West Side Rag »A festival that celebrates emerging and established artists from 50+ film, theater and comedy

Posted on December 26, 2021 at 10:10 am by West Sider

SPONSORED

Goddard Riverside Community Art Program to Host First Arts Week festival from April 25 to May 1, 2022 to celebrate emerging and established film, theater and comedy artists aged 50 and over.

Festival directors Caytha Jentis and Eileen Katz, who both live on the Upper West Side, run the festival. Both have extensive backgrounds in entertainment and community service and wanted to create an arts festival to showcase and support this underserved demographic.

The festival will include a weekend of feature films, documentaries and short films organized as well as selected in a competition listed on Film Freeway. Additionally, there will be a ten-minute showcase of plays honoring longtime Upper West Side playwright Tina Howe and an evening of comedy hosted by Judy Gold, another Upper West Side veteran. West Sider. Panels and parties are also planned. While recognized artists must be at least fifty years old, their art can relate to any subject and any age group.

When Jentis and Katz conceived the idea, they saw Goddard as the perfect match. “We’re excited to partner with Goddard because they do a great job for the community,” said Jentis, who produced three events for Goddard’s Women’s History Month (WHAM) festival and volunteered for free holiday meals and the book fair. . “Surprisingly, there is no festival like this out there! ”

Jentis and Katz produced a short series called The other F word which had its world premiere at the Bernie Wohl Center in Goddard. The F stands for fifty. The cast of the series includes Judy Gold, Steve Guttenberg, Alysia Reiner, Nancy Giles and Gilbert Gottfried.

The show was a huge success and although it was an Amazon Video Direct flagship series four months in a row, it was largely ignored by the television industry. During meetings, the creative team was has said repeatedly that the show targets a difficult demographic – middle-aged women. It’s no secret that there is ageism in Hollywood.

“We see this festival as a great way to nurture, showcase and celebrate a demographic that has been largely overlooked in the arts,” Katz said. “We live in a great time of inclusion and diversity, and we want to add this demographic group to the dialogue.”

Proceeds from the festival will be used to create and support year-round programs for older artists. Further information will be available at https://goddard.org/goldstandard/ as plans develop.

For more than 100 years, Goddard Riverside has been committed to investing in people and strengthening community by meeting the most basic needs of New Yorkers. Goddard Riverside offers comprehensive educational, cultural and recreational programs for New Yorkers of all ages, including early childhood education, after school, employment assistance, college access, youth programs, homeless awareness, centers for the elderly and legal assistance.