Countdown to PortFest –Schreiber Seniors Volunteer for HEARTS

The third annual PortFest Music, Arts and Community Festival  is two days away  on Saturday, May 17th from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm, rain or shine.   Live entertainment will take place on three outdoor stages and indoors at the Paul D. Schreiber High School Auditorium.  There will be an incredible variety of 29 performances ranging from student organizations to local bands to performing artists to local dance and music studios. There will be 38 diverse family-friendly interactive activities hosted by each of the Port Washington public schools and several local community organizations.  One of the largest exhibitions will be the PortFest Art Exhibit that will boast more than twenty-six works from various local artists. 

An incredible army of volunteers is the driving force behind the “PortFest Machine”, managed and coordinated by Susan Hicks, Volunteer Coordination Leader. The volunteer spreadsheet is a color coded maze of columns, times, names and locations.  There isn’t a tally of how many volunteers there are for PortFest 2014 yet, but last year’s volunteers numbered over 115!!

Schreiber High School Seniors are working on PortFest in diverse responsibilities. They have been helping with the coordination of social media such as Facebook and Twitter as well as getting the word out about PortFest to local businesses. Ryan Rivera, Nisha Nanda, Alice Gottesman, and Deirdra Labartino have also been attending the PortFest Leadership meetings and have been active in the recruitment of Schreiber High School Volunteers..

Many of the Schreiber High School Seniors are working on PortFest as their “Senior Experience” The Senior Experience gives students the opportunity to explore professional fields that interest them through internships or creative projects.  Leigh Richards, Vice President/HEARTS is the Senior Experience Leader and has been working with the group.  Leigh stated “I think it is a wonderful opportunity for the Seniors to be involved with PortFest and HEARTS, as it directly impacts the art and music programing at Schreiber High School.  It is also an excellent platform for them to interact with our leadership team.”

Sabrina Brennan is active in the Theater program in Schreiber, having recently played the role of the Jester in “Once Upon a Mattress.  She stated “The arts are extremely important in our schools. Schreiber’s theater program is so extensive and our drama club is 100% student run. This has helped us to develop responsibility, time management skills, creativity, and over all confidence. The arts in Schreiber truly helped me to become a better, more well-rounded person as well as prepare me for college.”

Sabrina will be emceeing Stage Three along with an improv group called “The Improvables”, whose members include Sabrina Brennan,  Jake Arlow, Lena Kogan and Sameer  Nanda.  She went on to say “Portfest is always so fun. It’s great to see people of all ages getting together from all over town to support the arts. I also get the awesome opportunity to perform with the Schreiber Drama Club’s Improv Troupe “The Improvables” which is always hilarious. A lot of people only think of the school musical when it comes to Schreiber’s theater program, so I’m very thankful that Portfest gives us the opportunity to show the town the other stuff us theater kids do throughout the year!”

Jane Ronis, Stage Manager for PortFest is the mastermind of  keeping track of all the performances and performers for PortFest. Jane described her team and process as follows: "We have three consecutively running performance stages at Portfest filled with music and dance.  I use a team of students and administrators to make this machine run.  Omi Furst (a senior and member of Schreiber's drama club) will stage manage Stage 3 which is hosted by Schreiber's incredibly talented Improv Troupe, The Improvables (Sabrina Brennan, Jake Arlow, Sameer Nanda, and Lena Kogan).  Deirdra Labartino (a member of our senior experience team of volunteers) will stage manage Portfest Hall (Schreiber Auditorium).  Hosting these stages will be Ira Pernick (principal of Schreiber), Pia Sanchez (Vice Principal at Weber), Stacey Baker (teacher at Salem and co-writer of the grant for Curtains Up), Sheri Suzzan (Creative Arts Director for the district) and Murphy Siegel (a senior who we saw emceeing at Battle of the Bands).”

PortFest 2014 has been a tapestry of collaboration from students to parents to teachers to municipal representatives.  Both Community Organizations and Port Washington Businesses have teamed together to support the mission of HEARTS which is to add  meaningful value to children's lives and our community by supporting, promoting and enriching the arts in Port Washington and its' public schools.

Circle it in red on your calendar!

PortFest 2014

Saturday May 17th

Schreiber High School Campus Port Washington NY 11050

11:00-5:00 RAIN OR SHINE!

For more information on PortFest 2014, HEARTS or for a link for donations:

www.pwportfest.com   www.facebook.com/heartspw   www.HEARTSPW.org

email:  heartspw@gmail.com  Phone # 516 472 2699