ARTS HONORS
Mona Golub, James Kettlewell feted during Saratoga Arts annual Fall Soirée for their support of Capital Region arts organizations
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Community arts leaders Mona Golub and James Kettlewell were honored this week at Saratoga Arts’ annual Fall Soirée.
Event-goers gathered on Wednesday evening at Longfellows Restaurant to celebrate the local arts while recognizing Golub and Kettlewell for serving as community arts ambassadors who for years have supported Saratoga Springs-based nonprofit Saratoga Arts and other arts organizations in The Capital Region.
“Tonight is all about celebrating the arts, and it’s all about celebrating the people who really are there to support it,” Saratoga Arts board president Susanne Simpson said. “It’s really what makes this community wholesome, and I think it’s really what brings this community together.”
In choosing the two honorees for the recent event, Simpson said the board considered whose dedication and passion best exemplifies the spirit of the arts, and that was Golub and Kettlewell.
Golub, vice president of public relations and consumer services for Price Chopper / Market 32, was chosen for her role as a hands-on presenter, producer, and artistic director of the Music Haven Concert Series, a community concert series in Schenectady and previously in Albany as well.
For years, these concerts have made world-class music accessible to all and have become a unifying
"Tonight is all about celebrating the arts, and it’s all about celebrating the people who really are there to support it."
— Saratoga Arts board president Susanne Simpson
force for neighborhoods, cities and the region as a whole. Golub also directs the Golub Foundation, where she has woven her love for the arts into an overall philanthropic philosophy that has created an indelible positive impact on the arts landscape across all of our communities.
Additionally, Price Chopper has been a signature sponsor for Saratoga Arts event First Night Saratoga since its inception 23 years ago.
“We love the arts because they’re a way to bring people together, to feel good,” Golub said at the soirée, “and as this world goes these days, bringing people together to feel good and to enjoy the creative work of talented people is really something simply wonderful.”
Kettlewell received a Community Arts Ambassador Award this year too, for his efforts in leading and contributing to many of the arts and cultural organizations that enrich the greater Saratoga region.
His accomplishments include teaching art history at Skidmore, serving as curator of the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls for nearly 20 years, introducing Caffe Lena founders Lena and Bill Spencer to Saratoga Springs, forming a committee for the restoration of the Canfield Casino, and authoring Saratoga Springs, an Architectural History.
In accepting his award from Saratoga Arts, Kettlewell made a point to comment on the quality of the art created in the local region.
“Many of the artists working in this area, in almost any area of the arts, are producing art as great as anything you’ll ever see anywhere,” he said to the crowd. “Listen twice or look more closely when you experience any art that’s happening in this area, and you may discover something rather extraordinary.”
Proceeds from the 2018 Fall Soirée help Saratoga Arts continue to offer affordable and dynamic arts programming and services for all ages and skill levels throughout the year.
More information about Saratoga Arts, including its programs and other upcoming events, is available online at www. saratoga-arts.org.
“We love the arts because they’re a way to bring people together, to feel good.” — Mona Golub