performing arts

Community Loan Fund Business Spotlight: Dance Fire Studio & Fitness

January 24, 2019 By upstatecreative

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The Community Loan Fund has been helping businesses and individuals be successful since 1985 and offers a variety of programs and resources. They provide access to capital for microenterprises and freelancers for business development. This article is a part of a series that highlights local businesses who have benefitted from a Community Loan Fund Loan. Other businesses may have used a usda b&i to help them get the necessary help with their company growth.

Natalia and Florin Vlad opened Dance Fire Studio & Fitness in 2017, because they wanted to start a business that would offer world-class ballroom dance lessons to the Capital Region. Natalia says that they especially wanted to be independently owned, “because we don’t have the same restrictions as other dance studios. If we need to switch something, we can. We have the freedom and flexibility to create the best experience for our clients.” Although starting and running a business can be incredibly demanding, the rewards are there for everyone to see. You can read this guide if you want some advice on starting a business. Natalia and Florin also keep their own dance careers in full swing — they are three-time national finalists, and compete in both national and international competitions,most recently in Paris.

Scaling Up

Dance Fire had been renting space to do their dance lessons but they knew they wanted a space of their own, and that they would need a loan to open a “dance home” that everyone could benefit from. They began working with the Small Business Development Center, who helped them create a business plan. Someone at the center recommended the Community Loan Fund for lending options, because their business was nontraditional.

Every business has to start somewhere, and most start off in a similar position, which is why the need to create a business plan has never been so great. This is because it helps you to lay out all of your foundations in great detail, specifically your finances. By establishing this, you will be able to determine your financial path for the foreseeable future, and with the help of Synario and their scenario analysis model, you can base these types of decisions on possible outcomes, which will only help your success in the long run. But always having that extra bit of help to start with is always beneficial, and looking into a Community Fund Loan is never a bad first step to take.

Upon contacting the Community Loan Fund, they were matched up with Destiny, a loan support representative. “The process wasn’t just an application. You have to present to a group of investors and Destiny helped us prepare for that” Natalia said. “We felt supported through the entire process, from reviewing our business plan, to the presentation, The Community Loan Fund was a great help. To this day, if we need support, we know we can count on The Community Loan Fund.” The process took 8 months from start to finish, and in November 2017 they opened Dance Fire Studio & Fitness, with 4,400 sq ft of floating wooden dance floor, a temperature controlled facility, a high quality sound system, changing rooms, and more. “We knew we wanted a high quality space. We wanted to do it right- create a place for our students to have access to a quality studio and feel comfortable.”

When asked why Natalia and Florin decided to open their business in the Capital Region, they said,”The location is great, it’s close to major cities. All the businesses in the area want you to succeed. The sense of community is just different. And the cost of living allows us to have a facility that would be much harder to get in New York City!”

The Community Loan Fund offers a variety of lending options and continued support for non traditional businesses like Dance Fire Studio & Fitness. Many traditional banks would call this a high risk, and it would be highly unlikely that the loan would be approved. The Community Loan Fund offers reviews on a case-by-case basis for its financial viability and positive social impact. If you are looking to expand your business, you can get more information and set up a time to talk with someone at The Community Loan Fund by clicking here.

Four Questions with the National Museum of Dance

June 26, 2018 By upstatecreative

in Saratoga Spa State Park hosts 14,000 visitors annually and houses several exhibition spaces, dance and yoga studios, and a 45-seat theater. The facility crackles with life and history, beginning with a grand entry foyer adorned with dynamic dance photos and lined with the names of Hall of Fame members, the greats in all dance disciplines.

Current exhibits include Gender Neutral, a groundbreaking display of the longstanding history of nontraditional gender roles in dance. It brings visitors from the origins of gender neutrality in dance in the 1700s through current work by troupes such as the all-male comic ballet company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Dancers in Film, a multimedia permanent exhibit celebrating the magic of dance in movies, features Lifetime Achievement Award winners Ann-Margret, John Travolta, and Chita Rivera.

The Hall of Fame, dedicated to benefactors Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, welcomes two new members annually. Patrons can read about the accomplishments of dancers from Russians Anna Pavlova and Rudolf Nureyev to Americans like Gregory Hines and Martha Graham.

