Septime Webre on the grace of ‘Gatsby’
• May 3, 2012

Septime Webre is fresh.

Celebrated, influential and exceptionally charismatic, Webre has been the Artistic Director of the Washington Ballet since 1999. Whether talking about Balanchine or the weather, everything he says seems fresh, in the moment, right now. He may have a spiel, but if he does, it is surely of his own immediate invention.

Walking through the halls and mirrored classrooms of the ballet school on Wisconsin Avenue, you get the sense that Webre’s mind is a restless one. He is thinking ahead and remembering all at the same time, while somehow maintaining total focused.

No questions about it, he’s got the charisma, a star quality that is also down-to-earth and earthy. You’re likely to end up talking about anything at all, not just the subject at hand.

The subject at hand is the return of “The Great Gatsby,” Webre’s spectacular dance version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, an unforgettable take on the grand theme of the American dream.
“That’s exactly it,” he says. “That’s what it’s all about. The idea, the imagining of the American dream. I loved that movie version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, which seems to be an ideal visualization of the book. It was just, I don’t know, enthralling.”

This is the second go around for Webre’s “Gatsby,” but if you listen to Webre, it’s as if he just thought about doing it a minute ago—and for a lifetime too.

“Two years ago, it was a huge success, no question about it,” he says. “But we had no idea that’s what was going to happen. I thought it was a risky thing, adapting a great American novel and making a ballet out of it. There was another version of it in Pittsburgh, but that’s the extent of it to my knowledge. And what I saw was something that transcended classical ballet and modern pieces. It was a dance based on a novel, a modern story ballet.

“I knew this would require new ideas, new ways of doing things, different sorts of music. It would be very American in spirit, look, tempo, movement and sound. We tried to get the sound of the times—the roaring twenties—into it. That up-beat, Charleston music, the blues, beginning jazz and ragtime. It had a certain tempo and I knew it would be very different than what audiences were used to. It goes against the grain of classical story ballet but it is a story ballet.”

Sitting behind his desk, Webre still looks lanky and casual, his hair dark and loose as if spent the morning dancing and was still shaking it off. He is the type that wants to share what’s on his mind, the kind of stuff he dreams or hears in music. The late and strange jazz singer Chet Baker is a strong favorite of his and you could see how his music might work its way into the background of a dance piece. “Baker was an original,” he says. “We didn’t use his music, but we incorporated narration, blues singing, tap dancing .

“We didn’t know what to expect,” he says of his first production of Gatsby. “We had no idea how it would be received, or if anyone would come.”

They did. While critical reaction was sometimes mixed, Webre was applauded for creating something different, new and original, and audiences came in droves. “In attendance terms, it was our best production outside of ‘Nutcracker’,” he says.

“But that’s not the only reason to do it and see it,” he goes on, trailing evermore into the winding pathways of his thoughts. “Two years ago we were in a recession, and we’re still in hard times—look what’s happening out there. There’s this vast divide economically. People on the outside looking in. And that’s what Gatsby is, an outsider. That’s what drew me to the project. I understand that feeling. I’m an immigrant. And it’s the central tragedy of Gatsby.”

But his motives reach beyond the immediate present. “I also wanted to make it big, sprawling, entertaining,” he says. “I wanted to capture a time when the American Dream seemed possible for anybody, not just the moneyed class that Daisy Buchanan comes from. There is a tremendous amount of energy in this production. We’ve done more than try to get at the essence of a novel. It’s about the spirit of an age in American history where anything was possible.”

That’s why you have E. Faye Butler, one of Washington’s finest singers and actresses, fresh off two big successes at Arena stage, singing in the production. And there’s tap dancer Quynn Johnson and actor Will Gartshore. The music—a distillation of jazz age works by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey and original music by Billy Novick—is performed by Novick’s Blue Syncopators.
Webre’s description of specific sequences—a dance set on a golf course, one of Jay Gatsby’s gin-driven parties, a solo focusing on the plight of the anguished and betrayed George Wilson—puts you almost right into the production before you even see it.

Jared Nelson will again perform the role of Jay Gatsby, and Jonathan Jordan is returning as Nick Caraway. Emily Ellis and Maki Onuki will share the role of Daisy Buchanan.

Webre says this production is not the same as the one performed two years ago. “We have different cast members, for one thing. But we’ve also refined it, tightened things up. I see it a little more clearly now, “ Webre said.

In the future, Webre hopes to venture more often into modern literature as a source for choreography and dance. “I think about Tennessee Williams’ work,” he says. “’Streetcar,’ for one. It’s an opportunity to stretch boundary, to meet new challenges.” Frankly, that’s exactly what Webre has achieved with “The Great Gatsby.”

“The Great Gatsby” will be performed at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater Nov. 2 through 6. For more information visit Kennedy-Center.org.

100 Years of Quiet Wonder: Harry Callahan at the NGA
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This fall art season has brought a number of heavy-hitting exhibits to the Washington stage. Edgar Degas’ dancers arrived en masse to the Phillips Collection, the Corcoran Gallery’s 30 Americans exhibit has ignited racial and social discourse through the work of internationally acclaimed contemporary African American artists, and Andy Warhol has all but taken over the National Mall, with concurrent shows at both the National Gallery and the Hirshhorn. Looming on the near horizon are major exhibitions of Picasso, Annie Leibovitz and George Bellows.

But with all the sweeping, florid grandiosity of these major retrospectives, Harry Callahan at 100 stands out for just the opposite reasons, and in all the right ways. Tucked away in the basement floor of the National Gallery, the collection of work on view, commemorating the renowned photographer on the centenary of his birth, brings us perhaps the most intimate, utterly immersive show of the season.

