Riverdale Festival of the Arts PO Box 391 * Bronx, NY 10471 * 917-570-9027 * www.RiverdaleFestivaloftheArts.com

News Release

For Immediate Release: For More Information Contact: April 26, 2012 Tracy Shelton, 917-570-9027 Info@RiverdaleFestivaloftheArts.com

Organizers, Producers, Artists, Musicians, Business Owners Join Together to Promote an Upcoming Community Event: Riverdale Festival of the Arts!

On Thursday, April 26th, a group of local community members and artists held a Special Promotional Event in front of Starbucks on Johnson Avenue. The event offered the media a “sneak preview” of a few coming attractions for the Riverdale Festival of the Arts, scheduled for Sunday, May 6, 2012 from 11 am to 4 pm on Johnson Avenue (235th—236th Street). The special media event included an overview of the massive community event presented by the organizers: Linda Manning of Linda Manning Productions; Tracy Shelton, Executive Director, Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corporation/KRVC and Lisa Cooper, owner, Elisa Contemporary Art. Ms. Manning, who organized the performers’ attendance for this event and the festival, welcomed everyone to the media event: “I am thrilled to bring to Riverdale world-renowned musicians that I have gotten to know through producing live music events. They have a dedication and passion for their music that is contagious and electric. The day will be filled with performances that enliven the spirit for all different tastes of music lovers.“ The “sneak preview” portion of the event included a preview of some of the artwork to be shown at the festival and special performances and talks by Phil Palombi, a renowned professional musician and Street performer, Adam Auslander. Postcards and flyers to promote the festival were also distributed at this event from a table decorated with balloons and other eye-catching materials. Ms. Cooper had this to say. “Arts and Cultural events are a great way to connect a diverse community. It provides a platform that engages people of all backgrounds and all ages. It creates an opportunity to start a conversation and discover points of common interest.” Ms. Shelton ended the news conference by stating that the purpose of this special medial event was to promote the upcoming festival throughout and outside the Riverdale community. “Our hope is to give our community and especially our businesses a big boost with this festival. We hope to bring hundreds of people to Riverdale for the first time and we hope to turn our own community out big to celebrate the arts and support each other in a fun, creative way. The festival is part of a series of events to bring our community together to celebrate the arts and businesses.” said Ms. Shelton

April 26th “Sneak Preview” of Performers & Art for the Riverdale Festival of the Arts, May 6, 2012

Phil Palombi

Grammy award winning bassist Phil Palombi is "one of the most sought after young bass players", according to Steely Dan tenor saxophonist and renowned jazz musician Walt Weiskopf. Since moving to New York City in 1997, bassist Phil Palombi is slowly but surely moving through the ranks of the New York Jazz elite. His resume now includes recordings and/or performances with Michael Brecker, Billy Hart, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Etta Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Chris Potter, Rich Perry, Curtis Stigers, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Lew Tabackin, Chucho Valdes, Mark Turner, and The Village Vanguard Orchestra to name a few. In addition to performing, Phil also has a passion for teaching that includes presentations at the International Society of Bassists convention in 2005, 2007, and 2009, numerous master classes at colleges around the world (most notably Eastman School of Music), and four articles written for Double Bassist Magazine..

Adam Auslander

Street performer, strolling, juggling, hat tricks, plate spinning and more! For Adam Auslander, entertaining people is a way of life. After graduating from their highly acclaimed clown school in 1988, Adam spent a year with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus touring major U.S. cities. He describes it as one of the greatest experiences of his life. "Doing some-thing fun, wacky, and creative" was encouraged every day. Adam has also worked with the Big Apple Circus, appeared on the Rosie O'Donnell Show and the Late Show with David Letterman, and annually trains the clowns for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. His professional experience also includes acting in a wide variety of commercials, short films, and off-Broadway productions.

Elisa Contemporary Art

Elisa Contemporary Art, Riverdale (Bronx) New York, was founded by Lisa Cooper in November 2007. The gallery space was

opened in September 2008. To date, we are Riverdale (Bronx) NY’s only public Contemporary Art Gallery. We are located at 5622 Mosholu Avenue, Riverdale NY. At Elisa Contemporary Art, we believe in the power of art to positively impact and

transform all our lives. We are dedicated to promoting the appreciation and collection of art as a way to enrich and heal our lives, our communities, and the world. We believe that art is a gift to be shared, to be given and received with appreciation,

respect and awareness. For that reason, a portion of every sale is donated to philanthropic organizations that help children

and families within underserved communities heal and grow through their experience with art. Free Arts NYC, Arts to Grow and Creative Arts Workshops for Kids are currently supported.

