Category: News

A Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists

Posted on by Sian Gibby

Curated by Joanne Mattera and Joseph Sciorra

Exhibition opening takes place on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 6pm.

The work of the twenty-one artists featured in this exhibit offers a richness of form, medium, subject matter, color, and style that is a delight and a revelation to behold. Connections to a discernable Italian art tradition—or for that matter to Italian American aesthetic practices more specifically—vary across the exhibition, ranging from the explicit to the suggestive to the nonexistent.

After the opening on September 27, the exhibition will be accessible during business hours, 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday, and is located in the Galleria of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.

Detail of Due Facc’, by John Avelluto, 2020

Honoring Pete Panto, in the New York Times

Posted on by Sian Gibby

Today’s New York Times features an article by James Barron that details Calandra’s Dr. Joseph Sciorra’s tireless campaign to recognize the life of dockworker Pete Panto by erecting a gravestone for the murdered labor activist buried in the St. Charles Cemetery on Long Island. Read the article here. And please consider attending the commemoration of Panto that will take place at the gravesite on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, at 2:30pm. Click here for the address and further details.

Calandra’s Dean Participates in Italian American Book Event in Settefrati

Posted on by Sian Gibby

Calandra’s dean Anthony Tamburri was in Italy recently, representing the Institute and Queens College, CUNY, at a number of events. One of these was a presentation, organized by the mayor of Settefrati, of a book titled Una Nuova e Più Grande Settefrati sul Suolo D’America (A new and greater Settefrati on American soil), written by Mario Vitti (edited by Dean Tamburri). The book covers the immigration of Italians from Settefrati (Frosinone province) to Connecticut. Dean Tamburri made some remarks at the event. (Video is in Italian; the book is in Italian and in English.)

 

Italian Diaspora Summer Studies Seminar in Rome

Posted on by Sian Gibby

The 2023 edition of the Italian Diaspora Summer Studies Seminar at Roma Tre University has concluded, and it was a huge success. For more information on the Seminar or to apply for next year’s trip and course of study, please go to our IDSSS page. Buona estate.

Online Form for Italian Heritage & Culture Month Events

Posted on by Sian Gibby

For 2023, the theme for Italian Heritage &  Culture Month, as selected by the Italian Heritage & Culture Committee of New York, Inc., is The Joys of Learning Italian.

Please click here to submit the online events form or to download the form and print and mail it in physically. To mail the filled-out forms, send them to

IHCC-NY, Inc.
Attn: Joan Marchi Migliori, Program Chair
25 West 43rd Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY, 10036

Forms must be submitted by July 20, 2023. Please use a separate form for each event. Please indicate if the event is part of a series. Please type or print legibly.

 

 

Emma and the Angel of Central Park, by Maria Teresa Cometto

Posted on by Sian Gibby
A large crowd viewing a panel at the book launch of the English translation of Emma and the Angel of Central Park
Photograph courtesy of Maria Teresa Cometto

A well-attended book launch was held at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura on May 31 to celebrate the English translation of Maria Teresa Cometto’s new book Emma and the Angel of Central Park (2023 Bordighera Press). The book tells the amazing true story of Emma Stebbins and her path toward designing the famous Angel of the Waters statue for the park’s Bethesda Fountain. The statue is monumental achievement for a woman sculptor in any era, and it was all the more so in 1868. Cometto’s book is a delightful and informative read. The book is available here and here, among other booksellers.

Pete Panto Headstone Installed

Posted on by Sian Gibby
Photograph of Pete Panto headstone taken by Dr Joseph Sciorra
Photograph courtesy of Joseph Sciorra

From the Calandra Institute’s Director for Academic and Public Programming Dr. Joseph Sciorra: “I am euphoric to announce that a tombstone for murdered dock worker and labor activist Pietro ‘Pete’ Panto was recently placed at his grave that went unmarked for 82 years. I thank all of you who made this possible, with your support, your donations, and work of various sorts. We will soon be organizing a ceremony at the site. Stay tuned.”

Carlo Tresca Commemorated

Posted on by Sian Gibby

January 11, 2023, marked the eightieth anniversary of the murder of activist Carlo Tresca. Tresca was gunned down on the corner of Fifth and 15th St. in 1943 at age sixty-three. To remember this brutal end of a valiant life, Dr. Joseph Sciorra and Stephen Cerulli of the Calandra Institute organized a gathering of Tresca fans on the site of the assassination. Dr. Sciorra welcomed those present and put the event in some historical context, which Cerulli expanded on. They then opened the event up for others to speak, and a handful did so. Calandra’s Dean Anthony J. Tamburri closed the remarks, and the event concluded with the placing of red carnations, Tresca’s favorite flower, on the pavement near where he died.

Sign up for Calandra’s mailing list to receive advance notice of this kind of special event by clicking here.

Italian Charities of America: 2022 Honorees Include Calandra’s Dr. Donna Chirico

Posted on by Sian Gibby

On October 23rd, 2022, at the 86th Annual Italian Charities of America Dinner Dance these Italian American honorees were celebrated for their outstanding work and achievements.

Joseph Petrosino, Esq. received the Christopher Columbus Award.

Silvana Mangione received the talian American Ambassador Award.

Giovanni Pinto received the Italian American Community Service Award.

Dr. Donna M. Chirico received the Italian American Leadership Award.

Dr. Antonio Carlo Vitti received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Louisa Calio received the Renaissance Award.