Throughout his career, Callahan proved himself a discerning and incisive observer of the American subconscious, exploring a diverse range of visual ideas and concerns. He was also a fine teacher, as head of the photography department at the Institute of Design in Chicago and then a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. A college dropout with no early artistic ambitions and almost no formal training, he grew up “not being able to do anything that I felt good about,” until he picked up photography as a hobby. Five years later, he was a professional photographer.

Callahan’s first major influence as a photographer, and someone who had a profound effect on his career, was Ansel Adams, who he met through a photography club while living in Detroit in his 20s. Later in life, Callahan said of Adams:

“There was something about what he did that hit me just right… He had pictures which were what I felt was photography… And I don’t think they were the great pictures, or the ones that were considered great of his, that really made me excited. It was the close-up pictures, near the ground, which I felt from then on I could photograph anything. I didn’t have to go to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, I could photograph a footprint in the sand and it would be like a sand dune. And I think this was probably the most freeing thing that could have ever been for me.”

The grandeur of the ordinary and the limitless scale of the intrapersonal are ongoing themes in Callahan’s work. And while he was also well known for his bold and constant visual experimentation (he was, among other things, one of the first fine art photographers to experiment with color), what stands out in this concisely curated show, which spans work throughout the course of Callahan’s entire career, is the status to which he raises our most basic surroundings and occurrences.

You will see trips to the beach. You will see trees throughout the season. You will see parked cars. You will see weeds and grass and junk. You will see buildings, storefronts and houses the same as you see when you look out your front door. And all of these images are engrained with a restlessness and fascination, as if the artist, having forced himself to evaluate the world immediately around him, demands that we too consider our world and come to a quiet understanding.

However, the most powerful series of images are of Callahan’s wife Eleanor. A photographer’s portrait of a loved one is hardly uncommon. Alfred Stieglitz, a seminal founding figure in fine art photography, famously photographed his wife, Georgia O’Keefe, with brazen sexual charge. Photographer Edward Weston’s portraits of his wife Flora are stark, severe and contemporary. But Callahan’s portraits of Eleanor are love songs in thin, black frames, and that sincere vulnerability is what makes them so engrossing. They show woman as woman, lover, mother and daughter, and speak of a more encompassing relationship based in profound trust, love and respect. Whether wrapped in a coat outside a bleak apartment building or lying naked in their bed, Eleanor becomes a symbol of a husband’s perception of his wife’s beauty, strength and fragility. And Eleanor does her part, looking into the camera, saying everything and nothing with her gaze, like she is looking right into her husband’s eyes.

Callahan’s photographs work on a level that comfortably serves dual, perhaps opposing functions. On the one hand, you can evaluate the socially critical, the autobiographical, the theoretical, the experimental and the technical nature of his work and walk away with your brain tingling. At the same time, and with equal bearing, the photographs are plainly beautiful. They are nice to look at. Like a Rothko or a Rockwell, there is a peaceful and satisfying presence about the work that washes you over inexplicably. Anonymous building facades of endless brick; cold, leafless trees reaching their draconian fingers into the ever-cloudy skies; the pensive, lovely faces of women, their downcast eyes distracted by the very matter of life, wherever it may be.

Callahan’s images are beautiful because they are made up of that which we balance just outside of our daily attention. These are the ever-present backgrounds—emotionally and physically—of our own stories. It feels like Callahan just chose to tell them.

‘Harry Callahan at 100’ is on view at the National Gallery of Art through March 4, 2012. For more information visit NGA.gov.

Theo Adamstein: Photo Enthusiast for FotoWeek DC
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In a time when everyone is seen as being passionate about something, be it ever so trivial, it’s not difficult to resist using the word.

But when it comes to Theo Adamstein and photography—specifically Foto DC and FotoWeek DC, which is set for its fourth annual  festival and celebration of all things photo Nov. 5 through 12—the characterization fits. 

It’s not as if Adamstein doesn’t have many manifold interests and talents— he’s been a high-profile architect, a very busy cultural promoter and activist in D.C., a busy businessman and owner of Dodge Chrome, Inc., a highly original custom photo and high-end imaging lab with locations in Silver Spring and Georgetown.

Mostly, these days, he is the executive director and founder of FotoWeek DC and Foto DC, which, as he readily admits, has consumed him. “Right now,” he said near the end of an interview at the Foto DC year-round headquarters in Adams Morgan, “I am not a practicing architect. This has taken over my life.”

This being FotoWeek DC, which, like many  recent cultural celebrations and festivals like the Fringe Festival and Passport DC, has gained a firm foothold in the city and gained national and international attention. It’s grown like topsy, not bad for a non-profit endeavor which yearly seems to find itself in an ever-growing and ever-changing series of venues with an expanding mission and every more particpants in its competitive portions.

Four years ago, Adamstein, a man with several careers under his belt and some influence on the cultural scene with board membership on several institutions, noticed that Washington seemed bereft of any major competitive and celebratory photography festivals.

“There just wasn’t anything,” he said. “I know we had and have numerous talented and gifted photographers and photojournalists,  in the Washington area, but no festival, no major marketing tool, nothing much.” Pulling together enthusiastic friends and people he knew in the Washington cultural and photography circles and from his architectural world, Adamstein founded FotoWeek DC, which included a competition, primarily for local photographers, workshops, lectures and an array of exhibitions. And with it’s high-profile launching and the presence of museums and galleries, FotoWeek DC was a major success. It made a splash in the photography world here and echoed elsewhere.

For Adamstein, who’s no dilettante when it comes to photography,  the world of photography is rich, diverse and serious. “It was my major interest when I was a young boy and it remained so, even though I ventured into other careers,” Adamstein, a native of South Africa, said. “I pursued photography seriously and with passion, and I still do.  I specialize in landscapes. I’ve had shows and exhibitions.”

