turn around low-performing schools, developed in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Domestic Policy Council. The Turnaround Arts initiative is a new public-private partnership designed to narrow the achievement gap and increase student engagement through the arts. Working in some of the nation's lowest-performing elementary and middle schools, this program will test the hypothesis that high-quality and integrated arts education boosts academic achievement, motivates student learning and improves school culture in the context of overall school reform, announced the committee's co-chairs, George Stevens Jr. and Margo Lion. Presidentially-appointed artists Chuck Close, Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington, Forest Whitaker, Damian Woetzel and Alfre Woodard to work with schools in eight states as part of the program.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President of Waterkeeper Alliance, and Jeff Koons, Artist Chair hosted Art for Water, an auction benefiting Waterkeeper Alliance, the foremost organization in protecting and preserving clean, drinkable, fishable, and swimmable waterways worldwide, and celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act on Monday, March 5th, 2012 at the Matthew Marks Gallery in New York.