artists next door 4
l.m. browning 6
yale rep turns fifty 9
john ingrassia 18
The Arts Paper a free publication of The Arts Council of Greater New Haven • newhavenarts.org
Yale Institute of Sacred Music
performances, lectures, and more · ism.yale.edu
April 2017
The Arts Paper april 2017
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Artists Next Door Hank Hoffman Interviews Photographer Sean Kernan
staff
board of directors
Daniel Fitzmaurice executive director
Eileen O’Donnell president Rick Wies vice president Daisy Abreu second vice president
Debbie Hesse director of artistic services & programs Megan Manton director of development Winter Marshall executive administrative assistant Amanda May Aruani editor, the arts paper design consultant Jennifer Gelband communications manager
Just Getting Started Author and Publisher L.M. Browning on Her 10th Book
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Yale Rep Turns 50 Lucy Gellman Writes About the Theatre’s Past and Present
The Arts Paper is made possible with support from AVANGRID / United Illuminating / Southern Connecticut Gas
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John Ingrassia Local Musician and Educator Releases Album Full of Cameos
The Arts Council is pleased to recognize the generous contributions of our business, corporate and institutional members. executive champions Yale University
Ken Spitzbard treasurer
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven promotes, advocates, and fosters opportunities for artists, arts organizations, and audiences. Because the arts matter.
Wojtek Borowski secretary
directors Susan Cahan Robert B. Dannies Jr. James Gregg Todd Jokl Mark Kaduboski Jocelyn Maminta Josh Mamis Greg Marazita Rachel Mele Elizabeth Meyer-Gadon Frank Mitchell John Pancoast Mark Potocsny David Silverstone Dexter Singleton Richard S. Stahl, MD
The Arts Paper is published by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, and is available by direct mail through membership with the Arts Council. For membership information call (203) 772-2788. To advertise in The Arts Paper, call the Arts Council at (203) 772-2788. Arts Council of Greater New Haven 70 Audubon Street, 2nd Floor New Haven, CT 06510 Phone: (203) 772.2788 Fax: (203) 772.2262 info@newhavenarts.org www.newhavenarts.org
senior patrons Knights of Columbus L. Suzio York Hill Companies Marcum Odonnell Company Webster Bank Wiggin and Dana corporate partners Alexion Pharmaceuticals AT&T Firehouse 12 Fusco Management Company Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven Yale-New Haven Hospital business patrons Albertus Magnus College Gateway Community College Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale Newman Architects Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
honorary members Frances T. “Bitsie” Clark Cheever Tyler
business members Access Audio-Visual Systems Duble & O’Hearn, Inc. Griswold Home Care Tobi Travel Ticker foundations and government agencies AVANGRID The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven Connecticut Arts Endowment Fund DECD/CT Office of the Arts The Ethel & Abe Lapides Foundation Josef and Anni Albers Foundation First Niagara Foundation NewAlliance Foundation Pfizer The Wells Fargo Foundation The Werth Family Foundation media partners New Haven Independent New Haven Living WPKN
In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, The Arts Council now prints The Arts Paper on more environmentally friendly paper and using soy inks. Please read and recycle.
Yale Institute of Sacred Music presents
Woolsey Hall Concerts All three concerts are free; no tickets required. Woolsey Hall is located at 500 College St., New Haven.
Ism.yale.edu
Music for Palm Sunday Yale Camerata
Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor Premiere of a new work by Robert Kyr
sunday, april 9 · 4 pm
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Philip Moore: Requiem The U.S. premiere
Yale Camerata
Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor Thomas Murray, organ
sunday, april 23 · 4 pm
G.F. Handel: Occasional Oratorio Yale Schola Cantorum David Hill, conductor
saturday, april 29 · 7:30 pm
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Letter from the Editor The past few months have been surreal. Like always, the amount and quality of art being made in Greater New Haven has been excellent. If anything, the new administration in Washington D.C. has awoken many people and inspired them to make more art. (The huge turnout for the Nasty Women exhibition comes to mind). I have watched it all and am personally struck by what Zac Zuber-Zander calls “the heaviness of the room” in his article about the Nu Haven Kapelye’s record release concert just a few days after the election (pg. 8). I feel this palpable heaviness too, if only in the divisiveness that all of this has brought out in society. So heaviness, yes, but lightness too. My second daughter, Juliet, was born on the day of the winter solstice. So my life has also been infused with innocence, light, and beauty in no small amount. As the country was rebirthed as something else, a literal birth has rocked my household. A juxtoposition I won’t soon forget. The Arts Council is also experiencing a rebirth. After much searching and interviewing, Daniel Fitzmaurice has been appointed as our Executive Director. He comes to us from our Audubon Street neighbor, Creative Arts Workshop, proving that sometimes the best things are right under your nose. Along with Zuber-Zander’s reflection on a past concert, this issue looks further back in
On the Cover Installation view of Road Trip! at the New Haven Museum. The exhibition will be on view through June. Read the story on pages 10 & 11. Photo courtesy of the New Haven Museum.
Juliet Olivia Aruani
time, covering the nostalgia-infused exhibition currently on view at the New Haven Museum, entitled Road Trip! (pgs. 10 & 11), and The Yale Repertory Theatre’s 50th anniversary (pg. 9). Three more articles look at artists making it happen today- author/publisher L.M. Browning, musician/producer/educator John Ingrassia, and photographer Sean Kernan. This spring, I hope you can find some inspiration, light, and beauty in your lives, perhaps with help from the New Haven art scene.
In the Next Issue … Detail of page 137 of the Voynich Manuscript. The 15th century illustrated text has yet to be deciphered and is the inspiration behind the New Haven Symphony’s composer-in-residence Hannah Lash’s original symphony, which premieres on May 4. Image courtesy of the Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Sincerely, Amanda May Aruani Editor, The Arts Paper
BEYOND THE FRONT LINES April 6, 2017Dec. 30, 2018
MOZART & SCHUMANN Thursday, April 6 / 7:30pm Woolsey Hall / New Haven
Daniel Hsu, guest pianist
MOZART / Symphony No. 40 in G minor SCHUMANN / Concerto for Piano in A minor HAYDN / Symphony No. 83 in G minor, “La Poule” FEATURING: William Boughton, conductor Daniel Hsu, piano
203.865.0831 x20 / NewHavenSymphony.org • april 2017
1 State Street, New Haven • 203-865-0400 kofcmuseum.org • Free admission & parking newhavenarts.org • 3
The Arts Paper april 2017
artists next door
Paying Fierce Attention photographer sean kernan
Still from Kernan’s “Kampala Boxing Club” documentary video, which was shot in Uganda. Image courtesy of Sean Kernan.
hank hoffman
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f there is one place Sean Kernan doesn’t want to be, it is in his comfort zone. For Kernan—a photographer, writer and teacher—fulfilling the creative imperative necessitates leaving your comfort zone for the unexplored realms of risk. Stepping into the unknown is a dare Kernan has accepted throughout his career. He sold his first photo story to Look magazine just six months after he bought his first camera. Five years into his professional photographic career, he accepted a teaching slot mid-semester at Manhattanville College, filling in for a friend. “It was wonderful and fed me, as much as anything. As with photography, I had no qualifications but somehow, protected by my ignorance and enthusiasm, it worked,” Kernan said in an interview at his Branford studio. Kernan’s work has been published and exhibited extensively in many countries. He is the author of three monographs: The Secret Books (with Jorge Louis Borges), Among Trees (with Anthony Doerr), and Darrell Petit: In Stone. His explorations of creativity and photography have been published as
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Looking Into the Light: Creativity and the Photographer. He has taught and lectured continuously since 1972 and still leads several weeklong workshops each year. After a life in still photography, in the past few years, Kernan has completed his first two documentary features, “Crow Stories” (a portrait of the Crow Indian reservation in Montana) and “The Kampala Boxing Club” (shot in Uganda). Two novels-in-progress—The Invisible Library and Old Age, Sickness, and Death: A Comedy— also vie for his attention. Echoing a feeling he once heard expressed by photographer Todd Hido, Kernan said he is “addicted to the feeling of having just taken a good picture.” This confession arose in a discussion of his photo series “The Secret Books,” published as a monograph in 1999, accompanied by writings of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. (It was the 100th anniversary of Borges’ birth.) The images in “The Secret Books” are surrealistic, photographic assemblages. Shooting in black and white, Kernan paired open books with a variety of evocative objects—nails, fruit, animal bones, and more. The series arose out of a fluke: While tidy-
ing his studio, Kernan placed some stones from a recent shoot on top of the pages of an open antique book. “I was taking a poetry class at Wesleyan at the time and I thought, ‘That looks like a poem,’” Kernan recalled. “It doesn’t tell you everything. It doesn’t look like prose. It invites you in and you have to find the story in the imagery.” “When something really works, you say, ‘I wonder if I could do another one?’ It grew and grew out of that,” Kernan said. He worked on it for about four years. It was pivotal, Kernan averred. “It looks like art. It looks like a thing you could put on your wall.” Central to Kernan’s method—both in his photography and his teaching—is the cultivation of an almost childlike openness to what the world has to offer. The creative individual needs to pay “fierce attention” to what is around them. “By ‘paying fierce attention,’ I mean not looking for anything but seeing what’s there,” Kernan explained. “If you think of what a newborn does in two years to language, starting out with nothing—have nothing to compare it to, no shelf to put anything on and you have to construct
everything and find the meaning, or make up the meaning. But to go out without construct and without agenda always works out better.” Some of Kernan’s most evocative work has resulted from his willingness to place himself in unfamiliar situations, paying fierce attention. On a road trip in 1977, Kernan happened upon a prison and asked the warden if he could come in and shoot.
Sean Kernan. Contributed photo.
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Surprisingly, the warden agreed. Kernan visited that prison in West Virginia and another in Alabama several times over the next few years. In a 2012 appreciation of this series in The New York Times, James Estrin wrote that Kernan “didn’t want to make a statement, or even learn anything in particular. He says he was like a 2-year-old, wandering around and openly encountering whatever he saw. Yet that lack of preconceived notions—and agenda—led to remarkable photos.” In much the same way, Kernan has challenged himself in recent years by exploring documentary video. His “Crow Stories” is a contemporary biography of the Apsaalooka (Crow) people of Montana, told in vignettes that weave together direct testimony, footage of cultural events and visual meditations on the landscape. “I wanted to see what it was like. Could I do anything?” Kernan said. “I quickly discovered it was like photography and tai chi combined. It becomes about time and movement and not just the image.” “The Kampala Boxing Club,” begun in 2009, was shot in Uganda. Kernan neither knew nor cared much about boxing but allowed himself to be open to an alien world. “There’s nothing like something working,” Kernan said. When he returned from his first trip to Africa, he had about 10 minutes of quality footage. Within three
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months, he returned to shoot more. “It demanded it,” he said. The techniques that keep his work fresh are also integral to his teaching. In his workshops—and the e-book derived from them—he relies heavily on exercises gleaned from the theater milieu. Fresh out of University of Pennsylvania in the mid-1960s—where he studied writing—he began working with the fledgling Long Wharf Theatre. It was, he said, “a magic world, another universe.” While Kernan didn’t stay long at Long Wharf, the improvisatory and challenging approaches to creativity he learned there have become a hallmark of his artistic and teaching practice. “I had two things going on at once,” Kernan recalled of his Long Wharf tenure, where he ended up being production stage manager. “One of which was the kind of exploration that is part of the game. And the other part was my management role—to get everybody to rehearsal on time.” It was a question of balance. While Kernan built a career doing professional photography for advertising and corporate clients, he reserved time for his artistic pursuits. “I always knew I didn’t get into it to have a job. If I didn’t keep using it to poke around and go into other worlds, after 15 years, I’d be ‘Where did the fun go?’” Kernan said. n
Photo from the “The Secret Books” series. Image courtesy of Sean Kernan.
