Author: Meg Walker

The Arts Council in Buffalo & Erie County and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) have collaborated to update and revamp the WNY Cultural Blueprint blog on the NYSCA website. The blog is meant to give people involved in the arts in WNY the opportunity to share ideas and opinions on how to further local cultural and artistic projects. By getting more people involved in the blog, the blog will hopefully be able to garner support from the local community for some of the ideas presented by the folks operating the blog for the Arts Council in…

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The Concourse Clock on the wall of the Buffalo Central Terminal will chime this Saturday, June 27th, marking the terminal’s 80th year of operation. The once flourishing terminal had seen better days before the start of the volunteer efforts of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation in 1997, who have been working ever since to slowly bring the terminal back to what it once was. The anniversary celebration will be a party with a World War II USO theme where party goers can see the number of improvements to this landmark structure, including the return of the concourse clock that was…

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The CEPA Gallery is gearing up for an artful summer with the aesthetic, cultural and political photographic creations by internationally acclaimed and widely exhibited contemporary photographers. Each solo exhibition: Photographs by Justine Kurland, Many Moons by Alice O’Malley, and Retail and Dark Stores by Brian Ulrich presents very different subject matter for the viewer to contemplate. Justine Kurland is known for photographing people in American wilderness landscapes as she travels cross-country to scout out her subjects – mothers, commune farmers, and adolescent girls. The process of selecting the right location and subjects can take several weeks. Kurland’s exhibition at…

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Fifteen never before seen drawings by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali will be unveiled this Saturday, June 27th in an exhibition of Dali’s work at the University of Buffalo’s Anderson Gallery. The exhibition, Salvador Dali, coincides with the 20th anniversary of the artist’s death, and will present some of the former artist’s unforgettable and unmistakable bizarre pieces of artwork. The exhibition will also feature two lithographs, a poster and a silver sculpture from the Edmund Klein Collection. It will also present two paintings from the UB Collection; Portrait of Katharine Cornell (oil and mixed media); and Labyrinth (oil on panel), as…

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The Taste of Buffalo is quickly approaching, and festival sponsors and organizers have gathered to unveil the menu items and selected poster. A rundown of what people can expect at the 26th annual festival, including the entertainment, cooking stage schedules and new restaurants, was given during the “Cooking with the Stars” themed press conference. This year’s poster contest winner, Jane Lankes, a sophomore at Clarence High School, was awarded with a $500 check matched by a $500 check from the Taste of Buffalo for the school’s art department. The winning poster is shown at the top of this article.…

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On Friday, Erie County Majority Leader and 6th District Legislator Maria Whyte (D-Buffalo) was joined by Legislator Betty Jean Grant, Niagara District Council Member David Rivera (D), members of the Buffalo Police Department, a representative from NYS Assembly Member Sam Hoyt’s office, directors and staff from several West Side youth organizations, and the Stop the Violence Coalition, in a press conference to talk about recent efforts to gain more funding for local youth programming to counter the rise in youth related crime on the West Side. The press conference took place at the intersection of Grant and W. Delavan, the…

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Today, June 21st, marks the premiere screening of the youth-produced documentaries created by the students of the Buffalo Youth Media Institute. Under the guidance of professional filmmakers and historians, the participating high school students created films about some prominent concerns facing our environment. Each student gave a quick excerpt about their Buffalo-related documentary, just a taste of what these talented students have created: LyTeasha Welch, Buffalo ReUse: “My documentary is about Buffalo ReUse and their positive impact on the environment and the Buffalo community. Buffalo ReUse offers jobs to disadvantaged youth and inexpensive and hard to find housing…

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When I was in New Orleans a few weeks ago, I went on a haunted tour of the French Quarter that was one of the highlights of the trip. New Orleans is, after all, one of the oldest cities in the US, and has a reputation for being kind of spooky with all the Creole superstitions and such. When I came back to Buffalo I wanted to find out if there was anything in Buffalo similar to this haunted tour I had gone on, and I was pointed in the direction of Mason Winfield (pictured here) and his Haunted History…

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August 8th, 2009 will be the date of this summer’s Buffalo Scavenger Hunt. The first two scavenger hunts were held last year and drew 80 people in February, and sold out at 140 participants in August. This August’s hunt will be even bigger, with more people, more prizes, more judges, and crazier lists. The time for signing up your teams is now, and you can sign up at the Buffalo Scavenger Hunt’s website. Each team is made up of four participants, but you don’t need your whole team in order to sign up right now.There is a $25 per person…

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This year, the students of the Buffalo Youth Media Institute (BYMI) have teamed up with Green Options to write, film and edit documentaries concerning nature in and around Buffalo. Under the guidance of professional filmmakers and historians, the participating high school students created films about global warming, green burials, local food, alternative transportation, local recycling/reuse initiatives, zoo sustainability, bees and more. Along with the youth-produced documentaries, producer Roberta Dombrowskii made a short documentary about bike transportation featuring Buffalo Blue Bicycle, an innovative community bicycle-lending program. “If we can just start taking a look at those little things those easy steps…

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