A new group of students begins their artistic journey this March at the ProyectArte Fine Arts Academy in Buenos Aires. 18 young people between the ages of 15 and 18 years of age were chosen from a wide pool of applicants, and given full 18-month scholarships after presenting their work for evaluation by our distinguished panel of artists. Camila Ruiz, Cristina Cama Guerreros, Camila Trebliner, Eugenia Assalone, Florentina Gonzalez, Jessica Tortul, Karina Korn, Laura Nató, Luisina Paz Pugliese, María Antonella Melillo, Mariano Benedetti, Martina Nosetto, Matías Presta, Mora Ravinovich, Nehuen Wolf, Sacha Podhorcer, Soledad Sobrino and Victoria Falcón will study alongside our respected faculty of professional Argentine artists. All materials and other costs are covered by the scholarship. 17-year-old Florentina Gonzalez tells us, “ProyectArte is a place where I can acquire lots of experience and knowledge, working daily alongside experienced professionals and young people with the same goals as myself.” The entire ProyectArte team (including staff, volunteers and supporters) welcomes these promising young people and their families!

ProyectArte is pleased to present its new 2008 Catalog, sponsored by Stelac Foundation and showcasing the work of 8 outstanding graduate students who studied at ProyectArte’s Fine Arts Academy in Buenos Aires between 2005 and 2007. These emerging artists took part in the highly successful May 2008 exhibit at the Gallery of the Consulate of Argentina in New York, in which 95% of the works exhibited were sold to collectors in the United States. This resulted not only in a substantial financial benefit to the young artists themselves, but just as importantly to our current class of scholarship recipients. ProyectArte strongly believes that each class stands on the shoulders of those that came before them, and as such, half of the sale proceeds return to the artist, while the other half goes entirely to fund new scholarships for future students at ProyectArte’s Fine Arts Academy. Gallerists, collectors and individuals wishing to purchase a copy of the 2008 catalog can call 4899-0444 in Buenos Aires, (718) 775-9143 in the US, or email galeriaprima@proyectarte.org. The cost of the full color book is $100 (pesos) or US$30. ProyectArte would like to give a very special thanks to Stelac Foundation (http://www.stelac.com/foundation/index.html) for generously supporting the production of this handsome new book.

Following an intense search in 2008, ProyectArte has added two important new staff members to our team. We’re pleased to announce the hiring of Mara Borchardt to serve as ProyectArte’s Executive Director. Prior to joining ProyectArte, Mara worked for ten years at Crear Vale La Pena, a leading arts group in Argentina. During her tenure at Crear Vale La Pena, including the last five years as Co Executive Director, Mara helped the organization grow from a small group serving dozens of students to an important organization with multiple locations serving hundreds. Mara, who also serves as an advisor to the government of the province of Buenos Aires on its arts programs for young people, will work closely with ProyectArte’s Board, including co-founders Sebastian and Fernando Cwilich and Marina Wagener, to develop and grow ProyectArte’s programs. Also joining the team is Luciana Marino, who joined ProyectArte a few months ago to serve as Program Coordinator for our main scholarship and graduates programs. Luciana is an artist and teacher with extensive experience in arts education, including working on youth arts programs at Centro Cultural Recoleta, Argentina’s leading public exhibition space. These hires, along with longtime ProyectArte Administrator Micaela Herbon and Milciades Sanchez (operations), round out a ProyectArte team we are confident will ensure ProyectArte’s next six years will be even more succesful than our first six.

ProyectArte is also pleased to announce the three new artists that will join our faculty to work with the new class of scholarship recipients. This year’s senior Faculty members are Horacio D´Alessandro y Karina Peizajovich (http://karinapeisajovich.com/), two distinguished Argentine artists who along with assistant faculty member Daniel Scherman will guide our new students. Ernesto Pesce remains in charge of our graduate program. On behalf of ProyectArte, its staff and its students, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank faculty members Hector Medici and Jorge Perrin for the important contributions they’ve made with previous classes of students, and we look forward to their working with other ProyectArte students and graduates in the future.