Photography, of course, embraces many arenas, interests and genres and occupies the talents of all sorts of photographers and photography from photojournalism, to art photography, to the professional photographers who work for newspapers and slick magazines,  the portraitists and fashion photographers and the documentarians.

“We’ve tended to promote and exhibit work with a certain view, in the arena of justice, environmentalism, social and green issues, there’s a documentarian theme to some of it,  but not all of what we do,” Adamstein said.

In fact, speaking with Adamstein in the Adams Morgan DC Foto Space—a big, airy space once occupied by a high-ended furniture store—illustrates much of what he’s talking about. He’s dressed in gray black, a man with a strong, empathic face and an expansive, energetic way of talking tinged with a hint of South African accent. He’s got a suitable dose of charisma necessary for a pioneering type. He talks big-picture, encompassing not only the festival and its growth, but also the explosion of changes that have occurred in photography itself.

“Digital imaging has changed everything,” he said. “It changes the way a photographer looks through the lens. It’s fast, its malleable and it’s both cheap and expensive. Photographers can do more in the environment of the computer culture, but they’re also faced with more choices and decisions. It’s a process, and it’s ongoing. So, we try to stay on top of it.”

FotoWeek DC, in fact, has become the capstone celebration and effort of what is now a living institution.  “There’s a permanence now,” Adamstein said. “We do things the year round—the Cherry Blossom Festival competition, the project with the Crystal City Business Improvement District and so on.  We’re very fortunate to have this space here.”

If you look at this year’s festival, you see a large effort with a focus on both competition and celebration, opportuned with critical components such as cross-fertilization, partnerships and partnering, promotion and education. “You have to get everybody involved,” Adamstein said. “We’ve had support from the business and commercial community. You work hard the year round trying to get grants, and you get the international community involved on Embassy Row. We have ways for individual, local photographers to be involved, not just in competition, but with links to resources. What you’re doing is creating a community of photography.”

“Here’s a great thing,” he said. “Chicago doesn’t have anything like this. New York doesn’t really have a major festival. We do, and to me that’s exciting. There’s so much potential for growth.”

The venue and space challenge is always there, every year. “The thing is you have to have exhibition space—and we’re lucky this year again to have the Corcoran Gallery of Art participating. We have this space, where we’ll have our night visions component, and we have Pepco’s Edison Place Gallery, and, of course, we have FotoWeek Central on L Street.

That’s a 50,000-square-foot  space, site of the former Borders Bookstore, donated to FotoWeek by Somerset Partners LLC, which will be housing 14 (yes, 14) exhibitions alone and will be a co-site of the launch party along with the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

“We live in a very unique city with unique opportunities,” he said. Listening to him, you can hear the sounds of the future of photography in his voice.  His enthusiasm—his passion, if you will—is boundless.          

“The competition aspect has expanded. It’s gone international,” Adamstein said. “But that’s a good thing. We in the city will be able to see the works of photographers whom we might not otherwise see. Conversely, our photographers will have a chance to have their work seen by the world.

“I believe in partners, in linking up, that’s what the new digital age lets us do.  I believe in bringing this to our young people in the schools. [There is a project donating digital cameras to students.] And I believe we can be a resource for photographers. 

“And this—FotoWeek DC—is a celebration of photography.” 

FotoWeek DC Highlights
November 5-November 12

FotoWeek Central, 1800 L Street NW

?International League of Conservation Photographers, RAVE Retrospective

?Flash Forward for 2011 from the Magenta Foundation

?Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Beyond Witness

?2011 FotoWeekDC International Awards Competition Winners

?2011 FotoWeekDC Thumbnail Show

?2011 FotoDC Uncover/Discover Series

?PhotoPhilanthropy: Witnessing Change

?Facing Change: Documenting America

?Women Photojournalists of Washington, 2011 Annual Juried Exhibition

?Embassy of Spain, Alberto Shommer Retrospectiva 1952-2009

?FotoWeekDC Youth Contest Winners

?Critical Exposure

?2011 FotoWeekDC Cherry Blossom Contest Winners Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Corcoran College of Art + Design

?The Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Corcoran College of Art + Design will be free to the public Nov. 5 through 12 in celebration of FotoWeekDC. Free noon lectures by Stephanie Sinclair, Amy Yenkin, Trevor Paglen and others as well as portfolio reviews by renowned curators, educators and critics will take place Nov. 21.

George Washington University Kogan Plaza

?NightGallery’s digital HD exterior projections on the south façade of GW’s Lisner Auditorium Nov. 7 through Nov. 19.

Pepco’s Edison Place Gallery, 702 8th ST NW

?“Colors of Life” from its 2011 International Photography Contest organized with “Every Child Matters.” Also: vintage photography from the 1920s, 30s and 40s from former National Geographic photographers B. Anthony Stewart and J. Baylor Roberts.

FotoWeek DC Launch Parties.
?Nov. 4 from 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. at FotoWeek Central and the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art and Design.

For further information and details about FotoWeekDC events, go to fotoweekdc.org.

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Salvation Army Luncheon
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The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary of Washington, DC, held its 61st annual luncheon and fashion show at The Ritz-Carlton West End on Sept. 29. Jan Smith Donaldson and Cynthia Steele Vance emceed “The Elite of the 2010 Collections” from Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase, modeled by Veronica Valencia-Sarukhan, wife of the Ambassador of Mexico, and Ronit Ziswiler, wife of the Ambassador of Switzerland. Local personalities walking the runway included Kay Kendall, Bob Ryan and Philip Bermingham. Event Chair Faye Morrissette was optimistic that the event would reach its $150,000 goal. [gallery ids="99273,104405,104384,104401,104397,104389,104393" nav="thumbs"]

From Art to Email: A Brief History of Photography.
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Since its inception, photography has been a fusion between science and the creative eye. The first permanent photograph was produced in 1826 by the French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The term “photography,” from the Greek, means “drawing with light” because at first it was considered a drawing aid. Its first popular incarnation was the daguereotype in 1839, named for its inventor Louis Daguerre. Each daguerreotype was a one of a kind image on a polished silver plated sheet of copper. The format appealed to an emerging middle class, which could not afford expensive oil portaits.

