The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (C.O.T.A.) is now accepting concept sketches and/or poster submissions for the 31st Annual COTA Jazz and Arts Festival, which will be held Friday, September 5, 2008 through Sunday, September 7, 2008. We invite you to ask your drawing and painting students if they would like to submit a design.

The poster requirements are as follows:

(1) The poster is vertical;
(2) The size of the artwork is to be 24 x18 (actual poster size is 25 x 19);
(3) The artwork can be in any media; and
(4) Although it is not required, should the artist wish to include copy for the poster, it should read as follows:
Headline: 31st Annual Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts 2008
Subhead: Jazz and Arts Festival
Dates: September 5th, 6th and 7th
Include: Rain or Shine/No Pets/ Food Concessions/Children's Area
Bottom (smaller print): For information: Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts, Post Office Box 249, Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327 or 570-424-2210 or www.cotajazz.org.

The completed mechanical is not required at the time of judging, however, space for type, placing of type, and typeface style may be indicated by using an overlay. No lettering should be included on the art itself, unless vou feel it is intrinsic to the design. All recommendations from the artist as to design will be considered, however C.O.T.A. reserves the right to execute the final design of the poster. The artist whose poster is selected will receive a commission of $350.00 payable the week after the festival.

In creating the design, please bear in mind that the official COTA poster is the primary marketing tool of COTA for purposes of marketing the festival and that, in addition to the poster, the chosen design is used on the COTA brochure and T-shirt, etc.

The deadline for all entries for the jazz festival poster is May 6.2008. Entries may either be mailed or personally delivered on or before May 6,2008 to: (1) Cyndie A. Dutkiewicz, COTA Publicity Director, The Holland Thread Mill, 411 Main Street, #311, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania 18360, or (2) Lauren Chamberlain at Stone, Trembly & Associates, 819 Ann Street, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania 18360. For further information, please contact Cyndie A. Dutkiewicz at 570/460-0713 or Lauren Chamberlain at 570/424-4900.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SPECIFICATIONS

Whether it be the lively sounds emanating from the lavish resorts of the early days of Caruso and John Phillip Sousa performing at the Castle Inn or Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians… or the more than 50 years of jazz jammin’ at the Deer Head Inn…phenomenal regional music has been birthed, nurtured, blossomed, and, now, absolutely sizzles within the society of Delaware Water Gap, PA.

How does this happen?  For one great reason!  For the past 30 years, one superb organization—The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Jazz& Arts Festival— awakened the cultural yearnings and volunteer spirit of this sleepy little town, which now supports, with hundreds of local volunteers, one of the premier jazz festivals in the nation.  Many of COTA’s volunteers may not like or even understand the idiom called jazz—but they do know that COTA’s principals are persons they admire:  first-rate teachers of music, culture, responsible citizenship, and artistry—artists who continually give back to their communities.

What everyone in the Gap, and throughout the NEPA region, recognize most about COTA is its commitment to encouraging and supporting the teaching of jazz through the COTA Cats—a big band comprised of talented local high-school students— and COTA’s commitment to further support their efforts through the COTA Fund for Young Musicians.

But in 2007, celebrating its 30th year of launching full-fledged jazz festivals, COTA took a major step forward to invest young talent in the performance of this unique American art form called jazz:  COTA boldly launched its first COTA CampJazz —mentored by a “dream team” of its inspirers (Phil Woods and Rick Chamberlain)—opening its doors on July 30, 2007, to its very first class: 39 young musicians, ages 12-18, who professed a burning desire to learn to play jazz. They worked (and were worked) for seven days; were encouraged to work even harder; and were inspired to do so in classes conducted by an amazing array of COTAlums and Senior Faculty, world-class musicians who taught technique with passion and unstintingly shared their advice on negotiating the path of “growing up jazz”.  CampJazz is, without a doubt, the place where students will excel, and parents will revel in the values their aspiring young musicians will assimilate.

Click For CampJazz 2008:  don't delay, space is limited.

By Dan Berrett

Music guides Dave Lantz.

Last Wednesday, it was telling the 16-year-old's fingers to glide up and down the keys of a piano, one of many that sit in his family's Sciota home.

Lantz, a junior at Stroudsburg High School, was playing his original composition, "Midnight Voyage." His stocking feet tapped on the pedals of the grand piano and his jaw muscles clenched rhythmically as he played.

"It's definitely on the more modern side," Lantz later said of the song, because of its advanced chord changes. With its subtle shifts in melody, the music sounded clean, cool, even sophisticated.

The song also recently propelled Lantz to a prestigious national award. Last month, he was selected by the ASCAP Foundation for a Young Jazz Composers award in the 14-to-16-year-old category.

About 185 applicants vied for the award, 20 of whom were under 18, said Ken Cicerale, director of awards for ASCAP. The six winners were selected by a panel.

The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) has scheduled its 31st Annual Jazz and Arts Festival for Friday evening, September 5, through Sunday, September 7, 2008, in the tiny, scenic borough of Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania (Exit 310 from I-80).

One of the best-kept secrets on the East Coast, this friendly, all-volunteer-staffed festival features nationally and internationally renowned jazz artists rooted in Northeastern Pennsylvania, while also showcasing emerging talent from the region. Tentatively scheduled to appear this year are Phil Woods, David Liebman, Nellie Mckay, Jessie and Urbie Green, Bob Dorough, the COTA Festival Orchestra (performing music from the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection at the Kemp Library of East Stroudsburg University), and the COTA Cats (a Big Band assembled annually from the region’s most talented high-school musicians).