Hosting Mountain Lake Journal this week!

Hosting Mountain Lake Journal in Trinity Park

I enjoyed getting outdoors in the beautiful May weather to host Mountain Lake Journal this week.  It's my first time as guest host since we updated the format of the program.

The show has an arts and Adirondacks theme this week. I did my introductions from Trinity Park, the site where musicians will perform on Friday nights this summer at the Downtown Rising events.  Simon Conroy and Danielle Giordano are organizing these events to showcase produce from local farmers, artwork from regional artists, and music from local bands.

The park also serves as a great spot to catch the progress of a mural creation happening across the street.  "Outside Art:  Plattsburgh Pubic Art Project" has coordinated the painting of a whimsical Adirondack wildlife mural on the brick wall of the Cornerstone Book Shop.  Amy Guglielmo and Julia Devine founded "Outside Art" to beautify Plattsburgh and improve the quality of business and residential life in the city.

Interviewing artist Norman Taber and "Outside Art" Co-director Julia Devine

You'll learn more about the mural and downtown events on the show this week.  Also, Jack LaDuke attended a concert which gave the public a preview of an opera in the works.  The Adirondack Folk Opera will focus on a farm colony near Lake Placid dedicated to giving free African Americans the right to vote, before the dawn of the Civil War.

Finally on the show, naturalist Ed Kanze and producer Josh Clement explore the Avalanche Pass near Lake Placid, to view wonders that are "Curiously Adirondack."

I had a great time producing the show this week while Thom Hallock was on vacation, and I hope you enjoy seeing the results.

Mountain Lake Journal airs Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 10am.

Arts in Exile celebrates its EMMY nomination!

Director of Photography Daniel McCullum, producer Paul Larson and editor Michael Hansen

The documentary Arts in Exile: Tibetan Treasures in Small Town America will compete against six other programs this June, vying for the title of "Outstanding Documentary" at the Boston/New England Regional Emmy Awards ceremony.  The selected programs were announced last night at a nomination party in Boston.

Arts in Exile chronicles the creation of the Tibetan arts festival held last fall in Plattsburgh, New York, exploring how the city in northern New York was inspired by, and connected to the culture of Tibet from across the globe.  The documentary examines how several Tibetan refugees use the arts to raise awareness about the global problems they face and keep their culture alive.

The program features insight from Tibet House President Dr. Robert Thurman, and the talents of photographer Sonam Zoksang, freedom singer Techung, thangka painter Tsering Phuntsok, monks Lobsang Dorjee and Yeshi Dorjee, wood carver Tashi Dholak and many other visual artists and performers.

“This project was a huge undertaking for this station. The documentary was just one part of a much larger initiative that engaged the community on many levels, from a 10-foot tile mural installed in downtown Plattsburgh to a multi-week festival of exhibitions and performances. This nomination honors not only Mountain Lake PBS, but everyone involved in this community project,” said Erik Nycklemoe, President & CEO of Mountain Lake PBS.

“The team here at Mountain Lake PBS works diligently to bring the unique stories of our region to the wider world, and we’re proud to be recognized for doing it well,” said Bill McColgan, Director of Production and Content at Mountain Lake PBS.

Arts in Exile producer Paul Larson took home a regional Emmy for his 2013 documentary Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector, which included the talents of videographer Daniel McCullum. McCullum and editor Michael C. Hansen collaborated with Larson on Arts in Exile, and were previously honored with a regional Emmy nomination for the documentary On Home Ground, produced by Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Mountain Lake PBS will celebrate its current Emmy nomination with five airings of Arts in Exile, beginning on Sunday, May 1 at 7pm.  Other airings follow on Monday, May 2 at 10pm, Tuesday, May 3 at 3am, Wednesday, May 4 at noon, and Thursday, May 5 at 4am. 

"I hope people who haven't seen the program before will get the chance to enjoy it in May," Larson said.  "We aimed to make an entertaining documentary, while highlighting creative ways people are spreading awareness about the issues Tibetans face overseas and in our own country."

The documentary is one component of the 2015 Festival of Tibetan Arts & Culture of the Adirondack Coast.  The festival, organized in part by restaurant owners Tenzin and Yangchen Dorjee and SUNY Anthropology Professor Amy Mountcastle, included performances by the Adirondack Youth Orchestra, an exhibition at SUNY Plattsburgh, and the creation of a tile mural led by artist Sue Burdick Young and the Plattsburgh Renewal Project with support from the Strand Center for the Arts. This festival was funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

The 39th Boston/New England Regional Emmy Awards Ceremony takes place Saturday, June 4 in Boston.

More information about Arts in Exile: Tibetan Treasures in Small Town America  - http://artsinexile.mountainlake.org/

Share some SONGS TO KEEP with your Valentine!

This Valentine's Day, share some Adirondack treasures with your treasured one. Mountain Lake PBS will air its love letter to the Adirondacks, Songs to Keep: Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector, this Sunday at 11am. 

The program focuses on the passion one Adirondack historian had for the folk songs of her beautiful region.  Journalist Marjorie Lansing Porter recorded folk songs from the aging population who knew them, saving them from disappearing forever.

Contemporary singers including Alex Smith, the Bacon Brothers, Sue Grimm Hanley and Jamie Savage still enjoy performing songs that were popular a century ago. 

Folk legend Pete Seeger recorded an album of Porter's collection, and producer Paul Larson conducted the final television interview with the singer for this regional Emmy award-winning documentary. 

You may learn more about the Songs to Keep project in the current issue of Voices, the Journal of New York Folklore.