All Aspects of Home, Explored Through Art
You are cordially invited to join me and my colleagues on Wed. Nov. 3 at SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street, for the 5th anniversary presentation of Art & Activism. An annual event, produced and conceived by the Division of Continuing Education at the School of Visual Arts, Art & Activism brings together dynamic individuals committed to making change in society through art-of all kinds.
This year’s theme focuses on the concept of ‘home’. At the event, celebrated speakers will delve into the spiritual and personal concept of home, the aspect of design in terms of building community, our physical home, and finally the larger definition of home in terms of our planet.
The program will feature short, animated films about climate change, produced by local high school students who participated in a course developed by the Division of Continuing Education at SVA. These students wrote, animated, scored and voiced their films depicting their deep concern for the future of the earth.
Following the brief screening, presentations by Dr. Jarvis Watson, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at SVA will begin the speaking portion discussing the spiritual concept or home, followed by Sloan Leo, founder of Flox Studios who will discuss the concept of community and design, Andrew Castrucci and Nadia Coen, artists instrumental in changing housing policy in New York City, and stopping fracking in New York State, and performance artist Marianna Olinger who has worked with indigenous communities in the Amazon. The evening will conclude with a panel discussion moderated by me.
Join us for Art & Activism: Our House: Claiming ‘Home’ Through Art and Design, Wed, Nov 3 at 6 PM at SVA Theatre. You’ll even get a swag bag for attending.
If you prefer to stay home, the event will be streamed.
Please be sure to go to https://bit.ly/AandA21 to register. The event is free to attend.
All attendees must be vaccinated and show proof of vaccination at the door.
Be a part of this special and thought-provoking evening.
Valerie Smaldone is a 5-time Billboard Magazine Award winner and is well known for her unprecedented success holding the #1 on-air position in the New York radio market on 106.7 Life-FM, an iHeart station. She has hosted, produced, and created several award-winning nationally syndicated programs featuring in-depth interviews with stars like Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart, Elton John and Mariah Carey among others. Her radio talk show "Bagels and Broadway" highlighted theatre and food personalities. She is an accomplished interviewer and voice artist heard on commercials, narrations, promos and audiobooks, as well as a sought after live announcer.
Most recently, Valerie produced and directed a film, The Thursday Night Club, featuring pop diva Gloria Gaynor in her movie acting debut. She is one of the creators and producers of a docu-series, Divine Renovation, starring Erik Estrada, on streaming networks soon.
