Dear Immigrant Artists and Community,

Happy Fall to all!

With the turning of the seasons, I will be departing from my role as Program Officer of NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Project to pursue other projects at home and abroad in Latin America. Over the past two years, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to expand the IAP’s programs, network of collaborators, and number of artists. Since I took on the program, more than 700 artists from over 50 countries were directly served. In addition, we have reached over 6,000 constituents online. Here are some highlights from 2010 - 2012:

Thanks to the continuing support of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the flagship NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists expanded its platform of community-building through group and individual meetings, workshops and seminars, with 48 pairs of Mentors and Mentees served over the last two years. We’ve also presented relevant events such as panels on international residencies, which highlighted the work of organizations like the Asian Cultural Council, the International Studio and Curatorial Program, and Residency Unlimited. The program was further enriched this year with the addition of the Van Lier Fellowship, thanks to the support of the New York Community Trust. The Fellowship provided a substantial grant and added professional development support to five Mentees under 30 years of age who have shown exceptional talent and capacity in their art-making. Here is a quote from Giada Crispiels, one of our Van Lier Fellows: “I feel very lucky and honored to be part of the program because of its high quality of professionalism and impeccable organization.”

With funding from the MetLife Foundation, IAP launched the NYFA Folk Artist Development Program this year, which provided singular support in carrying forward the traditions of 12 Master Artists hailing from a diversity of immigrant cultures in NYC. They participated in seminars, workshops and individual consultations on topics that ranged from interpretation to portfolio development to expanding their audience base. The artists then shared their talents with wider audiences in workshops that drew dozens of people at Flushing Town Hall and the American Folk Art Museum, as well as at performances at the Greenwich House Music School and the Queens Botanical Garden. Here, as part of the Asian American Arts Alliance’s Locating the Sacred Festival, they attracted crowds of more than 200 people on a beautiful autumn day. On the heels of this successful collaboration, we are pleased to feature the Queens Botanical Garden in this month’s newsletter. We are also delighted to highlight two of our Master Artists, Kesler Pierre and Alhaji Papa Susso, who were awarded NYFA Fellowships in the category of Folk Arts this year.

The IAP provided unique Cultural Community Events responsive to the needs of our immigrant artists in dynamic partnership with organizations committed to cultural diversity such as the Asian American Arts Alliance, the Bronx Council on the Arts, and the Queens Museum of Art. Our collaborations encompassed the areas of professional development, advocacy, and immigrant services. Many of our workshops, seminars, and panels have not only provided creative career tools, but have also supported art with a social change lens. In Fall 2010, we held a timely panel entitled Art, Social Change, and Engaging Immigrant Communities at the Clemente Soto Velez Center. This event then influenced the establishment of the Social Justice Artists’ Collaborative, in which I was a founding member, and led to the influential Social Justice Artists’ Convening held at El Museo del Barrio in Fall 2011. Other socially engaged collaborations included the Greening the City workshops on urban beautification and sustainable living with the Laundromat Project (the LP) at Weeksville Heritage Center and the seminar Creative Practice & Social Enterprise 101 in partnership with the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance and facilitated by the LP’s founder Rise Wilson.

Along with the generous support of our donors, the IAP also launched the income generating Individual Consultation Initiative (ICI) in 2010 to better support the growing, targeted needs of our artists. The ICI provides immigrant artists with professional advice from expert arts professionals in the visual and performing arts. Thus far, we’ve provided in-person consultations to more than 90 artists over the course of five ICIs. An ICI of note was held in conjunction with NYFA’s Doctors’ Hours and No Longer Empty at the Andrew Freedman House in the Bronx. This event was completely sold out and emphasized the strong support for artists in that borough.

Last but not least, thanks to the loyal support of Con Edison, we’ve added rich layers of content in recent years to our free Con Edison IAP Newsletter. We have featured artists and organizations that do great work in the immigrant community and/or that we’ve collaborated with in detailed interviews that reveal the core of what they do. We’ve also amped up our Mentoring Alumni Corner, which spotlights the ongoing activities and achievements of the Mentee Alumni of our NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists. This month, we are glad to feature Valentina Medda (2010 Mentee Alum, Italy). Additionally, our Helpful Tips have been translated into languages such as Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish, which reflects the diversity of our readers. As a result, we increased the number of our online subscribers by 25 percent, with thousands of artists checking in with IAP every month.