“When something really works, you say, ‘I wonder if I could do another one?’” -Sean Kernan
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Just Getting Started dan hajducky At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, 12 street-bound children band together— against gang violence, among other obstacles—in the attempt to survive an unbearably harsh winter. No, that isn’t the plot of an underrated, back-listed Charles Dickens novel. That paraphrased (and rather shortened) summary is the plot of New Haven-based author Leslie M. Browning’s most recent release, The Castoff Children, which takes place in mid-19th century Boston and not London as it may have seemed to the Oliver Twist faithful. Browning, who grew up in Mystic, is uniquely familiar with both the London streets Dickens was inspired by and the abject conditions some of his most famous characters were subjected to. “I grew up poor, on ‘the other side of the tracks,’ [in] the fishing village of Mystic, walking the decks of old wooden whaling ships. My mother was an avid lover of English literature [and] I went to the University of London then to Boston for Harvard’s Extension School,” Browning said. If the idea of twelve “castoff” children caring for each other through brutal, snowy winters seems removed from the serene maritime community of Mystic… guess again. “I lost my family at the formative age of 21,” Browning told The Arts Paper. “[The Castoff Children] is a convergence of my own sensibilities, [the] books I read as a child— such as Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and The Boxcar Children—all intertwined with my own struggle of losing the majority of my family while at the same time going through a time of profound poverty,” Browning recalled. “Like so many works of fiction, the book is emotionally true and simply poured into the fiction vessel.” “Out of high school, I was pre-med,” Browning recalled. “I was accepted to a college in Rochester, New York, when fate intervened: My mother became very sick and various family dramas and eventual financial difficulties forced me to defer college.” Browning came home to care for her mother and wrote cathartically, finding inspiration both in writers her mother introduced her to as a child (L.M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott) and writers she grew to love in her independent studies (Anne Dillard, Rainer Maria Rilke, Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau, to name a few). “When I was 26, I wrote a poetry collection in the space of two weeks. I am proudly an alumni of the public library system—that was my true education and I got it for $0.89 in late fees,” Browning said through a smile. “At [27], I was offered a five-book deal with a small press. The rest, they say, is history,” she said. Browning is flabbergasted at the notion that The Castoff Children, which took her 10 years to complete, happens to be her tenth book. “Wow… I had honestly lost count” she admitted. “I feel like I am just getting started.” The notion of a two-time Pushcart Prize
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Leslie M. Browning. Contributed photo.
nominee, who was elected to the board of directors of the 3,000-member Independent Book Publishers’ Association in 2016, just getting started is admirable, to say the least. “The books came through my pen more easily when I was in my twenties. The words come slower now but I feel that I am more thoughtful in my works. [Thinking] back on it all, I feel grateful to have a voice in the world,” Browning said. “I feel like it took me nine books just to start to find my authentic voice as a writer and now I am starting to come into my own.” Browning may feel she’s starting to come into her own as a writer, but she’s long been an active and ardent champion of independent publishing. In 2011, she founded Homebound Publications, which includes an audio division, environmental literature press Hiraeth Press, Owl House Books, the literary magazine The Wayfarer (of which Browning is the founder and editor-in-chief), and the book designing and publishing consulting firm Navigator Graphics. “I think independent publishers are on the forefront of publishing,” Browning resoundingly asserted. “The big houses want the next blockbuster. They don’t necessarily care if it’s good writing, as long as it sells.” “I’m proud to be in independent publishing at this point in time. I’ve had the chance to abandon my indie endeavors and take a job at one of the houses in New York… but I’ve chosen to stay where I am out of a belief in what we’re doing,” she said. For an author who’s ten books into her writing career, one might be tempted to envision Browning’s path as glamorous; she’s quick to pounce on that notion. “I don’t think being a writer is a profession; it is a state of being. You don’t choose to be a writer…you simply are one. Then you
have to go from there and decide how you want to have a voice in the world,” Browning said. After a deep breath, she had some advice for young writers: “You won’t be able to make a living off your writing. You’ll need to work odd jobs, freelance, [and] fiercely protect your writing time. You will have to make sacrifices and living in a minimal fashion. All that said, it’s worth it.” This year is a big one for Browning, one of extreme professional progress. “We have over fifteen titles coming out through Homebound Publications and have expansions on the way. The Wayfarer is growing stronger each year,” Browning said, also mentioning that the sequel to The Castoff Children is already in progress and that she’s putting together a comprehensive volume of all her poetry. “Wearing multiple hats is simply part of my life and it is exhausting and overwhelming,” Browning admitted. “In the end, I find it rewarding because I am feeding the most precious thing I have—my time and energy—into something I’m building and with which I emotionally resonate.” “The key is to de-
vote your life to what you feel passionately about,” Browning opined. “I love the connection that comes from writing: reaching out to the reader and letting them know they are not alone in their thoughts.” But for Browning, the question of what’s next has, without fail, always elicited the same answer: “Just keep writing. That has always been what’s next [for me].” n
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New Executive Director Announced amanda may aruani The Arts Council of Greater New Haven welcomes Daniel Fitzmaurice as our new Executive Director. Fitzmaurice began the second week of March, and comes to us from neighboring arts organization, Creative Arts Workshop, where he served as Executive Director from 2015 to 2017. Under his leadership, Creative Arts Workshop expanded its visibility, programs, and fiscal stability. He previously worked for the Elm Shakespeare Company and Neighborhood Music School. Fitzmaurice is also a classical pianist, teaches arts management courses at Albertus Magnus College, and hosts Artbeat on the New Haven Independent’s WNHH radio station. He received a Bachelor of Music in education and piano from Temple University and he and his family live in Orange, Connecticut. “We are thrilled to welcome Daniel to The Arts Council during this important transition,” said Eileen O’Donnell, Chair of The Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s Board of Directors. “As an arts leader, collaborator, and innovator, he is exactly what our regional arts and cultural sector of the 21st century needs.” “It’s a new chapter and a time for
ous positions, he says he saw first hand how they don’t have time to advocate for themselves. He also stressed “We are not competing with agencies. We want to compliment and build. [Mine is] an everybody rising together plan. I see how The Arts Council can be the connective tissue for artists and creative businesses.” We look forward to seeing where his leadership takes us and how this new phase in our organization unfolds! n
Antoinette Brim, Board Chair of Creative Arts Workshop, Daniel Fitzmaurice and Rick Wies, Arts Council Board Vice President. Photo by Katrina Goldburn.
transformation at The Arts Council,” Fitzmaurice said. “It’s really an honor to be selected to take on this role at this really important time.” Fitzmaurice, working with the staff and the Board of Directors, plans to take a
“listening posture” and truly make this “your Arts Council.” Some of his duties will take him to Hartford to advocate for funding, which he acknowledges remains the foremost concern for many area artists and arts organizations. In his previ-
“It’s really an honor to be selected to take on this role at this really important time.” -Daniel Fitzmaurice
Join The Arts Council! The Arts Council of Greater New Haven is dedicated to enhancing, developing, and promoting opportunities for artists, arts organizations, and audiences throughout the Greater New Haven area. Join us today! newhavenarts.org/membership The Arts Paper Read our feature articles and download the latest edition. issuu.com/artscouncil9 #ARTNHV Blog The Arts Council’s blog, which covers all things art in Greater New Haven. artNHV.com
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Arts Council on Facebook Get the inside scoop on what’s happening in the arts now! facebook.com/artscouncilofgreaternewhaven Creative Directory Looking for something? Find local creative businesses and artists with our comprehensive arts-related directory. You should be listed here! newhavenarts.org/directory E-newsletter Your weekly source for arts happening in Greater New Haven delivered right to your inbox. Sign up at: newhavenarts.org
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The Arts Paper april 2017
Escapism with The Nu Haven Kapelye
The record release party for Whats Nu? at the Whitneyville Cultural Commons. Photo by Zac Zuber-Zander.
zac zuber-zander Two days after the presidential election, I found myself at the Whitneyville Cultural Commons hearing the band The Nu Haven Kapelye and their very first record, Whats Nu? A large, beautiful room was dimly lit, and a string of lights hung from the balcony. People arrived, and little murmurs could be heard over the shuffling of chairs and instrument cases opening and closing. Everyone spoke about the same thing, and the heaviness of the room floated above our heads. It wasn’t long before the veil of previous days began to disintegrate, and the musicians shuffled on stage. David Chevan—the band leader and bassist—welcomed everyone to their record release party and asked how many of us were wearing pantsuits. Everyone laughed and applauded Chevan at his ability to find humor in the not-so-humorous time. This is exactly what I need right now, I remember thinking at the time.
The Whats Nu? album cover. Image courtesy of David Chevan.
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Chevan then led the orchestra into a live performance of their record. Spanning the numerous people on stage—around 20 or 25—were musicians of every age and type, all gathered closely together. As stated on their website (nuhavenkapelye. com), The Nu Haven Kapelye is a “very, very big Klezmer group based in the greater New Haven community.” To match their big numbers, their record is full of big sounds—strong brass, piercing woodwinds, and, of course, a thumping bass. For the sheer volume of sound and the varying parts and instruments, the result is incredibly well-balanced. The group began in 1990 with a small group of local musicians to perform Jewish music for the New Haven community on December 25. Since that year, the group has grown and transformed into a collective of musicians, varying in age, skill level, instruments, styles—and now have an album. The Nu Haven Kapelye has found a way to take traditional-sounding Jewish music and make it feel very contemporary. Whether that’s the inclusion of the Seltzer Sisters (singers Jackie Sidle and Hedda Rubenstein) or the solos of alto sax by Dalton King or the solos of an accordion by Christina Crowder, the record feels very now. Beyond The Nu Haven Kapelye, Chevan is involved in many musical projects, including the Afro-Semitic Experience, teaching music and directing ensembles at South Connecticut State University, and other varying main and side projects. He finds inspiration in the recordings of improvisers such as John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, The Meters, Charlie Haden, Dr.
John, Stevie Wonder, and Pauline Oliveros. He also admits to listening and studying the music of Dave Tarras, the Klezmatics, and Belf’s Romanian Orchestra. From seeing him on stage to the conversations we had afterward, the emphasis of music was obvious in Chevan’s life. “All music is important to someone,” Chevan said. “So my goal is to make that music resonate as much as possible for the people who have come to hear it. Whether I am playing at a club, a church, or a synagogue, whether I am playing straight ahead jazz or Klezmer or boogaloo or any of the other music that I’m involved with, I always give it my 100 percent best to make it come alive—to make the musical moment relevant.” This quote struck me when I first read it in one of his emails: “All music is important to someone.” A simple, but truthful statement. And this statement holds much weight to the company that Chevan enlists to join him in his orchestra. Students, professional musicians, amateur musicians, hobbyists—all are welcome. I believe the point of this community is less about hitting the right notes or keeping the rhythm steady (though they do), but more about making music that is meaningful. In our current political climate, Chevan likes to keep politics out of the equation, rather, hoping to “create and perform music that lives in a relatively utopian space where the people… aren’t checking what the politics of an artist are, but listening to the music for the pleasure and the connection it gives us, rather than the affirmation of a particular ideology.” When I showed up to their release party last November, it was as if The Nu Haven
Kapelye knew what was needed most was providing a sense of belonging and comfort to its audience. They wanted to keep their audiences’ mind occupied on community, friendship, and happiness, if only for those two hours. I appreciated the break from reality and the chance to view a new world. One of the more touching moments was during a particularly fun piece where an older couple went up front to dance. They moved and spun for three songs, and the audience was right there with them, laughing and clapping. At the same time, alongside the wall, three children were dancing and goofing around with the music. It was a wonderful sight. Music spans beyond generations and language, and it was living and dancing right in front of us. In times of uncertainty, there are few things that create peace and calm—community, family, love, goodness. The Nu Haven Kapelye album and the release party exercised these concepts for me— the overwhelmingly positive response to their music in person and the passion and hard work put into the recording. In the last few months, it’s a place I have visited often in my mind and through their recording, remembering the excitement and joy I felt. But, eventually, reality snaps back and the album ends. Although it is impossible to know the future or where our lives will take us, sometimes it’s okay just to listen to the music and float away. n For more information about the New Haven Kapelye and to download Whats Nu?, visit nuhavenkapelye.com.
