Ed Sappin | Philanthropy & Community

Giving & Volunteering

10 New York Charities to Consider during the Holidays

by

The holiday season is a time for giving and many people in the New York area are looking for ways to give back to their communities. There are many charities to choose from, but here are our top 10 picks for the holidays in the New York area.

  1. New York City Rescue Mission. This charity provides food, shelter, clothing, and other services to the homeless and hungry in New York City. They also offer job training, recovery programs, and other support to help people get back on their feet.
  2. City Harvest. This organization helps to feed the hungry in New York City by rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste and delivering it to food pantries and other organizations that serve the hungry.
  3. The Bowery Mission. This charity provides food, shelter, and other services to homeless and vulnerable individuals in New York City. They also offer programs to help people overcome addiction, find employment, and rebuild their lives.
  4. The Children’s Aid Society. This organization provides a range of services to children and families in need, including early education, mental health support, and after-school programs.
  5. Covenant House New York. This charity provides shelter, education, and other services to homeless and at-risk youth in New York City. They also offer programs to help young people transition to independence and self-sufficiency.
  6. The Food Bank For New York City. This organization helps to provide food to those in need in New York City through a network of food pantries and other organizations.
  7. Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. This charity works to promote social justice and interfaith understanding in New York City and beyond. They also provide support and assistance to local Jewish communities.
  8. New York Cares. This organization coordinates volunteer projects and activities to help people in need in New York City. They offer a range of opportunities for volunteers to make a difference in their communities.
  9. The Robin Hood Foundation. This charity fights poverty in New York City by providing financial support to organizations that help the most vulnerable members of the community.
  10. United Way of New York City. This organization focuses on improving education, income, and health in New York City. They provide funding and support to a range of organizations that help people in need.

These charities are all doing important work in the New York area, and they would all be grateful for your support this holiday season. Whether you choose to donate money, time, or other resources, you can make a difference in the lives of people in need.

 

 

This article was written with the help of an AI chatbot.

Brooklyn Progressive: The Art of Gertrude Sappin

by

I am back after a hiatus and will continue to highlight unique and interesting artists. My next profile is of Gertrude Sappin, who was also my grandmother.

Gertrude Kellerman was born in Hungary in 1902 and emigrated to the United States in her teens. She settled in Brooklyn, New York and became a lifelong progressive. After having a family and raising them, Gertrude Sappin became a well known artist later in life. She passed away in 1992.

 

Gertrude Sappin Recollections

 

My grandmother’s art career began when she was in her 60s. A force of nature, she and her colleagues founded the Contemporary Artist’s Guild around 1968. Grandma Gertrude’s work ranged from oil paintings, to etchings, to lithographs, to sketches. My personal favorite is Recollections, with a representation of Winston Churchill at center and wartime images surrounding him.

Grandma Gertrude exhibited with CAG at the Brooklyn Musem of Art, Lincoln Center, and Lever House, amongst other venues. I fondly remember attending many of these exhibitions as a boy.

I’ve recently put together a basic website for my grandmother’s work. I hope to expand it over time.

 

Running with and for the Community

by

Ed Sappin Vermont City Marathon 2005

Vermont City Marathon 2005 – a few years younger, a few pounds lighter!

 

Once upon a time, I was a marathon runner and long before that I ran everything from the 5K to half marathon here and there. After several injuries and growing into middle age, I had stopped running for many years until recently, when I tried to get back into form.

Running is a great way to engage with the community, whether it be hearing your name yelled out when you’re getting off of the 59th Street bridge and going onto 1st Avenue in the middle of the New York City Marathon (to quote American great runner Meb Keflezighi “You know the excitement is waiting for you,” Keflezighi says of crossing the Queensboro Bridge. “You always hear about it, but to experience it is wild.” in the late miles of a marathon), running for charity, or going off into the woods on a trail and experiencing nature.

On Saturday, May 6th, I lined up for the Dime McCarren 5k in Williamsburg, which supports St Nicks Alliance. St Nicks works to improve the lives of low to moderate income people, focusing on elder care, affordable housing, workforce development, and youth and education. Started in 2012, the race has become a fairly popular event, bringing out over 500 runners for a spring race to support a good cause.

While it is a far cry from the 2005 Vermont City Marathon (above), my last race, I was pleased to be able to finish the race without injury and without stopping. My time of 30:45 won’t go down in any record books (even mine), but it was good to be back on the road and crossing the finish line after 12 years. I’m looking forward to doing more races and supporting the community even more over the summer and into the fall. Whether you participate or volunteer, hopefully you can do the same!

