Geva Summer Curtain Call

Maggie Brooks & Skip Greer

When I joined the Board of Trustees of Geva and was asked to choose a committee, I jumped on the Education / Summer Curtain Call Committee. Charlie and I are very interested in education in Rochester, and I've been on fundraising committees in the past, so it felt like a no-brainer (plus, it fit with my schedule...). And although I'm much better at purchasing fundraiser silent auction items than soliciting them, I steeled my courage to ask a few contacts for donations (and mostly received them!). And I did manage to persuade the committee to add the ability to purchase a table; even though it's not a sit-down dinner, I thought it would be nice to have a reserved place to perch while dining from the buffet, and to gather with friends. And since this year Geva was adding mobile bidding, I wouldn't feel the need to hover over the silent auction items I was protecting...

Pamela Reed Sanchez 2nd from right,
Tom Parrish on the left

Summer Curtain Call (SCC) is Geva's annual fundraiser, to raise “the resources needed to sustain Geva's 28 educational programs, which annually serve over 40,000 Rochesterians young and old.... Over 7,000 students and teachers attended subsidized Student Matinees this season...including 1,600 Rochester City School District students who participated through (their) free Passport Program.” Geva also provides Discovery Guides and in-classroom workshops, and they pioneered the Stage Door Project, which partners with a local high school to help them produce a parallel production (this past year, it was Little Shop of Horrors).

with Sandy Frankel

SCC is quite an event. There are the usual silent and live auctions and raffles, but the thing that distinguishes it from other fundraisers is the skit. Mark Cuddy, Artistic Director, creates a performance based on the final show, and populates it with notable Rochesterians. So this year, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike became Lovely & Sandy & Maggie & Ward...& More! Warren, Frankel, Brooks, and Stare shared the stage with about 25 other cast members, including artist Wendell Castle, and my friends Pamela Reed Sanchez (director of the Seneca Park Zoo Society) and Bernie Todd Smith.

Bernie Todd Smith 2nd from left

Maggie Brooks absolutely stole the show. Mark wrote her the best lines, and much of the plot revolved around her imminent retirement as Monroe County Executive. And of course she can act - after all, she's a politician - but she can also sing! Everyone was funny, and my only wish was that Skip's nightshirt had been a few inches longer (probably his, too!). Lovely and Ward were also very funny. The opening performance by the alumni from last year's Summer Academy left most of us wanting more. 

Wendell Castle, Lovely Warren, and Ward Stare

The event was sold out, and even though I bid on multiple items, I somehow managed to purchase only one (but it should be blog-worthy...). By the end of the night, over $185,000 had been raised, as the auctioneer said, "for the kids!" 

RoCo 6x6x2015

Two years ago, I got hooked on the annual 6x6 exhibit at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo), when I went for the first time with my friend Luci, and then again with my Florida friend, Nanette, and I bought a couple of paintings, as did they. That year, I didn't attend until well into the run of the exhibit, so most of what appealed to me already had red “sold” stickers. But oddly, not all! I guess when there are thousands of items to choose from, there's something for everyone, with some left over. Last year, I made a point to go to the preview, and scope out the art, noting the numbers of the pieces I particularly liked on a map of the gallery. I recognized some by Melissa Matson, principal violist of the RPO (her work is hard to miss – it often has little threads hanging from it). I couldn't go to the Saturday opening night, and by the time I arrived Sunday a little before the doors opened at 1pm (I was third in line), most of the ones I considered ‘the best’ were gone. I think there were at least three dozen I would have purchased if I’d had the opportunity. Still, I managed to find six that I didn't want to regret not purchasing (including one of Matson's), and a seventh that I knew Nanette would love.

This is again preview week – opening night is this Saturday (and again, I can't attend). At the event, you can buy raffle tickets, and the drawing entitles the winners to early purchasing, before RoCo opens it up to the crowd. New this year is a larger work donated by George Condo. The gallery is raffling that for $40 a ticket, and only selling 150 tickets. And more intriguing to me, minimalist composer Philip Glass has donated a 6x6! What a surprise that will be for the lucky purchaser. 

Cataloguing the submissions in May

This year there are fewer artworks in total, but more individuals represented (roughly 3000), because the gallery limited submissions to four per person (down from six per person last year). And new countries are represented by the artists, including Zambia, Nepal, and Bhutan! I can't imagine how people in those countries would even find out about this exhibit, let alone have the resources to submit a piece of work. It certainly would be fun to be the purchaser of one of their works and email them to thank them. It's remarkable how RoCo has created a local exhibit with such global reach, and kept the artwork within reach of most purchasers (each work is only $20).

I visited the gallery and wrote down about a dozen pieces I'd love to own. I'm sure I'll line up again on Sunday to take my chances, and I'm just as sure that there will be at least a half dozen that I end up with, even if they're not the ones I initially coveted (most of which I can guarantee will be sold), since they're tiny – you can put them anywhere. Although now that i'm amassing a collection, I’m going to need a new wall to hang them all on!

6x6x2015 opens 6/6 and runs through 7/12.