We visited with Museum Director Laura DiRado and Curatorial Associate Lisa Kolosek ahead of the July 11 ACE Mixer at the Museum to give Alliance members an inside look at how to balance creativity and business restrictions to maximize the visitor experience. Interestingly, neither Laura nor Lisa had a dance background prior to joining the Museum staff: Laura for many years worked as a freelance graphic designer with a focus on interpretive site design for the National Forest Service and other clients before taking on her roles at the Museum, first as Exhibition Coordinator and Designer and most recently as Director; while Lisa is an art historian and writer with a Master’s degree in the History of Design and Curatorial Studies.

Location: 99 South Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY

Employees: 7 in the Museum, 11 Dance Instructors

In business since: 1986

What would you share with Creatives about working at the Dance Museum?

In a small Museum like ours everyone does a little bit of everything and none of us is above any task. It keeps our team strong. You learn so much when you get to do all sorts of things; in a larger work environment you could easily get pigeonholed into specific roles. There is a certain glamour to working at a large Museum, but the experience you gain in a small operation makes you open to everything and gives you a great sense of the bigger picture.

Does reporting to a Board of Directors and being on State property have an impact on the creative process?

It doesn’t with our Board; Michele Riggi is the President and she and the Board absolutely have the Museum’s best interest at heart. They want the Museum to look fabulous and they are very supportive of what we’re doing. We are very fortunate. We definitely run ideas by the Board and ask their advice, but we essentially have complete artistic freedom. As a designer and as a curator that’s a dream.

Our location in the park is sometimes a challenge. The building is quite linear, and often there isn’t a natural path for an exhibition. Also, we are just one of many buildings in a gigantic park system. They have limited staff and there is red tape to cut through for work to be approved for the building since we’re tenants. For instance, we all work off a DSL system with 4.7 mbps for the staff and there is a long State process to getting a new system in place.

Since you had no dance affiliations, how did your background and experience help make you successful at the Museum?

Lisa: I worked freelance for many years, including writing a book for another museum, which helped when researching the material in our archives for our 30th anniversary book last year. I’m also a huge fan of dance. The Museum itself has great relationships in the dance world and we continue to cultivate new affiliations through our Hall of Fame and exhibitions. In our experience, dance companies and individuals have been quite receptive to working with us.

Laura: Working for a wide-format digital printing company gave me great knowledge for my role as designer at the Museum: to figure out which products can be used, how to apply them, and costs gave me unique insight into the exhibition process. I’ve particularly come to learn that many visitors prefer to be greeted with a catalog or pamphlet, (get more info about how to make one here), so they know what exhibits they can expect to see within the building, as well as the many different events that will be coming up in the future. Every bit of knowledge helps.

What can ACE members look forward to seeing at the Mixer on July 11th?

The focus will be on two new exhibitions: Gender Neutral, which explores the history of nontraditional gender roles in dance and Dancers After Dark, which features nude photographs of dancers in locations around the world taken by New York Times best-selling author Jordan Matter. Different spaces within the Museum are often used for dance performance and we are excited that there will also be a live dance component to the event.[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]

Local Producer Commemorates Juneteenth with ‘Talk Eat Art’ Event

June 6, 2018 By upstatecreative

[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]Every year on June 19th, Black Americans celebrate “Juneteenth” to commemorate the day Union Officer General Gordon Granger issued an order to slave masters in Galveston, Texas to free enslaved Africans.

*Kaciem Swain, Founder and Creative Director of Velvet Rope Group*

This was necessary since the Emancipation Proclamation, announced by President Lincoln about three years before, did not have jurisdiction over Confederate states like Texas and technically didn’t free a single enslaved Black person. Even after it was law, there was minimal support in enforcing the law.

In the Capital Region, a local entrepreneur is producing an event that not only celebrates the Emancipation of Black people, but celebrates the creative impact Black people have made in the region. Through art, poetry and music, Talk Eat Art, or T.E.A. is an event that has been happening for 4 years in the Capital Region, but this year, the event also commemorates an important day in Black History.