In closing, I would like to thank all the artists, collaborators, supporters, and socially engaged workers that keep NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Project relevant and alive.

With your support, we have built a singular program with a vibrant, thriving community. Please keep connected!

Sincerely,

Karen Demavivas
Program Officer
Immigrant Artist Project
New York Foundation for the Arts

Immigrant Artist Project
New York Foundation for the Arts
i.outreach@nyfa.org

Queens Botanical Garden (QBG) began in 1939 at the New York World's fair in Queens, and has gone through some of its most radical changes in recent years. In 2007 they opened their new visitor center, the greenest building in New York at the time with a "platinum" LEED rating. They have expanded their programming to encompass school, community, and intergenerational education and cultural events, such as free, public concerts that showcase the diverse heritage of the Queens immigrant community. The NYFA Folk Artist Development Program recently partnered with QBG on September 15^th for The Gift of Wisdom as part of Locating the Sacred Festival. NYFA Immigrant Artist Program Officer Karen Demavivas and Intern Aya Sato talk to QBG's Director of Marketing and Development Darcy Hector about the most recent cultural and environmental endeavors of QBG.

In your words, what would you say is the mission and role of Queens Botanical Garden?

Queens Botanical Garden is “the place where people, plants, and cultures meet.” When the Master Plan was developed, Garden leadership deliberately sought out the input of the community, which is heavily immigrant, as to the direction they wanted the Garden to develop. They completed the Master Plan in 2001. It outlined a vision for a Garden built around the universal themes of water and the presentation of plants as unique expressions of cultural traditions. The Mission Statement reads : “Queens Botanical Garden is an urban oasis where people, plants and cultures are celebrated through inspiring gardens, innovative educational programs and demonstrations of environmental stewardship.” The Garden’s role in the community, as an environmental leader, an educator, and a meeting ground for all cultures is well encapsulated in that statement.

The programming at QBG really encompasses the diverse immigrant population of Queens. What are some ways in which you collaborate with the immigrant communities in the area?

The Garden serves a wide range of people from literally every corner of the earth. We strive to present beautiful plantings and engaging events that will appeal and bring people to the Garden. Because the needs and desires of the surrounding communities helped shape the Master Plan, collaboration with immigrant communities is “baked in” to QBG’s programmatic philosophy. The QBG Tai Chi Group, 100-200 individuals who meet every morning in the Garden, for example, is not a special program for immigrants but rather part and parcel of QBG. In some cases, we present performing artists from a particular culture. In other cases, we collaborate with a cultural group to present a significant cultural event such as the Lunar New Year Flower Market, which drew Chinese visitors, or the Diwali Festival, a favorite of Indian audiences. We also operate a number of community service projects with groups such as the Korean Community Service Society and the Hindu Temple Society.

We try very hard to be welcoming and accessible to all. Our latest innovation in service of this goal is an Ipad translation system for our lobby, which allows translation of not just Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, Greek, Russian and Yiddish, but a total of 120 languages!

In recent years, a lot of work has been put into sustainability at QBG. What are the fruits of these labors? Are there any current projects you could share with us?

As an organization, we continue to reap the environmental and economic benefits of operating a LEED-platinum certified building – we use only 40% of the energy and 20% of the water as a conventionally designed building of the same size. More importantly, though, is the role sustainability plays in our education programs. We operate an active and popular Composting Project that has trained thousands of local residents in the “whys” and “hows” of urban composting. Our Environmental Education Workshops for school children bring some 16,000 students to the Garden each year. Sustainability is also a key ingredient in the professional development workshops QBG offers teachers. The Green Jobs program QBG launched this past fall is wonderfully cost-effective. It uses the existing resources of QBG staff expertise in sustainability, our grounds and buildings, along with the strength of our partner LaGuardia Community College in supporting workplace entry. More than 100 people are now employed as a result of this program and others continue to be added to the workforce. Let it not be said that we cannot “afford” to protect our environment! Working to raise awareness of environmental stewardship has enormous benefits for the community as a whole, as can be seen in QBG’s work in education, workforce development, and the creation of “social capital” within a demographically fast-changing borough.

