Destination..................................................................Narrowsburg Upper Delaware Writers Collective Celebrates 20 Years
by Anna Lillian Moser When the Upper Delaware Writers Collective (UDWC) started 20 years ago, the art scene in Sullivan County barely existed and the idea of starting an organization for local poets was an altogether novel approach. Today, the UDWC is just one of many groups supporting and celebrating local artists. The UDWC got its start in 1993 when a group of five local writers started getting together to talk shop. “A group of us just got together to start discussing poetry and writing in general,” recalled Mary Greene, UDWC's director and founding member. “It was very informal. There was no leader really.” Greene was eventually approached by a fellow member who urged her to “move it up to another level” by creating an organization that was much more structured, and which Greene, who received her MFA from Brooklyn College, would oversee. “I was a little hesitant at first, but then I thought, ‘well, why not,’ and in 1993 the arts in Sullivan County were sparse to say the least. It was not the really good art scene
that’s going on now.” UDWC members started paying a small membership fee and Greene began creating and administering writing prompts, running it like a classic workshop setting, focusing on craft. Eventually UDWC became a not-for-profit in the mid-1990s in order to apply for grants. The collective is almost exclusively aimed at poets and poetry. Greene said she tried to workshop with other genres, but her MFA is in poetry, and so it’s what she knows how to teach and critique. “If half of the people are poets and the other half want to talk about fiction it doesn’t work because the fiction writers have ten pages and the poets have a page. I just felt it had to be two separate things, and I chose poetry because that’s what I know how to do,” said Greene. Dedicated to promoting the literary arts in the Upper Delaware region, the organization has grown steadily over the past 20 years, as has the Sullivan arts community. “It’s not to say there wasn’t anything going on. There was a lot going on, but it was always the same people. It wasn’t very big,” Greene
The Gypsy Jazz Quintet Jazz It Up at Tusten The Gypsy Jazz Quintet was formed in 2006 as a musical tribute to the 1930’s “hotclub” jazz of gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and Parisian violinist Stephane Grappelli. Organized by guitarist/music arranger, John Curtin, the Gypsy Jazz Quintet has performed at music festivals, colleges, jazz clubs and resorts. This is the high-energy swing music played in the dance halls of Paris from 1934 to 1939. The band is made up of 5 players from very diverse backgrounds who came together to make this special music. On May 4, the Gypsy Jazz Quintet will perform as part of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance’s Salon Series at the Tusten Theatre, 210 Bridge Street, at 8:00pm. For information, call 845-252-7272.
The Gypsy Jazz Quintet
UDWC director Mary Greene, center, reading poetry with fellow UDWC members Cass Collins (left) and Dorothy Hartz at Sussex County Community College.
said. “There just wasn’t much compared to now where there’s lots of wonderful theatre and opera and music groups. Now there is the Dancing Cat where you can go and listen to live music, before there was nothing like that up here. If you wanted to listen to live music you had to travel to Warwick or something.” To celebrate the UDWC’s 20th anniversary the organization will be hosting two events, beginning with the April 19 River Rocks PoJam. This fundraiser, which runs from 7:00pm-9:30pm at the Cooperage Project on
Main Street in Honesdale, PA., will feature an open mic, followed by a poetry reading about Spring by members of the Collective, as well as a silent auction of goods and services from local merchants. Greene said the hope is that the April fundraiser will raise funds for the group’s May 18 event, The River Rocks Poetry Jamboree: Celebrating 20 Years with the Upper Delaware Writers Collective. “Over the 20 years we’ve had many members come and go. We’ve had two members who died. It’s been an experience for the longtime members and for me to see this group take shape, take one shape, then take another shape; to grow a little bit and shrink a little bit and then grow some more,” Greene said. “It's been the most wonderful experience for me professionally that I’ve ever had, to be the head of this group, and to be a founder of this group, and just to watch it grow and get to nurture it and nurture these writers.” Visit their facebook page at: www.facebook.com/pages/Upper-DelawareWriters-Collective. See May 2013 CANVAS for more on the Jamboree!
Celtic & Acadian Music: Three Performers, Ten Instruments
Hailing from Prince Edward Island’s Evangeline area and from Quebec’s Magdalen Islands, twin sisters Emmanuelle and Pastelle LeBlanc and Pascal Miousse form Vishten. Their trademark blend of fiddle, guitar, accordion, harmonium, whistles, piano, bodhrán, jaw harp, moog, electric guitar and percussive dance make for a unique tour de force of traditional and contemporary sounds. Vishten brings their instruments to the Tusten Theatre on April 21 at 2:00pm. For information, call 845-252-7272.
April 2013
Delaware & Hudson CANVAS
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