Shout It Through Art!

Inaugural Date: Friday. June 17. 2011 / 6:00 PM | Schenectady. New York / Beirut. Lebanon

 Art Night Schenectady (New York, USA) in conjunction with The Visual and Performing Arts Association (VAPA) are proud to introduce Art Night Beirut (Lebanon). The mission of Art Night Beirut goes hand in hand with Art Night Schenectady’s mission.

Art Night Beirut is committed to the goal of providing assistance to the arts community via the follow methods:

• To assist artists’ with finding a voice in the artistic community

• To act as a binding link between all artistic organizations

• To get business interested and involved with local art and artists

• To place the artists’ needs above all else

• To drive the arts to new levels of excellence globally

“Beirut, Lebanon is known as the ‘Paris of the Middle East’, what better place is there than this to have our first sister event…”, commented Mitch Messmore, Founder Art Night Schenectady. “This partnership will help artists in the Capital District of New York and Lebanon to reach a larger audience and bridge the cultural gap between the US and the Middle East.”

“This event is an opportunity to open up a global dialogue through the arts and we are proud to collaborate with Art Night Schenectady in this venture.” – Kiki Bokassa, Founder of VAPA Association.

Art Night Beirut will take place on the 3rd Friday of every month in conjunction with Art Night Schenectady. It will be kicking off its inaugural event on June 17.

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Art Night Schenectady runs from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm on the 3rd Friday of every month. The event is an effort to promote interest in the arts throughout the community and occurs year round — rain, snow or shine! Throughout the night, venues offer incredible visual art displays and pieces for sale or just to admire. After 9:00 pm, local cafes and coffee houses offer a place for people to gather. There are about 20 venues who participate in Art Night Schenectady each month.

People attending Art Night Schenectady certainly get a healthy dose of the local art scene, but they also gain a greater appreciation for many different restaurants and businesses in Schenectady. A wide variety of downtown galleries and trendy non-gallery venues host special events for Art Night, including open houses, artist receptions, live demonstrations and more. For more information about Art Night Schenectady and the participating venues for this month’s event please visit www.artnightschenectady.com.

The Visual and Performing Arts Association (VAPA) is a non-profit organization registered in August 2009, with a mission to hold artistic and cultural activities aimed towards resolving social issues. The idea of the association was perceived by the founders Kiki Bokassa and Lucien Bourjeily, who are part of Lebanon’s active art scene through humanitarian, cultural and artistic projects, whether in the field of painting or theater. VAPA was first intended to, at one hand, provide network support and assistance to growing artists to help them promote their work, and on the other hand, improve the conditions of artists’ rights and freedom of speech in Lebanon. Following this reasoning, VAPA has decided to tackle social issues through art and culture instead of only solving problems related to art. It is upon this basis that VAPA has been built and operates to fulfill the goals at hand.