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Yale Rep Turns 50, and Looks Ahead lucy gellman images courtesy of the yale rep
A
t first glance, it’s not entirely clear what’s happening in a still from Christopher Durang and Al-bert Innaurato’s The Idiots Karamazov. Constance Garnett (a young Meryl Streep) leans forward in her rickety wicker wheelchair, eyes fixed on something in the distance. She is sunken-faced and bug eyed; her mouth, suspended in wonderment or confusion or both, is a squat O. Behind her, dutiful butler Ernest (Ralph Redpath) pushes the chair forward, putting his whole back into it. His shoulders jut out, a wiry white beard above them, and he manages a funny, sort of half smile. The year is 1974, and the Yale Repertory Theatre, just eight years old, has no idea that it will live to see its 50th birthday. But the piece, a world premiere by Yale School of Drama graduates Durang and Innaurato that lampoons Fyodor Dostoyevsky himself, spoke even then to something fundamental about the Yale Rep. This was a space where new works could burst onto a stage, get a moment to breathe, and were granted a certain permission to fail (or fly, as many did to Broadway). Forty-two years since that performance and 50 since the
Rep’s conception and that might still be where it wants to be. Founded as part of the Yale School of Drama under Robert Brustein in 1966, the Yale Rep has long had a history of risk taking. In 1967, Yale bought the First Cavalry Baptist Church building on 1120 Chapel St., subverting the building’s original use as it brought new, sometimes irreverent and experimental pieces onto its stage. If Brustein’s priority was jumpstarting the Rep as a sort of incubator, his successors Lloyd Richards and Stan Wojewodski, Jr. embraced and expanded that mission, bringing on playwrights including August Wilson while he was working on his American Century cycle, and later Susan Lori-Parks as she was hitting her stride. When James Bundy took the role of School of Drama Dean and Yale Rep Artistic Director in 2002, he redoubled that commitment to new work, while retaining a love for—and deep faith in—classics, including plays that had become classics on the Yale Rep stage. In 2008 he helped launch the university’s Binger Center for New Theatre, a new fund for commissioning, developing and executing new plays at Yale. Now directing the 50th anniversary season, he said it’s that dovetailing of old and new that keeps the Rep growing.
Ralph Redpath and Meryl Streep in the world premiere of The Idiots Karamazov by Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato, 1974.
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“I think we’re a little bit where we started,” he said in an interview with The Arts Paper. “Because the Rep is a professional theater that is run by the School of Drama, it will always be devoted to the investigation of canonical work and new work. It’s no fun and it’s not worth the time and the money to go to the theater to be told something you already know and have your prejudices confirmed. We at the Rep have the obligation to take the risks that our fellow theaters don’t specifically have. We’re the equivalent of a theatrical laboratory that can transfer to the wider culture.” Nowhere, perhaps, is that better personified than in the current season, where works by contemporary masters and new playwrights James Earl Jones in the world premiere of Fences by August Wilson, 1985. bump shoulders with each other in the wings. campus; stairs separate both buildings from Three world premieres by three strong the sidewalk, and give no indication that they women—Sarah Ruhl’s Scenes From Court Life are warm, inviting, and accessible to the gen(September 30 - October 22, 2016), Aditi eral public. Brennan Kapil’s Imogen Says Nothing (January Instead, Bundy wants a facility “that feels 20 - February 11, 2017) and Amy Herzog’s like part of the New Haven streetscape,” with Mary Jane (April 28 - May 20, 2017)—rise more windows, natural light, and better sigup to meet works by August Wilson and Ste- nage. And that, which may come to fruition phen Sondheim, themselves once fledgling in the next five years, has led him to think creatives to whom the Rep gave residences even further down the line. and world premieres. According to Bundy “I guess I sort of leave it to other people to and Managing Director Victoria Nolan, decide what my legacy is,” Bundy said. “I do they’re bound not by an inherently political think of 50 years out—given the fact that the thread—although all of them strike with University Theatre [on York Street] in which chillingly timely significance—but an innately we’re still performing, was built in 1925, I and profound human sensibility. imagine us creating a facility that will be pre“We get so excited about the topicality of pared to make influential theatre for generaa particular subject that we forget that these tions to come. I have to have a certain degree kinds of challenges are deeply human and of courage about what that envelope looks have been going on for a long time,” Bundy like, and I have to have a degree of humility.” said of the plays, zeroing in on Mary Jane to “In 50 years, there will still be evil in the make his point. From playwright-director world,” he added. “Since all great plays are team Amy Herzog and Anne Kaufmann (also about people who are behaving badly, people of the Belleville world premiere in 2011), the will be making theatre whether we live in a play opens on a character trying to care for technological or a post-tech society. It’s our a critically ill child, painting her journey to do need for storytelling that is performed by so as both contemporary and not, more exis- people in the presence of other people.” n tential than anything else. That belief—that it is a narrative (rather Mary Jane closes out the Rep’s than temporal) continuity that binds works anniversary season, playing April 28 to to their audiences, has also left Bundy and May 20. Get tickets at yalerep.org. several colleagues thinking about the Rep’s next 50 years, and how to make them more Photography exhibitions commemorating the accessible to New Haveners. 50th anniversary are taking place at The Study Despite steps forward that the Rep has at Yale, 1157 Chapel Street, New Haven, the taken in lowering ticket prices and working to Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library, Lower Level, draw in younger theater-goers with matinee 180 York Street, New Haven, and the New York performances, there’s still a certain exclusivPublic Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy ity that Bundy is trying to break down. Sites and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center on both York and Chapel Streets are well Plaza, New York City. integrated into Yale’s Gothic and modernist
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Trading on Nostalgia
road trip! at the new haven museum
Above: Wilbur Cross Parkway, circa 1950, from the collection of Mary Donohue. This postcard is just one of the many artifacts that make up the Road Trip! exhibtion at the New Haven Museum.
steve scarpa photos courtesy of the new haven museum
T
he New Haven Museum’s current exhibit captures the wistful, fond feelings felt by many people when asked about their own car trips. It captures a nostalgia for a simpler time, when one just packed up the car and took off through a burgeoning, prosperous America. The exhibit, curated by historian Mary Donohue, entitled Road Trip!, is on display through the Spring. “Family road trips created vivid childhood memories for many of us. Whether it was a day trip to Savin Rock Amusement Park, a trip up to the mountains or down by the seashore, a trip to a family reunion or a grand adventure to Yosemite, we all remember what it was like to pack up the car and go,” Executive Director Margaret Anne Tockarshewsky said in a statement. Road Trip! comprises more than 175 items crowd sourced from New Haven area residents and memorabilia from local historical societies and small museums. Among Donohue’s areas of focus: food shacks and diners, the Berlin Turnpike, amusement parks, family resorts, gas stations, and the 1964 World’s Fair. It demonstrates both the kitsch and the beauty of the road. While the exhibit certainly trades upon a level of
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nostalgia for simpler times, it is a serious chronicle of the roads and buildings that were designed to accommodate the car. “It’s been a wild process,” Donahue said. “We accepted e-mail submissions. We wanted to get as wide a range of Greater New Haven’s stories as possible. [People] also brought us photographs and souvenirs of their travels that they loved. It was a surprise every day as to what was going to come through the door.” The work of Richard Longstreth, a professor of American Studies at The George Washington University, makes up the heart of the exhibit. Between 1970 and 1979, the period when Longstreth was in graduate school and just starting his academic career, he drove more than 60,000 miles across the country. While Longstreth traversed the country, he took photos of the roadside stands, diners, and service stations along his route. While publication wasn’t his initial intention, he did end up putting together a book called Road Trip in 2015 highlighting his photography. “I did this before and after graduate
school. I didn’t do it for any project. Roadside architecture interested me as a phenomenon. Anything that pervasive has some degree of significance. No one had done anything at that point. So I was a voyeur. I was just looking at it, photographing it, knowing that a lot of it was going to go,” he said. The automobile didn’t just provide a kind of liberation to the person who owned one. Its continued preeminence in American life created an entire service subculture. The American tourism industry, particularly surrounding the automobile, was started by local entrepreneurs. “The automobile is a great liberator because now anybody in a rural situation can be an entrepreneur. It is a kind of vernacular—farmers, salesmen, store clerks. If you have some property along a highway, there is something you could do to make a few extra bucks,” Longstreth said. The first car that was accessible to the general public was the 1908 Ford Model T. It didn’t take long, less than a decade, for buildings to catch up with the automobile. In the 1910s, buildings started being spe-
“Everyone has a road trip story”
cifically designed to accommodate cars. The idea of going out and traveling longer distances as a recreational activity quickly took hold. For example, between 1920 and 1927, the number of restaurants went up by 40 percent. Americans were on the move. “The road offered the freedom to express yourself and freedom to fail,” Longstreth said. The road could also be a complicated, frightening place for some people. For example, from 1936 to 1966, The Green Book was a published guide to let African-American travelers know where they could find food and lodging in safe and welcoming neighborhoods. (Some places were deserted and potentially violent.) Once the car became a permanent, unyielding part of the nation’s life, writers and other artists began to weigh in on the subject. American writers have poured millions of words onto pages trying to capture the feeling of car travel. Steinbeck did it in Travels with Charley. Kerouac did it in On The Road. William Least Heat-Moon did it in Blue Highways. So did Longstreth himself. The list goes on. “It’s hard to describe. It’s a very visceral sort of feeling,” Longstreth said. “You are free in many ways on the open road. The unexpected is part of the pleasure of it. A lot of it is surprise. You don’t know what you are going to run into.”
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Donohue said that that exhibit wasn’t trying to capture the experience of the business traveler, with its own sets of inconveniences and joys. She was trying to grab and hold onto the moment when a kid leaves for college, when a family gets to head off to their special place, when someone has a moment to explore. “It is universal. Whether you are a Baby Boomer, Generation Y or a Millennial, if you ever made an effort to go to your favorite summer eating place, or whether you’ve ever pulled off the interstate to find somewhere local to eat … it makes it so much fun and it brings an element of excitement and adventure to every trip, no matter where you go. If you are willing to get on the road and see those local, kitsch, even ‘tourist trappy’ places you find on those two lane highways,” she said. Donohue’s favorite road trip memory came from her childhood. She grew up in Indiana and her grandmother lived four hours away, in Ohio. It was a long ride and a relatively plain one, traveling through vast unvaried cornfields for long stretches. “This was before there were any interstates at all, so you knew when you got in the car … there were always certain pivotal points. There was one little town that had the best ice cream soda counter. We always had to stop at the Penguin Point Ice Cream Store. We knew that there were those food experiences you were going to have on this trip in addition to whatever your mom packed in those baskets,” Donahue remembered. Everyone has a road trip story. My family is no different. We took certain trips every summer. We would load up in our family car and drive to Gillette Castle from our small home in New Haven. It’s not far, but the change from the hot pavements of my neighborhood to the cool green of the Connecticut River Valley made it feel as if it was a world away. My father would fill a jug with a mix of 7UP or Sprite and orange juice. This particular drive was the only time we ever drank this concoction. We also took other, longer family road trips. Cape Cod. Wildwood, New Jersey. Lake George. When we were young, taking a long flight somewhere just wasn’t feasible, so like Americans for time immemorial, we hit the open road. It never stopped being exciting. n For museum hours and more information visit newhavenmuseum.org and search for the New Haven Museum on YouTube, where a few locals have been documented telling their road trip stories.
