Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Beating, Hearts, keep, thriving
While names like Zac Posen, Adrien Brody and Adrian Grenier serve as real-life examples of what the organization Gen Art has helped accomplish by showcasing emerging talent, perhaps nothing drives the point of its mission home better than the artwork design for its upcoming benefit.
It is a piece called Thriving Hearts by Anne Faith Nicholls and it shows a heart that goes from stark to blossoming in four progressive images. I could almost hear a voice-over as I studied it — ?This is a heart with no exposure to culture ? this is a heart on music ? with paintings all around ? watching an exquisite film ? as models float by wearing the latest fashions.?
It provokes this thought: Where does your heart fall on the spectrum of creative wasteland to joyful abundance?
If your ticker is feeling art deprived, the June 24 benefit in New York — titled ?I (Heart) Gen Art? — will be a 15th anniversary celebration of the company founded by brothers Ian and Stefan Gerard. On hand for viewing and purchase will be over 70 works of art donated by Gen Art members and supporters.
?This is coming full circle for us,? said Stefan Gerard, president of Gen Art, in our recent interview. ?We launched our organization with an art benefit.?
That was in 1994 and while Gen Art currently sponsors over 120 events a year in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago, this one is different — it is for and about Gen Art. Typically the organization?s events are held to shine the spotlight on an up-and-coming talent in visual art, fashion design, film or music, but the nation?s recession has hit Gen Art in the pocketbook. Since its beginning, about 80% of the company?s revenues have come from corporate partners. That is no longer the case. Cutbacks have included staff.
?It started in October,? said Gerard, whose background is in marketing and advertising. ?The bottom fell out of the financial market and companies were scrambling. The marketing budget is the first to go. We were a big part of that.?
And so an appeal was made to the membership stating that Gen Art as they know it was in jeopardy. Among the many who responded in a heartbeat was designer Zac Posen, who calls his invitation to debut his work in Gen Art?s 2001 Fresh Faces in Fashion, back when he was just 21 years old, an ?enormous gift.?
?It was a vote of confidence for our new business,? Posen said. ?I was able to create a capsule collection which was put down the runway. It was pure excitement to have all the retailers and editors there — it was superb.?
It was a far cry from Gen Art?s first fashion event in 1995. CEO Ian Gerard swore that night he would never do another one.
?A million things went wrong,? he said. ?We had it in July. We didn?t even know what Fashion Week was back then.?
That was part of the charm. They didn?t even have a business plan. The impetus for Ian Gerard was hearing from his artist friends (fellow Vassar fine arts graduates) that they couldn?t get galleries to show their work. By then, he was at New York University Law School and the idea of working with people his own age appealed to him.
So the brothers, along with friend Melissa Neumann, essentially harnessed willful energy and stayed open to possibilities despite the fact that the cultural climate was skittish. At the time, the National Endowment for the Arts was under fire. With an air of youthful invincibility on their side, they began by distributing flyers downtown inviting artists to participate in a show of their peers, by their peers. There was a huge outpouring of interest. From there the company grew very quickly from just working with visual artists to adding fashion, film and music.
?It has always been our goal to help those with talent have the means to use it,? Ian Gerard said. ?The idea was, do your creations and show up with them. We?ll do everything else.?
Soon Gen Art had a culturally conscious and growing following in the 18-39 age range, an appealing demographic to corporate sponsors.
?The downside of our success became our reliance on the model of corporate marketing dollars,? said Ian Gerard, a former practicing corporate and real estate transactional attorney. ?None of us had been around a recession. We had weathered 9/11 and even grew from it. We have learned things from this that will make us even stronger down the road.?
Gen Art?s mission moving forward is boosted by the fact that there has been a growing appreciation of the arts in our society in the last decade or so and that shows like Project Runway are part of a trend in showcasing emerging talent.
As for Ian Gerard?s talent, he insisted he has none, but when pressed finally relented, ?I?m good at bringing people together.?
People with thriving hearts, that is.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Beating, Hearts, keep, thriving
While names like Zac Posen, Adrien Brody and Adrian Grenier serve as real-life examples of what the organization Gen Art has helped accomplish by showcasing emerging talent, perhaps nothing drives the point of its mission home better than the artwork design for its upcoming benefit.
It is a piece called Thriving Hearts by Anne Faith Nicholls and it shows a heart that goes from stark to blossoming in four progressive images. I could almost hear a voice-over as I studied it — “This is a heart with no exposure to culture … this is a heart on music … with paintings all around … watching an exquisite film … as models float by wearing the latest fashions.”
It provokes this thought: Where does your heart fall on the spectrum of creative wasteland to joyful abundance?
If your ticker is feeling art deprived, the June 24 benefit in New York — titled “I (Heart) Gen Art” — will be a 15th anniversary celebration of the company founded by brothers Ian and Stefan Gerard. On hand for viewing and purchase will be over 70 works of art donated by Gen Art members and supporters.
“This is coming full circle for us,” said Stefan Gerard, president of Gen Art, in our recent interview. “We launched our organization with an art benefit.”
That was in 1994 and while Gen Art currently sponsors over 120 events a year in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago, this one is different — it is for and about Gen Art. Typically the organization’s events are held to shine the spotlight on an up-and-coming talent in visual art, fashion design, film or music, but the nation’s recession has hit Gen Art in the pocketbook. Since its beginning, about 80% of the company’s revenues have come from corporate partners. That is no longer the case. Cutbacks have included staff.
“It started in October,” said Gerard, whose background is in marketing and advertising. “The bottom fell out of the financial market and companies were scrambling. The marketing budget is the first to go. We were a big part of that.”
