IN THE NEWS

852 PUBLIC SERVICE GRANTS ANNOUNCED BY DCA

The Department of Cultural Affairs has published the list of its FY08 public service awards, the first year of its reformed funding process. DCA received applications from 1066 organizations and awarded 852 grants totaling $35.4 million. This represents a 22 percent increase in applications, a 9 percent increase in groups funded, and a 46 percent increase in dollars.

DCA has also accelerated the payment process, which previously began in mid-September. This year, 372 organizations received funds totaling $7.9 million by September 15.

AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND NATIONAL MONUMENT OPENS OCT 5

A new memorial will open on Oct 5 on the site where 15,000 people of African descent were buried during the 17th and 18th centuries. The remains of 419 slaves and free Africans were discovered there in 1991. It is the largest burial site of its kind in North America. The granite memorial, formed in the shape of a hull, was designed by Rodney Léon of Aarris Architects, New York. For more information on the monument from the National Parks Service, click here.

CITY PARKS HOST 40 ART INSTALLATIONS

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation will celebrate its 40 years of hosting public art in the parks with 40 installations around the city. The works remain in the parks for a time before moving on, a tradition that began with Tony Smith's solo show of sculptures in Bryant Park in 1967. Among the artists whose works were selected are Elizabeth Egbert (Tibetan Bench, Greenbelt Nature Conservancy Center, Staten Island), Jeppe Hein (Modified Social Bench I, Court Square Park, Queens), Michael Milton (Bronx Boogie, Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx), Roxy Paine (Conjoined, Defunct and Erratic, Madison Square Park, Manhattan) and Steve Tobin (Steelroots, Prospect Park, Brooklyn). For more information on each of the works, the artists and the duration of each exhibition, please visit the Art in the Parks page.

Steve Tobin, Steelroots. October 15, 2007 to January 5, 2008 in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

125th STREET NAMED ONE OF AMERICA'S GREATEST STREETS

The American Planning Association has recognized 125th Street for its culture, history and business development. The home of the Apollo Theatre and the Studio Museum in Harlem is listed with historic streets such as Ocean Drive in Miami, Florida and St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana. For more information, click here.

NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES MONTH 2007

October is National Arts and Humanities Month, coordinated by Americans for the Arts. This year, it will include open houses at arts centers, mayoral proclamations, storefront banners and newspaper articles. Thousands of communities have joined the initiative to celebrate their cultural offerings. In New York City, the calendar includes a screening from the PBS series Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century on October 1 at CUNY, 60 events from the Early Music Celebration throughout the city, and the National Arts Awards on October 15 at Cipriani 42nd Street. For more information, click here.

PEOPLE

Elizabeth H. Berger has been appointed president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. She was previously the Senior Government Relations Advisor for the Law Offices of Claudia Wagner.

NEWS AT THE ALLIANCE

FALL 2007 NYCkidsARTS ISSUE RELEASED

The Alliance for the Arts has published its fall 2007 issue of NYCkidsARTS: The Cultural Calendar for Teachers and Parents. This issue includes listings for events and exhibitions at 96 organizations in all five boroughs, including dance, botanic gardens, historic sites, libraries, museums, music, theater, zoos and the aquarium. Parents and teachers will find places to go and things to do for children of all ages. This issue gives special focus to libraries, highlighting the renovations of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The calendar is distributed to parents through cultural organizations around the city, and to teachers in cooperation with the Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers and Materials for the Arts. All of the events in the calendar, and hundreds more, can be found online at NYCkidsARTS.org.

CALENDAR

FORT APACHE REVISITED

On October 4 at 7 pm, the Longwood Arts Project at the Hostos Center for Arts and Culture will host a panel discussion to coincide with its exhibition entitled The Fort Apache Connection. The show, currently on view at the gallery through November 10, exhibits work by Apache artists that respond to the two films Fort Apache and Fort Apache, The Bronx, that impacted the lives of the Apache and the Bronx community members and its leadership as well. The Longwood Arts Project is the contemporary art center of the Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA).

OHNY FIFTH ANNIVERSARY

On October 6 and 7, the 5th Annual openhousenewyork Weekend will bring together architects, designers and planners to tour New York City's architecture and design in all five boroughs, and to take part in special talks, tours, performances and family-friendly workshops, all free of charge.