We represent emerging through mid-career artists from around the world. Currently about 30% of our artists are from the

West Coast/Pacific. The Gallery participates in International Art Fairs in New York, the Hamptons, Boston and Miami. And has curated over eight public and private art spaces within the Tri-State area. The gallery has been featured in a range of media

from art publications, local newspapers and TV, to home design and philanthropy publications. Over the past few years, we

have built a collector base ranging from the first time buyer to New York Socialites, top Art Collectors and TV personalities. We offer full art consulting services for Residential and Corporate clients, as well as framing and installation services.

Iraqi Refugee Art – featuring Iraqi Artists, Omar Odeh, Khalid Al Aani, Asam Al Mandlawie Kim Schultz fell into the world of Iraqi refugee art after meeting several artists in an underground art gallery in Damascus, Syria. She was there traveling as part of an artist delegation herself with the organization Intersections International. A result of that trip is the play, No Place Called Home cur-rently on national tour. Kim curated a solo exhibit recently for Omar Odeh at Illuminated Metropolis Gallery in Chelsea and she helps many Iraqi refugee artists sell their work to survive their ongoing, unstable situation that affects over 4 million Iraqis.

www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com

212.729.4974

Lisa@ElisaArt.com

Just a Glimmer of the Performances, Art and more you will be treated to at the Riverdale

Festival of the Arts on May 6, 2012 !

Art Featured at our Festival Promo Event

Yasemin Kackar-Demirel Yasemin is one of our new emerging artists. She was born in Istanbul, received her MFA in DeKalb (IL), and currently lives in New York. Her work is a fragmented and reconstructed journey through the places she has lived and traveled, both real and imagined. According to Yasemin, her latest series: ““Explores the rise and fall of places through physical and emotional conducts. I like to work with random juxtapositions of places in nature and the urban envi-ronment and re-present them in puzzling and surprising contexts. Shifting between abstraction and representation, I explore and experiment with the push-pull effects between the concepts of longing vs. apathy, insecurity vs. comfort, order vs. chaos, unfamiliarity vs. belonging and stability vs. ephemeral-ity. I am intrigued by the idea of fragmenting and connecting which reinvestigates a place by recon-structing or renovating while destroying it. Here, I am employing the possibilities of a new location, a new order devoid of any preconceived identity whereby I find myself in total conformity.”

Yasemin has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in the US and Turkey. She was recently exhibited at the Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair. Her work is also in the Ipek-Ahmet Merey Foundation in Istanbul, Turkey.

Riverdale Festival of the Arts Sunday, May 6, 2012

11am-4pm

Johnson Avenue, 235th-236th Street

Bronx, NY

www.RiverdaleFestivaloftheArts.com Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @RvrdleFstvlArts

The Spring 2012 Festival is made possible with public funds from the Bronx Council on the Arts through the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program.

Coming Soon! 184 West 237th Street Bronx, NY 10463

Live music performances — all day long — brought to you by Linda Manning Productions from Jazz to Rock to Classical including Electric Jazz Trio “718,” Seeing Voices, Traditional Irish music by Moakland and original jazz compositions performed by Alma and Rale Micic.

Entertainment by local performing arts groups including Michele Compa’s Dance Studio, Riverdale Choral Society, Riverdale Music Studio. Riverdale Rising Stars and the Riverdale Sinfonietta.

International artists from Elisa Contemporary art including Amy Cheng, James Kao, Yasemin Kackar-Demirel, Marie Danielle Leblanc. As well as Kiyoshi Otsuka, Manuel Servin, Omar Odeh, Khalid Al Aani, Asam Al Mandlawie and organizations including the Riverdale Art Association and the Derfner Judaica Museum + Art Collection at The Hebrew Home at Riverdale.

Exhibits from local merchants, schools and organizations.

International food from the restaurants of Johnson Avenue.

Children’s activities including art projects, face painting, clowns and more!

Spring 2012 Festival Sponsors

DJ DRUGS