And so an appeal was made to the membership stating that Gen Art as they know it was in jeopardy. Among the many who responded in a heartbeat was designer Zac Posen, who calls his invitation to debut his work in Gen Art’s 2001 Fresh Faces in Fashion, back when he was just 21 years old, an “enormous gift.”
“It was a vote of confidence for our new business,” Posen said. “I was able to create a capsule collection which was put down the runway. It was pure excitement to have all the retailers and editors there — it was superb.”
It was a far cry from Gen Art’s first fashion event in 1995. CEO Ian Gerard swore that night he would never do another one.
“A million things went wrong,” he said. “We had it in July. We didn’t even know what Fashion Week was back then.”
That was part of the charm. They didn’t even have a business plan. The impetus for Ian Gerard was hearing from his artist friends (fellow Vassar fine arts graduates) that they couldn’t get galleries to show their work. By then, he was at New York University Law School and the idea of working with people his own age appealed to him.
So the brothers, along with friend Melissa Neumann, essentially harnessed willful energy and stayed open to possibilities despite the fact that the cultural climate was skittish. At the time, the National Endowment for the Arts was under fire. With an air of youthful invincibility on their side, they began by distributing flyers downtown inviting artists to participate in a show of their peers, by their peers. There was a huge outpouring of interest. From there the company grew very quickly from just working with visual artists to adding fashion, film and music.
“It has always been our goal to help those with talent have the means to use it,” Ian Gerard said. “The idea was, do your creations and show up with them. We’ll do everything else.”
Soon Gen Art had a culturally conscious and growing following in the 18-39 age range, an appealing demographic to corporate sponsors.
“The downside of our success became our reliance on the model of corporate marketing dollars,” said Ian Gerard, a former practicing corporate and real estate transactional attorney. “None of us had been around a recession. We had weathered 9/11 and even grew from it. We have learned things from this that will make us even stronger down the road.”
Gen Art’s mission moving forward is boosted by the fact that there has been a growing appreciation of the arts in our society in the last decade or so and that shows like Project Runway are part of a trend in showcasing emerging talent.
As for Ian Gerard’s talent, he insisted he has none, but when pressed finally relented, “I’m good at bringing people together.”
People with thriving hearts, that is.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Guru, HEALTH, helps, keep, Priority, Vitamin
MALIBU, Calif. — When I decided to interview Gene Arnold, known as the Vitamin Guru to the Stars, I was expecting some version of those fast-talking guys who try to sell you things in infomercials.
That is nothing like Gene Arnold. In fact, the owner of The Vitamin Barn in Malibu does his best selling by virtue of living a philosophy of wellness and pouring his passion for that into his business.
“You either catch my philosophy or you don’t,” Arnold said. “We provide an opportunity for wellness a day at a time.”
While wellness has become a catch phrase for so many things these days, underneath the marketing hype is a real way of being that just makes sense. Right now, when so many Americans are trying to figure out ways to cut their budgets, I tell my life-coaching clients to keep the gym membership and the vitamins in there as a priority. A debt counselor once told me that’s good advice, especially if a person is potentially going to lose their health insurance or doesn’t have any to begin with.
At age 46, Arnold is more than happy to contribute to the wellness of his clientele, because it’s been his way of life since he was a child whose parents worked in vitamin stores. He helped out and became the front guy answering questions for customers when he was in his early 20s.
“It became known that I could find the answer to anything,” said Arnold, a.k.a. Vitamin Gene.
In 1993 he decided to open his store in California, he started an intensive search for a good location. Since he naturally gravitates to the beach, when he got to Malibu and saw prime space for lease, he went for it.
“It was out of fear, into faith,” Arnold said.
Success in one store prompted him to eventually grow to six, but he found his service-oriented personality didn’t line up well with that sort of growth.
“I’m not that kind of guy,” Arnold said. “I’m a community guy. I’d rather be in my store.”
Just ask the celebrities who frequent his vitamin and juice bar, which is located in the famed Malibu Colony Plaza, a place where a lot of celebs do their day-to-day shopping. On my recent visit, as I waited for a scrumptious shake made with dates and bananas, Fran Drescher — looking fabulous in sweats — was making a purchase. While Arnold is not the type to get star-struck, one of his favorite moments was when Ozzie Osbourne came in asking, “Anything for the liver, mate?”
Arnold takes particular pride in helping someone who has a specific issue — like losing weight or getting off sleeping pills — and seeks his advice for a remedy. He has had a lot of requests for energy and immune support and so he created what he calls wellness shots.
“Every winter for the last six or seven years, we’ve served about 300 hand-blended shots a day,” he said.
Arnold and his staff prefer to juice through a press to retain the pulp, so he began pressing ginger and then adding Echinacea, oregano and ginseng to those shots. Now, through the magic of mass market retail, that potion — called ImmuGo — is available all over the country. It’s in tiny, ready-to-drink tubes.
“I was with my daughter in Wal-Mart, getting her ready to go back to school,” Arnold said. “She’s six. She saw [the ImmuGo on the shelf] first. She said, ‘Daddy, Daddy. Look.’ She was excited.”
What excites Arnold about that scenario is how he’s managed to integrate his family and his business. His daughter is sometimes behind the juice bar with him. His wife — in addition to regularly joining him in Thai yoga — has been doing some of the promotional travel for the new product with him.
“It’s important,” he said. “It makes for a more fluid life.”
His ultimate vision, since Malibu has a lot of high-end rehabilitation centers, is to open a spa and cater to the rehab community.
“I love beautiful places,” he said. “I envision a place where people can grow.”
And speaking of visions, I asked Vitamin Gene if his life is what he envisioned it would be.
“It’s not what I thought it would be,” he said. “It’s better.”
You either get it or you don’t. No infomercial needed.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
