The Nassau County Museum of Art recently opened The Manes Family Art and Education Center in an effort to spread the love and peace of art throughout Long Island.
The transformation of a building on the museum grounds that had been damaged by Hurricane Sandy was made possible by a $1 million donation from Dr. Harvey Manes. The funds enabled officials to reopen the building as a magnificent facility dedicated to arts and education – and impressed attendees included an audience of public officials, museum board, staff and supporters, as well as members of the Manes Family for whom the new center is named.
Manes said that with his Manes Peace Prize Foundation, he is always looking to donate to worthy charities and organizations that promote peace through arts and education. “Art is my passion,” said Manes, who is on the board of the Nassau County Museum and is himself an artist and an art collector. “As Picasso said, ‘Art washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life.’ Art and education promise peace and creativity, and it moves the world forward.”
The Manes Family Arts and Education Center allows the museum’s education department to greatly expand its art education offerings to the people of Long Island. Director of Education Laura Lynch and Manes Center manager Reem Hussein said that the new space for arts education would permit them to offer workshops, hands-on-art experiences, story times for the youngest museum visitors, and classes geared the varying interests and abilities of adults, seniors, family groups, school children and special needs populations.
Manes said that art has the potential to enrich the lives of both the young and old – there is no age restriction placed upon the world of art.
“Start as early as you can, but even the very old can benefit, as it is very therapeutic,” he said. “It is a great outlet that is creative and it promotes good will.”
The full schedule of programs at The Manes Family Arts & Education Center begins early October. Visit the museum’s website, www.nassaumuseum.org, for information. Through September 10, the Manes Center is showing The New American Garden: The Landscape Architecture of Oehme, van Sweden, a traveling photographic exhibition organized by the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington D.C.
Nassau County Museum of Art is located at One Museum Drive in Roslyn Harbor, just off Northern Boulevard, Route 25A, two traffic lights west of Glen Cove Road. The Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. The Manes Family Arts & Education Center is a low white building on the left as one enters the museum’s 145-acre property. For more information, call 516-484-9338 or logon to www.nassaumuseum.org.