In 1884, George Eastman of Rochester, NY invented film, which replaced the photographic plate; thus a photographer would no longer need to carry boxes of plates and toxic chemicals around. Four years later, Eastman’s Kodak camera went on the market with the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest”. Suddenly anyone could take a photograph and leave the complicated development process to others. Photography came to the mass-market in 1901 with the introduction of the Kodak Brownie; and continued to broaden its appeal in later years with the creation of the 35mm film format, color emulsions, the Kodak “Instamatic”, the Polaroid instant process, film cartridges and one hour photo kiosks.

The first digitally scanned photograph was produced in 1957 by Russell A. Kirsch, a computer pioneer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The first such photo was set at 176 x 176 pixels. But the image quality of affordable digital cameras did not approach that of film until just recently. Manufacturers continue to push the envelope on chip design and image processing software, and storage costs continue to decline. Digital cameras are now as common as telephones, because they are often one and the same. The physical act of taking a picture has become highly automated, to the point where the most technology-challenged among us are capable of taking perfectly exposed and focused images, if perhaps not always artistic ones.

Digital photography has already had a profound effect on how people take and view photos. For dedicated hobbyists, digital is also about replacing the darkroom with the computer, and sharing those images with the world via the Internet. Learning any new skill involves trial and error, and the instant feedback that digital imaging provides cannot be underestimated. Mistakes can be instantly deleted, so the cost per image is no longer a concern. It is the difference between carefully firing a muzzle-loaded rifle versus blasting away with a machine gun. The latter requires less operational skill, but has a much greater chance of success.

The optical system in the modern camera works the same as that in the older cameras – using a lens with a variable diaphragm to focus light onto an image pickup device. The diaphragm and shutter admit the correct amount of light to the imager, but in the case of digital, the image pickup device is electronic rather than chemical. Basic rules of photography, like lighting and composition still apply, but the latest cameras have been liberating in the sense that one can devote that much more attention toward capturing the image and less on camera mechanics.

Trick Or Treat in Georgetown [Photo Gallery]
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Halloween in Georgetown is always a fun evening.

Check out Philip Bermingham’s images from this years Halloween night in Georgetown. [gallery ids="110037,109947,109942,109937,109932,109927,109922,109917,109912,109907,109902,109897,109892,109887,109882,109877,109952,109957,110032,110027,110022,110017,110012,110007,110002,109997,109992,109987,109982,109977,109972,109967,109962,109872,109867,109777,109772,109767,109762,109757,109752,109747,109742,109737,110041,109732,110045,110049,109727,110053,109782,109787,109862,109857,109852,109847,109842,109837,109832,109827,109822,109817,109812,109807,109802,109797,109792,100353" nav="thumbs"]

D.C. Theater Gears up for the Holidays
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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

No kidding, folks. Looking ahead just a little bit, you might want to brace yourself for Scrooges and Nutcrackers, coming up sooner than you think. We give thanks, and god bless us everyone.

Just to start you off, “A Christmas Carol” returns like clockwork to the Ford’s Theatre, beginning Nov. 18 and running through Dec. 31. This is the production adapted by Michael Wilson and starring acclaimed Washington actor Edward Gero, who can go from Shakespeare to Mamet to Scrooge in a heartbeat. Michael Baron directs. Click here for more information

At the Olney Theater, Dickens and Scrooge will also be on hand with “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas,” performed by Paul Morella and adapted from Dickens’ original novella and reading tour. Dec. 13 through Jan. 1. Click here for more information and to buy tickets

Meanwhile, among many Nutcrackers for the season, you can count on the Washington Ballet and Septime Webre’s version to return to the Warner Theater for a nearly month-long run, Dec. 1 through 24, while the Kennedy Center will have the American Ballet Theatre’s version Dec. 8 through 11.

A Couple of Guys Named Othello and Othello and Iago and Iago

These days, we’re seeing two versions of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy about Othello, the great Moor general in Renaissance Venice, the passion of his life Desdemona, and Iago, perhaps the most despised villain in Shakespeare outside of Richard III. You can see what you can do with style and silence at the Synetic Theatre’s production now in the midst of a three-way run at its Crystal City space, or take in a more classic, wordier, sound-and-fury version at the Folger Theatre, directed by Robert Richmond, which has already been extended through Dec. 4.

Seriously, Folks

There’s serious drama afoot all over the region, beginning with a production of Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall,”his most revealing, autobiographical play about a playwright named Quentin and his tragic, glamorous wife Maggie (hello Miss Monroe). Jose Carrasquillo directs this rarely performed play, Mitchell Hebert stars as Quentin, and Gabriella Fernandez-Coffey is Maggie through Nov. 27.

At Arena Stage, history plays a big part in both Amy Freed’s “You, Nero” and Bill Cain’s “Equvicocation.” The latter concerns Shakespeare, the infamous Gunpowder Plot and the relationship between artists and kings. It comes from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Cain’s play will run Nov. 18 through Jan. 1 with the cast of the original Oregon Shakespeare Festival production.

“You, Nero” is part of Arena’s American Voices New Play Institute, with Freed continuing to work on a play which first opened at South Coast Rep and Berkeley Rep in 2009. It makes its D.C. debut Nov. 25 and runs through Jan. 1. Danny Scheie stars as Nero, an emperor who may have been the first emperor-as-public-celebrity.

