Auditions this weekend for "Three Oranges"

ESSEX -- Auditions for The Essex Theatre Company Inc.'s August production of "Three Oranges," a play for children and the young at heart, written and directed by Kathy Poppino, will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Essex.

Children ages 6 and older, teens and adults can try out for the community theater production. Performance dates are Aug. 14 through 17 and Aug. 21 through 24, for a total of eight shows at the Masonic Lodge in Essex. The play has magic spells, witches, a prince, king, jester and three beautiful princesses for a total of 14-plus roles to be filled.

Call Kathy at 374-5410 for more information.

Prime tapped for Hochschild Award

BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE -- Meredith Prime has been named recipient of the 2008 Harold K. Hochschild Award by the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake.

Dedicated to the memory of the museum's founder, the Harold K. Hochschild Award has been presented since 1990 to a wide range of intellectual and community leaders throughout the Adirondack Park, highlighting their contributions to the region's culture and quality of life.

Prime is the chair of the board of the Adirondack Community Trust, the Adirondack Nature Conservancy/Adirondack Land Trust and the Crary Foundation. She is co-chairman of the Adirondack Campaign for North Country Public Radio. In addition, she serves on the boards of Lake Placid Center for the Arts, North Country School, Mountain Lakes Public Television and the Trudeau Institute.

Prime's leadership has shaped the Adirondack landscape, according to a press release from the museum. While chairman for the Adirondack Nature Conservancy, she championed the $110 million acquisition of 134,140 acres of land from Finch Pruyn.

A resident of Lake Placid, Prime is a passionate skier and swimmer, a world traveler, an avid reader and tennis player.



Local groups win Adirondack Assistance funds

ELIZABETHTOWN -- Thirteen Essex County organizations are recipients of 2008 Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks Cultural Assistance Program grants, which are made possible with public funds from Essex County, the New York State Council on the Arts and contributions from friends of the Arts Council.

A total of $6,000 was awarded to the following organizations: Adirondack Art Association for Watercolor and Photography Summer Workshops; East Branch Friends of the Arts for Bits and Pieces; Songs at Mirror Lake for Sound for the Band "Le Vent Du Nord"; The Lake Placid Institute for Arts and Humanities for the "Words from the Woods" Adirondack Young Peoples Poetry Contest; Loon Lake Live for Family Fun Children's Concert Series; Lake Placid Sinfonietta Inc. for Community Concerts; Ticonderoga Festival Guild Inc. for Children's Art Trek; Adirondack Architectural Heritage; The Depot Theatre; Essex County Historical Society; Lake Placid Center for the Arts; and Historic Saranac Lake.

For more information on grant opportunities contact Outreach Coordinator Athena Roth at The Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks by calling 962-8778 or e-mail her: grants@artsnorth.org.

Adirondack Museum launches online discussion

BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE -- The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake has introduced a moderated online forum called Adirondack Voices for open discussion of topics facing hamlets, towns and villages throughout the Adirondack Park.

Located on the home page of the museum's Web site www.adirondackmuseum.org, Adirondack Voices will pose a new question each month.

Participants are invited to voice their opinions -- pro, con, or somewhere in the middle range. The format also allows visitors to directly comment on the responses of others.

The first question opens debate on whether the proposed Barton Group wind farm should be built. The project consists of 10 wind turbines on 1,700 acres of land formerly used as a garnet mine and already zoned for industrial use. The turbines would be located near North Creek.

Among other topics that may be introduced in the future are: the construction of "big box" stores, snowmobile trails, school consolidation, the proposed development in Tupper Lake, property assessments and taxation, all-terrain-vehicle access and cell towers.

Vossler sculpture chosen for display

SARANAC LAKE -- Carol Marie Vossler's sculpture "Free Rain" has been purchased for the 2008 Barbara Parnass Art in Public Spaces project, which chooses a work of art once a year by an artist based in the Adirondacks and places it on long-term loan in a community organization in Saranac Lake.

Vossler is an art instructor at North Country Community College, the founder of Bluseed Studios and an active sculptor, book designer and curator of art exhibitions. "Free Rain" emphasizes the human dependence on natural surroundings. The sculpture will be installed on the grounds of the St. Joseph Rehabilitation Center in Saranac Lake and will be the initial sculpture in a planned sculpture park.

A public reception for Vossler will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 26, in the Cantwell Room of Saranac Lake Free Library.