Arts as a National Value
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RELATED: Photos from the MacDowell Colony Centennial Gala
The gala capping off a year’s worth of centennial celebrations for the MacDowell Colony had so much energy, it seems certain the colony’s admirers will go on celebrating. The chairman of the colony, Robert MacNeil, grabbed the audience by the throat when he described the colony’s mission to promote the arts as a national value and spoke of artists’ need for freedom.
A past colonist, Rachel Sussman, said MacDowell was all about freedom. “I’ve never experienced such absolute respect as an artist. There was great trust that I would utilize my time in a way that is beneficial to my work and to the community.”
“My view is that artists find freedom. It’s instinctive for artists, a personality defect,” a co-host of a new WNYC morning show, John Hockenberry, said. To which Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Toni Morrison added, “You can judge a nation by the way they treat their artists.”
House-Proud on Eldridge Street
RELATED: Photos from the Museum at Eldridge Street Gala
“What they’ve done is a miracle,” Rosalind Devon said on Monday at an unveiling party at Eldridge Street Synagogue after 20 years of renovation. “I support it out of love for New York and love for the Jewish community in New York.”
Three people were honored for their dedication to the project: the chairman of the Museum at Eldridge Street, restaurateur Michael Weinstein; the president, art adviser Lorinda Ezersky, who is the granddaughter of Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, and a board member, Jeffrey Gural, a real estate executive.
“The reason you do this is to show your kids how to be good citizens,” Mr. Weinstein said.
agordon@nysun.com