Tommy’s Hamburgers, 1970, Georgia Ave. and East-West Highway, Silver Springs, Maryland, by Richard Longstreth.
Postcard from a roadside motel.
Plastic “swizzle stick,” collection of Marvin Barger.
Above: Artifact from the New York World’s Fair in 1964. Below: Mr. and Mrs. Horton and Marion Bronson on a picnic, May 1919, Lake Quonnipaug, Guilford, CT. Thomas S. Bronson Collection.
Wigwam Restaurant, 1971, US Route 301, Waldorf, Maryland.
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CALENDAR
Classes & Workshops
6 p.m. Exhibition on view 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Free and open to the public.
Annie Sailer Studio Space Erector Square, 315 Peck St., Building 2, 1st Floor, Studio D, New Haven. (347) 306-7660. anniesailerdancecompany.com Modern Dance Classes with Annie Sailer Adult, beginning, and intermediate level classes taught by Annie Sailer. Adults of all ages welcome. The atmosphere is friendly, noncompetitive, and professional. Beginning level classes: Tuesdays, 6-7:30 p.m. and Fridays, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Intermediate level classes: Mondays, 6-7:30 p.m. and Wednesdays, 5:30-7 p.m. Contact: anniesailer@gmail. com. 10 class card: $150, single class: $18.
City Gallery 994 State St., New Haven. (203) 782-2489. city-gallery.org Solace A series of predominantly white minimalist photographs, taken in local urban neighborhoods. The white squares, with decreasing use of color, act as stepping stones towards the final all white images. In an environment filled with noise and distraction, Solace represents a short journey into an inner space of quiet and tranquility. March 30 April 30. On view every Thursday through Sunday in April, 12-4 p.m., Artist Reception: April 8, 2-5 p.m. Free. Creative Arts Workshop 80 Audubon St., New Haven. (203) 562-7279. creativeartsworkshop.org Chaos & Order New England Wax presents an exhibition of encaustic artwork at the Hilles Gallery in the Creative Arts Workshop. Through April 21.
Bethesda Lutheran Church 450 Whitney Ave., New Haven. (203)787-2346. bethesdanewhaven.org/dance Ballroom Dance Classes Bethesda Dance offers free weekly ballroom dance classes with Christina Castaneda. Flexible attendance policy. See church website for monthly schedule. Beginners and experienced dancers welcome. Singles and couples can attend. Wear comfortable clothing. Sign up and info: BethesdaDance@yahoo.com. Tuesdays, 6-7 p.m. through May 30. Suggested donation to the church $5/week. Institute Library 847 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 562-4045. institutelibrary.org Storysharing at the Institute Library Storysharing, an opportunity to share stories in an informal atmosphere or simply listen. Meets on the third Thursday of each month. Stories may be of any kind—traditional folk tales, myths, stories of personal experience, etc. Open to all levels. Thursday, April 20, 6-8 p.m. Free. Donations accepted; registration encouraged. Poetry Institute On the third Thursday of each month, the Poetry Institute’s Poetry Series celebrates an eclectic mix of poetic voices in a casual setting. Open mic. Outstanding featured readers. Open to all members of the public. Refreshments provided. Participants are invited to bring something to share. Thursday, April 20, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Free. Donations accepted; registration encouraged. 6:30-8:30 p.m. RSCDS at the Whitneyville Cultural Commons 1253 Whitney Avenue, Hamden. (203) 281-6591. www.rscdsnewhaven.org Scottish Country Dancing Enjoy dancing the social dances of Scotland. Come alone or with a friend. All dances taught. Wear soft-soled non-street shoes. Every Tuesday evening through May 23rd. $8 per evening. First night free. 7-9:30 p.m. Spectrum Art Gallery 61 Main St., Centerbrook. (860) 767-0742. www.spectrumartgallery.org Art Classes for All Ages Spectrum Gallery offers art instruction for all ages including After School Painting and Mixed Media/Sculpture for children ages 7-11, as well as classes for adults: oil, acrylic, watercolor, drawing, and more. Try a Sunday afternoon workshop, and spend a few hours creatively experimenting with a variety of media. View schedule and register online! Suzanne Siegel Studio 2351 Boston Post Rd., Bldg. 2, Suite 210, Guilford. (203) 215-1468. suzannesiegel.net New Drop-In Program Come & work on your art among a supportive and friendly group of artists in a quiet, large, and comfortable studio with good light and large tables. Enjoy an interactive process with questions answered, tools supplied, and plenty of suggestions for improving your process with your materials. Email to sign up: suzanne@suzannesiegel. net.Every Wednesday morning through May 31. $30/ week. 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
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Davison Art Center Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, 301 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events Converging to a Center: Photographs from the Collection of Andrew Szegedy Photography has evolved dramatically since 1970, when Wesleyan’s Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek, Professor of Classical Studies and Environmental Studies Andrew Szegedy-Maszak started collecting. Converging to a Center highlights 35 photographs acquired in the last two decades. March 31 - May 28 . On view Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4 p.m. Free.
Miguel Covarrubias, Drawing of W.C. Handy inscribed by Handy to Langston Hughes, 1926/1941. Image courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven. (203) 695-1215. ctnsi.com CTNSI at Yale Peabody Museum Challenging and Inspiring Art Classes for Adults starting in April: Drawing and Painting Gems and Minerals, Colored Pencil I, Watercolor I, Drawing and Painting Birds, Botanical Watercolor, Composition, and Introduction to Paleo Art. Visit the website for course descriptions and registration. Contact: ctnsi.info@gmail.com.
28 & 29 Friday & Saturday
Dance
Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library 146 Thimble Islands Road, Stony Creek. (203) 508-3353. marianwittinkprints.com Over The Moon A printmaking exhibit featuring monotype prints and mixed media, I experiment with color size and shapes inspired by the beauty of nature, the skies, and the oceans. My medium is oil-based inks, watercolor, and collage. Part of this series was inspired by the magical display of the super moon in the fall of 2016. April 1-24. Artist Reception: Sunday, April 2, 4-6 p.m. Exhibit is open for viewing daily during library hours, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.
March 30 - April 1 Spring Senior Thesis Dance Concert Patricelli ‘92 Theater, Wesleyan University Center for the Arts. A collection of new works presented by senior choreographers as part of their culminating project for the dance major. March 30 - April 1, 8 p.m., 213 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
28 Friday ACES/ECA Dance Department presents ANIKAYA Dance Theater’s Entangling ACES ECA Arts Hall. Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. April 28, 7:30 p.m. 55 Audubon Street, New Haven. (203) 777-5451. aces.org/eca.
Spring Dance Concert Patricelli ‘92 Theater, Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Student dance choreographers present new works created after a full year of dance composition studies. April 28 - 29, 8 p.m. 213 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
Exhibitions
Artists Live 23 Royce Circle, Mansfield Storrs. (860) 933-6000. kathleen-zimmerman-artist.com Artists Live is a visual arts program that was awarded a Regional Arts Grant. It features monthlong exhibitions starting the 1st Friday of each month March through December except for August. The final Friday of each month the exhibiting artist and Kathleen Zimmerman will have an artist conversation at 5 p.m. followed by a reception at
Ely Center of Contemporary Art 51 Trumbull St., New Haven. facebook.com/elycenterofcontemporaryart In Grace We Trust A medley of projects to honor Grace T. Ely, founder of the John Slade Ely House, who gifted the art center to New Haven for the past fifty years. Through April 9. Hours: Friday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. and by appointment. Gallery seeks site-responsive projects that take into consideration the architectural space and history of the building and gallery. Contact info@elycenter.org for more information. Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. www.wesleyan. edu/cfa/events Senior Thesis Exhibitions View the talents of the seniors in the Art Studio Program of Wesleyan’s Department of Art and Art History. April 4-30. Tuesday-Sunday, 12-5 p.m. Free Senior Thesis Exhibition Reception - Week One View the talents of seniors Kai Blatt, Hadley Feingold, Tessa Houstoun, Max Levine, and Zander Porter in the Art Studio Program of Wesleyan’s Department of Art and Art History. April 5, 4-6 p.m. Free. Senior Thesis Exhibition Reception - Week Two View the talents of seniors Maria Ma, Sarah Prickett, Silas Newman, Lydia Tonkonow, and Cameron Arkin in the art studio program of Wesleyan’s Department of Art and Art History. April 12, 4-6 p.m. Free. Senior Thesis Exhibition Reception - Week Three View the talents of seniors Dylan Beckman, Harrison Carter, Elinor Case-Pethica, Caren Ye, and Katilin Chan in the Art Studio Program of Wesleyan’s Department of Art and Art History. April 19, 4-6 p.m. Free. Senior Thesis Exhibition Reception - Week Four View the talents of seniors Lucia Salwen, Lily Homer, Sonya Torres, Alison Lam, and Haenah Kwon in the Art Studio Program of Wesleyan’s Department of Art and Art History. April 26, 4-6 p.m. Free.
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Detail of Rotary by Gigi Horr Liverant, who is the featured artist for April’s Artists Live exhibition, hosted by Kathleen Zimmerman. Guilford Art Center, Mill Gallery The Artists of Gallery One, 411 Church St., Guilford. (860) 5759113. galleryoneCT.com The Artists of Gallery One & Friends at Guilford Art Center, Mill Gallery The work is by a diverse group of mid-career artists who utilize current modes of expression in a variety of contemporary media. The hanging intentionally emphasizes connections between representational and abstract work. Opening reception on Friday, April 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. Closing reception with gallery talk by Julia Pavone on Sunday, May 7 from 2 to 4 p.m. April 18 - May 7. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Free. Institute Library 847 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 562-4045. institutelibrary.org
1st Floor Show: Nasty Women Over 200 artists will exhibit work in the first New Haven Nasty Women exhibition, one of 40 cities in the nationwide movement organized to celebrate women’s voices and stand together, amid our cultural contributions, to recognize the collective muscle of our intellect, humor, and craft. Through Sunday, April 9 (Fri. 3-6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Sun. 12-3 p.m. or buzz the Institute Library M-F 10 a.m.-6 p.m.) Free. Donations accepted. 2nd Floor Show: Looking Then Reading An exhibition of paintings by local artists, displayed in the nooks and crannies of the historic Institute Library. Artists: Susan McCaslin, Heather Hill Young, John Keefer, Barbara Marks, Daniel Eugene, Amy Vensel, Noe Jimenez, Frank Bruckmann, and Steve Digiovanni. M-F 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Through May 25. Free. Donations accepted. 3rd Floor Show: The Gallery Upstairs: Mincing Words: The Tactile Language of Unrest Works by contemporary visual artists using the play between image and word to comment, in a very literal sense, on our current condition. Artists: David Borawski, Matthew J. Feiner, Kirsten Hassenfeld, Learn -as- Protest, Cayla Lockwood, Jeff Mueller/ Dexterity Press, Scott Schuldt, Rita Valley, Robert Zott. Curated By Martha Willette Lewis. Through May 21. On view M-F 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-2 p.m.) Free. Donations accepted. Kehler Liddell Gallery 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. (203) 389-9555. kehlerliddellgallery.com Walls / Enigmatic Canyons Walls, a mixed-media exhibition by member artist Liz Antle-O’Donnell showcases prints, paintings, 3-D installation, video, and small works of fiction. Running simul-
Let Us March On Lee Friedlander and the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
taneously in the gallery is Enigmatic Canyons, a photography exhibit by member artist Alan Shulik. Opening Reception (during Westville’s Second Saturday For the Love of Art): April 8, 3-6 p.m. Through April 23. Free and open to all. HOME: One Planet. One Home. Since November 2016, it feels like so much of what we love is under attack. Among their many plans, the current administration is working to dismantle the EPA by 2018. Why is climate change still up for debate? HOME: One Planet. One Home is a juried exhibition that confronts these issues. On view
from April 27 - May 28. April 27 - May 28 . See website for gallery hours. Free Knights of Columbus Museum 1 State St., New Haven. (203) 865-0400. kofcmuseum.org Fleeing Famine: Irish Immigration to North America From 1845 to 1860, more than 1.5 million Irish immigrants sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to North America in the cramped quarters below the decks of the “coffin ships.” On view through September 2017. Open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free admission & parking.
