By the Pocantico Staff

 Public Programming at the
Pocantico Center

The Pocantico Committee presented a Long Range Plan for the Pocantico Center to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund's (RBF) board at its June 2008 board of trustees meeting.  In approving the plan, the board adopted the name "Pocantico Center" as well as the mission, vision and principles for the development and operation of the Pocantico Center.  The Pocantico Center serves the common good locally, nationally, and globally in creative ways that are consistent with Rockefeller family philanthropic traditions and that further the missions and reflect the values of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Small-scale public programs will be developed and tested by the staff in keeping with the mission, vision, and principles, and along the lines of the programs and campus and parkland planning as set forth in the Long Range Plan for the Pocantico Center.  During 2008, the following public programs occurred at the Center:

100th  Anniversary of the Birth of Nelson Rockefeller

The Pocantico Center marked the 100th anniversary of Nelson A. Rockefeller's birthday with a special exhibit in the galleries at Kykuit with three sculptures, on loan from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, that were bequeathed to MoMA by Governor Rockefeller in 1979.  The exhibition features Alexander Calder, Spiny, Julio González, Reclining Figure and Naum Gabo, Linear Construction in Space No 3 with Red.  To celebrate the return of these important sculptures, seventy-five invited friends and neighbors attended a reception in the rose garden at Kykuit organized by the staff. 

Residency at Breuer House

In April, 2008, the Pocantico Center hosted its first artist's residency at the Marcel Breuer House at Pocantico.  John "Jay" Frazier was selected through a lottery conducted by Cave Canem Foundation, North America's premier home for Black poetry and a grantee of the RBF's Pivotal Places: New York City program.   Jay's work has appeared in many journals.  He has been a MacDowell Fellow and has received other honors for his work.  Additional residencies are planned in 2009 for other grant recipients of the Fund.

School Garden

The RBF and the third and fourth grade students at Pocantico Hills Central School kicked off the school year with a "Salabration" in their new organic garden located at the Pocantico Center.  This year-round garden utilizes outdoor beds, a greenhouse and cold frames.  The Pocantico garden complements the efforts by Westchester schools to create curriculum that integrates sustainability concepts into everyday teaching. 

Using a global framework and an interdisciplinary approach, curriculums are being developed in math, social studies and the arts that are unified under the overarching principle of environmental sustainability.  These subjects come alive in an edible classroom where children can plant, prepare and eat homegrown food in order to appreciate the earth and healthy eating habits.

Pocantico Forum: Historic Sites as Community Resources

June 3, 2008

There was tremendous public interest in this year's spring Pocantico Forum, which featured a panel discussion with representatives of the four local National Trust sites: Christy MacLear, Executive Director, Philip Johnson Glass House; Renee Epps, Executive Vice President, Lower East Side Tenement Museum; Jack Braunlein, Director, Lyndhurst; and Charles Granquist, Executive Director, Pocantico Center.

Each speaker highlighted several new approaches to community engagement that are taking place at each of these historic sites.  They demonstrated how these properties can respond to the changing needs of their communities and evolve beyond the traditional historic site experience.  The program concluded with a lively Q & A with the audience.

Pocantico Forum: Walt Whitman in Song

October 7, 2008

This year's fall Pocantico Forum featured Walt Whitman in Song by the American Opera Projects, a grantee of the Fund. The program, developed in partnership with the Brooklyn-based The Walt Whitman Project, honors Whitman's influence on American Poetry. The musical tribute, performed by American Opera Projects' composers and librettists, included songs/texts by other American poets with an emphasis on Whitman's many writings on the New York area, its sights, history, and culture.