The Beaux Arts Ball is the Arts Council’s primary fund raising event, supporting the many programs and services we offer to the community. This special event will be held at The Copper Tree Restaurant at Hunter Mountain from 6:30 p.m. to midnight.
One of the highlights at the Ball is the presentation of the Distinguished Service Awards, underwritten by The Bank of Greene County. This year, as part of the festivities, we cover Greene County with our Distinguished Service Awards.
Starting on the Mountaintop, we honor Ritamary Montano-Vining, art teacher extraordinaire and department Director at the Hunter-Tannersville MS/HS for 25 years, Art Explorers Education Director at Sugar Maples Center for Arts In Education and student advocate for all things good.
Moving down the mountain to Catskill we honor Bob Hoven of Robert Hoven, Inc, an internationally acclaimed interior designer who has generously donated his expertise in our County seat as Chair of the Friends of Beattie-Powers Place for twelve years, an active partner in Cultivate Catskill, a pro-bono consultant to our County Courthouse make-over, and a contributor to many of our businesses and non-profits for façade and interior designs.
And wrapping it all up, we honor Galen Joseph-Hunter, Executive Director of Wave Farm. Founded 20 years ago in Brooklyn, as free103point9, they expanded their operations to Greene County in 2005. Wave Farm is sited on 30-acres in Acra and is home to an international transmission art residency program, research library, installation park, and broadcast studio. Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7-FM went on air in 2011 and brings creative, community, hands-on radio to our airwaves. Wave Farm is also a NYS Council on the Arts regrant partner for electronic media and film state-wide.
GCCA is delighted to honor these three outstanding individuals who have contributed so much to our creative economy. The Distinguished Service Award is presented annually for steadfast commitment and unselfish contributions to the quality of cultural life in Greene County.
The Beaux Arts Ball evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with the opening of the silent auction accompanied by fabulous hors d’oeuvres, an open bar and Cabaret. The silent auction features original works of arts and crafts donated by our talented artists, as well as wonderful specialty items donated by area businesses. While you contemplate your bids, in the Main Ballroom, New York’s premier party band, Nite-Time, will entice you onto the dance floor with an impressive repertoire from a wide variety of musical traditions and dance rhythms from 8 p.m. until midnight!
Dinner is served at 8 p.m. in a dining room magically transformed by designing diva Jean Slutzky. The Copper Tree Restaurant will tantalize your taste buds with a delectable haute cuisine menu, including a full entrée followed by an exquisite dessert.
So “No fooling!” break out your dancing shoes and plan to attend this extraordinary gala honoring Bob, Galen and Rita with an evening of live music, fine dining, a lot of fabulous fun with great friends and fellow patrons of the arts! Individual Benefactor tickets begin at $175 and Benefactor Tables of Ten start at $1750. Based on availability, regular tickets may be purchased at $150.
For those who do not want to travel after the ball, a special rate for studio suites is available at the Kaatskill Mountain Club & Spa at Hunter Mountain starting at $160. For information on rooms and guest services call the reservation staff at 518-263-5580 daily between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. and mention the Beaux Arts Ball.
Call the Greene County Council on the Arts at 518-943-3400 or email gcca@greenearts.org to check seating availability and reserve your tickets. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.greeenarts.org. The Beaux Arts Ball is a magical night and one to remember! The Greene County Council on the Arts is located at 398 Main Street in Catskill, NY. GCCA Catskill Gallery and office hours are Monday though Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM. The Catskill Gallery remains open on Saturday from noon to 5 PM.
GCCA is very proud to honor Robert Hoven, Galen Joseph-Hunter and Ritamary Montano-Vining at the 29th Annual Beaux Arts Ball with the 2017 Distinguished Service Awards.
ROBERT HOVEN
Robert Hoven has had his own company Robert Hoven, Inc. for over 30 years. His early career was as a decorative artist. In this capacity, he taught Surface Decoration at Parsons School of Design at The New School University for 14 years, creating a complete program of over 12 courses. It was an easy transition into Interior Design that led to his work being published twice on the cover of ElleDecor and in British House and Gardens.
After moving to Catskill in 2003 he became involved in pro bono work. In 2005 he became involved with the Friends of Beattie-Powers Place as president of the board, a position he holds today. His efforts have made Beattie-Powers a significant partner in the cultural scene of Catskill, presenting chamber music and lectures that are mostly free and open to the public.
He was one of the initial creators of Cultivate Catskill 5 years ago, and responsible for planning 3 Catskill Main Street parks and the “greening” of Main St. As a member of America in Bloom, Cultivate Catskill continues to be a source of planting trees, flowers and serving to enhance our public areas in the village of Catskill.
GALEN JOSEPH-HUNTER
Galen Joseph-Hunter has served as Executive Director of Wave Farm since 2002. Located in Acra, NY, Wave Farm is a non-profit arts organization driven by experimentation with broadcast media and the airwaves. Wave Farm’s programs—Transmission Arts, WGXC 90.7-FM, and Media Arts Grants—provide access to transmission technologies and support artists and organizations that engage with media as an art form. From 1996 to 2015 Joseph-Hunter worked closely with the venerable video art organization Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), serving as Assistant Director and then Executive Consultant.
Over the past two decades, she has organized and curated numerous exhibitions and events internationally. She was the co-organizer of “Groundswell” an annual exhibition event featuring broadcast, performance, sound, and installation works by contemporary artists conceived within the 250 acres of the Olana State Historic Site from 2013 to 2015. In 2015 and 2016 she curated the Columbia University Sound Arts MFA spring exhibitions. She has produced numerous radio programs for Wave Farm’s WGXC and stations internationally including Climactic Climate for Kunstradio Vienna in 2015. Joseph-Hunter is the author of the book “Transmission Arts: Artists and Airwaves” (PAJ Publications: 2011,) as well as “Transmission Arts: the air that surrounds us” (PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, September 2009: MIT Press).
She is the administrator of a Regrant Partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts Electronic Media and Film, providing distribution and exhibition support to New York-based media artists and technical assistance to New York media arts organizations. Joseph-Hunter has served as a panelist/reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Experimental Television Center, Meet The Composer, New Music USA, Harpo Foundation, and the Greene County Council for the Arts, among others.
RITAMARY MONTANO-VINING
Beloved teacher and respected mentor, Saugerties native Ritamary Montano-Vining, started her artistic schooling at the Woodstock School of Art and studied privately under Jean Wrolsen. She is the Art Director of the Hunter-Tannersville MS/HS where she has taught for the past 25 years. In addition, she is the Art Explorers Program Director for the Sugar Maples Center for Arts in Education which she started 10 years ago. She received her B.A. in Commercial Art and Graphic Design from Endicott College. Subsequently she attended the State University of New York at New Paltz where she earned her B.S. and Masters in Art Education. She is the founding Advisor of the Ethel Slutzky Chapter of the National Art Honor Society, which is part of the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District. The Board of Directors of the Wise Individualized Student Experiences has inducted her into the WISE Hall of Fame.
Ritamary devotes much of her time to her students in and out of the classroom. She has introduced her students to a number of visiting artists in the classroom, she and her students have trekked from The Clove, and many other Catskill Mountain Trail vistas, to the galleries in regional museum with sketchbooks in hand and has led students by traveling abroad to study the work of masters including learning and exploration excursions to Italy.