yale institute of sacred music presents
The Complexities of Unity
exhibit open through june 13 Weekdays 9–4 except holidays Sterling Divinity Quadrangle 409 Prospect St., New Haven
Presented with support from Yale Divinity School
Averill Curdy & Penelope Pelizzon reading from their poetry
thursday, april 6 · 5:30 pm
Sterling Memorial Library Auditorium 130 Wall St., New Haven Yale Literature & Spirituality Series
Presented with support from Yale Divinity Student Book Supply
Events free; no tickets or reservations required ism.yale.edu
v
Enlightened Princesses caroline, augusta, charlotte, and the shaping of the modern world
February 2–April 30, 2017
Through July 9, 2017 YA L E U N I V E R S I T Y A R T GA L L E RY Free and open to the public | artgallery.yale.edu 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut | 203.432.0600 @yaleartgallery Lee Friedlander, Mahalia Jackson (at podium); first row: Mordecai Johnson, Bishop Sherman Lawrence Greene, Reverend Thomas J. Kilgore, Jr., and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., from the series Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957, printed later. Gelatin silver print. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Maria and Lee Friedlander, HON. 2004. © Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. Photo courtesy Eakins Press Foundation
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Free and open to the public 1 877 BRIT ART britishart.yale.edu 1080 Chapel St., New Haven Organized in association with
Johan Joseph Zoffany, Queen Charlotte (detail), 1771, oil on canvas, Royal Collection Trust, UK, © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017
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Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies Gallery Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, 343 Washington Terrace, Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events The Old Northern Capital - Beijing This exhibition’s prints from hand-tinted color lantern slides of the Chinese imperial gardens, palaces, and ritual centers in Beijing date from the 1930s, when the city was no longer China’s capital and its old name, Northern Capital, had been replaced by “Beiping” or Northern Peace. The prints were in the collection of Henry Courtenay Fenn. Through May 10, Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4 p.m. Free.
5-6:45 p.m. Texas Cocktails, Tapas for Texas appetites, and Silent Auction at Artspace 7-8 p.m. Live auction with Sotheby’s Auctioneer Kevin Doyle at 45 Church Street 8-9 p.m. Dessert & photo booth featuring work by Josef Albers, Katherine Bradford, Tom Burr, Nicole Eisenman, Jim Goldberg, Georgia O’Keefe, and more. Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. (203) 772-2709. artspacenewhaven.org.
New Haven Museum 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-562-4183. newhavenmuseum.org Road Trip! Exhibition at New Haven Museum New Haven Museum’s exhibition, Road Trip! is a celebration of the architecture, food, and fun found on the byways and back roads of America. November 22 - June 17 . See website for museum hours. $2-$4.
Music Together Classes First Presbyterian Church, 704 Whitney Ave., New Haven. (203) 691-9759. MusicalFolk.com. Musical Folk offers Music Together classes for children, a fun creative music and movement program for babies through 5 years and those who love them. Sing, dance, and play instruments in an informal and fun setting. Classes and demo classes ongoing throughout the year in New Haven, Hamden, Woodbridge, Cheshire, and Branford. Classes held everyday (morning, afternoon, and weekend classes available). 11-week semester is $249 and includes a songbook and CD. Each semester is a new collection of music. Four semesters per year. Demo classes are free.
PEABODY2 Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 1 Broadway, New Haven. (203) 4325050. peabody.yale.edu/events Identity, Difference, and Understanding: Lessons from Oceania and SE Asia As part of its sesquicentennial celebration, the Yale Peabody Museum announces the opening of PEABODY2, a satellite gallery. The objective of this exhibition is to suggest new ways of thinking about what ethnographic art has to tell us about distant peoples, times, and places. On view through April 30 . M-Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. 1-6 p.m. Free. Perspectives... The Gallery at Whitney Center The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 200 Leeder Hill Dr., Hamden. (203) 281-6745. newhavenarts.org Narrative Abstracts A new exhibition featuring storytelling through visual elements. Curated by Debbie Hesse. On view through April 28, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-7 p.m. & Saturdays, 1-4 p.m. Free. Spectrum Art Gallery 61 Main St., Centerbrook. (860) 767-0742. spectrumartgallery.org Walls, Doors and Fences: Obstacle, Protection, Honor This exhibit explores the question: What are walls, doors and fences for both positive and negative uses? Do they protect, honor, and entice? Or are they obstacles, exclusionary, and isolating? Can they be objects of beauty or ugly and nightmarish? Through May 7. Wed.-Sat. 12-6 p.m.; Sun 12-5 p.m. Free. Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., 2nd Floor, New Haven. (203) 772-2788. newhavenarts.org Represented A group exhibition that explores both personal and cultural approaches to depicting women in art. Curated by Debbie Hesse. On view Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through April 14. Free.
Galas & Fundraisers 3 Monday Book Plates: An Evening to Benefit the Institute Library A singular evening in support of the Institute Library. Guests will enjoy a three-course meal at a specially selected restaurant alongside a fascinating special guest. Restaurants & guests this year: Colin Caplan (Skappo), Clair Criscuolo (Barcelona), Lucy Gellman (Zafra), Ann Nyberg (Fornarelli’s), & Chion Wolf (Zinc). Party and silent auction to follow at the Institute Library. Institute Library, 847 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 562-4045. institutelibrary.org.
29 Saturday Artspace Benefit Action and Gala Paris, Texas
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Kids & Families
Sew Crafty 87 Audubon St., New Haven. 203498-0710. eventbrite.com/e/puppettheater-project-101-tickets-31888888524 Puppet Theater Project 101 Join us for a week-long theater puppetry class for tweens and kids 8 and up. Theater artist Charles G. Baldwin uses drama exercises and narrative play to teach students how to design, build, and animate puppets in a series of classes designed to combine craft with storytelling. April 17-21. 12:30-4 p.m. $165 for the whole week!
Music 1 Saturday Senior Recital - Miles McLeod A senior music recital by Miles McLeod. Of Distortion and Transformation, this performance will explore digital sampling, improvisation, and the use of experimental music notation to produce a unique sonic experience. April 1, 7 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. Neighborhood DoSo Dance Band - Social Dance Event Put on your dancing shoes and join our musicians and dancers! The NDDB is a pan-generational group with musicians of all ages and a repertoire that ranges from 19th Century Habanera to contemporary dance grooves. Tickets available at the door. April 1, 7-9 p.m. $10 adult, $5 youth (18 & under), $5 NMS dance students. Neighborhood Music School, Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. (203) 624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
2 Sunday Senior Recital - Liam Tran A senior music recital by Liam Tran, exploring the friendship that shaped modern English music through vignettes and music by Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. April 2, 2 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Memorial Chapel, 221 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
4 Tuesday Graduate Recital - Omar Guzman A graduate music recital by Omar Guzman, Articulations of Power. April 4, 9 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Memorial Chapel, 221 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
Deborah Hornbake’s Leap is part of the Artists of Gallery One & Friends at the Guilford Art Center’s Mill Gallery exhibition. Image courtesy of the artist.
5 Wednesday Senior Recital - Rachel Rosenman A senior music recital by Rachel Rosenman, The Music of Mel Bonis. As a Catholic woman writing music in late 19th-century France, Bonis faced unique challenges that influenced her compositions. Bonis produced over 300 compositions throughout multiple genres. April 5, 4:30 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Romance Languages and Literatures Building, 300 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
Luton (a.k.a. AquaCats), Pop Is 4 the Kidz, a concert of electronic pop music. The performance of EDM-influenced pop music usually relies heavily on pre-recorded backing tracks or otherwise visually detached sounds to provide the production quality of the original recording. April 7, 9 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
Melvin Chen, Piano Faculty pianist Melvin Chen performs works by Couperin, Ravel, and Chausson. April 5, 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $13, students $7. Yale School of Music, Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. (203) 432-4158. music-tickets.yale.edu/single/ EventDetail.aspx?p=15852.
Faculty Concert Series Musical Mélange. Beloved Chamber Music. Quintet for guitar and strings No. 4 in D Major, G. 448 Fandango by Luigi Boccherini, Concertino by Ernst Bloch, Overture on Hebrew Themes by Sergei Prokofiev, From the Six German Songs by Spohr, Sei still, mein Herz and Sehnsucht.NMS Recital Hall April 7, 7 p.m. Free. Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. (203) 624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
6 Thursday
8 Saturday
Mozart & Schumann The NHSO welcomes the newest member of its New Generation Artist roster, Daniel Hsu, to the Woolsey Stage for Schumann’s Concerto for Piano in A minor. The program will also feature two masterpieces of the Classical era: Mozart’s graceful Symphony No. 40 in G minor and Haydn’s Symphony No. 83, nicknamed “The Hen” for its bird-like sounds. April 6, 7:30 pm $15-74; College students $10; Kids 7-17 go free with the purchase of an adult ticket . New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. (203) 436-4840. NewHavenSymphony.org.
7 Friday
Senior Recital - Cassie Willson A senior music recital by Cassie Willson, I Wasn’t There, a song cycle presentation of a new musical, with music by Willson ‘17 and book and lyrics by Carly Feinman ‘16. April 8, 7 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Fayerweather Beckham Hall, 55 Wyllys St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
9 Sunday Yale Camerata - Music for Palm Sunday Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor. April 9, 4 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. (203) 432-3220. ism.yale.edu/calendar.
Senior Recital - Adam Rochelle and Max Luton A senior music recital by Adam Rochelle and Max
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12 Wednesday WesFest Concert I Riffs, Rhythms, and Remembrance: A Choral and Orchestra The Wesleyan University Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of professor of music Jay Hoggard and the Wesleyan University Orchestra and Concert Choir, under the direction of adjunct assistant professor of music Nadya Potemkina provide a one-hour showcase of some of the Music Department’s larger ensembles. April 12 , 7 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 6853355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
13 Thursday WesFest Concert II This one-hour concert juxtaposes music from multiple continents, centuries, and technologies: choral music from the early 16th-century Habsburg court, traditional Indonesian gamelan, and contemporary live electronics. April 13, 6 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. Senior Recital - David Peck A senior music recital by David Peck, A Storyboard. In the last few years, a new form of media has burst onto the pop culture scene - the visual album. As straightforward as it sounds, however, we already find ourselves hard-pressed to define it, as the recent works have consisted of strikingly disparate processes. April 13, 8 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, 287 Washington Terr., Middletown. (860) 6853355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
14 Friday The Elizabeth Verveer Tishler Keyboard Competition A recital featuring the participants of the Elizabeth Verveer Tishler Keyboard Competition. April 14 - November 30 . 12 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Memorial Chapel, 221 High St., Middletown. 860-685-3355. www. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events Senior Recital - Anna Yin A senior music recital by Anna Yin uses field recordings to explore a
similar concept seen in the film Accented Film in music. April 14, 7 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. Senior Recital - Jackson Anthony A senior music recital by Jackson Anthony -- a film screening of Aide - Memoire, a short film is about Wesleyan’s Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Emeritus Mark Slobin. April 14, 9 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, 287 Washington Terr., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
15 Saturday The Second Movement Presents: HUB New Music Boston-based quartet HUB New Music are not only simply outstanding musicians who have crafted a wonderful and unique aesthetic, this group inspires with their philosophy of music as a “vital component of our cultural ecosystem.” April 15, 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation: $20 adult/$10 student. Tickets available in advance online or at the door. The Second Movement, MActivity Cafe and Fitness Center, 285 Nicoll St., New Haven. (307) 760-0457. secondmovementseries.org/ hub-new-music. Senior Recital - Isaac Butler-Brown A senior music recital by Isaac Butler-Brown, Poetry’s Music Music’s Poetry: Inseparable Difference. April 15, 7 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Memorial Chapel, 221 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
17 Monday Graduate Recital - Tomek Arnold A graduate music recital by Tomek Arnold. April 17, 8 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Memorial Chapel, 221 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
18 Tuesday Senior Recital - Daniel Esposito A senior classical guitar recital by Daniel Esposito, this performance will feature predominantly Spanish guitar music ranging from the Renaissance to the Romantic
period, including such notable composers as Fernanda Sor and Francisco Tarrega. April 18, 7 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/ cfa/events.