The Giving Season

by

The holidays are over, 2017 is here and it is back to work time. I hope everyone had a good break if you had time off and time with your loved ones and families. As the weather in New York enters the heart of the winter my thoughts often turn to those who are truly left out in the cold. The giving season may be over, but those in need require our help now more than ever. Here are just a few options to give of your time and/or money and help those who are less fortunate during the toughest time of the year:

1. Bowery Residents Committee (BRC). A fabulous organization that works to shelter and train the homeless so they can move to stable housing and stable lives. BRC shelters more than 1,600 people every night and they have had more than 10,000 people go through their programs. I had the privilege of attending their annual fundraiser last year and was impressed with the impact and no nonsense attitude the management team has, and the lives they have touched for the better.

2. Coalition for the Homeless. One of the longest established and most effective community organizations serving the homeless, the Coalition spends $0.89 out of every dollar received on programs across food, youth, job training, and of course shelter. One of my favorite aspects of the Coalition is their Bound for Success program, which focuses on one on one tutoring for homeless children.

3. The Times Neediest Cases. Focused to “give direct assistance to troubled children, families and elders,” the New York Times effort works with charities around the city to have as direct an impact as possible ranging from young mothers, to struggling high school students to immigrants. The campaign works through local religious and lay charities and has raised over $280 million dollars since its founding by the Times Publisher Adolph S. Ochs in 1911. This year’s campaign wraps up on February 3rd so consider helping others now.

 

Forever Paris: Willy Ronis’s Striking Style

by

Amoureux de la Colonne Bastille, Paris, 1957

Amoureux de la Colonne Bastille, Paris, 1957

Willy Ronis passed away in 2009, leaving a long, dense catalog of photographs that chronicle France and Paris’ rich history during the twentieth century, particularly the post war years of the 1940s and 1950s.

Born in Paris in 1910, Ronis did not become a full-time photographer until his mid 30s. He was part of the well known Rapho Agency alongside fellow luminaries Brassai and Robert Doisneau. Ronis’s work focuses on the joy and love of day to day life.

567-2

Le Petit Parisien, 1953 | Courtesy: Jackson Fine Art

Ronis’ stature grew in the 1950s as he was part of an exhibit in New York at the MOMA curated by Edward Steichen and a few years later was part of the famed Family of Man exhibition. His works began to enter major collections and throughout his lifetime he was well represented by major galleries around the world.

“Je n’ai jamais poursuivi l’insolite, le jamais vu, l’extraordinaire, mais bien ce qu’il y a de plus typique
dans notre existence quotidienne… ” Willy Ronis

“I have never pursued the unusual, the unseen, the extraordinary, but what is most typical
In our everyday existence … ” Willy Ronis

Ronis is very well known in his native land but never quite achieved the international fame that some of his contemporaries did, perhaps because (ironically) he was too positive in his outlook. This being said, he remains one of my favorite photographers for his ability to capture the everyday and its beauty and maintain a positive outlook in the aftermath of the destruction of World War II.

Winning the White House

by

photo-1467251589161-f9c68fa14c59

We are finally here – it is election day 2016 after one of the most vicious electoral campaigns of modern times. The candidates have tried to leverage all the modern tools to win the day. In spite of this, the election of 1960 was arguably even more of a watershed for presidential candidates and their public images.

John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon participated in the first nationally televised debate on September 26, 1960. Those who listened on the radio thought Nixon won with his answers about current issues. However, the debate on television was a different story.

Nixon sported five o’clock shadow, appeared to be sweaty and didn’t look at the camera. Kennedy appeared well-groomed and confident. Kennedy looked like he was the better candidate — and won over the 70 million television viewers by a broad margin.

And that was just the beginning.

With the rise of television, the internet and social media, image has become paramount for presidential candidates, while substance has waned in importance. Winning the White House: From Press Prints to Selfies, a photography exhibit presented earlier this year by the International Center of Photography (ICP) at the Southampton Arts Center in New York, explored the complicated relationship between candidates’ personal images in visual media and their carefully created and tightly controlled campaign images over time.

The exhibit featured campaign memorabilia, posters, and video materials created for the candidates from the start of the campaign image revolution – with John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon — to current candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

In a press release issued by ICP, Assistant Curators Claartje van Dijk and Susan Carlson describe the evolution of the campaign image and the importance it has in the current election today.

“Presidential candidates have used photographic imagery in their campaigns to impact public opinion,” says van Dijk. “The delivery method has shifted from print publications to broadcast to computer and mobile phone screens.”

Carlson goes more in-depth about imagery and the presidential election today. “With the rise of smart-phone technology and the rapid rate at which images are released on social media, the 2016 campaigns are seeing an even greater demand for visual content,” she said. “This provides us with a timely opportunity to explore photography’s significant role in elections.”

