Legros Cultural
Arts
Legros Cultural Arts, Inc is a not for profit organization with a mission to inspire and inform people of all ages and ethnicities about the advantages of cultural diversity in the context of mutual understanding and cooperation. Through producing community events that involves dance, drama, music and or visual arts, spectators are motivated to confront and overcome the prejudice, misunderstanding and or fear that may stem from lack of familiarity with the many highly visible cultures in New York City.
Latest News
Coming Soon LCA's 4th Annual Women in Arts Series
Please join us as we celebrate women artists in honor of Women's National Month/SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now) More details to follow
WOMEN IN DANCE 2011/2012
Directed by
Simone Sobers
January 19, 2012, 7pm
Ailey Citigroup Theatre
405 W 55th Street (9th Avenue)
New York, New York 10019
$25.00(General Admission) $20 (Student Rate must have valid student ID)
For Ticket Information please call (917) 741-2992 or purchase tickets on eventbrite
http://lcawomenindance11.eventbrite.com
LCA (Legros Cultural Arts) is hosting the 4th Annual Multicultural Art & Crafts Festival a conglomeration of Hispanic, African Americans, Asian, Italians and Greek populations.A section of Flushing Meadows Corona Park serves as an outdoor gallery providing Visual Artists with the opportunity to display their works for diverse attendees, but more importantly provides the opportunity for artists to make a direct connection between their art and the people who enjoy it- the public. The artists revel in their cultural heritage through art and their work meets the highest standards of creativity, originality and execution of design in a variety of media.
Food, Art Activities for children, Entertainment, and Special Guest Speakers!
This is a FREE event!
Please come out and support our visual and performing artists. !
When: August 20, 2011
Time: 1pm-6pm
Where: Queens Museum of Art
Location: Flushing Meadows Corona Park (Across from Unisphere)
Admission: FREE
Guest Speakers
Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras
Carrie Solages Democratic Candidate for Nassau County
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Artwork by
Susan Varo, Anu Annam, Sonia Hopewell, Maggie Cousins, Barbara Andre, Shelton Thomas, Sheila Blunt, David Wilson, Abraham Ushina, Phillipe Photos, Sheryl Scott, Cassandra Spence, and more...
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Live Entertainment by
BR& Timebomb, Surette, Theophilus, Neil Woodard and his Incredible Friends, Whitney Kelly, Capulli Dance Company
and more...
FREE EVENT FREE EVENT FREE EVENT
For More Information please call 917 741-2992
If it rains event will take place inside Queens Museum of Art.
Seeking Women Artists to showcase their talent in March. If you are a singer, dancer, actor, poet, visual artist, fashion designer, please send us your headshot/resume. Please include in subject box area of interest. All submissions should be sent to legrosculturalarts_hotmail.com or call 917 741-2992.
Chantal Legros - Founder and Executive Director
Legros Cultural Arts is an unparalleled multicultural arts organization nestled in the burgeoning artistic realm of New York City. For over 15 years and counting, Chantal has and continues to convey her vision of artistic success through the development and production of multicultural events in Long Island and New York City . In 2003, Chantal envisioned bridging the gap between various cultures, races, and backgrounds by encouraging members of her organization and their audiences to fully embrace the beauty of humanity through dance, music, the visual arts, and drama. Professionally trained and accomplished in Dance, Drama and Film Production. Her outstanding capacity as an artist led to her many speaking opportunities on the topics , cultural diversity and the arts.
Chantal's educational achievements are indicative of her long-standing commitment to promoting cultural diversity through the arts. She holds a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership, a Bachelors Degree in Film Production, and a Certificate in Arts Management.
Oya Bangura, Special Events Director/Assistant to Executive Director Originally from West Africa, Sierra Leone started her dance training at The United Nations International School. She joined Jacques d'Amboise, in his National Dance Institute. It was then that Oya realized her passion for Dance and Musical Theatre.
