Celebration of the Arts - COTA
 |
"I have a dream, that musicians will be known in the Delaware Water Gap, like the trees are known. Something that is forever."
Phil Woods, Co-Founder
|
|
Tickets are available at the Sherman Theater box office on line at www.shermantheater.org or by calling 570-420-2808.
On Monday December 29th at 7:30 PM the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts and the Sherman Theater are uniting to present a program of Yuletide Jazz featuring some of the artists that have performed at the award winning festival over the past 31 years.
The lineup includes the premiere of the COTA Cat Alumni Big Band, Eric Doney’s Pacific Street Swinging Jingle Singers and a jingle jam hosted by Spencer Reed featuring jazz greats Phil Woods, Urbie and Jesse Green, Bob Dorough, Bill Goodwin, Nellie McKay, Jay Rattman, Davey Lantz and Mark Williams.
This program is a benefit and will help provide the matching funds needed to complete the Sherman Theater Capital Campaign and to reduce the losses suffered at the hand of Hurricane Hanna at the 31st COTA Festival.
Support is being sought on two levels. A $31.00 ticket (one dollar for each year of COTA) is available for the concert only and a $100.00 benefactor package is available and will include a pre-concert set and art show in the lobby with hors d’oeuvres created by local chefs.
Tickets are available at the Sherman Theater box office on line at www.shermantheater.org or by calling 570-420-2808. |
|
TV broadcasts of COTA 2008 will begin January 10, 2009, on WVIA (channel 23 on Blue Ridge Cable.)
Here is the day-by-day schedule:
The broadcast schedule -- Saturdays 11:00 PM - repeat Thursdays 9:00 PM
- Show 1: Lew Delgotto and Bob Keller (Jan 10, 11 PM; Jan 15, 9 PM)
- Show 2: Marko Marcinko's Latin Jazz Quintet / Daves Lantz Trio (Jan 17, 11 PM; Jan 22, 9 PM)
- Show 3: Sherrie Maricle & Five Play / Eric Doney's Piano Summit (Jan. 24 11 PM; Jan. 29, 9 PM)
- Show 4: COTA Cats / Tom Whaley & the Marlers (Jan 31, 11 PM; Feb. 5, 9 PM)
- Show 5: Simone (Feb. 7, 11 PM; Feb. 12, 9 PM)
WVIA 44 PBS
This is WVIA-FM's 12th consecutive year of broadcasting COTA.
George Graham - WVIA / WVYA |
|
PENNSYLVANIA’S FIRST LADY ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF THE ‘2008 GOVERNOR’S AWARDS FOR THE ARTS’
Community Arts Center will be Venue for Nov. 12 Awards Ceremony
WILLIAMSPORT – Judge Marjorie O. Rendell, First Lady of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, today announced the recipients of the Governor’s Awards for the Arts. The annual awards are a 28-year gubernatorial tradition honoring outstanding Pennsylvania artists, arts organizations, and patrons who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the arts.
“It is my great privilege to announce the recipients of this year’s Governor’s Awards for the Arts,” said the First Lady, who was joined in the announcement by Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Chairman Diane Dalto and Executive Director Philip Horn. “The winners exemplify the excellence and diversity of the arts in Pennsylvania. Each has made a lasting contribution to our state. Their achievements in the arts are a model for young Pennsylvania artists and an inspiration for all.”
Governor Edward G. Rendell will present the awards to the following recipients at 6:45 p.m. on Nov. 12 at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport:
• 2008 Distinguished Arts Award: Michael Keaton, award winning actor and Pittsburgh-area native;
• 2008 Pennsylvania Creative Community Award: legendary jazz artist Phil Woods and the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts, the annual jazz and arts festival that Woods co-founded in 1978;
• 2008 Artist of the Year: poet, essayist and founding editor of Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature, Sascha Feinstein of Williamsport;
• 2008 Outstanding Leadership & Service to Arts Education Award: North Philadelphia’s Taller Puertorriqueño, nationally-recognized arts organization known as the “Cultural Heart of Latino Philadelphia,” whose mission is to preserve, promote and develop Latino arts and culture;
• 2008 Patron Award: Barbara B. Hudock of Williamsport; and
• 2008 Outstanding Leadership & Service to Youth Award: The PAL Center for the Arts Unit of The Olivet Boys & Girls Club of Reading & Berks County, an arts center and arts mentoring program for high risk students.
The Nov. 12 ceremony is free and open to the public. A ticketed reception will follow.
Holding the state ceremony in a different venue each year enables new regions of the state to share in this celebration of the arts. It also provides the opportunity for the host region to showcase its unique cultural assets to an audience that draws cultural leaders from across the state. Past host cities have included Greensburg, Wilkes-Barre, Reading, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Harrisburg, Altoona, Philadelphia, and Gettysburg.
The Governor’s Awards for the Arts is administered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The council’s mission is to foster the excellence, diversity and vitality of the arts in Pennsylvania and to broaden the availability and appreciation of those arts throughout the state. An open call for nominations was issued to arts organizations, artists, arts patrons, elected officials, and members of the public. More than 75 nominations were received. |
|
Pocono Record
September 22, 2008
It may have seemed like a thankless job putting on the 31st Celebration of the Arts Festival this month.
As the event crept closer, it became more and more obvious that torrential rains were going to chase away some of the crowd and put a damper on the event.
But this week, someone did thank the organizers.
The state announced original co-founder and local jazz legend Phil Woods and the COTA organizers would be recognized with the Governors Award for the Arts.
The 28th set of awards were announced Tuesday and will be presented at a Nov. 12 ceremony in Williamsport.
The award is being presented to Woods and COTA organizers under the title "Pennsylvania Creative Community Award."
There are six categories for the awards, with the biggest award — the Distinguished Arts Award — going to Pittsburgh-area native and Hollywood star Michael Keaton.
In a recent interview with Sharp magazine, before this year's COTA, Woods gushed about the uniqueness of the event and the pride he felt that the festival still had the same spirit now as it did when he and other local jazz greats Rick Chamberlain and Ed Joubert started the festival in 1978.
"It's the only jazz festival around that was actually started by jazz musicians," he said. "And I'd say it's the last real festival you can find around here. There are no corporate sponsorships, and no matter who you are, you get paid the same as everyone else."
Woods also said in the interview with Sharp that what has kept the festival going this long is the quality of the musicians.
"Even from those humble beginnings 30-some-odd years ago, we had great players," he said. "The level of musicians is very elevated in this part of the world. Something in the water, I guess." |
|
|
Confessions of a Sideman
"The luggage call was for 5 a.m., bus departure at 5:30, and we were going somewhere. I don't remember where, but I remember Pat Dorian. He was paying his hotel extras when I came down to the lobby. I said good morning and asked how he was. His reply was illuminating: 'I'm living the dream!' he said. Thanks to Pat and all the good men who helped to make my dream come true as well! I have always wanted to take a big band to Europe during the summer festival season. The following is Pat's superb view of this event." - Phil Woods
Celebration!
CELEBRATION! marks the first recording on which Phil Woods has led a big band of his own design. The members of the Festival Orchestra come from their native Eastern Pennsylvania environs to join their leader in a hard-driving testimonial to the fact that, in Phil's words: "Jazz is international, but it's also local." Augmented here by the members of Woods' quintet, it's also terrific...
|
Download 
