BOA Editions is proud to be recognized as a national and international publishing house. However, we're also proud of our hometown city of Rochester, NY! BOA is located in Rochester's "Neighborhood of the Arts" where we're surrounded by a raft of art galleries, artist studios, and arts organizations. The city is currently building an "Art Walk" right across the street from our building. Here's how the project is described on the Art Walk website: " Several civic, cultural, educational and community groups are working together to engage the public in extending this urban art trail, which will connect major Rochester cultural institutions in the Neighborhood of the Arts. Partners are collaborating with the City of Rochester to create an interconnected series of public spaces and public art, including a new sculpture park and a small amphitheater-as-art. Four anchoring works by New York and national artists will be linked by numerous public artworks by Rochester artists along three interactive sidewalks. The sidewalks will be embedded with artistic/audio/new media content gathered from residents and artists across the region. Thousands of residents will be directly involved in artistic creation." The people at Art Walk are currently gathering Rochester stories for the "Story Walk" part of the project. They've asked if we could help spread the word on that process and we're happy to oblige. So here's the Art Walk call for Rochester stories: What’s your Rochester story? Which playground felt like home to you? How and why did your family come to Rochester? Or return to Rochester? Who triumphed over circumstance to change the world for others? Who met a downfall? Who survived an unfair circumstance to fight another day? What happened here worth remembering? What is your Rochester story?   The ARTWalk Extension Project is looking for stories to be part of Story Walk, an interactive artistic sidewalk on North Goodman Street. The project is looking for short, true Rochester stories: memoirs, family histories, character studies, and incident reports from residents of all ages and backgrounds. These can either be written, from 50 - 500 words long, or a YouTube video under 3 minutes. The deadline is October 15, 2010.  Your Rochester story can be unusual or offbeat, shared by many or unique to you. This can be a story of a public event or a private experience, from long ago or yesterday. It can be an everyday moment or an intersection with history.    Send your story in to www.artdrop.org. A selection panel and public input will determine which stories will be recorded and placed in Story Walk and made accessible on the internet and via cell phone, but all stories will be kept and archived. For more information about Story Walk go to www.artdrop.org. You can also take part in a class to help you hone your story (at Writers & Books or OASIS), or you can try it out at Story Slams -- see artdrop.org for a calendar of events. By August 30, there will be some videos to help you on the Story Walk page at ArtDrop.org. Please pass this email on to anyone you think has a story to tell . . . and don't forget to go to ArtDrop.org/story-walk to read all the great stories. You'll be able to "like" your favorites November 16 - December 6. [caption id="attachment_1023" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="ArtWalk Project Elements. Courtesy Bayer Associates."][/caption]