Oya was a featured performer on 20/20, in an Expose on NDI, and promoted their "Event Of The Year", on the Today Show. Through NDI, she won a scholarship to Dance Theatre of Harlem and took classes at both Alvin Ailey and Broadway Dance Center, while a student at the East Harlem Performing Arts School. Her Performing Arts training continued at Dana Hall, in Wellesley, MA -strengthening her passion for Choreography. At Boston University, Oya set works on students at BU and for the Black Theatre Company at Tufts University, while teaching Hip-Hop/Funk classes at the Boston Sports Club.
She came back to New York and took a position at NDI as Personal Assistant to Jacques d'Amboise. Currently, she operates as Principal Choreographer/Dancer/Actress in several projects. Oya is happy to join the LCA Team as the Special Events Director/Assistant to Executive Director.
As founder and CEO of The Learning Mode, Maryann is known and highly regarded for her creative ability to build partnerships and programs that produce impressive organizational growth results for diverse clients, schools and organizations. She has provided consulting services to various agencies and programs related to individual, team and organizational development. Early on in her career, Maryann played classical piano at a juried performance in Carnegie Recital Hall in Manhattan and came in as one of the top five performers. She then continued with her love for the arts and started her own ceramic studio, Klein Kreations, where she taught the skill to others and participated in several arts & crafts festivals, making her one-of-a-kind creations available to the public. As a life-long learner, Maryann became a teacher, a district office administrator, and Executive Director of several not-for-profits, as well as Executive Coach and Career Development. Maryann also serves as a grant reviewer/scorer for the NYS Education Department and Phi Delta Kappa International sessions review committee for action research. She became involved with the Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research and Information and co-authored the book, The Brain Tumor Guide for the Newly Diagnosed, which is available at Amazon.com with all proceeds going to the Foundation or as a free download at the foundations web site. Presently, Maryann is a board member of Free World U, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit pre-kindergarten through 12th grade provisionally accredited online school and serves in board development. Maryann is happy to return to her love of the arts by joining LCA in researching, identifying and authoring funding opportunities to build and expand such programs as The Women in Arts Series, 10-Minute Plays, Haitis Passport Friday, and the 4th Annual Multicultural Arts & Crafts Festival.
She has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Molloy College, Master of Arts in Education from Hofstra University and is a NYS certified teacher. Additionally, she holds a post graduate Advanced Graduate Diploma in Administration from SUNY Stony Brook and holds NYS School District Administration Certification.
Anu Annam - Visual Arts Director
Anu's interest in watercolor portraiture lies in the study of personalities, emotions and the medium itself. She finds the dynamic interactions between chemical elements, the physical properties of pigments, water and various papers as compelling as the relationships within in my subjects. The relationships she considers in her work are the subject's feelings towards his or herself, the world, his or her immediate physical environment, as the painter, and ultimately the unknown viewer. People--though presently she is finding similar inspiration in plants and sea creatures--interests her in a way that I can express through the unconventional techniques of abstracted color, emotive structure, selective cropping and various amounts of representational depiction. The medium of watercolor, Anu finds can lend itself to abstraction through possible errors, such as the natural and spontaneous pooling of water during the wet-on-to-wet technique. The medium is also steadfast. It dries rapidly (the pigment concentration being dependent on water content) and can be viewed as a stain-something that the painter can see as marring the work. Both pooling and staining might be considered mistakes, but views them as avenues for unexpected invention in her paintings.
Susan Varo - Art Consultant
With a lot of creativity and many years of experience in fine arts, she has created an array of beautiful paintings that she has sold to many. Following her heart's desire and fulfilling her every dream to create art from life, it has taken her to new heights in her accomplishments. Susan has a strong artistic background attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York on a scholarship and attending the Center for the Media Arts and working as a freelancer. Her many works include hand-painted holiday cards which she has sold to family and friends alike. Within the past several years she began incorporation travel with her artwork to create beautiful paintings consisting of landscapes, portraits and still life. A couple pieces of her artwork were donated as a prop for a play entitled, They Walk Among Us and to The Coalition for The Homeless. When she is not painting she enjoys photography and writing poetry which is currently published in the Queens Times.
