Port Chester
Arts Festival
Saturday
June 3, 2023
Join us in Port Chester, New York for a day of creativity and inspiration for all ages at the 1st Annual Port Chester Arts Festival. The festival will be a celebration of the arts groups and artists that make our town a creative hub. All events will be free and open to the public. From longstanding spaces like The Capitol Theatre and Clay Art Center, to new additions like Ice Cream Social Art Space, Port Chester offers an exciting array of access to the arts as part of our culture. Enjoy some of the best Westchester arts events and organizations!
Visit 3+ Festival Sites to Enter the Raffle
Enter the raffle for one of the gift baskets generously provided by our participating arts organizations and sponsors! Follow these steps to enter:
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Request a raffle card at the first art site you visit during the festival, and collect your first stamp!
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Get your card stamped at the next two art sites you visit throughout the day.
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Return your stamped raffle card to a staff member at the last art site you visit.
*Please note that only venues marked with a star on the festival map can distribute, stamp, and collect raffle cards.
Event Schedule
All events are free and do not require advance registration.
All Day: The PC High School IB Visual Arts students have hidden temporary artworks throughout Port Chester. Use the scavenger map here to find them throughout the day! *Please note that artworks are temporary and are not guaranteed to remain in their location.
9:30 - 11:30 am: Face painting led by Artist/Illustrator Terry Taylor at the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library
9:30 am - 4:30 pm: Arts & Crafts table, display of paintings and ceramics by Terry Taylor, and a display from Fashion Arts Studio at the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library
11 am - 4 pm: Outdoor pottery sale, Raku firing demonstrations, exhibitions on view, kid's activities, and food vendors at the Clay Art Center
11 am - 12 pm: Art-making workshop led by Adina Andrus, and exhibitions on view at Ice Cream Social Art Space
11 am - 2 pm: Carver Center will host artist tables featuring artwork & crafts by local artists, solo performances by PC High School NYSSMA students, and an activites table with info about new public art initiatives by the PC Village Beautification Commission.
12-4 pm: Artist tables at Garcia's (The Capitol Theatre)
12 - 5 pm: Exhibitions on view at MAPSpace
12 pm: Kids' Smash Art event led by Jac Lahav, and exhibitions on view at Ice Cream Social Art Space
1 - 4 pm: Artist open studios, and exhibitions on view at Ice Cream Social Art Space
2 - 3 pm: Children's story time with Patricia Rinello at Eugene's Music & Learning Studio
2 -3 pm: LawnChair Theatre Workshop "Introduction to Breath and Body Song-work" led by Lorna Whittemore at Ice Cream Social Art Space
3 - 5 pm: The Crit Lab's Exhibition opening reception at MAPSpace
3 - 3:25 pm: Jazz class for children 6-8 yrs old at Jete Dance Studio
3 - 4 pm: LawnChair Theatre Workshop "Acting for Anyone" led by Mat Young at Ice Cream Social Art Space
3:35 - 4 pm: Adult Beginner Salsa Shines class at Jete Dance Studio
4 - 5 pm: LawnChair Theatre Workshop "Yes, and now what?" led by Mario Fuentes and Kevin Rishel at Ice Cream Social Art Space
5:30 - 8 pm: Exhibition opening reception at Ice Cream Social Art Space
Program Details
Participating Organizations
The Capitol Theatre
145 Westchester Avenue
From 12-4 pm Garcia's at The Capitol will host local artists and their work, including Gabriel Camacho and Adrian Ochoa.
Built for Vaudeville in 1926, the Capitol Theatre is now Westchester’s premier rock palace with state-of-the-art light, sound and video systems. Over its extended history, "The Cap" has hosted names like David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In partnership with the family of Jerry Garcia, The Capitol Theatre christened its "lobby bar" as Garcia’s in honor of the late Grateful Dead guitarist and singer, who counted the Port Chester, N.Y., rock palace among his favorite venues in the country. In recent years, Garcia's has become a venue of its own, showcasing local and regional musicians.
Carver Center
400 Westchester Avenue
From 11 am - 2 pm, Carver Center will host 12 local artists showcasing a wide variety of visual arts and crafts-work on display and available for sale. Artists include Douglas Chavarria, Shiying Dong, Tammie Freccia, Nora Freeman, Greg Maggi, Kimberly Monter, Nanny Monter, Alison Nicholls, Patrice Pelissier, Christine Ring, and Paul Rively.
