Paintings, sculptures, dance and music will all in the spotlight in Perry during the Perry Festival of Art, Music and Dance.
The festival is scheduled from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Dec. 16 at the Perry Village Hall, 46 North Main St.
The event will feature visual art by Dan Butler, sculptures by Susan Ferrari Rowley, steel drum music by Panloco, and dance performances by Commotion Dance Theater, Devi Bollywood, Genesee Dance Theatre, and KM Dance Center. The art show will open at 3 p.m. with live music by Panloco, followed by dance performances from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Village Hall. All events are free and open to the public.
Earlier in the day, free music and dance workshops will be offered from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at two locations. A steel drum workshop will be at the Village Hall, and a Bollywood dance workshop will be at Genesee Dance Theatre, 33 South Main St. The steel drum music workshop led by Ted Canning is open to music lovers of all ages and the Bollywood dance workshop by Gaitrie Subyran is open to dancers and non-dancers of all levels of ability.
“It is so great to be able to share art, music, and dance with the community I live in,” said Butler, a Perry resident.
Butler, a muralist/painter, will show large works created for the Village Hall.
Rowley, whose works have been shown internationally, will show three minimalist sculptures.
Performances will include Trinidadian steel drum music by Ted Canning and Panloco; contemporary dances by Ruben Ornelas and Commotion Dance Theater; holiday-themed dances by Sarah Keeler and the Genesee Dance Theatre, and Kaeleigh Scott and the KM Dance Center. The program also includes Indian dances by Gaitrie Subyran, and the Devi Bollywood dance group from Buffalo.
Butler, Canning, Ornelas, Subyran and Ferrari Rowley are all recipients of a Creatives Rebuild NY grant, working in the GLOW Creatives group to bring arts programming to primarily rural areas of Western New York.
The GLOW Creatives program was created using a $1.5 million grant awarded to the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council, the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts in Mount Morris and the Arts Council for Wyoming County in Perry. The grant allowed the arts councils to form a collaborative featuring 10 local artists.
The grant was awarded through a state competition called Creatives Rebuild New York Artist Employment Program that took place in 2022. Artists had to propose collaborations with community-based organizations, municipalities, and tribal governments. The recipient organizations would then receive funding for each artist including artists’ salaries and benefits for two years.
In October and November, an exhibition at the ACWC featured the work of photographer Keith Walters of Geneseo, sculptor Susan Ferrari Rowley of Scottsville, and dancer and choreographer Gaitre Devi Subryan, who are each members of The GLOW Creatives.
“It’s an opportunity,” Rowley said in an October interview, “for us to rebuild New York and rebuild our careers after the pandemic.”
Other artists who are part of GLOW Creatives include Jill Pettigrew, visual artist and teaching artist; Rashaad Santiago, special effects artist and director; Annette Daniels Taylor, poet, filmmaker and actress; Paul Thomas, ceramicist; and Keith Walters, photographer and videographer.
The work of Subryan and Ornelas is made possible with funds from the Support for Artists Grant, a program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of The Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
The Perry Festival of Art, Music and Dance is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of The Office of the Governor, the New York State Legislature and administered by the Arts Council for Wyoming County.