Simone Sobers Dance Director born in London, England received her dance training in Miami, Florida at Edwin Holland School of Dance and Vladimir Issaev’s School of Classical Ballet. Additional training includes summer intensives with Alvin Ailey, Greenwich Studios in London, Complexions and Netherlands Dance Theater. Simone received her B.A. in Psychology and Communications from Boston College in 2006. She has danced with Arts Ballet Theater of Florida, Impulse Dance Company, Brazarte Modern Dance Company and Keen Dance Theater. Simone has performed works by Jiri Kylian, Hansvan Manen, Camille A. Brown, Nathan Trice, Adam Barruch, Troy Powell, Sidra Bell, Sydney Skybetter and Jessy Smith, Roberto Dias, Adrienne Hawkins, JohnKeen, Nellie Rainwater, Deborah Jowitt, and Stacy Spence. She has presented her own work at DanSpace (St.Mark's Church), Fourth Arts Block Festival, Dance Now Raw Festival, WHITE WAVE Dumbo Dance Festival, Outlet Dance Festi-val: Grounds for Sculpture, Jody Sperling Tea Dances, East Flatbush Dance Festival, Green Space Take Root Series, BAX Upstart Festival, Let's Dance to Health Celebrity Dance Showcase in Arkansas, Legros Cultural Arts Women in Dance Series, Queens Museum of Art, Queens Fringe Festival, the Chorlton Arts Festival in Manchester, England, BAAD! Ass Women Festival, The Houston Fringe Festi-val in Texas, and the Stockholm Fringe festival In Sweden. She received an M.F.A in Dance from NYU
SEEKING ACTORS FOR 2011 SEASON
PLEASE SUBMIT HEADSHOT & RESUME TO
legrosculturalarts_hotmail.com
I have worked with LCA since 2009, in the capacity of dance performance and artist advisement/advancement workshops. The first project I participated in was a works in progress dance performance at the Ailey School for Women's Month in 2009. This was a great experience and an opportunity to perform at the school, alongside receiving helpful audience feedback on my work, which I used to enhance my piece and stir up new ideas. This event also allowed me to network with other artists and build new friendships and working relationships. After this event I became very motivated to become more involved in other projects and workshops that the organization hosts for artists, which gratefully is free of charge. Following that event, I then attended a networking event/workshop where there were career professionals speaking about their talent/skills and advising about their perspective industry. This was very informative and the setup up for the event helped build and/or bridge new connections between emerging artists and career professionals/established artists. LCA also had great food to serve the guests, which displayed their keen sense of hospitality and care for artists. The locations of LCA events are also worth noting, as the organization hosts events in clean, spacey, nice, appropriate, and inspiring areas. It's also important to add that LCA is always promoting and giving artists exposure, as they post their media/promo material on their table setups free of charge. I continue to collaborate with this organization and attend their events, because my experience with LCA has made a big impact on my life and will continue to enhance and embrace my work as an artist. Which is why I also took part in another performance following the workshop, in Queens for their art festival. I will perform again in December 2010, for a continuation project of Emerging female choreographers at the Ailey Theater. The LCA directors and team are very personable and self directed, which motivates and intrigues me beyond engaging me on personal level. If I could sum up a description of the organization, I would say LCA is a hospitable, multifaceted, opportunity opening gateway for artists to network, get exposure, receive constructive feedback, and share the gift of art in all mediums (including dance, film, theater, singing, management, gorilla promotion, etc).
