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Press Release - 11.05.2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2009
212 260 4080
CLEMENTE SOTO VÉLEZ CULTURAL & EDUCATIONAL CENTER, INC. ANNOUNCES THE SELECTION OF A TEAM TO COMPLETE A MASTER PLAN FOR THE ORGANIZATION
Jan Hanvik, Executive Director of Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, Inc. (“CSV”), announced today the selection of a team to complete a Master Plan for the organization. On October 19, 2009 the CSV Board of Trustees voted to accept the recommendation of its Master Plan Review Committee to hire Beckelman+Capalino and Deborah Berke & Partners Architects LLP, with Neyda Martinez of Monserrat Ltd. to develop its Master Plan. The Plan will be completed with funding from a grant CSV received from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation “to support interior planning and design efforts.”
“Together with the members of the Board of Directors I am confident that Beckelman+Capalino, Deborah Berke & Partners Architects LLP, and Monserrat Ltd., are highly qualified to help CSV intelligently plan for its future,” said Executive Director Jan Hanvik. “Independently,” he continued “each of these firms has provided similar expertise to a diverse roster of clients that includes many of the most important cultural institutions in the City. Together they will work in a collaborative and decisive manner to develop a Master Plan that will guide both the physical and philosophical growth of CSV, allowing CSV to define goals to expand its programs and modify its facility in a stable and sustainable manner.”
The Master Plan project will be completed in phases over an 8 month period of time. It will include completing measured drawings of the interior of the CSV facility; in-depth interviews with users of the CSV common spaces; a survey of Lower East Side and City wide Latino and multicultural individual and not for profit and for profit organizations, arts and non-arts, as to current and future needs; interviews with past, present, and future users; the completion of a community design charette; and media outreach to expand awareness of CSV’s mission and programs.
Upon the completion of the project CSV will have fully documented the challenges and opportunities presented by its physical plant and will have a Master Plan document that will articulate CSV’s current and future goals. The Master Plan will also identify the organizational and financial milestones CSV will need to reach over time to accomplish those goals. It will include an agenda of tasks itemizing how CSV can maintain an internal dialogue and continue to advocate for itself with community groups, City leadership, and potential funders. Further, the Master Plan will include a timeline that prioritizes these tasks based on a realistic understanding of the challenges an organization faces in advancing future goals while continuing to administer ongoing programming.
CSV is housed in a building designed by the architect D.B.J. Snyder that opened as Public School 160 in 1897. It is one of over 400 projects Snyder completed during his career which included designs for 140 schools. The CSV building is unique as it is the only Snyder building on a corner lot and was completed shortly after Snyder’s European grand tour which inspired him to add many Gothic, Morris, and other exotic touches to the 98,000 square foot facility. Exterior renovations funded by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs that were begun in July 2009 will restore the building’s façade to its original grandeur.
Since adapting the building for its own use in 1993, CSV has provided the Lower East Side and the greater New York community with a place to interact with a wide range of art forms, arts organizations, 4 theaters, 2 galleries, and a café. The Center is home to the country’s only bi-lingual Spanish-English children’s theater and puppet theater, a capoeira school, as well as several organizations dedicated to arts in education programs that take place in the City’s schools. Artists in the building are from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Nicaragua, the Czech Republic, Korea, Japan, France, Israel, Spain, Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, and are Puerto Rican-Mexican, Puerto-Rican Cuban, African-American, European-American, and are otherwise reflective of the different ethnic and cultural groups that made up and continue to make up the Lower East Side neighborhood and the City as a whole. Last year CSV welcomed approximately 65,000 visitors. For more information please visits www.csvcenter.net.
About Beckelman+Capalino
B+C was founded in 2005 by Laurie Beckelman and James Capalino solely as a strategic advisory firm for cultural institutions and not-for-profit organizations, in response to the growing demand for this service. Ms. Beckelman and Mr. Capalino are the Principals and owners, along with professional staff members Mimi Taft and Mark Thompson.