19 Wednesday Wesleyan University Collegium Musicum and Concert Choir A lunchtime concert of choral music by the Wesleyan University Collegium Musicum under the direction of Associate Professor of Music and Medieval Studies Jane Alden, and the Concert Choir under the direction of Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Nadya Potemkina, featuring seasonal music spanning four centuries. April 19, 1:30 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Memorial Chapel, 221 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
21 Friday Peter Oundjian - Conductor Principal Conductor Peter Oundjian leads the Yale Philharmonia and soprano Jin-Xiang Yu, winner of the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition, in a program of works by Beethoven, Messiaen, and Adams. Beethoven: Egmont Overture. Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, with Jin-Xiang Yu, soprano. Adams: Naive and Sentimental Music. April 21, 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $10. Yale faculty/staff $8, students $5, $3 surcharge for purchases at the door. Yale School of Music, Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. (203) 432-4158. music-tickets.yale.edu/single/EventDetail. aspx?p=15854.
22 Saturday Mozart Rules James Sinclair leads an all-Mozart program at a new venue with fortepiano soloist Gary Chapman. Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, K. 546 Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 13 in C Major, K. 415. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 449. April 22, 7:30 p.m. Reserved seating $35, general admission $20, student $5. Orchestra New England, Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. (203) 777-4690. orchestranewengland.org/Mozart-Rules.
The Slocan Ramblers will play at Best Video on Friday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. The group is known as one of Canada’s hottest young bluegrass bands. Visit guitartownct.com for info and tickets.
23 Sunday Senior Recital - William King A senior music recital by William King, Polymodal Inventions, featuring original polymodal compositions for two electric guitars, two violins, cello, double bass, and percussion. April 23, 7 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. Philip Moore: Requiem Yale Camerata Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor. U.S. premiere of Philip Moore’s Requiem, and other works. Thomas Murray, organ. April 23, 4 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. (203) 432-3220. ism.yale.edu/ calendar.
24 Monday Ebony Singers Spring Concert Enjoy an evening of great gospel music that is sure to lift your spirits! This concert will be a hand-clapping good time with Wesleyan’s Ebony Singers under the direction of Marichal Monts ‘85. April 24, 8 p.m. $7 general public; $6 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $5. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/ events.
25 Tuesday Piano Recital by Yvonne Troxler Between Charms Virtuoso pianist Yvonne Troxler of the Glass Farm Ensemble performs works by Professor of Music Ronald Kuivila, György Ligeti, Associate Professor of Music Paula Matthusen, and Ian Wilson. April 25, 9 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, The Russell House, 350 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
26 Wednesday Yale Cellos The popular Yale Cellos, featuring students in the studio of Aldo Parisot, perform on April 26, 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $10, Students at $5. Yale School of Music, Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. (203) 432-4158. music-tickets.yale.edu/single/ EventDetail.aspx?p=16018.
27 Thursday
Installation view of Alternative Facts, curated by Joe Bun Keo. It is part of In Grace We Trust at Ely Center of Contemporary Art through April 9.
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Advanced Javanese Gamelan The Wesleyan Gamelan Ensemble, under the direction of Artist in Residence I.M. Harjito, presents classical music of Central Java. April 27, 8 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
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28 Friday Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble The Wesleyan University Jazz Orchestra, directed by Professor of Music Jay Hoggard, and Jazz Ensembles, directed by Noah Baerman with Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and Private Lessons Teacher Pheeroan akLaff, present an exciting evening of classic and contemporary jazz repertoire as part of the 16th annual Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra Weekend. April 28, 8 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Crowell Concert Hall, 55 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. The Slocan Ramblers Canada’s top young bluegrass band. “A tight-knit ensemble with a lot of drive, yet with something of a tantalizing ‘rough edge’ to their sound.” -Sing Out Magazine. April 28, 7:30 p.m. $20 advance, $25 at door. GuitartownCT Productions, Best Video, 1842 Whitney Ave., Hamden. (203) 430-6020. guitartownct.com.
29 Saturday Connecticut Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion The Wesleyan Music Department hosts the annual meeting of the Connecticut Percussive Arts Society, featuring an exploration of the world of percussion with Wesleyan ensembles including the West African Drumming Ensemble, Taiko Drumming Ensemble, Korean Drumming Ensemble, Steelband, and WesWinds, as well as several visiting ensembles. April 29, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. $20 for general public; $10 for members of the Percussive Arts Society & Connecticut Music Educators Association, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, senior citizens, and youth under age 18; free for Wesleyan students. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. Eli Fountain’s Percussion Discussion Acclaimed percussionist and composer Eli Fountain presents an evening of music alongside a formidable cast of fellow jazz musicians including Warren Smith, Professor of Music Jay Hoggard, Bryan Carrott, Bobby Sanabria, Reggie Nicholson, Lyndon Achee, and Patience Higgins as part of the 16th annual Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra Weekend. April 29, 8 p.m. $15 general public; $12 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/ staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students, members of the Connecticut Percussive Arts Society and Connecticut Music Educators Association; $6 Wesleyan students and youth under 18. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 6853355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
The Austin-based instrumental post-rock band Explosions in the Sky will be performing at New Haven’s College Street Music Hall in celebration of Manic Productions’ 15th Anniversary on Thursday, April 20. Manic Productions is a New Haven-based booking and promotion company formed in 2002 by Mark Nussbaum. Manic Productions works to bring the finest underground music talent to Connecticut, and bring the best local and regional acts into a brighter spotlight. legendary Shubert. Please meet at the main lobby doors. No reservations required. April 1 & 5, 11 a.m. Free. Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven. (203) 562-5666. shubert.com.
8 Saturday Tour of New York City Photograph Galleries Join the Friends of the Davison Art Center on an exciting tour of New York City’s photograph galleries. Led by noted collector and Wesleyan’s Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek, Professor of Classical Studies and Environmental Studies Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, the tour meets in New York and will visit galleries on 57th St. and in Chelsea. April 8, 11 a.m. $70 general public; $65 Friends of the Davison Art Center. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
13 Thursday
Literature & Spirituality - Averill Curdy & V. Penelope Pelizzon Readings followed by book signing and Q&A. April 6, 5:30 p.m. Free. 120 High St., New Haven. (203) 432-3220. ism.yale.edu/ calendar.
Artful Lunch Series - Esther Rodriguez Camara Join the Friends of the Davison Art Center for a presentation by Romance Languages and Literatures graduate student Esther Rodriguez Camara about her favorite work in the Davison Art Center collection. Bring your bag lunch and enjoy conversation following the talk. April 13, 12:10 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Davison Art Center, Alsop House Dining Room, 301 High St., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
13 Thursday
27 Thursday
Special Events 6 Thursday
Poetry Reading with Gray Jacobik Second Thursday Poetry Reading features Gray Jacobik, author of Little Boy Blue: A Memoir in Verse and received the 2016 William Meredith Award in Poetry for The Banquet: New & Selected Poems, which was nominated for both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer. Open Mic. Refreshments. April 13, 6:30-7 p.m. See guilfordpoetsguild.org. Free. 67 Park St., Guilford. (203) 453-8282. guilfordfreelibrary.org.
Talks & Tours 1 Saturday & 5 Wednesday Shubert Backstage Tour This hour-long tour is the perfect activity for any theater or history enthusiast. Be amazed by the incredible history of the
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Senior Talks in the History of Art Seniors in the Art History Program of Wesleyan’s Department of Art and Art History will present their honors talks: Carolina Elices, Annie Flom, Nathan Johnson, Sharifa Lookman, and Page Nelson. April 27, 4:30 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Boger Hall, 41 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events.
Theater Assasins United in states of disillusionment and alienation, nine men and women emerge from the shadows of the 19th and 20th centuries to take their best and only shot at the American dream. Fueled by our national populism in politics and song, this Tony
Award-winning musical masterpiece is a bone-chilling thrill ride through U.S. history. Through April 8. Every Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $12. 222 York St., New Haven. (203) 432-1234. yalerep.org/ productions-and-programs/production/Assassins. Capstone Theater Production - Up Your Aesthetic A disruptive, devised, women-only performance juxtaposing the rage and grief felt by modern women with the Ancient Greek myths of the Amazons. This senior capstone project in theater was conceived and created by Jessica Cummings ‘17, Constance Des Marais ‘17, Nola Werlinich ‘17, and Cheyanne Williams ‘17. April 7 & 8. Free. Tickets required. 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage This worldwide smash hit tells the story of Baby & Johnny, two fiercely independent young spirits from different worlds who come together in what will be the most challenging & triumphant summer of their lives. Featuring the hit songs Hungry Eyes, Do You Love Me? & (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life. Recommended for ages 12+ April 7-9. Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8 p.m., Sun. 1 p.m. Price varies by seat location. Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven. (203) 562-5666. shubert.com. Thesis Theater Production - Through Everchanging Tracks of Neverchanging Space is a story about the love between a husband and wife, and the love between a parent and child. It is a story about three individuals searching for a sense of belonging in a community that marginalizes them. Text adaptation and direction for this thesis production by May Treuhaft-Ali ‘17. April 13-15. Free. Tickets required. 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. Listen Here: Mirror, Mirror An evening of great short fiction performed by members of the New Haven Theater Company, followed by a half-hour talk back with the New Haven Review team. Donations accepted; registration encouraged. Margaret Atwood: Rape Fantasies; Bliss Boyard: Mr. Sweetly Indecent.
April 18, 7-9 p.m. Free. 847 Chapel St., New Haven. 203-562-4045. institutelibrary.org. Islands is a play celebrating the arts as a means of resistance to colonialism, slavery, and injustice. April 21-23. $8 general public; $5 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $4 Wesleyan students and youth under 18. 271 Washington Terrace, Middletown. (860) 685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events. Nonnie Cimino’s Kitchen Award-winning Pantochino Productions Inc. presents a new musical about family and food. A lovable, sharp-witted Italian grandmother in a story about family, love and lasagna. Book & lyrics by Bert Bernadi. Music by Justin Rugg. Sponsored in part by the Community Foundation of Greater New haven. April 21 - May 7. Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. All seats $20 online, $22 at the door. 40 Railroad Avenue South, Milford. (203) 937-6206. pantochino.com. RENT - 20th Anniversary Tour A re-imagining of Puccini’s La Boheme, RENT follows an unforgettable year in the lives of seven artists struggling to follow their dreams without selling out. With its inspiring message of joy & hope in the face of fear, this timeless celebration of friendship & creativity reminds us to measure our lives with the only thing that truly matters—love. April 28-30. Fri 8 p.m., Sat 2 & 8 p.m., Sun 1 & 6:30 p.m. Varies by seat location. 247 College St., New Haven. (203) 562-5666. shubert.com. Mary Jane As Mary Jane navigates both the mundane and the unfathomable realities of caring for Alex, her chronically ill young son, she finds herself building a community of women from many walks of life. Mary Jane is Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog’s remarkably powerful and compassionate portrait of a contemporary American woman striving for grace. April 28 - May 20. Tuesday-Saturday 8 p.m. Tickets are $20-$98. Student and group discounts are available. 1120 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 432-1234. yalerep.org/productions-and-programs/ production/mary-jane.