For one night only, you’ll have a chance to see one of the landmark plays of the 1980s and the tragedy of AIDs when Forum Theatre will stage a benefit performance of “The Normal Heart” by Larry Kramer, with an all-star cast of area actors including Holly Twyford, Mitchell Hebert, Will Gartshore, J. Fred Schiffman, Rick Hammerly, Michael Tolaydo and others at the Round House Theatre’s Silver Spring stage, where Forum is in residence on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Kevin Converses with Michael and Broadway Does Shakespeare

Star of the stage and screen Kevin Kline (“Sophie’s Choice”) will join Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Michael Kahn for the second installment in the Classic Conversations series at Sidney Harman Hall Nov. 28.

Speaking of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, the run will be short but the occasion sounds terrific, with a concert-style staging of “The Boys from Syracuse” with a book by David Ives (“The Heir Apparent”) hooked up to Rodgers and Hart’s classic score. “The Boys” is of course a Broadway musical version of “The Comedy of Errors” which features two sets of twins unaware of each other, the kids from Ephesus. Nov. 4 through 6.

Harman Center Gala
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The Harman Center for the Arts Annual Gala celebrated Michael Kahn’s 25 years at the helm of the Shakespeare Theatre Company on Oct. 17 in over the top style, as was to be expected. The attendees were a Who’s Who of Washington from the Supreme Court to theater elite. The gala performance showcased the Broadway cast of West Side Story, the Joffrey Ballet and Denyce Graves among other memorable performances that included the actors of the Shakespeare Theatre Company wowing the house. Legendary appearances included Edward Albee, Pat Carroll, Chelsea Clinton, and Terrence McNally. The festivities continued as mimes guided guests to a post-performance gala dinner and frivolity at the National Building Museum. [gallery ids="100357,110057,110064,110061" nav="thumbs"]

Innocents At Risk Conjures Up Old Havana
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Innocents At Risk and Airline Ambassadors hosted a Standup For Children Gala: An Evening in Old Havana on Oct. 19 at The Mayflower Hotel, which hails itself as “Washington’s Second Best Address.” Mike Walter emceed the program which included a video produced by Innocents At Risk, the internationally recognized nonprofit to stop the scourge of human trafficking founded by Deborah Sigmund in 2005. The evening was co-chaired by Nancy Rivard, who in 2009 brought additional support from Airline Ambassadors. Gabriela Ferrer and members of The Miami Sound Machine opened their performance with “How Can You Take Something that Does not Belong to You?” [gallery ids="100358,110062,110088,110084,110067,110080,110076,110072" nav="thumbs"]

Project Inspiration
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The very definition of a non-profit is the opposite of many of the motives that drive most organizations. It is work for a cause, a right, a group, an enterprise to help and serve others: the sick, the hungry, the economically and culturally underserved or starved. People who work in non-profits hold up the mirror to those who don’t. The non-profit motive exists as an emblem of the spirit of charity, giving, helpfulness and empathy, creativity and caring.

As a photographer, Walter Grio believes in the spirit of the non-profit world. Whatever he shoots—be it a fashion show, a wedding, a portrait or a special events—he insists that he not be paid himself, but rather that his fee go toward a charity or non-profit organization.

He’s even made a name for what he does: it’s called “Shoot for Change,” and since 2007, he has raised over $85,000 by way of his philanthropic photo projects.

His latest project salutes a gallery of 15 Washington philanthropist and non-profit leaders, shining a little light and giving a little credit to the people who do a lot for a lot of people.

“In the course of some of the projects I’ve done, I’ve gotten to know a lot of these people and I really admire their spirits,” says Grio. “I thought it would be really fantastic to help celebrate what they do.”
Over several days of shooting, Grio, tried to bathe his subjects in the glamorous light of old Hollywood, at places like L2 Lounge in Georgetown and the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home in Chevy Chase.

The result is Project Inspiration, a special exhibition of Grio’s philanthropic people portraits, on display at the L2 Lounge on Nov. 16.

“I’ve been very lucky when it comes to my photography,” Grio says. “I was working and traveling in Europe when I was asked to shoot some people I had run into in Sweden, and they offered to pay me for the result. It opened up a world for me. In Washington, a lot of people have been helpful and responsive to the idea. This is giving back.”

The 15 groups and organizations represented in Project Inspiration occupy a wide range in the non-profit world of Washington: Red Cross; “Blessed Heaven,” which helps youths transitioning out of foster care; the non-profit Fashion Group International of Greater Washington; Washington Empowered Against Violence; Freedom in Creation; FAIR Girls; West Potomac Academy Fashion Design; The Kreeger Museum; Nova Salud; SOS Children’s Villages; Capital Breast Care Center; Global Partnerships; UN Foundation; the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home; and the Children’s Law Center.

Linda C. Mathes
CEO, American Red Cross of the National Capital Area

Mathes began her career with the Red Cross in Dallas, Texas in the early 1970s, and never looked back. But even while moving around the country with the world’s best-known humanitarian organization, Mathes has found time throughout the years to work and serve regularly within her community—a practice that hasn’t gone without notice. Since her CEO appointment in 1991, she has received a number of accolades for her efforts, including the DC Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year Award in 1998, and a Washingtonian of the Year award in 2008.

Among her associations in the region, Mathes has served on the board of directors of Leadership Greater Washington, as co-chair of the Nonprofit Emergency Preparedness Task Force of Greater Washington, and as a member of the regional Human Service Working Group.

These days, Mathes is a member of the Board of Directors of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and American Red Cross Retiree Association, the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, the Emergency Preparedness Council of MWCOG, and Tiffany Circle. Mathes sets the bar as a community organizer and activist and serves as an inspiring model for a new era of public service.