You’re invited! Galería Prima, ProyectArte’s art gallery, has quickly established itself as a launching point for emerging artists to showcase their work and gain a foothold in today’s art market. In 2008, Galeria Prima featured shows by Martin Torres (ProyectArte Class of 2007), a joint show with Jardin Oculto gallery (www.jardinoculto.com) of work by Nuria Kojusner and Andrés Bisserier, Sebastián Tedesco’s solo show “Primer dia en el jardín” (First day in Kindergarten”) and Mirella Musri’s “Simpática gente” (“Nice Folks”). We’d like to thank all the wonderful people who made these shows a success – artists, collectors, friends, neighbors, and others – and once again invite you to check out this year’s upcoming shows, which include Centro Conviven group’s “Ojo de Pez” (Fisheye) on March 31 at 7 p.m., as well as the “Artist’s Book” project by ProyectArte’s own graduates. Here are pictures of 2008 events. For Galeria Prima’s artist submission guidelines, send an email to galeriaprima@proyectarte.org. Prima Gallery Hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

December 2008 – 250 guests attended ProyectArte’s Annual Benefit at Haunch of Venison Gallery in New York. Guests enjoyed tango dancing by Mariana Galassi, empanadas from Buenos Aires Restaurant, hors d’houvres from Mary Giuliani Catering, great wines from Juanico Vineyards and of course the work of our talented students and graduates. Funds raised that evening help purchase art supplies and establish scholarships for students at ProyectArte’s Fine Arts Academy in Buenos Aires. We’d also like to take this opportunity to give a special mention to Fundación Tuyu for their extensive support of our program in 2008 and 2009. Follow this link to learn more about how you can help support ProyectArte. Alternately, you may call (718) 775-9143 (USA) or in Argentina, please call 4899-0444 from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

If you’re interested in culture, art, have a bit of free time, and want to share and learn while helping young people develop their artistic ability, ProyectArte welcomes you! We’re always looking to collaborate with both organizations and individuals, and with the broad spectrum of activities and time slots available, we’re sure you’ll discover a way to help us achieve our social and artistic mission. All while having a great time in a fun, stimulating environment. Check out our blog(http://www.proyectarte.org/blog/) to find out about the many different ways you can get involved with ProyectArte. We’d like to thank Help Argentina, COPA, Middlebury and the other fantastic organizations who’ve helped us along the way, and also mention the efforts of our dedicated volunteers: Pujan Ghandi, Tiana Nobile and Ben Reininga from the United States, Lucia Caistor Arrendar and Amy Burridge from United Kingdom, Rita Falcón from Argentina and Jana Shroeder and Jana Kruetzfeldt from Germany. All of them played a vital role in the amazing growth ProyectArte has seen over the past few years. From working at our Prima Gallery and helping to put together exhibits, to reaching out to applicants for our scholarship program, to putting together art workshops for young children in the Villa Crespo community where ProyectArte is located, they’ve been a welcome addition to our team in Argentina. We’d especially like to thank Noah Gordon’s hard work in designing this new and improved newsletter, as well as the too-numerous to name volunteers who help to organize exhibitions and fundraising events outside of Argentina (where ProyectArte has no paid staff members and relies entirely on volunteers).

Prince Claus Fund invited ProyectArte and Prima Gallery to be part of the cocktail reception organized by the Embassy of Holland in Buenos Aires on March 6th. On this occasion, ProyectArte was able to meet curators, artists and representatives of foundations from Holland, Belgium and China. The event was part of an exploratory trip to Brasil, Perú and Argentina organized by Prince Claus Fund and Mondarian Foundation with the objective of finding emerging artists and galleries with whom to partner in 2010.

1. 3/31 Centro Conviven Group’s “Ojo de Pez” (Fisheye) at Prima Gallery (Castillo 540) from 7 to 9 p.m.
2. April in Prima Gallery “Artist Books”

1. “o.j.i.t.o.” by Julian Pesce at Pasaje 17, March 4th to May 1st.
2. 18/03 7pm. “Ocho Miradas” (Eight sights) at Empatia-Art space. 
3. Juan Balza selected for “Premio Fundación Williams de Arte Joven 2008″:March 4th to 16th at the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes “René Brusau”, Resistencia, ChacoApril 4th to 24th at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo “Raúl Lozza”, Alberti, Buenos Aires

   May 9th to June 27th at the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes “Juan Sanchez”, Gral Roca, Río Negro

   August 1st to 30th at the Museo del Dibujo y Grabado “Guaman Poma”, C. del Uruguay, Entre Ríos