Schenectady, N.Y. — Broadway’s most talked about new musical, Spring Awakening, is also one of its biggest Tony Award® winners in years. The show will play from the main stage for Proctors Winter Recess salute to educators, and will give them lots to see, talk about, and share with students once back in the classroom.  Educators are eligible for special discounts to attend the show The New York Sun has hailed as “The most thrilling rock musical of the last decade.”

Spring Awakening has stirred Broadway like no other musical in years. The show depicts the unforgettable angst that intersects the passage from youth to adulthood with power, poignancy and passion. Read more »

Rochester, N.Y. - George Eastman House welcomes Rochester native and Edgar® Award-nominated mystery writer Charles Benoit at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4. Benoit will talk about film noir and writing noir, plus answer audience questions and sign copies of his books.

It’s part of Dryden’s February series on film noir  — films that closely examined the criminal, by making him the protagonist and focusing on the reasons behind his actions, as well as the crimes themselves. And it’s just part of an exciting February at the George Eastman House! Read more »

Enter the home of Harriet Tubman, walk the Underground Railroad, experience poetry, films, inventors and more

New York, N.Y. - New York State (www.iloveny.com) is celebrating its rich African American heritage during Black History Month with an array of special events and cultural discovery opportunities across its 11 vacation regions. A sampling of events happening across the Empire State this February include:

Flight to Freedom: Rochester’s Underground Railroad, Rochester, NY

“Flight to Freedom” explores the paths of courageous freedom seekers through Rochester’s Underground Railroad in this dramatic, interactive exhibition. Walk in the footsteps of Austin Steward, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs and Reverend Thomas James as they overcome huge obstacles to build free lives. Read more »

New Paltz, N.Y. - The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at the State University of New York at New Paltz will hold the opening reception for its winter/spring 2010 exhibition from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5, in The Dorsky Museum.

The headlining exhibit, Carolee Schneemann: Within and Beyond the Premises, is the sixth exhibition in the Dorsky Museum’s Hudson Valley Masters series and will feature 75 works spanning the career of pioneering painter, filmmaker, writer and performance/installation artist Carolee Schneemann. The exhibition will be on display from Feb. 6 - July 25. Read more »

Hobart, N.Y. - On Sunday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m. former Hobart resident Jim Meagley will be giving his 2nd lecture on the History of Hobart.

This lecture on Hobart history will involve a review and discussion of the settlement and development of the Hobart village area by looking at a progression of maps Read more »

First Costume Institute Exhibition Based on Renowned Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection

New York, N.Y. - The spring 2010 exhibition organized by The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity, the first drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met.  The exhibition, on view from May 5 through August 15, 2010 (preceded on May 3 by The Costume Institute Gala Benefit), will explore developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940, and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Read more »

Rochester, N.Y. - Fatten up your brain through play with daily activities at Fat Brain School-Break Week at Strong National Museum of Play Saturday, February 13 through Sunday, February 21.Put on your thinking cap and challenge yourself to mind-expanding Fat Brain games and toys such as Twig, Animalogic, and Tri-Spy. Build amazing creations with Dado Cubes-a toy whose invention was inspired by Strong’s National Toy Hall of Fame® inductee, the Cardboard Box! Read more »