Elizabeth Gore
Vice President of Global Partnerships, United Nations Foundation

Elizabeth Gore bridges the gap between international policy and community activism, connecting people, ideas and resources to help solve global problems to hyperlocal degrees. “I love leading the campaigns of the UN Foundation because we offer anyone the opportunity to think globally and act locally,” says Gore. “I think everyone, no matter what their station in life, has the opportunity to give back and save lives, whether donating a ten dollar bed net to protect a child in Africa from malaria or signing a petition to prevent a girl from being married at 10 years old.”

Growing up on a cattle ranch in Texas, Gore was the first in her family to go to college, and became inspired to advocate for a cause when a friend became pregnant and was forced to drop out of school because of its lack of campus childcare and support. From fighting for the rights of her fellow female students, Gore moved on to volunteer in the Peace Corps, where she wrote, received and managed a USAID grant to better the food availability and economic situation for the Chaco in Bolivia.

Gore has since spent her life working on behalf of the underserved, currently bolstering support for UN programs to direct large-scale partnerships with global corporations and organizations. She manages partnerships with members of the UN Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council and with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and in 2008 was named by People as one of the top 100 Extraordinary Women. “Thanks to the internet, globalization and increased international travel, ‘helping thy neighbor’ has a new meaning,” she says. “A teenage girl in Texas can now interact with and learn about a teenage girl in Ethiopia. They can help each other, learn from each other, and ultimately be global leaders together. My passion is to provide the opportunities through the United Nations to make these connections.”

Susannah Fox
Director of Development, Capital Breast Care Center

Inspired to help those in need, and motivated by the death of her father from cancer, Susannah Fox has made a career advocating for the medically underserved and for cancer research, raising nearly $10 million to date. “Although I am neither a scientist nor do I have a medical mindset or degree, I hold other talents that enable me to raise awareness for breast cancer and help others to avoid the pain I have experienced. I love to build relationships with people and hear their stories.”

Hearing stories of people’s extraordinary battles propels Fox and her work. “The single mother who was recently laid off and has no health insurance, the woman who works multiple jobs to provide for her family or the woman with insurance who is scared and keeps putting off her mammogram because her own mother had breast cancer… These stories fuel my efforts and passion to raise funds to improve the lives of the people of the community.”

Fox’s skill and passion for relationship building and developing innovative ways to secure philanthropic funding has worked wonders for individuals and families battling illness and is a perfect match for the Capital Breast Care Center (CBCC). For the past three and a half years, Fox has held her position of Director of Development at CBCC, a community initiative of the Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center.

L. Ward Orem
CEO, Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home

The life’s work of L. Ward Orem on behalf of senior health care and support was never even a question. “How is it that what I have done for over 35 years can be viewed as anything other than just giving back to those who have so generously given to me?” he says. “I see my dad through my mind’s eye, doing his duty as a soldier in WWII and working for years as a Baltimore City cop, always encouraging me to do my best and to work to make a difference in this world… How could anyone not be moved to recognize the value in a human life, a human spirit, and the beauty of the journey?”

Hired by the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home in 1978, Orem has expanded its scope of service with the addition of a 60-bed state-of-the-art nursing facility. Through the Home, Orem successfully assimilated the residents of several other not-for-profit senior facilities in DC, blending the charitable missions of similar service providers with that of the Home. Ward has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of both St. Margaret’s School in Tappahannock, VA and St. John’s Community Services in Washington, DC.

There is no greater legacy for Ward than the knowledge that the Home will continue to advance its mission of providing extraordinary health and life care services to the elderly poor of the District of Columbia long after he is gone, continuing to empower them to live their lives to the fullest.

Susan Morchower Hargreaves
Administrator, Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home

Susan Hargreaves is inspired by people. From her mother and father, to her husband and children, to the elderly residents at the the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home, her personal and professional vision includes hope for all seniors and for the continued success of the Home for generations to come.

It’s no surprise that Hargreaves has devoted herself to helping the elderly. “From an early age, I was inspired by my grandparents,” she says. “When I was with them, I felt loved, safe, and appreciated… They had incredible love and devotion for us and were generous with their wisdom and lessons to share.” It is Hargreaves’ life mission to give back the sense of love and security that she received from her grandparents.

Overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Home where she is charged with ensuring that low and modest income seniors from the District of Columbia receive the highest quality of health and life services available to them, Hargreaves has also served on the Board of the District of Columbia Health Care Association (DCHCA) in various capacities, and is the President Elect for 2013. Additionally, she served for six years on the Board of Sarah’s Circle, a charitable organization in Adams Morgan for independent seniors. She has been active on several task forces and committees which center around the needs of seniors in the community and the nation, including her current position as a National Administrator’s Board Reviewer and a member of the National Association of Social Workers.

Jenifer Gamble
Executive Director, Washington Empowered Against Violence

Dr. Jenifer Gamble found her calling at an early age. “When I was a sophomore in high school,” she says, “one of my teachers spoke to my class about her volunteerism as a hospital advocate for sexual assault victims. I remember thinking that being there through such a horrible process had to be one of the most important things you could ever do for someone.”

Since then, Gamble has worked to improve the lives of millions of people, fighting against gender-based violence and introducing legislation to improve our justice system.

Gamble has spent more than fourteen years in victim services, currently serving as the Executive Director of Washington Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE, formerly Women Empowered Against Violence) in Washington DC. WEAVE engages the metropolitan Washington DC community in the elimination of intimate partner abuse and gender-based violence through empowering, innovative and holistic services. WEAVE operates a 1.2 million dollar budget and provides long-term holistic legal and therapy services at no-cost to survivors, and engages the community through extensive training, outreach and education. Gamble has championed victim services around the United States, presenting at local, state and national conferences and forums throughout her career. “Bearing witness and accompanying a person through examinations, court appearances and counseling is a privileged and sacred position,” Gamble says. “It always seemed as though I would have a very impacting experience right about the time I was feeling disconnected.”