The free exhibit ran from August 6, 2016 to until September 11, 2016 at The Southampton Arts Center. You can view some of the artwork on social media channels by using the hashtag #WinningtheWhiteHouse.

Nature, Technology and Humanity through the Worlds of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

by

In 2007, I was living in Shanghai and decided to come back to the US for a visit to see my family in New York. I also passed through Chicago to attend the law school commencement of a cousin living there. Trudging through the winter in Chicago was actually fun (my cousin graduated midyear). I had some free time during the trip and visited the Catherine Edelman Gallery in River North, where I first saw the works of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison.

I was taken with the worlds the ParkeHarrison’s depicted in their bleak photographic works – the environment suffering greatly, often with an everyman trying to help heal some of the ills that have befallen Mother Nature.

Earth Elegies by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (from the artists’ website)

Earth Elegies by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (from the artists’ website)

The ParkeHarrisons became one of my favorites from that day onwards. Their statement is one of alarm, concern and warning of the world we live in and where it may lead:

We  create works in response to the ever-bleakening relationship linking humans, technology, and nature. These works feature an ambiguous narrative that offers insight into the dilemma posed by science and technology’s failed promise to fix our problems, provide explanations, and furnish certainty pertaining to the human condition.  Strange scenes of hybridizing forces, swarming elements, and bleeding overabundance portray Nature unleashed by technology and the human hand.  

Rich colors and surrealistic imagery merge to reveal the poetic roots of the works on display.  The use of color is intentional but abstract; proportion and space are compositional rather than natural; movement is blurred; objects and people juxtaposed as if by chance in a visual improvisation that unfolds choreographically.  At once formally arresting and immeasurably loaded with sensations—this work attempts to provide powerful impact both visually and viscerally. 

– Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (as posted on the artists’ website)

While their artistic statement expresses great concern of a potentially apocalyptic future, the ambiguity in their statement also points to the ability to correct our course and become better stewards of the land. On that day in Chicago, I was particularly taken with Gray Dawn, a dreary, contemplative work. Our everyman lays on a bed, asleep still or waking we do not know, with a dirty window in front of him and a scene outside dominated by a power plant or industrial facility. However, there are signs of life, of Mother Nature, as plant trimmings sprouting in the foreground point to another dawn.

Gray Dawn by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (from the Catherine Edeleman Gallery website)


Gray Dawn by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (from the Catherine Edeleman Gallery website)

The ParkeHarrisons are well represented by major galleries in New York, Chicago, and Colorado and their works have been included in the permanent collections of institutions including the Whitney, the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC and the Museum of Arts in Boston. If you have a chance to see their creations I highly recommend it.

 

The Rubin Museum “Sacred Spaces”

by

The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room [Image courtesy of RubinMuseum.org]

Sacred Spaces, which has been on display at the Rubin Museum for almost a year, is a meditation on spirituality, physical spaces, and their intersections. The exhibition showcases three environments that have been shaped by human religiosity and acts of veneration.

In a recent interview for Splacer Magazine, Rubin Museum Director of Programs and Engagement Tim McHenry explains how the idea for ‘Sacred Spaces’ came to be. McHenry describes how, after the opening of the

“Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room in an intimate, but cramped nook on the second floor gallery, there was a realization that it was inadequate…We wanted to create an environment that allowed for a durational relationship, one that builds up through exposure over time.”

When it opened in 2010, the Rubin’s Shrine Room wasn’t supposed to be permanent (it was on loan from the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian); the current iteration was supported through a crowdfunding campaign on Razoo. The exhibit explores the meaning of physical space in a couple of different ways: there is a 360-degree panoramic photograph of the Himalayan Mountains, which circumscribes the exhibit’s Shrine Room, and a video installation documenting a Jain communal ritual in which a massive stone sculpture is erected every dozen years. The video invites viewers to consider the concept of rituals–I found this aspect of the film to be particularly meaningful.

The room where Sacred Spaces is on display conveys a sense of intimacy–and also community. The two aren’t at odds with each other. Visitors are given the sense that in the personal, there is the universal. To that end, Sacred Spaces asks its visitors to consider: what spaces are sacred to you?

The Sacred Spaces exhibition is open to the public through October 17th. The beginning of autumn strikes me as a rather contemplative time of year. Make a date with yourself to catch this fascinating exhibit before it closes!

A Wave Of Clean and Green Philanthropy in New York City

by

green-building nyc

New York City–known for its skyscrapers and high cost of living–also sets the bar high when it comes to environmental standards.

On August 22nd, the New York Public Service Commission voted to increase the state’s clean energy production by 50 percent by 2030. The City’s clean economy sector is thriving and environmental initiatives passed over the last decade have dramatically lowered NYC’s per capita emissions of air pollutants  to levels below those of other major metro areas.

