Presenter: Stafford Arts Commission (Stafford, CT) Artist: Elena Dodd (Sharon, MA)
The Stafford Arts Commission will host a two-day arts festival, Reflections of Women Past and Present. The main presentation will be Meet Eleanor Roosevelt, a theatre piece created by and featuring Elena Dodd. Following both performances, Elena will engage audience members in a question and answer session.
Presenter: Stone Church Arts (Bellows Falls, VT) Artist: Aine Minogue (Arlington, MA)
Stone Church Arts will welcome Irish/Celtic harpist Aine Minogue to their annual concert series, held at the historic Immanuel Church in Bellows Falls. As well as Gaelic and English singing, Aine will answer questions regarding her traditional music and attend a reception.
Presenter: Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) Artist: Magdalena Gomez (Springfield, MA)
The Green Street Arts Center plans to continue their guest-artist series, In the Limelight, with a reading by poet Magdalena Gomez. Prior to the performance, Gomez will lead an afternoon workshop for Green Street’s after school program. Students who attended her workshop last year were inspired to launch a weekly poetry workshop. Gomez’ presentation this year will be enhanced by Teatro Vida, an intergenerational ensemble co-founded by the poet.
Presenter: Opera New England of Northeastern Connecticut (Pomfret, CT) Artist: Boston Lyric Opera (Boston, MA)
Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) will present Mozart’s The Magic Flute for Opera New England of Northeastern Connecticut. Opera New England’s educational program provides 27 regional in-school previews to introduce students to the operatic artform. In total, over 3,000 community members will attend BLO’s fully-staged performance of Mozart’s masterpiece.
Presenter: Mahoosuc Arts Council (Bethel, ME) Artist: MacTalla Mo'r (New Fairfield, CT)
The Mahoosuc Arts Council provides the schools and communities of Western Maine with cultural arts, music, and entertainment. Joining their annual concert series will be Celtic world music ensemble, MacTalla Mo'r. Their public performance will feature bagpipes, Gaelic-language songs, and the Bodhran, blended with jazz, calypso, and hip-hop to create a truly unique international fusion. The visit will be enhanced with in-school performances and community workshops and Q&A.
Presenter: University of Maine, Presque Isle (Presque Isle, ME) Artist: Sol y Canto (Cambridge, MA)
University of Maine, Presque Isle hopes to encourage area residents to participate and be active audience members for their Welcoming our Ancestors Home program. The program lineup will include a multi-media performance by Sol y Canto entitled Noche de Muertos. Preceding the piece will be an opening set of pan-Latin music. Sol y Canto will also visit local schools to conclude Day of the Dead activities created by area teachers.
Presenter: Bard College at Simon’s Rock (Great Barrington, MA) Artist: Tomas Kubinek (CT)
A public performance by Tomas Kubinek will launch Bridges, a new interdisciplinary, intercommunity initiative at Bard College. Renowned for his mix of improvisational theater, mime, and acrobats, Kubinek will discuss his multifaceted approach to performance art at an academic lecture to Simon’s Rock students. Students will also be active participants in Kubinek’s workshops.
Presenter: Highland Light Scottish Society (Yarmouth Port, MA) Artist: MacTalla Mo’r (New Fairfield, CT)
The Highland Light Scottish Society holds an annual festival dedicated to promoting Scottish and Celtic arts. This year’s highlight will be a performance by Celtic ensemble, MacTalla Mo’r. The Society hopes to reach new members with the ensembles performance and continue to bring support to their scholarship program for those wishing to pursue Scottish dancing, fiddling, step dancing, gaelic song, and bagpiping.
Presenter: Three Apples Storytelling Festival (Bedford, MA) Artist: Odds Bodkin (Bradford, NH)
The Three Apples Storytelling Festival was created to maintain the tradition of storytelling as an art form and to encourage local community to carry on the tradition at home. Odds Bodkin will be a featured performer at this year’s festival; telling epic myths, fairy and folktales in the bardic tradition and enhanced by his Celtic-inspired instrumentals. Preview performances will be held prior to the festival at local libraries and schools throughout the community.