Elaine Mensah
Publicity Chair, Fashion Group International of Greater Washington, DC

The fashion industry and non-profit work is not a likely pair. In fact, to most people, they seem more like mutually exclusive entities. But not to Elaine Mensah. Her first experience bridging the two worlds came in 2007, when the non-profit organization Fashion Fights Poverty offered her the chance to raise awareness about ethical, sustainable and eco-friendly fashion.

For the next three years, Elaine served as Fashion Director & Vice-President of Production for Fashion Fights Poverty, in which she found great joy in showcasing emerging designers and stylists and mentoring students. Under her production, the organization was named Washington’s Top Fashion and Beauty Event by Biz Bash Magazine two years in a row. Elaine has also styled TV personalities including Jack Mackenroth of Project Runway Season 4 and The Bachelor’s Andrew Baldwin, as well as various campaigns for designer lookbooks, print editorials including Washington Life Magazine’s 2009 Holiday Issue, and in-store events for Macy’s Inc.

With The Fashion Group International of Greater Washington, she has maintained the group’s impeccable status as one of the most credible voices in all of fashion. “The organization’s reputation, record of success, and influence in the community is beyond inspiring,” she says. “FGI has allowed me to bring both of my worlds together. As an organization that is run by a board of volunteers and that raises money to support its members and the DC fashion community, I am constantly challenged to be innovative, creative, and philanthropic. In a city like Washington, DC, which is not necessarily viewed as a ‘fashion’ capital, [FGI] inspires me to push the boundaries of what’s possible and to understand, appreciate, and continue to develop my desire to give back.”

Andrew Briggs
President and Founder, Freedom in Creation

Andrew Briggs is an inspiration, plain and simple. Since college, he has devoted his life to social betterment and justice worldwide. Briggs graduated from Taylor University, having studied, served, and traveled to over twenty-five countries during his undergraduate years. From such exposure, his notion of social responsibility grew to encompass the global village.

Searching for a long-term cause to which to devote his efforts, Briggs learned about “Africa’s longest war” between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda, whose destruction encompasses the displacement of nearly two million people and the abduction of sixty-five thousand child soldiers (which continues to this day in Congo). Above all, the oppression endured by the children of Northern Uganda caused him to undertake research in Northern Uganda and join hands with its people, and in 2007 he founded Freedom In Creation (FIC).

Through FIC, Briggs works to empower war-affected or at-risk communities through increased access to the therapeutic qualities of art, international education and fresh drinking water. By providing therapeutic art classes for at-risk children and exhibiting their artwork internationally, FIC raises funds to provide participating communities with water and educational infrastructure. Having taken part in the process, the children are credited with bringing the water and infrastructure projects to their communities.

“Faith, an understanding of the reciprocal blessings of service and cross-cultural conversations, and the importance of the voice of the artist inspired me to start the organization,” he says. On top of running FIC, Briggs has served as an artist, lecturer, panelist, and scholar-in-residence at embassies, universities, galleries, and with humanitarian organizations.

Kate Marie Grinold
Director of Development, FAIR Girls

In the United States, the average age of entry into forced prostitution is 13. Today, nearly 300,00 children are at risk of being exploited for sex, having experienced homelessness, abuse and extreme poverty. Kate Marie Gold has made it her life’s work to put an end to this hellacious trend. “A 13-year-old should be in school, safe, cared for and happy,” she says. “She should not be on the streets, alone, forgotten and bought and sold for sex. At FAIR Girls we believe that every girl deserves an investment and that given the opportunity, girls will grow into strong, happy, healthy women… More than anything, we believe in girls.”

As Director of Development at FAIR Girls, Grinold works to educate and empower girls against exploitation and human trafficking, and begin the process of recovery and self-determination of those who have suffered by providing them with tools, resources and love through therapeutic programs.

Grinold is a leader for change in Washington, DC. Named a 2011 Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum and one of Washington DC’s 250 most influential leaders under 40 three years in a row on Young & the Guest List (2009-2011)—among a list of other philanthropic and humanitarian honors—Grinold is one of the leading volunteers and activists in our community.

“Over the years, the resiliency and determination of young [girls] has continued to amaze me,” she says. “I have watched them go to college, find jobs and enter into healthy relationships. I have also seen the battles they face, swimming against a tide of violence, abuse and poverty. But their spunk and tenacity has shown me that while the road to recovery is long and difficult, there is no limit to what an empowered 13-year-old can achieve.”

Maggy François
Fashion Designs Director, West Potomac Academy Fashion Design

Maggy François believes in education through design. “The impact of educating through design is more than just creating clothing,” she says. “It is fashioning a way of life for young adults to express themselves and their ideas into tangible items. What they create in life can impact upon others, and as an individual they can influence a generation.”

With a career in event production that began over fifteen years ago and found her working with working closely with a community of top designers, François has been featured for her education and design work in The Washington Post, The Washington Examiner, BISNOW, and The Washington Times, to name a few. Teaching for fifteen years, she stands out among fellow educators for her design sensibilities and the ability to provide students with life-changing opportunities that prepare them for their futures, from internships to experience with professional designers, nonprofit organizations and business partnerships.

“Today’s youth are the future of the fashion and design industry,” François says. Being able to make young people feel like they are part of something that matters encourages me to push myself harder… [and] become a better and more visionary individual.”

Molly Huh
Head of Marketing and Public Relations, The Kreeger Museum

From an early age, Molly Huh’s passion for culture and art was deeply engrained. Fond memories of frequenting museums, historic sites and festivals with her grandparents made her realize the importance and wonder of cultural institutions in fostering a sense of interaction between parent and child, student and teacher, scholar and material, the public and their art.