Carver Center is the largest and longest-running community center in the village of Port Chester, with educational and recreational programs for families and individuals of all ages. In 1943, Carver Center was founded by a small group of concerned, black community members; an entrepreneur, a dentist, three ministers, a hairdresser, a post office employee, a social worker, and a passionate group of volunteers who were grassroots organizers and advocates for the minority community in Port Chester. They came together to address the immediate needs of the children who needed care while their parents were working in defense factories making equipment for the war. Today’s Carver Center upholds the values of its founding and continues to prioritize the needs and voices of the community.
Clay Art Center
40 Beech Street
From 11 am - 4 pm, Clay Art Center will host an outdoor pottery sale, raku firing and wheel demos, open studios, a clay activity for kids, and will have an exhibition on view in the gallery.
Clay Art Center is a nationally recognized 501c3 non-profit dedicated to the advancement and practice of ceramic art. Katherine Choy, a leader of the Newcomb pottery aesthetic, joined by master potter Henry Okamoto, founded the center as a communal studio in 1957. At one time a lone beacon of clay artistry on the east coast, CAC became a haven for clay artists, many of whom pursued significant careers in ceramics and influenced contemporary ceramic practice. Today Clay Art Center is the largest and most active ceramic facility in the tristate area. Each year CAC serves over 12,000 people in-person and virtually with exhibitions, classes, workshops, volunteer opportunities, and exposure to the rich world of handmade ceramic art. Over 500 full and partial scholarships are awarded each year.
Eugene’s Music & Learning Studio
603 North Main Street
From 2 - 3 pm, join Patricia Rinello in the lobby at Eugene's Music & Learning Studio for a story-time reading of children's book favorites.
Founded by Eugene Posniewski in 2011, Eugene's Music & Learning Studio offers extra-curricular music education to students of all ages in-home, in-studio, and online with a group of over 70 teachers. Eugene started teaching in Westchester when he moved to the area in 2012. He has continued to grow his private studio with amazing families and students who have helped build a beautiful, musical, and learning community.
Fashion Arts Studio
Hosted at PCRB Library, 1 Haseco Ave
Fashion Arts Studio will have works on display at the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library, which will be open from 9 am - 5 pm.
The Fashion Arts Studio offers quality fashion design courses taught by industry professionals and former professors from notable fashion schools such as Parsons and F.I.T. FAS is Westchester County’s first after school Fashion Design program that is also based on the STEAM educational philosophy (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math).
Ice Cream Social Art Space
40 Merritt Street
Ice Cream Social Art Space will have an exhibition on view in the gallery throughout the day starting at 11 am, and will host a family art-making workshop from 11 am - 12 pm, a kids' smash art event at 12 pm, open artist studios from 1-4 pm, and theatre workshops led by LawnChair Theatre from 2-5 pm. Festival attendees are also welcome to attend the opening reception for the current exhibition from 5:30-8 pm. Details about the workshops are below.
11 am - 12 pm: “Beyond What the Eye Can See: Agamographs and Cubomania Images”, a family art workshop led by ICS studio artist, Adina Andrus. Join us for a family art-making workshop focusing on two easy methods of creating new ways to view found images. Agamographs combine images, including drawings and/or photos, to form an optical illusion that changes when viewed at different angles. Great for developing fine motor and image recognition skills in young artists! For older participants similar materials can be used to make images inspired by Cubomania, a method developed by Romanian Surrealist Gherasim Luca. Cubomania forms new meanings from found images and allows the subconscious to create more freely. Both activities will utilize paper collage materials and require no special skills.
12 pm: Kid’s Smash Art event led by Jac Lahav, one of the artists in Greater Gravity. One of the show’s sculptures is a sleeper artwork filled with candy inside! Artist Jac Lahav will ask kids to smash it open - in the tradition of piñata, pignata, and general artwork iconoclasm - turning our traditional notion of art appreciation on its head.
About: Ice Cream Social is an experimental exhibition and studio space that includes a 3,800 sq ft gallery, private artist studios, and a shared workspace. In order to support emerging artists' relationship with the larger community, ICS curates exhibitions onsite and at off-site locations across the U.S., and offers workshops, performances, and festivals in partnership with other art spaces and community-service groups. ICS space opened to the public in March of 2022 with a group exhibition featuring 24 artists from around the country and provided an accompanying free series of artist panels, school workshops, and a live performance art event. The following month, the first set of private studios was completed and a curated group of studio artists was welcomed into the space. The next set of studios will be completed in Spring of 2023.