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BULLETIN BOARD
The Arts Council provides bulletin board listings as a service to our membership and is not responsible for the content or deadlines.
Call For
alum during our reunion June 23-25? artspacenh. wufoo.com/forms/x8qo37v18rshsl.
Artists The 2017 Art Kudos International Juried Online Art Competition sponsored by Artshow. com offers $4,500 in cash awards. Awards Judge: Mike Calway-Fagen, Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Georgia. All media except video/film and wearable art. $35 for 3 images. Deadline: June 30th. artkudos.com.
Musicians The New Haven Chamber Orchestra has openings for strings for the 2016-2017 season. The orchestra rehearses on Tuesday evenings at the Fair Haven School, 164 Grand Avenue. The orchestra performs three concerts per season. To sit in on a rehearsal or to audition, contact the orchestra at info@newhavenchamberorchestra.org.
Artists Friends of The Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library in Stony Creek, CT seeks artists to exhibit monthly from September, 2017 - August, 2018. Drop off 3 pieces representative of work on Friday, April 21, 4-7 p.m. Pick up on Sunday, April 23, 1-4 p.m. Wall hanging art accepted. Entry Fee of $25 benefits the Friends of WWML. Questions: (203) 488-8702 / (203) 481-3921.
Past Staffers, Curators & Volunteers of Artspace: Save the date for Artspace’s reunion June 23-25, 2017. Artspace is planning its 30th anniversary reunion to which you, and all artists, interns, and volunteers who have been associated with Artspace in its first three decades are invited. Register now: artspacenewhaven.org/reunion.
Artists 2017 National Juried Exhibition. Juror: Peter Colon, DC Moore Gallery. Application deadline: April 3, 2017. Inquiries: njeinquiries@ firststreetgallery.org, (646)336-8053. June 22 - July 15. Open to U.S. resident artists at least 18 years old. Exception: Artists currently represented by First Street Gallery. Eligible works include oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, drawings, prints, mixed media, photography, and sculpture in any medium. No video, film, installation, or mechanically reproduced artwork (computer, giclees, etc.). Entry fee is $35 for 1-3 works. $5 for each additional work up to 6 works total. Entry fees are non-refundable. Online entries only. Go to firststreetgallery.org/juried-shows for prospectus. Artists Arts for Learning Connecticut, CT’s leading arts in education organization, is seeking teaching and performing artists in the following areas: Music, Dance, Theatre, Visual and Digital Arts. Please email Mike Kachuba at mkachuba@ aflct.org regarding your interest. aflct.org. Artists Join us and participate in the 10th year of Rochester Contemporary Art Center’s (RoCo) international small art phenomenon 6x6x2017. Entries Due: April 16, 2017. Learn more about 6x6x2017 at roco6x6.org. Artists, Artisans and Crafters For Saturday, May 13, 2017. 10x10 space fee: $75. This application will be reviewed and acceptance into the event will be confirmed via email. Vendors who email photos of their booth and products are far more likely to be accepted. Vendors who are new to ArtWalk MUST email a photo of their booth and, if possible, their products to: lizzy@westvillect.org for consideration. Thank you for your application. We will be contacting you regarding acceptance and payment requirements. Event will take place outdoors, rain or shine, in the Westville Village section of New Haven. If you have questions please contact Lizzy Donius or Noe Jimenez at Noe.Jimenez@westvillect.org, lizzy@westvillect. org / (203) 289-8539. Food Vendors for ArtWalk For Friday, May 12 or Saturday, May 13, 2017 Friday fee: $75 / Saturday fee: $125. Vendors who are new to ArtWalk, please also email a photo of your cart or truck to: lizzy@westvillect.org. Thank you for your application. We will be contacting you regarding acceptance and payment requirements. Event will take place outdoors, rain or shine, in the Westville Village section of New Haven. If you have questions please contact Lizzy Donius or Noe Jimenez at Noe.Jimenez@westvillect.org, lizzy@westvillect. org / (203) 289-8539. Housing Are you a New Haven resident with an extra bedroom willing to host a visiting Artspace
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Photographers Are you a fan of photography? A program of The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, the Photo Arts Collective aims to cultivate and support a community of individuals who share an interest in photography through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and special events. The Photo Arts Collective meets the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Singers The award winning Silk ’n Sounds Chorus is looking for new members from the greater New Haven area. We invite women to join us at any of our rehearsals to learn more. We enjoy 4-part a cappella singing, specializing in the Barbershop Harmony style. Our repertoire has broadened to include Jazz, American Song Book and other styles. Rehearsals are every Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Spring Glen Church located at 1825 Whitney Ave in Hamden. You can contact Lynn at (203) 623-1276 for more information. Visit us at www.silknsounds.org. Volunteers The non-profit Spectrum Art Gallery and its affiliate, Arts Center Killingworth offer numerous opportunities for volunteers! Learn new skills, meet new people, and be part of a creative organization that gives to the community. Opportunities exist throughout the year for a variety of events and ongoing programs. Teens are welcome and can earn community service credit. Email Barbara Nair, Director, at barbara@ spectrumartgallery.org or call (860) 663-5593. Volunteers Arts for Learning Connecticut, a statewide arts in education organization, is seeking board members and volunteers. Please call Eileen Carpinella, Executive Director, at (203) 230-8101 or email ecarpinella@aflct.org regarding your interest. www.aflct.org. Volunteers The Yale Center for British Art welcomes applications for Information Volunteers. Volunteers make an invaluable contribution by helping to carry out our mission to inform and educate the public about our collections. Following training, volunteers commit to the program for a minimum of one year. Volunteers receive special benefits including private tours and a museum shop discount. If you would like to be part of a committed corps of individuals, possess a love and appreciation of art, and a fondness for interacting with the public. Please email ycba.volunteer@yale.edu or call (203) 432-9491 for more information. Volunteers and Interns Volunteering at the Institute Library is a great way to meet your local community, have fun, and make a major difference at one New Haven’s great treasures. More volunteers means more (and longer) hours that we can
stay open! Contact us if you are interested at home@institutelibrary.org. Our internship program is also expanding! Let us know if you are a high school, college, or continuing ed. student looking for credit and a meaningful professional development experience.
Jobs Please visit newhavenarts.org for up-to-date local employment opportunities in the arts.
Creative Services Historic Home Restoration Contractor Period appropriate additions, baths, kitchens, and remodeling, sagging porches straightened/leveled, wood windows restored, plaster restored, historic molding and hardware, vinyl/aluminum siding removal, wood siding repair/replace, CT & NH Preservation Trusts. RJ Aley Building Contractor: (203) 226-9933, jaley@rjaley.com. Web Design & Art Consulting Services Startup business solutions. Creative, sleek web design by art curator and editor for artist, design, architecture, and small-business sites. Will create and maintain any kind of website. Hosting provided. Also available for low-cost, in-depth artwork analysis, writing, and editing services. (203) 387-4933. azothgallery@comcast.net.
The Arts Paper advertising and calendar deadlines: The deadline for advertisements and calendar listings for the May issue of The Arts Paper is: Monday, March 27 at 5 p.m. Future deadlines are as follows:
Space Artist Retreat Opportunity Copper Beech Institute, a non-profit retreat center in West Hartford, CT founded in 2014, announces free mindfulness retreats for artists, made possible by some very generous funding from the Hemera Foundation. Our programs explore the power and possibility of mindfulness and meditation practice to shape a world of compassion, creativity and peace. This retreat and refuge is comprised of 150 bedrooms, a labyrinth, and 50 wooded acres. You can learn more at copperbeechinstitute.org/artists. Dynamic Gallery Space Available Looking for a creative space to work in and sell from? The Martha Link Walsh Gallery has a great opportunity for one or more established artists/ craftspersons to display and sell their work in a dynamic gallery space, including events and shows. This creative environment provides a chance to be aligned with three well-established, women-owned businesses, and connected with the local arts community including the Shoreline ArtsTrail. The Gallery is located on Route 1, with a visible storefront and convenient parking. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. We’re looking for artists/ craftspersons who complement the space and intentions of the Gallery. New ideas and fresh perspectives welcome. Available space and lease is variable. Please call for more information, (203) 481-3505.
June 2017: Monday, April 24, 5 p.m. July/August 2017: Friday, May 26, 5 p.m. September 2017: Monday, July 24, 5 p.m. October 2017: Monday, August 28, 5 p.m. November 2017: Monday, September 25, 5 p.m. December 2017: Monday, October 23, 5 p.m. Calendar listings are for Arts Council members only and should be submitted online at newhavenarts. org. Arts Council members can request a username and password by sending an e-mail to communications@newhavenarts.org. The Arts Council’s online calendar includes listings for programs and events taking place within 12 months of the current date. Listings submitted by the calendar deadline are included on a monthly basis in The Arts Paper.
Studio/Event Space at Erector Square in New Haven available for dance and theatre rehearsals and performances, events, workshops, and exhibitions. 1,500 sq. ft., 1st floor, 14 ft. ceilings, white walls, great light, wooden floors. Contact Annie at anniesailer@gmail.com. Studio Space for Dance, Performing Arts, Events Hall A 1,500-square-foot space with adjoining rooms in a turn-of-the-century mansion in a historic district. Hardwood floors. Vintage stage with curtains. Mahogany woodwork and glass doors. Ample natural light. Chairs and tables on premises. Contact whitneyartsctr@ aol.com.
