When many people hear the word "artist," they think of the long-dead greats whose works adorn museum walls and are heard in concert halls. These same people would be surprised to learn that real, living, breathing artists may be their neighbors and produce work that has a relevance to their lives unmatched by the great artists of the past.

Presenting Artists in Communities

Programs	FY03 Artists	FY03 Audiences	FY04 Artists	FY04 Audiences
Artists & Audience Exchange	166	7,515	126	4,732
On and Off the Wall exhibition	24	1,400	n/a	n/a
Community Residencies	2	2,400	1	45
TOTAL	192	11,315	127	4,777

It is for this reason that NYFA is committed to connecting contemporary artists and their work to the public. Through NYFA's agency, artists expand the audience for their work, and audiences are engaged in new ways with creative expression. Through NYFA Public Programs, NYFA’s Artist Fellowship Recipients are given an opportunity to share their work with audiences throughout the state of New York. In 2002, Public Programs created a new program, the Artist Community Residency, which provides Artist Fellowship Recipients with an opportunity to actively involve the public in the artistic process. Four successful residencies took place during the period of this report that helped build a sense of community and engaged diverse audiences.

The 2 Project was NYFA’s first Artist Community Residency. Held in Groton, NY in November 2002 and featuring NYFA Photography Fellow Laura Straus, the residency provided high school students with in-depth photography instruction and guided them in an ethnographic project in which they documented activities in their community. Prior to arriving on site, Straus engaged in an email dialog with the students about the nature of photography.

Local college students and several businesses participated in the field- work by taking part in the students’ documentary photography project. At the end of the residency, participants were taken on a trip to the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University where they had an opportunity to photograph the Museum’s permanent collection.

The 2 Project connected several parts of the Groton community in an effort to support the arts and allow the artistic spirit to flourish. Local enthusiasm for the project brought about the publication of a small book of photographs taken by the students and presented their work in an exhibition at the local library and later at the regional airport. [Photo at right by Alida van Almelo.]

In October 2003, NYFA fiscally sponsored artist Lisa Gossels hosted screenings throughout Utica of her Emmy award-winning documentary film, The Children of Chabannes, which tells the story of over 400 Jewish refugee children during World War II. In addition to public screenings and discussions, Gossels visited area elementary, middle, and high schools and the local Jewish Community Center, and conducted art workshops at Pratt Institute and Munson-Williams Proctor Arts Institute. The film and Gossels’ presentations equally moved both the young children with little or no knowledge of the events of World War II and survivors of the Holocaust.

In partnership with the Nature Conservancy, NYFA developed Wild New York: Creating a Field Guide for Urban Environments over the course of four weekends in May and June 2004. Printmaking/Drawing/Artists Books Fellow Maddalena Polletta led a small group on a series of nature walks and art sessions through some of NYC’s parks and wildlife areas. [Her Leaf Print appears below.] Participants were taught simple art techniques in printmaking and watercolors, and each created a simple field guide documenting their experiences.

Polletta used field guides from the residency to help inspire conservancy biologists to find different ways to encourage citizens and policy makers to care for natural environments. Wild New York project was presented at a meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology at Columbia University to help to inspire conservation biologists around the world to explore innovative ways of engaging citizens and policy makers to care about their natural environments.