The legacy of actor/director/producer Philip Seymour Hoffman is a  point of pride for those in his hometown, who will soon be able to enjoy a memorial erected in  his honor at George Eastman Museum, outdoors near the Dryden Theatre. On Saturday, May 28,  a bronze life-size sculpture will be unveiled that depicts Hoffman appearing to be walking  toward the movie theater.  

The George Eastman Museum will present the 6th Nitrate Picture Show from June 2 to 5, 2022, at the Dryden Theatre in Rochester, NY. The Nitrate Picture Show, the world’s only festival of film conservation, returns after a two-year hiatus for the sixth edition with a new lineup of nitrate prints on screen, the Nitrate Touch workshop, and two concerts on Thursday, June 2: the first on the George Eastman’s grand piano and the second on the Eastman’s Aeolian pipe organ.

George Eastman House has announced that it will be extending its Wish You Were Here lecture series into the new year with chemical engineer, NASA astronaut, and photographer Donald Pettit, PhD. Pettit will present his lecture, An Astronaut’s Guide to Photography in Space, on Thursday, January 9, 2014, at 6 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre.

George Eastman House announced today the appointment of Lisa Hostetler, PhD, as Curator-in-Charge of its Department of Photography. She will assume this role prior to year-end. 

Hostetler brings almost 20 years of academic and museum experience to her new position with George Eastman House. She is currently the McEvoy Family Curator for Photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

George Eastman House will open two exhibitions on October 26 that will be on view through January 12, 2014: The History of Space Photography and Astro-Visions. The History of Space Photography showcases a variety of astronomical photographs that have been created since the development of photography in the early 19th century, and will feature a number of the most important scientific photographs ever created. To complement The History of Space Photography, Eastman House has organized Astro-Visions, which draws from its rich collections to explore how scientists, photographers, and filmmakers have incorporated images of outer space into their work.

George Eastman House, located in Rochester, NY, will host the exclusive U.S. premiere of the newly discovered Too Much Johnson (1938), a Mercury Theatre film directed by Orson Welles, on Wednesday, October 16, 2013.

George Eastman’s house is once again home to the world’s largest residential pipe organ. A team of volunteers alongside Parsons Pipe Organ Builders—the same family and company that serviced Eastman’s pipe organ decades ago—completed the reinstallation of the north organ in July with the support of Dr. Richard Zipf. The interesting tale of how the new organ made its way to Rochester will conclude with the first public concerts the weekend of September 21 and 22.

George Eastman House has hired Daniela Currò as preservation officer in its motion picture department; and Kellie Fraver as public relations manager and Molly Tarbell as copy editor and publications coordinator, both in the museum’s communications and engagement department.

George Eastman House will honor Academy Award®-winner Roger Corman with the George Eastman Award, the museum’s highest honor in motion pictures, on Saturday, November 2. The award recognizes Corman’s distinguished contribution to the art of film. In accepting the honor, Corman joins the company of such film legends as Charles Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Audrey Hepburn, Kim Novak, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, and Richard Gere. The George Eastman Award was established in 1955 as the first retrospective film award to honor artistic work of enduring value.

Using social media to fundraise across generations -- in the spirit of George Eastman’s philanthropic legacy -- the George Eastman House Photo Finish 5K returns for its third year Saturday, Oct. 5, to raise funds for Rochester non-profit causes. This “philanthropy challenge” is a new way of fundraising, allowing dozens of organizations to raise funds via a single event, and Rochester has embraced it. Over the past two years, nearly 2,000 runners and walkers participated in the race, raising over half a million dollars for more than 60 non-profit organizations in and around the Rochester community.

George Eastman House’s exhibition The Gender Show will explore how photographs, from the mid-19th century to today, have portrayed gender — from archetypal to non-traditional to subversive representations — with a special emphasis on the performances that the act of photographing or being photographed can encourage or capture.  The Gender Show, presenting over 200 works, draws primarily from the Eastman House collection, which spans more than 170 years, and also features contemporary art photographs and videos on loan from artists and private collectors.  The exhibition will be on view from June 15 through October 13, 2013.

The Garden Vibes summer concert series at George Eastman House is celebrating its 20th year by shaking things up. The outdoor concerts are now being held on Wednesday evenings, once a month from June through August. Picnic on the Eastman House lawn, relax with friends, and enjoy family-fun activities, while at the same time basking in George Eastman’s historic Townson Terrace Garden and surrounding grounds. Concerts are 6 to 8 p.m.

George Eastman House announced today it is adding high-resolution photographs to the Google Art Project, offering yet another platform to share its unparalleled collections. Eastman House, the world’s oldest museum of photography, is the first museum of photography to be selected for inclusion in the Google Art Project. The resolution of the images combined with a custom-built zoom viewer allows users the ability to discover details never before seen. In addition Eastman House has included all available cataloging data, allowing viewers access to information not previously available online. 

The Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography & Film welcomes Oscar®-nominated filmmaker and George Eastman Honorary Scholar James Ivory (Room with a View, Remains of the Day, Howard’s End) on Saturday, April 6, as part of the ongoing celebrating of the reopening of the renovated Dryden Theatre. At 8 p.m. he will introduce his 1995 film Jefferson in Paris and engage in a Q&A with the audience following the screening. Tickets are $12 general admission and $10 for students and are on sale now.

George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film announced today that Dr. Alison Nordström, Senior Curator of Photographs, will assume the new position of Curator-at-Large, effective July 1, 2013.  The museum has begun an international search for her replacement as head of the Department of Photographs.

George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film announces it will honor Richard Gere with the prestigious George Eastman Award on Feb. 16. The award recognizes Gere’s distinguished contribution to the art of film as well as his global humanitarian leadership. In accepting the honor, Gere joins the company of such film legends as Charles Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Audrey Hepburn, Kim Novak, Martin Scorsese, and Meryl Streep. The George Eastman Award was established in 1955 as the first retrospective film award to honor artistic work of enduring value.

George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film announces the appointment of Dr. Paolo Cherchi Usai to the position of senior curator of motion pictures, a title he held from 1994 to 2004. He is currently Curator Emeritus of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia and director of the Haghefilm Foundation in the Netherlands. The appointment of Cherchi Usai, a leading figure in film preservation, marks his return to Eastman House, where he began working in 1989 with what is the third largest film collection in the United States.

Dozens of local non-profit organizations will benefit from a single fundraiser this fall — the George Eastman House Photo Finish 5K presented by MVP Health Care, aka The Philanthropy Challenge, hitting Rochester streets Saturday, Oct. 1. This type of event has become a fundraising frontrunner in major cities, with this local race modeled after the London Marathon, which has raised millions of dollars for charity.

Experience the iconic paintings and illustrations of artist Norman Rockwell alongside the staged photographs on which he based his work, with the exhibition Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera, on view June 25 through Sept. 18, 2011.

The Dryden Theatre pays tribute to Charlie Chaplin throughout the month of June, with a series of 15 films, including Modern Times, The Kid, and City Lights. While it is known Chaplin’s movies were made wholly for himself, they did speak to the whole world — and continue to do so decades later.

The Garden Vibes summer concert series at George Eastman House is celebrating its 18th year. On four Thursdays in July and August, George Eastman House offers a unique outdoor venue for experiencing live music. Picnic on the Eastman House lawn, relax with friends, and enjoy family-fun activities, while at the same time basking in George Eastman’s historic Townson Terrace garden and surrounding grounds. Concerts are 6 to 8 p.m. 

George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film is organizing its second benefit auction of photographic objects and prints, books, and camera technology, to take place in New York City at Metropolitan Pavilion at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3. Denise Bethel, director of the Photographs Department at Sotheby’s New York, will again volunteer her services as auctioneer, as she did for last year’s inaugural benefit auction – which raised more than a half-million dollars in less than two hours for Eastman House.

The 360 | 365 George Eastman House Film Festival takes to Rochester screens April 27-May 2, with 104 films from 21 countries, plus celebratory parties, panel discussions, artist conversations, and award ceremonies. Those being honored this year include Oscar®-nominated and Emmy®-winning cinematographer Buddy Squires and celebrated Rochester-based screenwriter Brock Yates. The festival is celebrating its 10th year in 2011.

Filmmaker Jonas Mekas — whom many call the Godfather of American Avant-Garde Cinema — will visit the George Eastman House at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 9, for a screening of his film Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania and to receive the title of George Eastman Honorary Scholar for artistic achievement. Past recipients of this honor include directors John Frankenheimer, James Ivory, and John Landis; actors/photographers Dennis Hopper and Jeff Bridges; and most recently musician/photographer Graham Nash in January.

George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film commemorates the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War with photography and motion picture exhibitions opening on Feb. 12, Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The museum's unparalleled collection of 19th-century photography is showcased as iconic photographs hang alongside rare and never-before-seen images, in addition to contemporary images of Civil War sites and re-enactments and a look at how motion pictures have fictitiously depicted the war. The exhibitions are on view through June 12, 2011.

George Eastman House presents virtual springtime, with the 17th annual exhibition The Dutch Connection: George Eastman's Conservatory in Winter Bloom, on view Friday, Feb. 11 through Saturday, Feb. 26.This colorful, interpretive exhibition will feature thousands of flowering bulbs, re-creating Eastman's 1911 display of flowers from Holland - ordered from the same Dutch company Eastman used.