Jete Dance Studio
114 Pearl Street
3:00-3:25 pm, Jazz class for 6-8 year olds: Learn the basics of jazz dancing starting with a warm up of body isolations and technique steps such as plies, tendus, jazz square, balancing and sharp hand movements. This will be followed by traveling steps across the floor, such as gallops and leaps. These steps will then be combined together in a pattern and taught as a short dance to a jazz song.
3:35-4:00 pm, Adult Beginner Salsa Shines class: Learn the rhythm of salsa music and the basic salsa footwork for solo dancing, including a salsa basic, susie-q, side basic, and more. These steps will then be combined together in a pattern and taught as a short dance to a salsa song.
Jete Dance studio offers classes in creative ballet, ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap, contemporary, salsa, and zumba for ages 2-adult. In addition to classes and Summer camp, Jete also runs a series of dance companies that feature its students. A hidden gem in Port Chester, Jete creates a supportive and comfortable environment for students to find their confidence and self-expression through dance.
LawnChair Theatre will lead multiple workshops at Ice Cream Social art space from 2-5 pm, listed below. Please contact Artistic Director, Peter Green, for more information: peter@lawnchairtheatre.org
2-3 pm: Introduction to Breath and Body Song-work, led by Lorna Whittemore
Lorna is a voice and drama coach specializing in breath and body work. Utilizing the Linklater technique for actors and singers, her natural approach focuses on connecting the body and the voice, with the goal of creating a seamless voice. At this workshop, you will have an opportunity to learn some breathing and vocal exercises, and to begin to apply those exercises to your own singing. Bring a song you love to sing.
3 - 4 pm: Acting for Anyone, led by Mat Young
Mat Young is an actor, director, writer, and theatre educator. A graduate of The New Actor’s Workshop, Mat was trained by some of America’s finest directors and acting teachers. In addition to founding multiple improvisation troupes, Mat is the artistic director of The Naked Shakespeare Company and has directed and acted for LawnChair Theatre for over a decade. Mat wrote and directed LCT’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Queen in 2021. In this workshop, you will be lead through a series of acting exercises. Mat will begin with exercises from the Viewpoints method, designed to center you, both in the present and in your body. You will use dialogue, to act and react, using the concepts of Objective and Action to achieve a character’s goals. We promise you an exciting and informative time.
4 - 5 pm: Yes, and now what?, led by Mario Fuentes and Kevin Rishel
Get ready to unleash your inner improviser and learn the power of agreement! We're thrilled to invite you to our one-hour Improv led by the dynamic duo, Mario Fuentes and Kevin Rishel. These two pros have been teaching and performing in Manhattan for almost 20 years and are ready to share their foundational skills with you. From active listening to reacting truthfully in a scene, they'll guide you through exercises and games that will boost your confidence and help you make your partner look like a star. But it's not just about being a better performer on stage - the skills you'll learn can be applied to all areas of your life, whether you're speaking in public or just communicating more effectively in your relationships. And the best part? You'll do it all in a supportive and super fun environment! So don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn from two of the best in the biz. Get ready to enrich your life both personally and professionally - we can't wait to see you there!
About: LawnChair Theatre began in 2006 as a Port Chester summer youth theatre project, and evolved a larger mission, becoming a multi-generational theatre company in which the building of community is as important as the art it produces. LawnChair believes in theatre’s power to shine a light on our common humanity and raise the level of empathy in our world. While LawnChair’s Summer Shakespeare productions are on hiatus, the organization remains committed to supporting local theatre artists, sponsoring performances, workshops and classes.
Miranda Arts Project Space and The Crit Lab will host an exhibition and open artist studios on the 4th floor of the 6 North Pearl Street building from 12-5 pm. North Pearl Street artists include: Serdar Arat, Idil Barkan, Sibley Barlow, Jenn Cacciola, Christopher Kaczmarek, Natalya Khorover, Helen Marder, Patricia Miranda, Lisie S. Orjuela, Carin Reich, Susan ScherMichael Thornton-Smith, Mitchell Visoky, Teresa Waterman, David Wohl, and Bradley Wood. There will be a reception for The Crit Lab's new exhibition from 3-5 pm.