I was fortunate to be involved with LCA between April, 2010 and July, 2010 to work on the "Coming To The Mercy Seat" / Ten Minute Play Series project. Because of my involvement, I purchased Ms. Franklin's CTMS book and read all the plays. I was moved by the depth and poignancy of the vignettes and I am hoping to get someone to produce some of them in my area. I would describe LCA as caring, visionary and devoted. Its mission of promoting diversity in the Arts is a noble one and certainly gave me the opportunity to perform in roles that I would not otherwise be considered for. I was moved by my characters and glad for the chance to portray them as I felt them. All the people I came into contact with, be it producer, director, writer, fellow actor or tech, were a real treat to work with. Everyone was devoted to the task at hand and extremely open and friendly. I will cherish my experience for a long time to come.
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with LCA, where I performed my first theatrical role as the Poet/Narrator in J. e. Franklin's Coming to the Mercy Seat, directed by Chantal Legros and presented at Shetler Studios in NYC. My experience was incredible. Ms Legros worked very hard to make this production a success. The cast was professional, the production team was dedicated and the show was well attended and well received. LCA provided me with an authentic professional theater experience, that was challenging, fun and an overall great experience. Legros Cultural Arts is a unique organization with an inspirational goal to bring people of all cultures together to share, participate and be transformed through the collaborative creation and presentation of Theatre - I love it!
Working with LCA has been an amazing and life changing experience. The knowledge I have acquired about producing and directing for acting and dance productions is invaluable to my success as an artist. Chantal Legros is a fine mentor and role model for all women in the industry. I look forward to continuing to learn from and grow with LCA.
I had the pleasure of working with LCA for the first time in June of 2010. I was a part of the 10 minute play series. Although I spent only a brief period of time working on this project I definitely felt embraced and welcomed by the group. I love the diversity of this group, there truly is a place for everyone which is extremely appealing because as an artist your goal is to reach out to an array of people since at the end of the day we're all sharing the same experiences. So having a group of artists from a variety of backgrounds ensures that your going to have a diverse audience which is wonderful. LCA is a group that produces quality work and I'd be delighted to work with this group in the future.
I joined LCA's dance ensemble company Danzare International Dance Company in late March, 2008.
Almost immediately, I began working with the Development Team for fund raising/planning the revival and the 40th Anniversary of "Black Girl", a ground breaking play written by Ms. Je Franklin. LCA honored Ms. Franklin at the Schromburg Museum in Harlem, where press and the original cast members, including Miss Ruby Dee, were invited. As a performer I understand the passion and drive it takes to stay alive in the industry, especially in this economy. It wasn't until I began writing letters, knocking on doors, facing broken promises for funds- that I truly became intimately connected to the term "Blood sweat and tears."One must have the same passion drive and CALLING to do the work behind the scenes. My continued work with LCA is purely and deeply selfish. I came to this country from Sierra Leone, W. Africa. For most of my life I felt like an outsider looking in. I struggled with trying to find a group that would accept me. Wanting desperately to be understood...to belong somewhere, I existed like a chameleon-assimilating through life, never really feeling connected. It was only through the Performing Arts that I found solace and peace. That I felt a connection with the world. At my audition for LCA, Executive Director-Chantal Legros shared with us HER personal story that led to the creation of Legros Cultural Arts Inc. But it was in the mission statement that I got my "Aha!" moment. I remember thinking and feeling "This is what I've been looking for. This is where I belong." Chantal said "...LCA is charged with bringing communities together, through the Arts." This organization creates a safe place and opportunity where YOU and ME can have a discussion, speak the truth about ourselves and learn how to live comfortably in our own skin. I have had the privilege of working with Chantal Legros on many Events. In doing so, I have come to know that there are those in this world that TALK about doing good, so that WE can talk about how good THEY are. Then there are those that DO good- when NO ONE IS LOOKING, most of the time without even a THANK YOU. Legros Cultural Arts, Inc is an organization that lives it's mission. I am thankful and grateful that I can be a part of carrying it's message.