newhavenarts.org • 17
The Arts Paper april 2017
Musician John Ingrassia rebekah l. fraser John Ingrassia greets me at the door of Amity Music Academy with a warm smile and welcoming demeanor. He starts talking immediately, sharing his excitement about the expansion happening at the school as he walks me down the small hallway and shows off the five small, well-lit practice rooms. Ingrassia started teaching bass and guitar at Amity Music Academy thirteen years ago and now runs the school. He also teaches at his home studio in Cheshire. When not in the classroom or with his family, he’s practicing, performing, writing music, recording, or producing. Looking at Ingrassia today, with his blue button-down shirt and khaki pants, I would never guess he is a blues and rock artist as well as a successful producer who has performed and recorded with Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. But Johnny I.—as he’s known in the industry—recently released the EP he wrote and produced. Johnny I. All Star Blues Revival includes collaborations with Billy Cox (Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys); Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton, and Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble); Jaimoe (The Allman Brothers); Bruce Katz (Gregg Allman Band); and Glen Graham and Brad Smith (Blind Melon). Ingrassia also received guidance from Matt Sorum, Ted Andreadis, and Gilby Clarke of Guns N’ Roses. Katz, Jaimoe, Johnny I., and his dad, Big John, the lead singer in the Johnny I. band, recorded their tracks for Johnny I. All Star Blues Revival with engineer Doug Ferrara at Avid Records in Wallingford. The other artists recorded remotely at studios around the world. Legendary producer Jim Gaines (Santana, Steve Miller) mixed the album. Currently, Johnny I. All Star Blues Revival contains four tracks on two EPs, but Ingrassia intends to keep adding songs. As Kanye West did with his 2016 release, The Life of Pablo, Ingrassia is creating a dynamic album that evolves over time. I want to hear the album, so Ingrassia plays clips from each track while sharing stories and musical notes to help me understand how the record was produced. As classic roots rock tune She’s Gone plays, he points out the depth of lead singer Big John’s voice. While Late Night, a slower R&B tune plays, Ingrassia tells me (with no small amount of pride) Jaimoe is on drums. As the keyboard amps up, he explains the reason for its haunting sound—it’s in a minor key. “I like the keyboard,” Ingrassia says. “That’s Bruce Katz. He has his own band, plays all around the world, but he came to Avid to record.” I’m struck by the guitar on Late Night, which it turns out wasn’t played by a music legend, but was played by Ingrassia himself. Clearly the old adage “those who can’t do, teach,” does not apply here. Ingrassia excels at both doing and teaching, and his goal is twofold: to help students of all ages reach their full po-
18 • newhavenarts.org
tential as musicians and performers, and to be an example of how it’s done. That’s why, as part of the expansion at Amity Music Academy, Ingrassia is building a stage—so students who feel ready to perform can have that experience within the safety of the music school. The stage will also be a space where students can form bands and practice together. Amity Music Academy’s 7 teachers are all professional musicians. Offerings include piano, voice, theater, clarinet, saxophone, flute, guitar, bass, and drums. Students range from age 4 to adult. (As I’m leaving, a gray-haired student enters—he’s been learning from Ingrassia for about 13 years.) The academy currently serves between 50 and 75 students per week, but Ingrassia would like to share his love of music and performance with 100 or more students per week. The teaching methods at Amity Music Academy are simple—invite students to learn music they like. Whether it’s Katy Perry or Bach, Ingrassia believes new students can learn the basics of structure, technique, and theory from any piece of music. This approach keeps students of all ages engaged in the learning process. “Typically, I get four or five years with each student,” he says. “That’s great, it’s maybe 8th grade through high school and then they move off to college.” Like any successful teaching artist, Ingrassia has learned to enjoy sending his music and his students out into the world. Although his music has been featured on radio stations throughout the US and abroad, the artist is always learning. After playing his first gig with Jaimoe and becoming close enough to the artist to be taken under his wing, invited to practice in his home, and introduced to his many musical colleagues, Ingrassia received the following piece of advice from the legendary percussionist: “You just need to play outside the league that you’re playing in, because you play really well.” While Ingrassia is exploring new horizons for recording and performing, he intends to stay in New Haven. The Greater New Haven native has been musical partners with his father for over twenty years, and he started his own family in Cheshire four years ago. “Family keeps me rooted here,” he says. “If I can stay here and do things remotely, this is what I have to do until the kids are grown. If I can make a living in music, then I’m happy with that. It shows the kids you can do what you want to do if you work at it.” n
international airwaves; new haven roots
John Ingrassia and Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver, The Cult & Kings of Chaos). Photo courtesy of Ingrassia.
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Find Johnny I. All Star Blues Revival on Reverb Nation at reverbnation.com/johnnyi Find Amity Music Academy at 63 Amity St., New Haven and online at amitymusiconline.com Rebekah L. Fraser is a writer and communications consultant based in New Haven. Find her online at RebekahLFraser.com and on Twitter @RebekahLFraser.
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april 2017 •
The Arts Paper member organizations & partners
Arts & Cultural Organizations A Broken Umbrella Theatre abrokenumbrella.org Alyla Suzuki Early Childhood Music Education alylasuzuki.com (203) 239-6026 American Guild of Organists sacredmusicct.org Another Octave-CT Women’s Chorus anotheroctave.org (203) 672-1919 Artfarm art-farm.org Arts for Learning Connecticut www.aflct.org Arts in CT artsinct.org Artspace artspacenh.org (203) 772-2709
Branford Folk Music Society branfordfolk.org Chestnut Hill Concerts chestnuthillconcerts.org (203) 245-5736
Gallery One CT galleryonect.com
The Choirs of Trinity Church on the Green trinitynewhaven.org
Guilford Art Center guilfordartcenter.org (203) 453-5947
City Gallery city-gallery.org (203) 782-2489 Civic Orchestra of New Haven civicorchestraofnewhaven.org Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre ccbtballettheatre.org College Street Music Hall collegestreetmusichall.com
Guilford Art League gal-cat.blogspot.com Guilford Poets Guild guilfordpoetsguild.org Guitartown CT Productions guitartownct.com (203) 430-6020 Greater New Haven Community Chorus gnhcc.org
Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus ctgmc.org 1-800-644-cgmc
Hamden Art League hamdenartleague.com (203) 494-2316
Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators ctnsi.com (203) 934-0878
Hamden Symphony Orchestra hamdensymphony.org
Artsplace: Cheshire Performing & Fine Art cpfa-artsplace.org (203) 272-2787
Creative Arts Workshop 203-562-4927 creativeartsworkshop.org
ARTTN Gallery www.arttngallery.com
Creative Concerts (203) 795-3365
Ball & Socket Arts ballandsocket.org
CT Folk ctfolk.com
Bethesda Music Series bethesdanewhaven.org (203) 787-2346
East Street Arts eaststreetartsnh.org (203) 776-6310
Blackfriars Repertory Theatre blackfriarsrep.com
EcoWorks CT ecoworksct.org
Branford Art Center branfordartscenter.org
Elm City Dance Collective elmcitydance.org
• april 2017
Firehouse 12 firehouse12.com (203) 785-0468
Lyman Center at SCSU www.lyman.southernct.edu
New Haven Paint & Clay Club newhavenpaintandclayclub.org
The Second Movement secondmovementseries.org
Creative Businesses
Madison Art Society madisonartsociety.blogspot.com
New Haven Symphony Orchestra newhavensymphony.org (203) 865-0831
Theater Department at SCSU/ Crescent Players southernct.edu/theater
Access Audio-Visual Systems accessaudiovisual.com
New World Arts Northeast (203) 507-8875
University Glee Club of New Haven universitygleeclub.org
One True Palette onetruepalette.com
West Cove Studio & Gallery westcovestudio.com (609) 638-8501
Make Haven makehaven.org Mattatuck Museum mattatuckmuseum.org Meet the Artists and Artisans meettheartistsandartisans.com (203) 874-5672 Milford Fine Arts Council milfordarts.org (203) 878-6647 Music Haven musichavenct.org (203) 745-9030 Musical Folk musicalfolk.com (203) 691-9759 Neighborhood Music School neighborhoodmusicschool.org (203) 624-5189
Hopkins School hopkins.edu
Nelson Hall at Elim Park nelsonhallelimpark.org
The Institute Library institutelibrary.org
New Haven Ballet newhavenballet.org (203) 782-9038
International Festival of Arts & Ideas artidea.org
New Haven Chamber Orchestra newhavenchamberorchestra.org
Jazz Haven jazzhaven.org
New Haven Chorale newhavenchorale.org
Kehler Liddell Gallery (203) 389-9555 kehlerliddell.com
New Haven Free Public Library nhfpl.org
Knights of Columbus Museum kofcmuseum.org Long Wharf Theatre longwharf.org (203) 787-4282
New Haven Museum newhavenmuseum.org (203) 562-4183 New Haven Oratorio Choir nhoratorio.org
Orchestra New England orchestranewengland.org (203) 777-4690 Palette Art Studio paletteartstudio.com Pantochino Productions pantochino.com Paul Mellon Arts Center choate.edu/artscenter Play with Grace playwithgrace.com Reynolds Fine Art reynoldsfineart.com Shoreline Arts Alliance shorelinearts.org (203) 453-3890 Shoreline ArtsTrail shorelineartstrail.com Shubert Theater shubert.com (203) 562-5666 Silk n’ Sounds silknsounds.org Site Projects siteprojects.org Spectrum Art Gallery & Store spectrumartgallery.org Susan Powell Fine Art susanpowellfineart.com (203) 318-0616
Yale Cabaret yalecabaret.org (203) 432-1566
Hull’s Art Supply and Framing hullsnewhaven.com (203) 865-4855 I Luv A Party 203-461-3357 Toad’s Place toadsplace.com
Yale Center for British Art yale.edu/ycba
Community Partners
Yale Institute of Sacred Music yale.edu.ism (203) 432-5180
Connecticut Experiential Learning Center ctexperiential.org
Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital Child Life Arts & Enrichment Program www.ynhh.org (203) 688-9532
Department of Arts Culture & Tourism, City of New Haven cityofnewhaven.com (203) 946-8378
Yale Repertory Theatre yalerep.org (203) 432-1234 Yale School of Music music.yale.edu (203) 432-1965 Yale University Art Gallery artgallery.yale.edu
DECD/CT Office of the Arts cultureandtourism.org (860) 256-2800 Fractured Atlas fracturedatlas.org JCC of Greater New Haven jccnh.org New Haven Free Public Library nhfpl.org New Haven Preservation Trust nhpt.org (203) 562-5919 Town Green Special Services District infonewhaven.com Visit New Haven visitnewhaven.com
newhavenarts.org • 19
The Arts Paper arts council programs
Perspectives … The Gallery at Whitney Center Location: 200 Leeder Hill Drive, south entrance, Hamden Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-7 p.m., and Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.
Narrative Abstracts Curated by Debbie Hesse Storytelling through visual elements. Multimedia show featuring work by Lani Asuncion, Loren Britton, Megan Craig, Phyllis Crowley, Jennifer McCandless, and Polly Allison Shindler. Dates: Through April 28
Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery Location: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., 2nd Floor, New Haven Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Represented Curated by Debbie Hesse A group exhibition that explores both personal and cultural approaches to depicting women in art. The show includes paintings and mixed media works by Adam Chambers, Teresa Fortsch, Rosa Ibarra, Pierre “Mr. Luckey” Merkl, and Allen Scott. Dates: Through April 14
Community A selection of multimedia, participatory community projects. Dates: April 21- May 26, 2017 Reception: Thursday, May 11, 5-7 p.m. Pierre “Mr. Luckey” Merkl. Represented. Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery.
Allen Scott. Represented. Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery.
Arts on Air Listen to the Arts Council’s Arts on Air broadcast on Monday, April 17 during WPKN’s Community Programming Hour, 12-1 p.m. Hosted by the Arts Council’s Director of Artistic Services and Programs, Debbie Hesse, Arts On Air engages in conversations with local artists and arts organizations. This episode will focus on creativity and mental health. Listen live and online at wpkn.org.
Advice from the AC
March’s finance Technical Support Workshop with Suneet Talpade. April’s workshop will address how artists and organizations can best utilize social media.
Need help finding exhibition space/opportunities, performance/rehearsal space or developing new ways to promote your work or creative event? Schedule a free one-on-one consultation with Debbie Hesse, the organization’s director of artist services and programs, by calling (203) 772-2788. Walk-ins are also welcome. Dates: Thursdays, April 6 & 27, 1-4 p.m. Location: Hamden Public Library, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden
Photo Arts Collective The Photo Arts Collective is an Arts Council program that aims to cultivate and support a community of individuals who share an interest in photography through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and events. The Photo Arts Collective meets the first Thursday of the month at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whitney Ave., New Haven, at 7 p.m. To learn more, email photoartscollective@gmail.com.
Technical Support Workshop Series: Social Media as a Tool How to Use Social Media to Advance Your Art Practice/Organization with The Arts Council’s Communications Manager, Jennifer Gelband Date: Thursday, April 13, 12:30-2 p.m. Cost: $5 members, $15 non-members. Light snacks provided. Location: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., 2nd Floor, New Haven.
Jennifer McCandless. Narrative Abstracts. Perspectives... The Gallery at Whitney Center.
Megan Craig and Lani Asuncion (in front of Asuncion’s work) at the reception for Narrative Abstracts at Perspectives... The Gallery at Whitney Center.
For more information on these events and more, visit newhavenarts.org or check out our mobile events calendar using the Arts, Nightlife, Dining & Information (ANDI) app for smartphones.