Kimberly Young is thrilled to be joining the CMW team. She began in the arts as a classically trained dancer, and has danced professionally in New York for the last eight years, for choreographers including Yanira Castro, Tere O’Connor, Helene Lesterlin, and Heather Olson. At the same time, Kimberly served as the Assistant Director for The Peter Jay Sharp Program at The Princeton Review, a program that provided free SAT and PSAT preparatory courses to 1,500 underserved students in the NYC Metro area. In this work, she found her passion for service and her deep desire to connect with her community. Subsequently, she held critical operational positions at two experimental music and art presenters, ISSUE Project Room and Roulette Intermedium, during each organization’s transition into permanent performance spaces. 

Kimberly sees in CMW an opportunity to tie together the threads of her past work, and to continue doing something she loves – helping arts organizations focus on their core values and maintain their pioneering spirit as they find growing success. She is proud to become a part of CMW’s inspiring story of successfully combining fine-art practice with service to and engagement with the community.

Please join me in welcoming Kimberly!

-Sebastian Ruth, Founder & Artistic Director

Photo by Sebastian

More photos by Jori in CMW's Flickr account.

More photos by Jori in CMW's Flickr account.

The tone shifted from dark to light when the quartet launched into
“Strum,” a hugely enjoyable new work by Sphinx violinist Jessie
Montgomery. Turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life, “Strum”
sounded like a handful of American folk melodies tossed into a strong
wind, cascading and tumbling joyfully around one another. Montgomery
also wrote the evening’s encore, “Star-burst”; at 30, she’s an inventive
and appealing composer with interesting things ahead of her.

Congratulations to former CMW resident musician Jessie Montgomery on such a positive review of her work in a major media outlet! We're looking forward to hosting Jessie for a week-long residency in December, including public events on December 14 and 15. Continuing reading the Washington Post's review of the recent Sphinx Virtuosi concert here.

Read below for details about a couple of local events featuring live and recorded music by CMW's own Laura Cetilia. 

Sara's cellists participating in PRONK (Providencehonkfest) on October 8.

CMW's Bach marathon concert on November 10 was originally inspired by an annual Bach
marathon that happens in New Orleans. Hearing the story from a friend of mine
who was at that concert recently really excited me, and I thought that we can
and should do this in Providence.

And since this is happening in
Providence, and organized by CMW, it is going to be
something more special and unique than any other Bach marathon in the
world. The marathon will be a mix of performance of Bach's music (primarily for solo instruments) by CMW's resident musicians, students, and friends, as well as open interpretations of Bach's music by experimental musicians from Providence and other nearby
cities. I've already been asking these experimental musicians that would
be perfect for this, and everyone I've talked to so far has said "yes!" with
no hesitation.

See photos from CMW's November 2010 marathon Bach concert here.

-Sakiko Mori, Bach marathon concert curator

On Friday afternoon, CMW musicians and ten Sistema Fellows crowded into CMW's third floor meeting space. It felt a bit like a family reunion, with shared core values and aspirations instantly creating the glue to bind together people who had not previously met.

Over several hours together, the group engaged in a discussion of what it means to be a teaching artist in an organization–such as CMW–with a mission of social change. How do your core values manifest in your teaching practice? The conversation was guided by the incomparable Eric Booth.

Trivia quiz: Can you identify four former CMW Fellows in this photo? (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

-Heath Marlow, Managing Director

Dear friend,

I’m writing to let you know that after nearly five amazing years as
the Executive Director of New Urban Arts, I will be returning to New
York to join the senior staff of the Queens Museum of Art where I will take on the position of Director of Education.

In this role I will oversee all of the museum’s education programs
which include teen, after-school, school, family, teacher, access
programs and more. Like New Urban Arts, the Queens Museum of Art is
nationally recognized as a leader and innovator in using the arts to
bring together and engage diverse communities. I am very excited to
build on the work I’ve done at New Urban Arts at this cutting-edge
museum.

I will start my new position on December 17, 2012 and my last day at New Urban Arts will be December 7th, the day of our annual Artist Mentor Exhibition opening.
This is fitting as being an artist mentor remains the most important
position I have ever had and is what sparked my long relationship with
New Urban Arts…

Continuing reading Jason's letter on the New Urban Arts website by clicking here.