I became an active member since the Legros Cultural Arts Multicultural Art and Crafts Fair of 2010 held in front of the iconic Unisphere at the Queens Museum of Art--an appropriate location for LCA's, as the globe represents the historic 1964/65 Worlds Fair with its theme of "Peace through Understanding". Since then, I have exhibited my artwork with LCA for SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now), The Haiti Relief Fundraiser and once again in the gardens of the Queens Museum of art for the Multicultural Art and Crafts Fair of 2010. I have also attended last year's fundraiser where I met any other artists accomplished in their field and notable press. I have also met with the LCA Youth Group and proposed my idea for a Street Children Fundraiser to feed, clothe, house, and expand the creativity of the abandoned street children of India. I even had the pleasure of watching the LCA Youth Group's music recital and the LCA 10 Minute 10 Plays Series. All of this, and there was plenty more cultural gifts that were offered by Legros Cultural Arts. Legros Cultural Arts along is is the most positive organization I have found in New York City and have met artists of all disciplines and cultures--something that is very unique and necessary to represent this city and the melting pot that the world is becoming. As it grows, it still remains like a family, nurturing, caring and supportive. It continues to amaze me what its founder, Chantal Legros, has achieved in her many acts of giving to the arts. Amongst all her large projects, she has taken the time to attend my non-LCA shows, instilling more confidence in me about my artwork, and the support that LCA gives me. Art is a testament to our culture and the intellect of society as a whole. Support for the arts is what makes the beauty we value in our society, from the past, present and future exist. I have already furthered my career significantly in one year of being an active member of LCA, and made good friends and wonderful colleagues. With more people supporting and being involved in this organization, it will indeed become even more successful than it already is. With Legros Cultural Arts as an organization and people such as Chantal Legros, the board members of Legros Cultural Arts, and we, the artists, these cultural contributions will flourish for many years.
I began my relationship with LCA in 2009, when the organization mounted the 40th Anniversary Celebration of my play "Black Girl." A well-organized and well-attended reception in the lobby of Harlem's Schomburg Center was followed by a production of the play at HSA Theater. The production played to over-flow houses. After the production of "Black Girl," LCA went on to mount "Coming to the Mercy Seat," which included works from my signature collection of Ten-Minute plays. It is commendable that LCA made a conscious decision to, first, make this production accessible to the under-served residents of the Harlem community, through The Barbara Ann Teer National Black Theater, before moving it downtown. During the production process, LCA remained true to its mission to diversify in its casting without compromising my vision as a playwright. I was very pleased with the quality of both productions of my work. LCA is hard-working, committed, and professional. At LCA, I feel assured that my work is in good hands!
As a visual artist, LCA has awarded me with an array of opportunities to showcase my artwork and meet and network with other creative and talented professionals. Since 2009, I have participated in the annual Multicultural Arts and Crafts Festival held at the front of the Queens Museum of Art and the third annual Swan Day Womens Month held at Shetler Studios. LCA has impacted my life as it offered events and venues that would not have presented themselves without participating with LCA. I had been fortunate enough to have been the visual arts coordinator for the third annual arts and crafts festival of 2010. LCA is not only a vital organization but also an essential platform for emerging visual and performing artists as it offers guidance, education and information in the creative arts field. LCA is an innovative, cultural and eclectic organization spotlighting talented groups and individuals. LCAs mission is to encompass artistic talent of all races, ages and ethnicities and bring them together on a whole to spread art through diversity.
"I appreciate the work that Chantal Legros and LCA is doing! They are champions of finding, promoting and creating platforms for artists of every medium and in every culture. On a personal note: I am incredibly grateful for their recognition of the work that I've been inspired to create. It has encouraged me to continue to create. In addition my work has gained more visibility, credibility and an increased fan base. I recommend that every artist in the greater New York area reach out, network and have fun! Attend the LCA networking events! It definitely shows us artists that we are not alone...thanks LCA!"
WINNER!
Wealth
Manager
of the Year
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 333, New York, New York 10116, Tel: (917) 741-2992
E-mail: legrosculturalarts_hotmail.com
