Knowing the history of a community is extremely important, therefore an accurate art and culture study would be a great thing to have. While the world was suffering from the devastation of the covid 19 pandemic many sad abuses were happening including underserved population.
A variety of money sources, including private dollars and your tax dollars have paid for a study of the arts and culture in the city of Newburgh, NY which was not accurate. Sadly, the study made a clear decision to not include the concerts that called the city of Newburgh and its’ waterfront home for over 20 years. Of this I am sure because they all know me well.
Art and culture study is important for community development
People got together to create a study that was completely inaccurate. Have you heard of the Newburgh Jazz Series? Or Newburgh Pop, Rock & Doowop Series, Newburgh Gospel Series, Newburgh Jewish Music Series, or Newburgh Jazz Go Round, African American Heritage Music Trail and Ferry Godmother Christmas Caroling Series? How did the study miss the longest running, award winning, most talked about free community concerts in Hudson Valley? Grammy winners, Grammy nominees, and the only person to EVER bring the West Point Jazz Band to the city of Newburgh. So why was the Ferry Godmother concerts not mentioned? How was it missed in a art and culture study about the city of Newburgh, NY? How was taxpayer dollars, other businesses and organization funding provided? Did any of the funding sources read it for accuracy?
This is exactly why many people have issues with gentrification. One of the largest issues people have “truth and “trust”. This is a typical case of incorrect information being given out as the “truth”.
The facts are that for over 20 years tens of thousands of people were aware and have attended the Newburgh waterfronts. In addition our free community concerts were held at the Orange County Arboretum, and town of Highland. It was one of the most well covered events in the media and social media. So what happened to it in the art and culture study?
One of the most highly regarded city of Newburgh mayor’s, Judy Kennedy made me a promise that she would do everything possible to get the well known concerts back to the city’s waterfront. When the concerts was looking for a temporary home, County Executive Eddie Diana reached out to the Ferry Godmother to ensure we had a place to go. That move took the concerts to the Orange County Arboretum. Happily in Mayor Kennedy’s final days battling cancer she was able, with some extreme difficulty, get to see the concerts back on the waterfront.
Let me know if you have heard of or ever attended the Newburgh Jazz Series. How about any of the other concerts that were held around and on the Newburgh waterfront, the Arboretum in Orange County Park, and at the history AME Zion Church in Newburgh. Should this art and culture study mention the concerts as a part of the city’s history? What are your thoughts about this inaccurate art and culture study, should it have been funded?
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