Miranda Arts Project Space, formerly Miranda Fine Arts, was founded in 1991 and re-founded in 2012 as a project space by artist, curator, and educator Patricia Miranda. MAPSpace is an artist-owned and artist-driven space for curatorial exploration, exhibition, collaboration, and the gathering of ideas across discipline, philosophy, and art form. It exhibits painting, sculpture, prints, video, installation, performance, and engages in a dialogue with the fields of social practice, DIY, circuit bending and Maker movements, and collaborative projects. MAPSace is committed to bringing critical contemporary art and discourse beyond the centers where art is expected into communities beyond.
The Crit Lab, founded in 2013 by Patricia Miranda, is an alternate critical community for working artists outside academia to come together for sustained contact, with empathetic listening, radical optimism and rigorous dialogue, in an act of hope over destruction.
Hosted at Carver Center,
400 Westchester Avenue
Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library
1 Haseco Avenue
The Village of Port Chester & Port Chester Beautification Commission will introduce the Port Chester Community Art Initiative, a framework developed by the Beautification Commission to increase public art in the Village. With its adoption, the Board of Trustees takes a significant step to enhance the Village's arts and culture community, and fulfill many objectives of the Village's Comprehensive Plan.
The Beautification Commission will host an information center and arts and crafts tent at the Carver Center from 11am-2pm. Visitors will be able to preview the Initiative's first project, PC Arts in Education Week, and vote on designs for murals. Our younger community members and those young at heart can learn how to make crochet pom-poms and make sidewalk drawings with chalk.
The Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library will host activities throughout the day and will have artwork by Terry Taylor on display.
9:30 - 11:30 am: Artist & Illustrator Terry Taylor will have a face painting table, and her artworks will be on display all day long!
9:30am-4:30pm: The Free Arts Creation table will be open for drop-in visits. Participants will be able to make collages or sculptures using assorted papers, craft & upcycled materials. Collage demonstrations will be presented throughout the day.
1:30pm-3:30pm: Fashion Arts Studio of Westchester will display student works on dress forms.
The Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library began its years of service to our community in 1876, on Main Street in the Brundage Building. The three story building was given to the newly formed Port Chester Free Reading Room by Jared Valentine Peck, a wealthy Port Chester lumber and building supplies businessman and a representative to the New York State Assembly and the United States Congress. The Brundage Building housed Lambert’s Dry Goods Store on its first level, the library on the middle floor and the Mamaro Lodge of Masons on the top floor. The income from the rents of the first and third floors supported the library during these first years. On April 14, 1877, the library was incorporated as “The Library and Reading Room of the Village of Port Chester.”Fifty years later, the Library building was dedicated in its present location at Haseco and Westchester Avenues. Read more about the history of the Library at: https://portchester-ryebrooklibrary.org/history/
Please reach out here if you are a local arts organization, business, or venue that would like to participate.
Local artists interested in participating in the festival should submit the interest form below!
Congrats to the Winners of the Chamber of Commerce Poster Contest!
Thanks to Greenwich Hospital and the Port Chester-Rye Brook-Rye Town Chamber of Commerce for their support, and to PCHS Art Teacher, Erik Maniscalco for arranging this poster design contest.
First Place
Damian Dominguez Jaina Gonzalez
Sheyla Aula
Second Place
Third Place
Juana Carcamo
Art Scavenger Hunt Created by PCHS Students
The PC High School IB Visual Arts students have hidden temporary artworks throughout Port Chester. Use the scavenger map here to find them throughout the day!
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Sponsors
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County Legislator Nancy Barr
Composite Forms Inc.
USAlliance Credit Union
Reach out below if you are interested in helping to support this event as a sponsor!
Food & Beverage
John's of Arthur Ave Restaurant & Pizza:
Mention the festival and get 10% off or $5 off of $40 at John's of Arthur Ave!
Incazteca will be offering an exclusive Saturday-only menu!
Run & Hide Brewery will be pouring samples of original brews at the Clay Art Center
The Mister Softee truck will be vending at the Clay Art Center
Paradise Taqueria will be vending at the Clay Art Center
If you are a local restaurant or food truck owner and would like to participate in the festival, reach out to us below!