Huh has been involved with non-profit museums, arts, and cultural organizations in Washington, DC for nearly a decade, with a focus on arts and education. At the Kreeger Museum, she has helps to plan a wide variety of enriching events for adults and children including Conversations at the Kreeger Museum, the first program of its kind, providing a forum for dialogue and connection for individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers.

Along with her work at the Kreeger, Huh regularly serves as a juror for the American Assocation of Museum’s MUSE Awards, which recognizes innovation and excellence in the field of art, and is a weekly volunteer at Inova Fairfax Hospital’s Ronald McDonald House.

“The Kreeger Museum is an institution which holds in its trust, for this generation and those that follow, masterpieces of art available to all,” Huh says. “I am constantly humbled and inspired to be a steward of the arts and hope that institutions such as The Kreeger will be available for my children… as a setting for cultural appreciation and interaction.”

Ellin Kao
Program Director and Co-Founder, NovaSalud, Inc.

Ellin Kao has spent over a decade working in international public health in Africa and Latin America, providing technical assistance to developing country health systems in HIV/AIDS/STD prevention and women’s reproductive health. “I spent the first ten years of my career in Africa and Latin America working with marginalized communities on improving health outcomes,” she says. “As a witness to the devastation of disease, HIV/AIDS’ devastation is the most socially pervasive. It takes away the most productive members of society. Men and women between the ages of 18 to 49 carry the weight of this disease. These are the mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who provide and care for the family and contribute to the economic productivity of society. Take away a large number of this group and what remains is the aged and young, most with very little financial means to support themselves.”

Kao first joined the fight against HIV/AIDS armed with only the belief that to work towards its awareness and prevention was a must. After spending time in Africa, however, she was shocked to come home to Washington, DC and find that its HIV infection rates were as high as in the developing countries that she had been serving.

She has since turned her efforts toward our community, conducting HIV/AIDS research at Children’s National Medical Center and providing HIV counseling and prevention education in Northern Virginia for Whitman Walker Clinic. She is also a member of a regional planning committee tasked to develop a regional HIV/AIDS prevention plan for Northern Virginia. “Public and private funding for HIV work has dwindled and further exacerbated by a tight economy,” Kao says. “But we are still here and working, and we will, one day, win the fight.”

Diane Lebson
Director, Major Gifts, SOS Children’s Villages, USA

In January of 2010, Diane Lebson had not even heard of SOS Children’s Village. But with the determination to work for an international children’s rights organization, she was drawn in by the soul of SOS, embodied in the lives of the nearly 80,000 orphaned and abandoned children it raises in over 130 countries around the world.

Today, SOS Children’s Villages is refuge for children whose lives have been torn about by modern tragedies like the recent earthquake in Haiti, horrific floods in Pakistan and famine in Somalia. “The moment I became Director of Major Gifts for this noble organization,” says Lebson, “I committed to serving as the voice for these little people, telling every corporation, foundation, individual who would listen about the heroic things these children had to do to merely survive.”

Diane has an established track record of accomplishment in non-profit brand management and fundraising. Prior to joining SOS Children’s Villages in March 2010, she ran a similar program as an executive with the Washington, DC office of the United Way, where she oversaw a 122% increase in major donor contributions as part of a significant rebranding initiative.

While she recently left the country with her husband, who took a position working for the government in Australia, Lebson continues to work as a consultant and remains a strong advocate for the work SOS Children’s Villages does to raise orphaned and abandoned children worldwide.

Judith Sandalow
Executive Director, Children’s Law Center

Judith Sandalow joined Children’s Law Center as Executive Director in January 2000. Under Ms. Sandalow’s leadership, CLC has grown from a staff of three to a staff of 75 and over 300 pro bono attorneys from 70 area law firms, who represent over 1,000 at-risk children in the District each year. She graduated from Yale Law School in 1990 and returned to the District of Columbia as a Juvenile Justice Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center.

After starting a juvenile clinic at DC Law Students in Court, she developed a successful criminal defense practice specializing in representation of juveniles charged with serious crimes. Ms. Sandalow is a foster and adoptive parent and a member of the board of directors of the Foster and Adoptive Parents Advocacy Center. She was a 2007 winner of the Meyer Foundation Exponent Award, which recognizes strong and effective nonprofit leaders with a track record of accomplishment. Ms. Sandalow also received the 2009 Outstanding Service Award from Positive Nature for her work on behalf of DC’s most vulnerable children and families. She is a member of the Leadership Washington class of 2004. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute.

Danielle Jennings
Executive Director, Blessed Haven, Inc.

Danielle Jennings formed Blessed Haven to prevent foster children from suffering the same fate that she did.

Jennings is one of the approximately 495,000 adults that grew up as a foster child. At the age of 15, already suffering from a tumultuous childhood, she was moved into a teen shelter while the courts determined her future. She was put into a home with a permanent rotation of at least three other girls at a given time, where she was treated as a housekeeper and servant, and was made to sleep in the mildewed basement. “We were…only allowed on the main level to clean,” she says. “Failure to comply resulted in being beaten.”

Fortunately, Jennings was rescued by her godmother and finally found a loving, nurturing family that nursed her soul and heart back to health.

Now grown, she devotes her life to making sure orphans and foster children have loving homes to grow up in. “As a foster child you are a number…a case,” Jennings says. “Every person deserves to feel loved, supported and empowered, regardless of their history… That is what Blessed Haven does.”

Blessed Haven is a family, Jennings says, with an inexhaustible network of individuals in the community that love and support foster youth and alumni. As Executive Director, she actively mentors foster youth and young adults not only in the DC area, but nationwide through various partnerships across the country. Blessed Haven’s programs include physical, emotional, spiritual and financial wellness, and provide career and educational programs.

Jennings’ heart lies with the youth in these demographics, and she works tirelessly to show that “foster” truly does mean “family.” These otherwise forgotten youth have a family in Jennings.

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