While the members of the firm have decades of experience in the field, for this response we have selected three projects to illustrate the diversity of expertise that B+C brings to its clients, namely the Museum of Chinese in America, the National Dance Institute, and Bard High School Early College. These are but a few of the variety of performance, cultural and museum projects B+C is currently undertaking. The Principals have been responsible for many similar projects while affiliated with other organizations such as The Joseph Papp Public Theater, the Museum of Arts and Design, and the Guggenheim Museum.
About Deborah Berke & Partners, Architects LLP
Established by Deborah Berke, FAIA, LEED AP, in 1982, Deborah Berke & Partners Architects is recognized for its broad range of work encompassing mixed-use, commercial & hospitality, institutional, and residential projects. At the same time, the firm’s diverse talent has allowed for a successful integration of interior design, master planning projects, and a line of furniture into its unique design vision—firmly establishing DBPA as a “whole vision” architecture and design firm. Recognized for its distinctive balance of the common with a subtle and luxurious attention to detail, the firm seeks always to root a program in its context, honoring its integrity and ennobling the daily activity specific to it.
DBPA has a long-standing commitment to improving New York’s civic and educational life. DBPA have collaborated with the Fund for New York City Public Education in the renovations of over 150 public elementary school libraries for the Library Power program. DBPA are currently designing the 122 Community Arts Center, a multi-disciplinary arts organization in New York’s East Village, as well as working with Gay Men’s Health Crisis to develop a new home for the HIV/AIDS advocacy group in New York City.
In the last decade, the firm has grown from a handful of staff to include a dedicated group of over 20 architects, designers, and technical and administrative staff. Though each has a particular expertise, the team thrives on a spirit of collaboration, characterized by a transparent flow of information and evidenced by the open layout of the studio. So while the aesthetic vision for the firm’s projects may grow out of the unique design talent of a single individual—Deborah Berke—the successful realization of that vision is supported, furthered, and enhanced by the team in place.
About Montserrat LTD
For over 15 years, Neyda Martinez has enjoyed a successful track record for creating, producing and implementing expert marketing/communications campaigns, and specialty initiatives for clients and/or past employers ranging from major corporations, artists (from emerging to a MacArthur Fellow recipient) and contemporary art galleries.
In 2002, Ms. Martinez formed Monserrat Ltd., a NY-based woman-owned small business serving private sector and non-profit clients, including the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Random House, Hachette Book Group USA (the world’s second largest book publisher), WNYC Radio, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Adult Education, Latin Grammy’s Corporate Sponsor Chivas Regal, PBS’ Emmy and Oscar award-winning series POV, among others. For previous employers, Ms. Martinez has lead initiatives and/or departments for organizations such as The Joseph Papp Public Theater, The Vidal Partnership, El Museo, Citigroup/Salomon Smith Barney, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone’s $30M Cultural Portfolio, Glass Magazine, and the Chicago International Art Expo. Among her most recent accomplishments is having conceived and developed a professional development initiative which was awarded $100,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation to a nonprofit Latino Theater company. Ms. Martinez’s volunteerism includes her current role as Vice Chair of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. She also sits on audience development committees for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and WNYC Radio. Her articles on art and culture have been published in Latin London Magazine, New York Post, Postmedia (Milan, Italy) and El Diario La Prensa, among others. Ms. Martinez earned a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (May, 2008).
About the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was created in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 to help plan and coordinate the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan LMDC is charged with ensuring Lower Manhattan recovers from the attacks and emerges even better than it was before. The $250,000 allocation to CSV was made possible by the LMDC through its Cultural Enhancement Fund dedicated to strengthening existing and creating new cultural facilities in Lower Manhattan
About Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center Inc.
The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center Inc. is a Puerto Rican/Latino cultural institution that has demonstrated a broad-minded cultural vision and a collaborative philosophy. While CSV's mission is focused on the cultivation, presentation, and preservation of Puerto Rican and Latino culture, it is equally determined to operate in a multi-cultural and inclusive manner, housing and promoting artists and performance events that fully reflect the cultural diversity of the Lower East Side and the city as a whole.