Introducing a New Monthly Feature – MAD Notes!

The MAD Steering Committee meets on the first Thursday of every month at 9:30 a.m. at Cornell Street Studios. The next meeting will be held on June 1 and all are welcome to attend.

The MAD Work Groups meet regularly too, and everyone is invited to participate in them as well. In this issue of the MAD e-News, we cover the activities of two of our MAD Work Groups—Communications and Neighborhoods—and hope you’ll get involved in them or the other two Work Groups (Artists and Businesses).

COMMUNICATIONS WORK GROUP (CWG)
CWG members actively market and promote all MAD activities, including producing this MAD e-News every two weeks and are continuing to update the MAD website as a ‘work in progress.’

The notes from Steering Committee meetings will now be posted on the MAD website and the e-News will include regular summaries of actions and decisions made.

1st Saturday Maps—NEW!
The CWG is now producing a monthly map of 1st Saturday openings in conjunction with the newly formed Kingston Gallery Business Group (KGBG).

1st Saturday Gallery Openings held on May 6 were a great success, and the new Map includes nearly 20 galleries, most of which are centered in the MAD. If you’d like to submit your gallery for the July 1 First Saturday, please submit info to madkingston12401@gmail.com or visit https://madkingston.org/map/.  Deadline for submissions is Friday, May 26.

Facebook Groups, Public and Private
The MAD Facebook group is open to the PUBLIC, so please use it to post your MAD arts events and feel free to comment and join in on discussions. This group currently has nearly 500 ‘likes,’ so please share it with your friends and colleagues to increase our reach going forward.

The Kingston Midtown Arts District Group is a CLOSED group created prior to the formation of our public MAD group. It is still used by some to promote arts events within a private group of about 200 members. All members of this group are invited to ‘like’ the public MAD Facebook group to help us move forward with plans to eventually merge the two groups.

MIDTOWN NEIGHBORHOODS WORK GROUP (MNWG)
The MNWG is working to develop arts programs to serve Midtown residents.

CommUnity Day—April 29
On Saturday, April 29, UPAC hosted CommUnity Day and the event was well attended by a diverse population of local residents and tourists. Kelly McGrath and Liz Baker set up a MAD booth and handed out literature about the arts district and several of the participating organizations, including ArtBar, Broadway Arts, Green Palette, Int-O Yellow Gallery, Possibility Studios and R&F Handmade Paints. MAD activities included Green Palette (puppet making using recycled materials), Kingston Chemistry in Art class using Cyanotype exposure and presentation, and a PUGG-community mural.

Ben Wigfall Project
A sign-up sheet for the upcoming Ben Wigfall Project was used at CommUnity Day to gather information. At least 15 community members of varying ages and interests signed up.

Available locations for workshops coordinated with scheduled events include:

• Broadway Arts
• PUGG
• Int-O Yellow Gallery
• The Kingston Library
• The Boys and Girls Club
• The Green Palette

For questions about the Ben Wigfall Project, please contact either Liz Baker at broadwayartsolutions@gmail.com or Kelly McGrath at mcgrathkellyanne@gmail.com. Stay tuned for more details!

Celebration of the Arts—August 3
This year’s recipients of the Red Goat Award—Pauline Oliveros, Ione and Kevin O’Connor—will be honored at the August 3 Celebration of the Arts at Broadway Commons.

Broadway Commons—ongoing
MAD continues to advocate for the dedication of Broadway Commons as an official public place to be named ‘Deep Listening Square’ in honor of Pauline Oliveros. Funding for the design and building of the space may be available through several sources, including the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, a CFA grant and other options. MAD plans to hold a public forum to discuss the diverse ways that this public space could be used as an important first step in the process.

– Debra Bresnan