Storytelling Workshop at SUNY-New Paltz’s Saturday Arts Lab
Have you heard about SUNY-New Paltz’s Saturday Arts Lab for community youth? “Registration is now open for spring classes. Check out our website to see all of the new classes we’re offering. We have Stop-Motion Animation, Sculpture, Photography, Musical Theater, Art and Science, Rock Band, Drawing and much more! Scholarships are available,” announces Jessica Poser, EdD, assistant professor of Art Education and Saturday Arts Lab coordinator.
One class is the TMI Project Storytelling Workshop for grades 8 through 12, where participants create their own monologues based on their own real-life stories. Regular readers of Kids’ Almanac already know that I’m a huge fan of the TMI Project from my reviews of its adult performances, and I was thrilled to hear about this offering for area youth.
“The process of writing and storytelling with teens aligns with the process of uncovering and discovering who they are and the gifts they have to offer,” said workshop leader Patty Curry. “I’m honored to lead them on a journey of self-discovery in which they find their own unique voice.”
“We are so excited to be offering a TMI Project workshop to young people through the Saturday Arts Lab Program at SUNY-New Paltz,” said TMI executive director Eva Tenuto. “I took my first acting class on the same campus in seventh grade, and it was life-changing. It is a full-circle experience for me to be offering similar tools and skills that have enhanced my life so tremendously.”
The TMI Project Storytelling Workshop takes place on Saturdays from 1 to 3:30 p.m. The cost is $260. SUNY-New Paltz is located at 1 Hawk Drive in New Paltz. For more information or to register, call (845) 257-3850 or visit www.newpaltz.edu/sal. To learn more about the work of the TMI Project, visit https://tmiproject.org.
Rosendale Café hosts Dean Jones/Lloyd H. Miller CD release concert
One more reason why you’re glad that you live here in the Hudson Valley: this weekend’s “Double CD Release Show for Kids and Other People!” With a title like that, you know that Grammy Award-winning producer Dean Jones is part of the show.
On Sunday, January 12 at 3 p.m., head over to the Rosendale Café to enjoy this celebration of Dean Jones’s album When the World Was New and Lloyd H. Miller’s solo CD S. S. Brooklyn, which happens to have been recorded in Jones’s studio.
Dean Jones’s music, whether as a solo artist or in his bands such as Dog on Fleas, is wonderfully clever, interesting, engaging, fabulous and fun, and this album includes guest musicians such as Shamsi Ruhe, Morgan Taylor (Gustafer Yellowgold), Rachel Loshak, Marianne Tasick (the Sweet Clementines), Jeremy Mage and Eli McNamara.
Lloyd H. Miller is the leader of renowned singalongs, founder of the Brooklyn-based educational band the Deedle Deedle Dees and co-writer of the multi-media musical Trashed Out.
The Rosendale Café is located at 434 Main Street in Rosendale. Admission to the show costs $5. For more information or to learn more about the musicians, visit www.dogonfleas.com and https://thedeedledeedledees.blogspot.com.
Puppet show at Beacon’s Howland Cultural Center
Across the river at the Howland Cultural Center, it’s puppets and music at this weekend’s Family Concert. On Saturday, January 11 at 11 a.m., singer/songwriter/puppeteer Lydia Adams Davis and puppeteer Paul Hudson perform with characters Rocco, Chameleon, Beaver and Anaconda in this concert for all ages. Adult admission costs $8, and children get in free when accompanied by an adult.
The Howland Cultural Center is located at 477 Main Street in Beacon. For more information, call (845) 831-4988 or visit www.howlandculturalcenter.org.
Wallkill River School of Art hosts reception, seeks summer camp instructors
I highly recommend that you check out the offerings from the Wallkill River School of Art. Our family learned about it through its youth summer camp program, but the classes and events for all ages run year-round, including afterschool and weekends.
During the month of January, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, you and your family can see the marvelous, eclectic range of local art of the 2014 annual Members’ Exhibit, showing the work of the School’s 300 “men, women, teens, children, farmers, artists, hobbyists, professionals, sculptors, painters, photographers, doodlers and others who make up the Wallkill River School of Art.” The reception and awards event takes place on Saturday, January 11 from 5 to 7 p.m., and winners will be announced in November. Memberships begin at $30 and include discounts on classes and other perks.
Do you have artistic or related gifts to share with the community? The Wallkill River School is looking for instructors for a 2014 children’s summer camp that will run Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon or 1 to 3 p.m. any week, or multiple weeks, from the last week of June through the last week of August. It will have multiple locations, so you may wish to offer the same class at each location on a different week. Satellite locations will be Museum Village in Monroe, Bethel Woods in Sullivan County and a space in Warwick as well as the Town of Crawford (Pine Bush).
The Wallkill River School of Art is located at 232 Ward Street in Montgomery. For more information, to inquire about membership or to learn more about camps and classes, call (845) 457-2787 or visit www.wallkillriverschool.com.
Ms. Claire’s Music Cupboard in Montgomery hosts music classes for special needs kids
Have you heard about Zylophone? Its mission is to connect individuals with special needs with music and artistic movement, and now Zylophone is offering classes right at Ms. Claire’s Music Cupboard.
Ms. Claire’s Music Cupboard is located at 8 Factory Street in Montgomery, behind the Wallkill River School of Art. For schedule information, to learn more about Zylophone or to register, call (845) 476-8257 or visit www.zylofone.org. For more information about Ms. Claire’s Music Cupboard’s other classes and workshops, visit https://musiccupboard.com.
Stroller Tours at Katonah Museum of Art
Perhaps you’re an art-lover who’s rekindling this interest after becoming a parent. Or maybe you’re just looking for an interesting place to walk around with the stroller that’s neither outdoors nor a mall. How about the Katonah Museum of Art’s Stroller Tours? From 9 to 10 a.m. on Fridays, January 10, February 7 and March 7, parents and caregivers of stroller-bound babies are invited for special “before-hours” tours of “Eye to I: 3,000 Years of Portraits.” Admission costs $10.
The Katonah Museum of Art is located at 134 Jay Street in Katonah. For more information, call (914) 232-9555 or visit www.katonahmuseum.org.
Learn ballroom dancing at Norman Rockwell Museum’s Family Day
If one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2014 was to take more interesting day trips with the family, then this weekend’s Norman Rockwell Museum Family Day, “Dance!” is for you!
“Discover dance during this afternoon inspired by Dancing Princesses and the art of Ruth Sanderson. Dancers from Berkshire Ballroom will demonstrate and teach basic ballroom steps. Professional dancer and archivist Eugenia Kim will offer an illustrated look at dance as it relates to the exhibition.”
Family Day takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission to the museum costs
$16 for adults, $14.50 for seniors, $10 for college students with ID, $5 for children/teens ages 6 to 18 and is free for children age 5 and under.
The Norman Rockwell Museum is in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. For more information, call (413) 298-4100 or visit www.nrm.org.
Erica Chase-Salerno is peeling pomegranates in New Paltz with her husband Mike and their two children: the inspirations behind www.hudsonvalleyparents.com. She can be reached at kidsalmanac@ulsterpublishing.com.
Join the family! 