With respect to current projects connected with QBG’s sustainability vision, in addition to Green Jobs mentioned above, even more recently launched is the Intergenerational Garden and Food Pantry Project. Led by Maureen Regan, the Intergen Garden brings together community members of a wide range of cultures and ages to raise organic produce for their own use as well as local food pantries and soup kitchens. The recipients of the produce are often immigrant social service organizations, such as womens’ shelters that primarily serve a particular language group. It is extremely gratifying to be able to respond to the immediate needs of the community while teaching the next generation of gardeners. Indeed, many studies have pointed to the fact that ethnically mixed communities live in peace to the extent to which they mingle and share social space.

Could you talk about QBG’s work with the NYFA Folk Artist Development Program, for the Gift of Wisdom showcase? What kinds of organizations do you often collaborate with, and for what kinds of ventures?

I first met Karen Demavivas of NYFA's Immigrant Artist Project at a meeting of the Queens Borough President’s Immigrant Task Force. QBG had recently presented one of the artists that was ultimately selected as a Master Artist by the NYFA Folk Artist Development Program, Master Yoon-Sook Park. It was apparent to both Karen and me that QBG and NYFA were natural partners in the realm of immigrant artists (and elsewhere, as well!) A few months later the plans for the Locating the Sacred Festival were being discussed and QBG was very pleased to be brought in during the early stages. We were delighted to be an early partner with the Asian American Arts Alliance and NYFA in this remarkable festival. Working with the NYFA Folk Artist Development Program led to this wonderful event on September 15th: a presentation of Master Soon Yook Park playing the kayagum(Korean zither) along with classical Indian dancer Mala Desai, sitarist Ikhalq Hussaim, and Alhaji PapaSussa on the kora(African harp-lute). It is an amazing and inspiring line-up.

We collaborate with other partners as well. For example, on September 30 we are co-presenting an Autumn Moon Festival celebration with the New York Chinese Cultural Center. In Flushing, Autumn Moon is a prominent Chinese holiday that has traditionally been celebrated at QBG because the immediate neighborhood is heavily Chinese. In other years there have been other partners. The Garden is a natural setting for many of these kinds of events and we do our best to collaborate to create a successful celebration.

What are some of the ways in which QBG supports and works with New York artists in general?

We present artists through our Music in the Garden series of outdoor summer concerts. Given the surrounding community, these performances often feature immigrant performers, some working in traditional styles, and others in a more contemporary vein. Last year we presented a program of Classical Indian dance but also the Indian performing group Charanams. Charanams won the WNYC “Best of the Borough” award in 2011 and has a unique jazz-infused sound. Korean, Chinese and South American performers were also presented by QBG last season. This year we presented the folkloric Mexican ensemble Radio Jarocho as well as a concert of pop tunes by the band Earth. Both these concerts brought out an amazing mix of people. In other cases, we work with outside organizations to provide a platform for artists. For example, our presentation of the dance company BodyArt earlier this year was part of the QAX Festival and the June Quintet of the Americas concert was co-sponsored by the Latin American Cultural Center of Queens.

Our Gallery hosts four annual exhibitions. While there is no hard and fast policy in place, we have largely presented Queens artists and shows dealing with the local area. In the past, the Garden has hosted artists-in residence with excellent results. We expect to host such artists again in the near future. Finally, but not inconsequentially, the Garden serves as an inspiration for many an artist, and as a workshop for many a photographer or sketcher.

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Valentina Medda is an Italian-born multi-disciplinary artist, who came to New York City via various European cities. Already a working artist with advanced degrees under her belt, Medda received a government fellowship to study photography in the United States. In 2010 she participated in the NYFA Mentoring Program with Tamara Kostianovsky as her Mentor. Medda is currently in Paris for two consecutive seasons as an artist in residence at Centre International d'accueil et d'échanges des Récollets and at Cité International des Arts. Immigrant Artist Project Intern Aya Sato spoke with her about her influences, her artistic process and her recent projects.

Your Mentor during your participation in the NYFA Mentoring Program was Tamara Kostianovsky. What were the main things you discussed with her? Since the program, have you applied what you learned from your Mentor in your career?

We discussed everything about art - from an exhibition we saw, to a young artist she thought I should look at, while focusing mainly on the creative process and the presentation of the work. She gave me constant feedback on my projects and precious suggestions on how to write a statement and apply for a grant. Tamara is a really talented artist and a good teacher, and she quickly became a friend. One thing I certainly remember that she taught me, and something I still pay attention to, is: It’s the small details that make the big difference.

