Schindler Appointed Treasurer of W. Eugene Smith Fund For Humanistic Photography. 2012 Grants Issued at SVA Theatre.

October 2012 – I’m proud to announce that the Board of Trustees of the W. Eugene Smith Fund has appointed me Treasurer of the Fund. For the past 3-years, I served as Secretary of the Board.

The W. Eugene Smith Fund for Humanistic Photography is a non-profit organization that issues annual grants to photojournalists to pursue photographic projects focusing on the human condition in the spirit of W. Eugene Smith, the famous LIFE magazine photographer. My tasks include fundraising and producing the annual grant ceremony at the School of Visual Arts. (I secured Canon USA’s sponsorship for the past three years.) My fellow board members are affiliated with Christie’s, International Center of Photography, Getty Images, Photo District News, Vanity Fair, and other leading photography organizations.

On October 17th, the Board announced that Brooklyn, New York photographer Peter van Agtmael is the recipient of the $30,000 2012 W. Eugene Smith Grant for Disco Night September 11, an American view of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The grant presentation was made in front of a capacity crowd of more than 400 attendees at our annual grant ceremony at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) Theatre on West 23rd street in New York City.

In addition, Massimo Berruti from Italy received a $5,000 W. Eugene Smith Fellowship for The Dusty Path. His project explores Pakistan, a once peaceful nation now caught up in violence and political corruption.

Smith Grant recipients were selected from entries received from more than 43 countries.

Kimberly Dozier, AP correspondent and author of Breaking the Fire: Fighting to Report and Get Back to the Fight, gave the keynote presentation. Linda Benedict-Jones, the Curator of Photography at the Carnegie Museum, presented Picturing Pittsburgh.

In an environment where newspapers and weekly news magazines are closing and assignments are few, the grant enables photographers to cover and educate the public about issues that affect our daily lives with a graphic strength that attracts one’s intellectual curiosity and pulls heart strings. I’m proud to help keep the torch of concerned photojournalism burning. The fund is accepting entries for the 2013 grant.

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

Legal & Business Seminar for NY Women in Film and Television: Sept 22, 6.30pm

On Wednesday, September 22nd,  entertainment attorney Nicole Page and I co-presented Company Formation,  Partnerships, and Collaborations, a legal and business seminar for New York Women in Film and Television.  We discussed business entities, buy-sell agreements, employee benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans, and how to define and quantify business goals and financial strategies. The seminar was attended by 40 lively and inquisitive NYWIFT members.

Nicole Page, Partner, Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP, specializes in entertainment, intellectual property and employment law.

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

Client Connect: NYC Showcase of Nicki Parrott’s Peggy Lee, Big Instruments, & Other Weapons of Mass Distraction on Sept. 23, 2010

As part of Client Connect, I co-produced acclaimed jazz singer and bassist Nicki Parrott in Peggy Lee, Big Instruments and Other Weapons of Mass Distraction. The cabaret theater show had its New York City premiere in front of a packed audience at the Metropolitan Room on September 23, 2010.

Peggy Lee, Big Instruments and Other Weapons of Mass Distraction was developed by Artistic Director Michael Bush at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Cabaret Performance Conference in Waterford, Connecticut in August 2010. The O’Neill won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Regional Theater.

Formerly Les Paul’s bass player, Nicki regularly headlines at jazz festivals and clubs around the world, and tours as a member of Klezmer Madness.

Watching and listening to Nicki Parrott perform is like discovering a pearl.  My goal is share and promote Nicki’s unique package of talents beyond jazz to the world’s of cabaret and popular music.

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

Tax Day 2010:  Finding Balance On and Off the Mat

On April 15, 2010, Wealth Advisory Group CEO Howard Elias and I showed 57 yogis how to restore rhythm, strengthen their financial cores, and “build financial sustainability and abundance” at Manhattan’s west side Pure Yoga (rated the best yoga club in NY, 2009 and 2010 – NY Magazine). The event was sponsored by Wealth Advisory Group LLC, Alice’s Tea Cup, Pour Wines and Pure Yoga, as part of a continuing series of events presented for clients, their guests, and the general public.

Health clubs are appropriate venues to bring financial planning to the public. Our physical health and fiscal wealth are intertwined and affect one another. Physical and fiscal balance are key to our well-being and happiness.  The large turnout and active audience participation at Pure demonstrated that the public is keenly interested in finding financial balance in this difficult economic time.

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

Client Connect: Magazines, Galleries & Fine Photography

As part of “Client Connect,” I am working with Ralph Toporoff, a photojournalist filmmaker, to market his still reportage and fine art imagery from the 1960s to magazine editors and gallery curators. Over the past three years, I have helped Ralph curate and install his exhibits of single image prints and fused photo murals at Verlaine’s in New York’s East Village.

Viewing Ralph’s work is like discovering hidden treasure. He has captured the essence of sixties culture in his beautiful cinematic reportage of jazz musicians at play in the Paris nightclub scene, Claudia Cardinale and Burt Lancaster acting and relaxing on the set of Luciano Visconti’s The Leopard, and denizens enjoying Coney Island’s amusements.

Ralph  began his career in the 60s with international magazines including Look, Paris Match, Gente, and Der Spiegel.