There are more and more companies in New York City abiding by a green ethos. These groups are prioritizing sustainable initiatives and collaborating on significant projects to maximize the impact of clean and green philanthropy. Which organizations are are making the most difference? I’ve examined New York’s clean and green philanthropy landscape to give you a closer look. Here are some groups to get to know:

Urban Green Councilstatic1.squarespace

An affiliate of the U.S. Green Building Council, the Urban Green Council works to transform NYC buildings into sustainable constructions. In collaboration with Mayor de Blasio’s office and Center for Urban Science and Progress at NYU, the Urban Green Council aims to cut New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions in NYC by 80 percent, by 2050.

 

Doris Duke Charitable FoundationDoris_Copper_RGB

In the past, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation maintained a strict focus on conservation efforts, but the Foundation has now shifted gears with initiatives to fight climate change. Climate change, the Foundation cites, threatens Earth’s biodiversity and our livelihood. The Foundation’s latest measure to fight climate change Foundation awarded a $2.3 million grant to Scenic Hudson to enhance land preservation and undo damage sustained by Hudson Valley ecosystems.

 

Urban Future LabUFL

The Urban Future Lab – a collaboration between the NYC Economic Development Corporation and NYU Polytech – is an incubator for “green tech” businesses in NYC that want to drive economic growth and resiliency in the region. Located in Downtown Brooklyn, the Lab has a new home on the top floor of the MetroTech Center.

 

NYCEEC For a Sustainable FutureNYCEEC

Thanks to NYCEEC For a Sustainable Future, new residential and commercial buildings in New York City will become infinitely more energy-efficient, the result of improvements to the New York City Energy Conservation Code (NYCECC) that were given the go-ahead by the New York City Council back in July. The code will affect new construction (and renovations) in all five boroughs. According to estimates, commercial buildings to be built in the future will be nearly 9 percent more energy efficient than they are today.

 

The Environmental Defense FundEDF

Started in 1967, the Environmental Defense Fund works with corporations and government to create environmental programs, initiatives and policy. Areas the EDF seeks to address: using “h2 science” to affect markets, laws and corporate partnerships. EDF has been honored in the media for its environmental advocacy; you can read a summary of the organization’s achievements here.

Other big players in NYC clean and green philanthropy:
Wildlife Conservation Society

Wildlife Conservation Society

MacArthur Foundation logo

MacArthur Foundation

New York League of Conservation Voters

New York League of Conservation Voters

Hudson River Foundation

Hudson River Foundation

 

The Scherman Foundation

The Scherman Foundation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gateway to Himalayan Art at the Rubin

by

Gateway to Himalayan Art

“Life story of Buddha Shakyamuni,” a Tibetan cloth painting on display at the exhibit.                           [Image courtesy of RubinMuseum.org]

New York City is home to a vast range of museums, many of them legendary, from the Met to the MoMa to the Museum of Natural History. While big-name museums are exciting to visit, there are also many niche institutions throughout the city. The Rubin, a cultural hub for Asian art, is one that I find fascinating and wish more people knew about.

 

Located in Chelsea, the Rubin, “inspires visitors to make powerful connections between contemporary life and the art, cultures, and ideas of the Himalayas and neighboring regions.” Since opening in 2004, the Rubin has had 1.4 million visitors through its interactive and educational exhibits that connect contemporary world to Himalayan art, ideas and history.

 

Himalayan art is not something everyone has an inherent familiarity with, which is why a visit to the Rubin can be particularly eye-opening and intriguing. The exhibit “Gateway to Himalayan Art,” a year-long exhibit lasting this June to next, is a wonderful way to introduce new viewers to the Rubin’s collections. Even those like myself with an interest in Asian Art can glean new and interesting insights from “Gateway.”

 

“Gateway to Himalayan Art” introduces visitors to the main concepts, forms, and themes  within the Rubin’s collections: a gateway in every sense of the word. It opens with a video presentation and virtual map that highlights regions of interest, including past and present parts of Mongolia, India, Nepal, China, and Bhutan. Significant objects from the collection are arranged within the exhibit by theme: 1) figures and symbols, 2) materials and techniques, and 3) purpose and function. This careful, organized curation helps visitors understand what a piece of art means, what it is made for, and what it does or did.

 

The most common depiction is the Buddha, or “enlightened one,” founder of Buddhism and religious figure in 5th or 6th century BCE. A variety of Himalayan gods and goddesses can also be observed on scrolls, murals, sculptures, and tools.

 

The Rubin Museum is a fantastic museum for any visitor, its collections full of items that provide a window into another part of the globe. “Gateway to Himalayan Art” is an educational portal into this magnificent world, well-suited for both first-time visitors and specialists. Next time you’re in Chelsea, why not treat yourself?