Kaciem Swain (aka @CampaignSwain) is the Founder and Creative Director of Velvet Rope Group, an experiential special events company. He says he decided to celebrate freedom and economic development for people of color rather than a history of slavery and inequality. Six venues, over a thousand tickets sold, and 100 performances later, this year’s event will be held at Proctors Theatre on June 15th.

Swain wants to provide a platform for artists, musicians, and creatives of color to share their talents. His event promotion career began as a teenage protegee with a series called “Rock The Mic.” That started Swain on a path to creating a diverse range of experiences and events, like He said She said, a forum about love, intimacy and relationships, and a writers forum called “A Penny for Your Thoughts”.

Swain wanted to offer a safe space for people to come together, eat, drink, and share constructive criticism in a safe creative environment.

Swain has also teamed up with entrepreneur Liska Wilson, marketing consultant, founder of the nonprofit She’s a Boss, and Busy Day co-owner. Together they created Think Tank Thursdays, a mastermind event series in which aspiring entrepreneurs, small business owners, and visionaries meet up and share ideas about success, innovation, and growth.

“The goal is to build relationships that are diverse and inclusive. Instead of focusing on us having seats at the table, we should focus on building a table together.” Swain also wants to help the creative economy as well through events like T.E.A., whose business model has changed to a profit sharing model where creatives are empowered to deliver and understand that they can create their own financial destiny. The new business model has allowed creatives to see the impact they can have from a business perspective.

I also got a chance to speak to a musician Jordan Taylor-Hill, who will be a part of the opening performance at T.E.A.

“Juneteenth for me personally means freedom of expression as an artist and a drummer. Practices like drumming were condemned and banned on plantations and places where Africans would gather. So to be able to perform , and commemorate people who have laid the groundwork and made this possible is an honor. I’m excited to be involved in this event.”

Tickets for TEA can be purchased at Proctors website. The event begins at 7pm. For more information, contact Velvet Rope Group.

Guest post by Ashleigh Kinsey, owner, AK Design[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]

New Video Highlights Albany Symphony & Creative Economy

November 3, 2017 By upstatecreative

[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_video_embed no_container=”false” type=”16:9″][/x_video_embed][cs_text]Check out this terrific video tour hosted by Albany Symphony’s David Alan Miller, created by the Capital Region Economic Development Council to celebrate and spotlight some fantastic projects around our region, including Creative Economy star Melissa auf der Maur of Basilica Hudson.

Interested in all of the CREDC’s priority projects? Find them here in the 2017 “Capital Region Creates” Progress Report.[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]

Schuylerville’s Creative Economy: GypsYoga

January 24, 2017 By upstatecreative

by Thomas Dimopolous

For much of the 20^th century, the second floor space inside the brick building at the corner of Broad and Front streets housed the Ackshand Knitting Company, manufacturers of unique gloves. In October 2016, Carol Dimopoulos re-opened the space as the GypsYoga Center to promote health and wellness through movement, meditation and the arts.

“The goal is to provide a loving and welcoming environment and community for students of all levels, and to train teachers in the hatha yoga lineage with yoga masters who come from the yoga capital of the world,” said Dimopoulos, a certified yoga teacher and president of Perillo’s Learning Journeys, an educational travel company.

A handful of master teachers at GypsYoga provide regular classes in hatha, kundalini, and bhakti disciplines for kids, adults and families. Specialized workshops provide opportunities for a variety of freelancers – from master teachers providing gong meditations, to photographers, poets and musicians—who stage collaborative events focused on movement and the arts.

“Giving back is also at the core of what we do,” said Dimopoulos, referring to community yoga events centered on class donations which raise funds to support local and global NGO communities.

GypsYoga is the international teaching center of Yoga Vedenta in India – one of the most prestigious schools of yoga, and located in the ancient spiritual city of Rishikesh. The center promotes journeys and retreats to global destinations, and as an international teaching center offers Yoga Alliance Certified RYT 200 and 300-hour yoga teacher trainings with yoga masters brought to the center from Rishikesh.

“The mission is to bring people inside of themselves and explore their inner world through the holistic teachings of yoga and meditation, pranayama, lifestyle and the creative arts,” Dimopoulos said.

Contact:

GypsYoga Center, 120 Broad Street, Schuylerville

(518) 260-9305 // GypsYogaWebsite