You have studied and worked in various locations in Europe before coming to the United States. What drew you to New York and what have you found to be most challenging for you, working and living as an artist here?

After living in Brussels, Milan, and for a brief moment in Berlin and London, I finally got the opportunity to move to New York, thanks to a fellowship from my (Italian) Government. The fellowship was intended to give me the opportunity to study abroad. I was already working and exhibiting in Europe and had certainly not planned to go back to school (I already held an MA in Philosophy and a Certificate program in Video Communication), but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to study art. So I left for a one year study program at the International Center of Photography (ICP).

What was most challenging for me? I couldn’t say! Everything was, is, and probably always will be in New York. Not only school – where you are expected to produce work all the time, and the language - which you are supposed to know well enough to talk about your work, but the extreme competitiveness you find once “out there” in the real art world. Then there is this constant feeling of not doing enough and this obsession with producing and working all the time. What’s crazy is that all this is also what makes you love the city, for it makes you feel alive, constantly inspired, and determined.

Your work doesn't appear to be bound to any one medium, spanning photography, live performance, video and more. Could you talk about how a work then originates for you?

I usually work around a concept or an emotion that originates from something really personal or biographical. I first need to clear this concept up in my mind. It is only when this happens that I can start considering different ways to express it, and find the one that suits it best. I don’t reflect on the medium until the idea I have has found its form. I wouldn’t tell myself “I want to do a photographic project about my stay in “Le Couvent des Récollets”; I rather think first, what’s the best way to talk about my stay there.

From the first moment I have a new idea, I collect images, I do some reading, I sometimes draw, and I certainly write. Lately I’ve been creating some preparatory pieces to help me start thinking, such as collages or sketches. Those are usually small pieces that can become part of the final work, or left aside completely.

From the little glimpses I have seen of your work, there seems to be a distinct presence of feminine iconography; legs in high heels, a woman alone in a stark architectural landscape, caught in her own dress or unpacking items of her handbag (I'm thinking now of your 2009 performance, "Misplaced Women").  Could you share the sorts of things (if any) about being a female immigrant artist that have had the most influence on your art?

Even though my work is characterized by a constant female presence, I wouldn’t say it’s about women. I’m interested in the relationship we people create with their surroundings, the way we come to belong to a place, or how we feel when crossing it. I guess as a woman, my way to talk about this relationship and look at it is different from a man’s one. But then, it’s certainly different from another woman’s too.

A certain iconography is more of a consequence than a cause. In this sense, I never really considered myself as a female immigrant, but rather as an immigrant tout court - even though I am aware that any experience is gendered. Being an immigrant has taught me to observe the city, its surroundings, and ultimately the space itself, from a strange position: that of a foreigner who is somewhat familiar, a nomad but not a traveler, an inhabitant but not a citizen.

Are you dealing with any other specific questions or themes in your work at the moment? Could you share with us an artwork or project you are currently making or planning?

I’m currently working on two different projects both based in Paris, where I was artist in residence at Centre International d'accueil et d'échanges des Récollets, together with Anna Gaskell during the summer 2012, and where I will be artist in residence again this coming fall, this time at Cité International des Arts.

My collaborative project with Anna is a site specific, seven act opera based on the finding of 4 time capsules buried underneath the Opera house and filled with the recordings of the most talented Opera singers of that time. This event triggered a consideration on how a single moment or episode in one’s life can easily become representative of one’s entire existence, and brought us to write a story about everybody’s struggle to free themselves from everyday constraints and stereotypes.

The other project I’m working on revolves around the interesting story of the Récollets building itself, which, as its name suggests Couvent des Récollets (The Franciscan Convent), was once a monastery of the Franciscan Order and a male institution. It was then an armory, an old men’s home, and a military hospital. The place has been long characterized by an exclusively masculine presence, as the old postcards of the place immediately show, and yet a female presence has always been there, only not in the front row, but backstage in the kitchen, the lavatory or the hospital aisles. My project consists of literally re-introducing the denied presence in the history of this space, through some photo/performative interventions that reflect the collected postcards.

As I said, the idea of mapping one’s presence in the space and in its history is what I’ve been working on these past years. Without denying or sacrificing an aesthetic consideration - which I do think is an essential part of any artwork, or at least it should be, I’m inquiring into the possibility of creating a true connection with reality outside the walls of the gallery, which might eventually change some real dynamics.