Presenter: Friends of the Arts, A Regional Arts Council (Plymouth, NH) Artist: Boston Lyric Opera (Boston, MA)
Friends of the Arts will host The Magic Flute, a version performed by the Boston Lyric Opera, marking the first fully staged opera in Plymouth in a decade. The performance will be presented as both a bus-in and evening community performance, followed by a question and answer session. Prior to the show, local elementary schools will prep their students through educational opera kits created by Friends of the Arts. In conjunction, Plymouth State University opera students will lead opera workshops for middle and high-school students.
Presenter: Redfern Arts Center, Keene State College (Keene, NH) Artist: Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA)
Redfern Arts Center is proud to present Shakespeare & Company’s Hamlet to the surrounding New Hampshire and Vermont region. Prior to showtime, Redfern has invited a Keene State dean and Shakespeare scholar to answer questions and provide context for the evening audience. In addition, Keene High School drama students will participate in a Hamlet masterclass and community members will be invited to join a masterclass for Keene State theatre majors.
Presenter: Silver Center for the Arts, Plymouth State University (Plymouth, NH) Artist: Pilobolus (Washington Dept, CT)
The Silver Center at Plymouth State provides the local community with a variety of cultural arts, including innovative dance companies such as Pilobolus. A local dance studio, part of a larger movement complex, will host a free open workshop and will also sponsor a reception for community members to meet the dancers. Following the groups public performance, the audience is invited to stay for an informal question and answer session.
Presenter: Bennington College (Bennington, VT) Artist: Wholesale Klezmer Band (Colrain, MA)
The Wholesale Klezmer Band will be a featured performer on Bennington College’s new series MAPS (Multicultural Arts and Performance Series). In addition to performing a free concert of traditional Jewish Klezmer music, the band will lead a wedding dance workshop on campus, as well as a post-performance question and answer session.
Presenter: Brattleboro Music Center (Brattleboro, VT) Artist: Sol y Canto (Cambridge, MA)
Sol y Canto will perform Noche de Muertos: Welcoming our Ancestors Home at Brattleboro Music Center. This multimedia celebration of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead will include live music by the ensemble and projected photographic images of celebrations in Mexico. Audience members are encouraged to build and decorate altars for display during the evening, as well as bring food, fruit, photos and mementos to be placed on the altars. Local schools will benefit from afternoon performances, as well as art classes and Day of the Dead activities in Spanish.
Presenter: Chandler Center for the Arts (Randolph, VT) Artist: Sol y Canto (Cambridge, MA)
A vital part of the Chandler Center’s mission is to bring cultural awareness through the arts to their region; a goal they hope to achieve by presenting Sol y Canto’s Noche de Muertos program. Daytime performances will be presented to area schools, senior citizens, and the general public. The morning following the concert, local culinary art students will prepare traditional Mexican food for a noon meal, and tables for high-school Spanish students will be made available for only Spanish conversation.
Presenter: Castleton State College, Fine Arts Center (Castleton, VT) Artist: Sol y Canto (Cambridge, MA)
Sol y Canto’s Noche de Muertos will be presented by Castleton State College during Hispanic Heritage Month in October. As part of the college’s Soundings series, the performance will provide freshman students with the opportunity to experience the cultural arts in the community. Through the Arts Reach program, Castleton education majors will research and write lesson plans to complement the performance. These plans will then be distributed to elementary school students prior to seeing the show. The Spanish Club and Music Department will also take part in various adjunct activities.
Presenter: Flynn Center for the Performing Arts (Burlington, VT) Artist: Avery Sharpe Groupe (Amherst, MA)
Avery Sharpe, bassist and composer, will perform with his quintet as part of the Flynn Center’s long-standing Jazz Cabaret Series. His program Legends and Mentors is both adventurous and educational and will guide new audience members through generations of jazz. The ensemble will also participate in FlynnArts’ student matinee series, bringing Mr. Sharpe’s distinctive sound to over 150 area middle and high-school students. Other activities include a jazz student workshop and a pre and post-performance lecture.
Presenter: University of Vermont, Lane Series (Burlington, VT) Artist: Devil Music Ensemble (Jamaica Plain, MA)
Devil Music Ensemble will present their Red Heroine Project as part of the UVM Lane Series. By partnering with Tick Tock, a young collective of artists in downtown Burlington, the University plans to reach new audience members that may not regularly attend classical music events. To complement the performance, pre and post-show discussions will be planned with members of the local film community and the UVM Asian studies and film faculty.
PAST GRANTEES
Download the PDF Document to view the organizations funded through the
NEST program from the years 2000 - present.
