About MNAC

MN:AC
Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture
Art, Music, Theatre, Museums, Travel

About the BLOG

Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture was started in August of 2012. Macaulay Honors College affords its students the opportunity to participate in the ePortfolio program, a way to create a positive digital footprint in the 21st century. Very often, especially in today’s day and age, individuals post inappropriate photographs and representations of themselves on the internet. This is a student blog looking to create a positive impression on college life. Frequently, when one thinks about college, the contrasting images of partying and all night studying come to mind. MN:AC is an effort to counteract these impressions, and show that there is so much more to the college student and the college experience – the arts! Throughout this blog, you will see posts about music concerts, theatrical performances, museum visits, personal artwork, lectures, and more.

About the BLOGGER

Marina Bardash Nebro is a Macaulay Honors College student at the Queens College campus. She is a 2016 graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Art History, and aspires to someday work in a museum or as a historical advisor of sorts. From a very early age, she has been involved in a multitude of cultural activities.

ART

Marina has grown up surrounded by art her entire life. Her great-grandfather, Morton Morrison, was an avid photographer and even had a dark room in his basement. His prints now adorn Marina’s dorm room/suite and are the topic of many discussions. Karen Bardash, Marina’s mother, is also quite the artist, who had once aspired to be an art major at QC until she went to Spain, fell in love with all things Spanish and changed her course of study to Spanish education. Ms. Nebro’s father, Jose Nebro, is an occasional sketcher.

But where does this leave Marina? She remembers that when she was quite young, her mother praised her scribbles, but after that, her inner-artist was hibernating. During her sophomore year in high school she was encouraged to pursue her talent by her art teacher, Mr. Giacalone of Great Neck North High School. Skipping multiple art courses, she directly entered into Advanced Studio Art and then later, Advanced Placement Studio Art (in which her final score was a 3/5). These artistic experiences really boosted her self-confidence in the realm of the fine arts, and to this day she continues to produce paintings, sketches or projects when the inspiration calls.

MUSIC

The Bardash-Nebro family has also been quite a musical one. Again, Marina’s zaide, Morton Morrison, was a music lover and along with collecting myriad CD and tape recordings of performances, he taught himself the violin, keyboard, guitar, and ukelele. Up until his final days, he was giving ukelele lessons at his local community center! Various cousins and uncles of Marina’s have also been and are currently musicians – playing piano, oboe, cello, saxophone, guitar, flute and french horn. Her grandmother, Laura Bardash, picked up the clarinet as an adult and has been performing with the Northwinds Band year round as well as the Rotary Band during the summers. Now her father, Jose Nebro, has even started studying guitar. A day doesn’t pass without hearing the loud metronome in the basement as he strums the guitar, passed down by Marina’s zaide.

Marina started playing piano in second grade, and clarinet in fourth. She took private lessons on both, although continuing piano for a longer time with her teacher, Pippa Borisy of the Great Neck Music Conservatory. Though not an avid performer, Marina has played in venues such as Weill Recital Hall, the Landmark Theatre, Steinway, and even in Italy! For her senior year in high school, she performed a piano concerto (Bach F Minor) with her school orchestra, led by Maestro Joseph Rutkowski. Now in college, Marina has continued with her music studies as she plays in the Wind Ensemble under the direction of Kristin Mozeiko at the Aaron Copland School of Music. She enjoys frequenting the student recitals and concerts at this outstanding music school.

THEATRE

Whereas the theatre world hasn’t been one in which Marina’s family actively participated, her bubbe, Sylvia Morrison, did partake in a community theatre as a young woman, singing in the chorus or helping to create the costumes. Marina’s mother, however, was involved for many years as a faculty member in the theatre department at Great Neck South High School, and started taking Marina to performances there beginning at the young age of two! Since then, theatre has been a big part of her life. In fifth grade, after a school trip to Evita at the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, Marina’s family subscribed to their summer season for five years! With a subscription to TDF (the Theatre Development Fund), she now frequently attends Broadway and off-Broadway performances.

Her involvement in theatre doesn’t end there! Recently, Marina discovered that she enjoys theatrical design and historical research after taking a class called Introduction to Theatre Design with Professor Meghan Healey. She has also been involved in the pit orchestra in high school and has helped behind the scenes to build sets for performances of Man of La Mancha (GNNHS) and A Dybbuk (QC).

MUSEUMS

Marina’s early exposure to museums was mostly with her grandparents as they began to take her, beginning at a young age, to exhibits at the Natural History Museum, the Nassau County Museum, the Transit Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum. The special thing about museums is that there are so many different kinds! There are art museums, historical museums, science museums, cultural museums, and museums that include all of these categories in one! These are great places to be exposed to and in which to learn about all types of things in an organized and educational manner.

TRAVEL

A new section of MN:AC! Traveling has been a big part of Bardash-Nebro family, but Marina is mostly inspired by her mother’s travels as a young adult.

Marina has visited Scotland, England, Ireland, Italy, Israel, and Spain where her entire paternal family lives. She hopes to add many more countries to her list, and envisions herself living and working in Europe for a bit after completing her higher education. What is wonderful about traveling is the way one can experience, first hand, the different cultures and values that people have around the world and to see, at the same time, the similarities we share.

MARINA B. NEBRO