One of my recent projects is “In my beginning is my end” A postcard with a view of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, reading “Greetings from Cagliari” dated 09/15/2011, was sent from Italy to 60 New Yorkers. The picture had been taken by me during a trip in the US with my family in 1990 when I was 15. I fell in love with New York but had no idea I would be living there one day when those twin towers symbolizing the city wouldn’t be there anymore. The overlapping of two different historical moments (before and after 09/11) and two different geographical places (Cagliari, Italy and New York, USA) emphasizes that moment where one’s individual experience collides with a shared memory, making clear the link between private and public dimension, personal expectations and political reality, individual failures and commune crashes. The people who received the postcards were invited to write about their feelings towards this event, which is a collective reminiscence.

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Understanding Intellectual Property: Trademark

The trademark is a type of intellectual property that is protected by the U.S. Government and managed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), who describe it in the following way: "A trademark or service mark includes any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used or intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods/services of one seller or provider from those of others” Most often, artists will have use for trademarks if they want to protect a name or symbol for commercial use, to identify themselves or their works. Here are some facts that may help in understanding intellectual property as it plays out in trademark, gathered from The Profitable Artist.

Limiting Confusion

The decision to award a trademark is based on limiting confusion in the marketplace. Often a trademark is rejected because it might cause confusion with a mark already in existence. This means the mark or phrase could be too similar, or the market is similar (for example there would be less conflict between a catering company's mark and a jewelry chain than there would be with two jewelry chains). While selecting a trademark, visit the USPTO's electronic database http://tess2.uspto.gov to search all pre-existing marks.

What Can't be a Trademark?

Apart from mark/market confusion, there are some other important reasons that a mark can be rejected. The USPTO lists the four most common:

-descriptive for the goods/services
-a geographic term
-a surname
-ornamental, as applied to the goods

You can see how it would be difficult to trademark and thereby monopolize a name, like Smith that many others may share, or a generic geographic term, such as “mountain” that so many people use daily.

Once you have a trademark it can be renewed perpetually, so if you decide it is vital to your branding strategy as an artist and it is a truly original mark, it can be a valuable business asset.

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Comprendrant la propriété intellectuelle: Marques

La marque est un type de propriété intellectuelle qui est protégée par le gouvernement américain et géré par le United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), qui l'a décrit de la façon suivante: "Une marque de produits ou de services comprend tout mot, nom, symbole, dispositif, ou une combinaison, utilisés ou destinés à être utilisés pour identifier et distinguer les produits / services d'un vendeur ou fournisseur de celles des autres" la plupart du temps, les artistes ont l'usage pour les marques si elles veulent protéger un nom ou un symbole pour un usage commercial, d'identifier eux-mêmes ou leurs oeuvres. Voici quelques informations qui peuvent aider à comprendre la propriété intellectuelle, et la façon qu'elle joue dans la marque, résumé deThe Profitable Artist.

Limitation de la confusion

La décision d'attribuer une marque repose sur la limitation de la confusion sur le marché. Souvent, une marque de commerce est rejeté car il pourrait causer de la confusion avec une marque déjà existante. C'est a dire que la marque ou la phrase pourrait être trop similaires, ou que le marché est similaire (par exemple, il y aurait moins de conflit entre la marque d'une chaîne de restaurants et bijoutier que ne le serait avec deux bijouteries). Pour choisir une marque, visitez le site http://tess2.uspto.gov pour la recherche de toutes marques préexistantes.

Ce qui ne peut être utilisé en tant que marque?

En dehors de la confusion marque / marché, il y a d'autres raisons importantes qu'une marque ne peut être rejetée. L'USPTO énumère les quatre plus courantes:

-descriptif pour les produits / services
-un terme géographique
-un nom de famille
-ornemental, telle qu'elle est appliquée aux marchandises

Vous pouvez voir comment il serait très difficile de marquer et ainsi monopoliser un nom, comme Smith que beaucoup d'autres peuvent partager, ou un terme générique géographique, par exemple "montagne" que tant de gens l'utilisent quotidiennement

Une fois que vous avez une marque, il peut être renouvelé sans cesse, donc si vous décidez qu'il est vital pour votre stratégie de marque en tant qu'artiste et vous avez une marque vraiment original, il peut être un actif commercial précieux.

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