Board President Julia K Gleich addresses supporters of Norte Maar hosted at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Chelsea
photo: Benjamin Sutton

On Monday, April 2, Norte Maar held its first public benefit event at the Mitchell-Innes & Nash. The evening celebrated eight years of Norte Maar’s unique programming and collaborative mission. The night also honored Julie Martin of E.A.T. who was introduced by noted curator Barbara London.

Curator extraordinaire Barbara London (right) introduces our evening’s honoree Julie Martin (left)
photo: Kerosene Rose

“Long before the founding of Norte Maar, myself and the choreographer Julia K Gleich, searched to define the many various artistic projects we partnered to program and present,” explained Norte Maar’s director Jason Andrew in his opening remarks, “Collaboration was always at its core. Applying equal weight to the visual, literary and performing arts, we set out to start an organization that would build community, foster artistic expression and raise the imaginative energy in us all. Now, eight years since our beginning, our commitment to the spontaneous, our concentration on the unique, and our avoidance of the ordinary has never wavered.”

The benefit included pre + post music by DJ JoJo, performances by Andrew J Nemr + CPD Plus with Gordon Au on the horn, David Tudor’s electronic environment masterpiece Rainforest I (1968) performed by Composers Inside Electronics, and a preview of Norte Maar’s upcoming ballet The Brodmann Areas danced by Dylan Crossman, Jace Coronado, Morgan McEwen, and Abbey Roesner. The Brodmann Areas opens April 12. Tickets available here.

Dancer Dylan Crossman (formerly of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company) performs a scene from the upcoming ballet
photo: Kerosene Rose

“The crowd couldn’t help laughing when the final dancer, Dylan Crossman, raced into the main gallery space filled with [Catherine] Opie’s photographs wearing football pants and a very short tank-top with the American flag printed across its chest,” wrote ARTINFO‘s Benjamin Sutton.

“The evening was simply lovely,” wrote Katarina Hybenova of Bushwick Daily, accompanied by some great photos of the evening.

Norte Maar would like to thank all those who contributed their time and talents to make this benefit such a success. We are also very gratefully to all who showed their extraordinary support by donating and contributing to our organization. A special thanks goes out to Lucy Mitchell-Innes and David Nash, Jay Gorney, Lucy Dew, Robert Grossman, and the entire staff at Mitchell-Innes & Nash.

We raised $7,900! Which will go to support our children’s literacy and art collaboration with Bushwick Library, the collaborative ballet, our various exhibitions, and our Cage Transmitted program.

“If you like what you’ve seen tonight please tell your friends,” Jason Andrew said in his closing remarks,”It’s not only money that is critical to what we do, it’s people.”

To see more images from the evening’s festivities, please visit our Facebook page here.

Norte Maar would like to thank the following for their special contributions and donations: