| News and Opportunities for the Cultural Nonprofits and Creative Businesses of Fairfield County, CT May 31, 2019 |
| | The Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County is a nonprofit membership service organization that supports its members through unified marketing, capacity building, professional development, and advocacy services. This newsletter is sent to all who request it, but we ask that, if you are not a member, you explore membership benefits and consider joining. Find out more and sign up here. |
| | | | SUPPORT OUR ARTS & CULTURE COMMUNITY JOIN US WEDS. JUNE 5 2019 ACE AWARDS BREAKFAST |
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Please join us for our fourth annual Arts & Culture Empowerment (ACE) Awards Break-fast, celebrating the individuals, organizations, and businesses who have made significant contributions to the Fairfield County community through arts and culture. The breakfast, will be held Wed, June 5, 7:30-9am at the Shore & Country Club, 220 Gregory Blvd, Norwalk. Please join with us to celebrate the awardees and our thriving cultural life in Fairfield County. Renowned TV writer and producer Chris Ambrose keynotes. The 2019 ACE Awards recipients:
Artist - Jane Davila, printmaker, fiber and mixed media artist, textile designer, editor, author, and teacher, who also manages the NEST Arts Factory in Bridgeport. Citizen - Nick Visconti, a Westport-based philanthropist, serving on the Drew Friedman Community Arts Center Foundation board of directors. Corporate - Cohen & Wolf that serves leadership roles in more than 100 organizations, associations, commissions, and boards throughout the area. Educator - Gina Scarpa, Director of Education at Center Stage, Shelton, and founder of the Center Stage Education Center, serving more than 115 students. Nonprofit - INTEMPO, whose founder and executive director Angelica Durrell, is an Ecuadorian-born violinist, educator and social entrepreneur. |
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SAVOR CITY RETURNS: SAT. JUNE 8 |
| | | Come explore and celebrate the cultural delights and hidden gems of Connecticut’s most diverse city by joining the next SavorCity event in Bridgeport: lunch at El Pueblito, 121 Wall Street, a family owned and operated Colombian restaurant, serving exquisite homemade Colombian and Latin-American food. Our artist is Julia-Rose; our musicians are Eddie Rivera and Band. For other details and to register, click here. Support generously provided by HSW Bridgeport: convenient, luxury living in the heart of Historic Bridgeport.
This edition of SavorCity is being held in conjunction with Jane's Walk Bridgeport, an exploration of downtown Bridgeport, organized by Bridgeport DSSD in collaboration with the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County, BPT Creates, Bikeport Co-Op, Bridgeport Generation Now and the City of Bridgeport, as part of the international Jane's Walk, an annual festival of citizen-led walking, conversation and bike rides, inspired by urban activist Jane Jacobs. Jane's Walk Bridgeport 2019, starts out at Bridgeport Creates, 1001 Main Street, #14, with an introduction to Jane Jacobs, a program of short films, a panel discussion and lunch at El Pueblito at 12:15pm. Walks commence at 2pm from McLevy Green, ending with drinks at HarlanHaus. Details and check-in here. |
| | | MAKE MUSIC DAY IN 8 REGIONAL TOWNS ALL FEATURED ON NEXT WPKN SPOTLIGHT
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| | Our next Spotlight on Arts & Culture conversation on WPKN will be on Monday June 10, noon-1pm with representatives from 8 of the towns in our region taking part in Make Music Day 2019 on June 21. Make Music Day is celebrated around the globe in hundreds of towns in celebration of the summer solstice. Amateur and professional musicians play for free in conventional and unconventional locations. Kudos to the CT Office of the Arts for kickstarting this project last year and for offering financial assistance enabling many CT towns to participate. We will be talking with representatives from each of the above towns about why they went ahead with this project and what they have planned so far. Tune in Mon June 10. |
| | ❦ – Latest List by Town of Organization and Creative Business Members: here
❦ – Latest List by Town of Artist Members: here
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| | | | | ROUND-UP OF MEMBERS' NEWS |
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The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum has announced it is reinvigorating its formal Sculpture Garden exhibition program, as well as fully activating its campus with sculpture - sited from Ridgefield’s historic Main Street, to the two-acre Sculpture Garden behind the Museum building. Works by Radcliffe Bailey and Tom Friedman are currently on view and sculptures by Tony Tasset and Nari Ward will be installed mid-June. At right, Radcliffe Bailey’s (b. 1968) Vessel III (2018), adjacent to Ridgefield’s Main Street, is a cylindrical, twelve-foot high steel chamber, open to the sky and featuring a meditative soundtrack created in collaboration with musician Okorie Johnson. Upon entering and looking up, the viewer encounters a mysteriously suspended conch shell silhouetted against the piece’s dramatic circular aperture. Other pieces include Tom Friedman’s (b. 1965) Hazmat Love (2017), Tony Tasset's (b. 1960) Deer (2015), and Nari Ward’s (b. 1963) APOLLO / POLL (2017) (a recreation of Harlem’s iconic Apollo Theater sign with a twist). The Museum’s sculpture program is organized by Richard Klein, Exhibitions Director, and Amy Smith-Stewart, Curator. Entrance to the grounds is free of charge. |
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The Connecticut
Film Festival’s (CTFF) weekly FilmFest52 independent film series that we know mostly through the film series that continues at the Bethel Cinema, has now partnered with Housatonic Community College to bring its movie screenings to a wider audience every Friday night at HCC’s
Performing Arts Center. For over 15 years, CTFF has continued to "recreate the film festival paradigm," building unique programs, tours and film series
throughout Connecticut. The HCC Friday night films and receptions are free, sponsored by HCC, donations, and corporate funding. Parking is also free, in a secure garage attached to the college. Tonight (May 31) kicks off the program with Jeff Daniels' latest film Guest Artist and a Q&A with director Timothy Busfield. June 7 is the World Premier of the Australian documentary Man on The Bus with Q&A with director Eve Ash. June 14 brings the Bridgeport Premiere of the
documentary film: P.T. Barnum: The Lost Legend featuring a Q&A with Connecticut director Corey Boutilier, Barnum Museum executive director Kathy Maher and sculptor David Gesualdi. For future screenings, check FCBuzz-Events. |
| | | INTEMPO student Nataly Huyhua, a 16-year-old first-generation Peruvian-American teenager and multi-instrumentalist, won a Certificate of Accomplishment from the Princeton Prize in Race Relations (PPRR). PPRR recognizes and rewards high school students who have had a significant positive effect on race relations in their schools or communities through their volunteer efforts. The award was presented on April 16, 2019 at the ‘Q’ Club in New Haven, CT, by a local chapter of the PPRR organization.Nataly, who plays charango, guitar, and flute, is a junior at Rye High School. She has been studying music at INTEMPO since she was 10 years old. She is the second teenager affiliated with INTEMPO Music School to have been selected for an honor in this national competition, and the first to receive recognition after INTEMPO launched its Critically Conscious Youth Development program for its teenage music students, an initiative that receives guidance from Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. Above Nataly (right) and her sister Emily, with whom she played a folk rendition of a Peruvian Huayno and “Going Back to Nassau Hall”, a Princeton reunion song. More... |
| | New Haven Symphony Orchestra Principal Cellist, and Westport School of Music faculty member, Rebecca Patterson is one of just five orchestra musicians from across the U.S. who will receive Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service from the League of American Orchestras at the League’s 74th National Conference in Nashville, June 3-5, 2019. The awards celebrate professional orchestra musicians who provide exemplary service in their communities and make a significant impact through education and community engagement. Patterson is a founding member of the NHSO’s pilot Harmony Fellowship Quartet, a training program for professional musicians from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds who are pursuing an orchestral career. More... |
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Neighborhood Studios' National Resource Center (NRC) recently sponsored two music technology workshops for teens with vision impairments, organized by David Goldstein, NRC Director, Nate Barnes and Marcus Allen, music instructors, and Becky Cline, dance instructor and NRC administrator. Students from Bridgeport, Stratford, and Westport learned how to create original music compositions on computers using voice-over and other adaptive technologies. Volunteer Conservatory music students offered additional support and assistance. The NRC provides information about braille music and music adaptive technologies for any individual with a vision impairment. David Goldstein receives calls and emails from people throughout the United States and around the world who want to learn from NRC’s experience and knowledge of adaptive technology. Above Matt (Stratford) & Isaac (Bridgeport) creating music on laptops and keyboards, with CeCe and Ayrelle (Conservatory students). Nate Barnes is the instructor. |
| | The Rowayton Art Center has forged a partnership with the new HAYVN Coworking Space in Darien and they both celebrated with a launch party this Wednesday, May 29. RAC artists Betty Ball, Lisa Berger, Nancy Breakstone, Andrea Letters and Elena McCoy have lent their work for the summer to liven up the space and inspire members there. The display will rotate every few months to freshen the office and allow other artists the opportunity to share their artwork. For more information, visit HAYVN.com. |
| | Sacred Heart University (SHU) has entered into a 10-year lease with Kleban Properties, which is negotiating the purchase of the historic, and long vacant, Fairfield Community Theater. The theater will undergo a major transformation and re-open as the Sacred Heart University Community Theater. Kleban will be working with the Town of Fairfield as a partner on the project. SHU President John J. Petillo said: "We will create a premier arts and education site that will be open to the entire Fairfield community. It will be a venue for our performing arts, FTMA and esports students, WSHU and more. We will also showcase high-profile lectures, author talks, concerts and other programs." Once renovated, the theater will have at least 400 seats and will be outfitted with the "state-of-the-art equipment and design elements that have come to define our new construction and renovations," according to Petillo. Work should be completed in 2020, just in time for the theater's 100th anniversary. More... |
| | The Town of Fairfield, in news related to the above item about the Fairfield Community Theatre, has some 700 upholstered theater seats available - some with cupholders. They would be free of charge to a good home - and delivery is included. If you are interested, then call 203-256-3120 for details during normal office hours. |
| | | | NO MORE TAGLINE
Notice anything different about the Office of the Arts logo above? No more "still revolutionary!" |
| | | | Perhaps most evidently used as a sales tag for CT's tourism industry, which is doing OK (tax revenue generated by tourism-related spending was $2.2 billion in 2017, including $960 million in state and local taxes, an increase of 3% over 2015), there was still growing opposition to the seven-year-old "still revolutionary" campaign. According to The Courant, Randy Fiveash, director of the Connecticut Office of Tourism, downplayed the slogan and said a new approach is one of several areas being researched. “'Still Revolutionary’ is the tagline, not the brand,” he told lawmakers who met with arts and tourism promoters and business owners recently at the Capitol. “We’re looking at it from the stand-point, does it work?” Connecticut’s brand is robust and comes with “significant investment,” he said. “The tagline is one very small component,” Fiveash said. The state has hired a marketing research firm that’s surveying visitors and others, according to Fiveash. Many in the arts community prefer the "Small State - Big Heart" trademarked slogan owned by the Gale sisters (Addy Gale, Callie Heilmann and Rory Gale, who also own Hartford Prints!) to "still revolutionary" but chances are that would never be adopted by the state.
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| | | Legend trademarked by Hartford Prints! on one of their tote bags. |
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| ELIZABETH SHAPIRO NAMED DIRECTOR OF ARTS, PRESERVATION & MUSEUMS
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| | | | AARON COPLAND FUND FOR MUSIC PERFORMANCE PROGRAM JULY 1
Created by its namesake in keeping with his lifelong devotion to contemporary music, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music seeks to encourage and improve public knowledge and appreciation of contemporary American music. Its Performance Program supports performing and presenting organizations whose artistic excellence encourages and improves public knowledge and appreciation of serious contemporary American music. General support grants of up to $20,000 will be awarded to professional performing ensembles and presenting organi-zations with a history of substantial commitment to contemporary American music and as well as plans to continue that commitment. The program also provides project support for exceptionally important activities related to contemporary American music proposed by professional performing ensembles and presenting organizations that do not normally feature contemporary American music in their programming. Support is provided activities Sept. 1, 2019 - Aug. 31, 2020. For program details and to apply, click here. Deadline: July 1, 2019. |
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| CT OFFICE OF THE ARTS ARTE-ACCESIBLE SEPTEMBER 18
The CT Office of the Arts has announced the Guidelines for the ARTE-accesible (Ar.Teh-Ock.Seh.See.Bleh) grant program. This program supports activities that enhance program offerings and provide greater participation and understanding in the arts by all persons with or without disabilities and to all individuals regardless of language. Grant requests, which may range from $500 to $3,000, can be used to support: ● Program and service offerings that improve the experience for audiences of all abilities; ● Staff training and internal resource support to carry out accessible programs and services; and ● Employment support for Connecticut artists who identify as an individual with a disability Eligibility: The program is open to a wide array of potential applicants, including:● Arts organizations with 501(c)(3) status ● Municipal arts departments ● College/University (affiliated arts venue) |
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| | | WHAT'S THE LIMIT FOR SOLICITING DONATIONS? 21 TIMES A YEAR?
Tom Ahern asks that question in the GuideStar blog this week. Many might think asking a donor for funds two or three times a year might be pushing their luck. Ahern was at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference in Seattle with a colleague from one of America's best direct mail firms. A fundraiser in the audience asked “How often can you ask in a year without losing donors?” Ahern reports his colleague flashed his fingers indicating 20 times! Then a fundraiser from the audience: "took the floor to describe a test he’d done, to see what the limit was. His charity mailed 21 solicitations in a year before gifts tapered off. These were postal mail, too, not email." Veteran Steven Screen, co-founder of Better Fundraising, shared his insight at the 2018 Nonprofit Storytelling Conference: “In 20 years, I’ve only come across one organization that was asking for donations too often. The sweet spot is thirty-six times a year.” As Ahern comments, almost all nonprofits come nowhere close to such a number. But Canadian expert Alan Sharpe advises, “Mail at least eight times a year. Mail at least four appeal letters and mail at least four newsletters (or donor cultivation, donor information type pieces).” In a 2014 experiment, donors of $500 or more were allowed to limit the number of appeals they'd receive in the coming year. If they didn't specify otherwise, they'd receive twelve appeals. Of the 500 in the group, 186 (37%) limited the number of appeals they'd receive to three. The result was that those who received all 12 mailings gave 35% more than the ones who'd limited their appeals. Ahearn's overall conclusion “There's an important lesson here: less mail, less giving. That's true in nearly every situation. Including major donors. Never assume donors will give more or retain longer if they get less contact. It almost never works that way.” Read the blog post here. |
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| 50 FREE NONPROFIT JUNE 2019 WEBINARS
Social Media 101 for Nonprofits
June 5, 1:30pm
Practical tips and tools: how to use Facebook to create awareness; use Twitter to connect with constituents; use LinkedIn to be fully connected +no/low-cost tools to manage your social media presence.
From chatbots to social advertising to Stories; current best practices for Facebook Pages and Groups, Facebook Fundraising Tools, Instagram Donate Stickers, and YouTube Giving + increasing importance of LinkedIn Pages.
Smart Strategies to Build Corporate Partnerships - June 12, 3pm
How to differentiate yourself and find right match with corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. How to prospect, build corporate relationships and design/pitch partnerships that meet their needs.
Google Ad Grants 101 - June 19, 1pm
Jason Jensen, a Google Ads Certified Consultant, on how to get started, how to use it successfully + examples of how nonprofits have used it effectively.
Lapsed donors can often be some of your best prospects. How to bring them back into the fold by creating an engagement strategy based on relationship rebuilding. |
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| | | Professional Development Events Coming Up… |
| | | | WILTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM EDUCATOR
The Wilton Historical Society seeks a Museum Educator who will lead and implement the Society’s ongoing 1st, 2nd, and 5th grade curriculum-based education programs. In addition, the Museum Educator is responsible for managing a full calendar of education programs for all ages at the Society, of which a key component is Saturday programs for kids. This position provides support for the marketing efforts to promote all programs. Description: Reports to Co-Director, Education. Supports programming and communication between schools, teachers, students, families, and other non-profit organizations to provide a minimum of: continuing existing curriculum-based Colonial education programs; continuing Scout programs and Colonial Summer Camp; Saturday programs for kids, one adult program monthly; Star, Inc. seasonal programs for disabled adults; work with Chair of Volunteers on staffing as needed; plan program activities, provide full program descriptions, procure supplies, and organize materials, set up and clean up the activities; keep accurate and up to date records of program expenses, attendance data; provide Museum Tours as needed; assist with marketing efforts: tasks include posting flyers, posters and signs; sending press releases to media and calendar listings; connecting with local affinity groups to promote programs; Assist with Betts Store Museum Shop: check out purchases, help customers. Assist with fundraisers. Other duties as assigned. Job Requirements:
Must have genuine desire to educate and bring history to life. High energy team player with strong organizational and communication skills. Good writer with computer skills. Ability to take the initiative, multi-task and work in a fast-paced environment. Ability to maintain clear records and provide goals and other information as requested for grant applications and reports. Saturday work required as well as occasional Sundays and evenings. At least 2 years of experience working in a school or non-profit environment, preferably in programs and/or education. Graduation from an accredited four-year college. Hours: 24 per week, Tuesday-Saturday, with flexibility during the week. Apply for this job: send resume and cover letter; list of three professional references with contact information; contact: Kim Mellin, Co-Director: kmellin@wiltonhistorical.org |
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| GREENWICH HISTORICAL SOCIETY CURATOR OF EXHIBITIONS & COLLECTIONS
The Greenwich Historical Society seeks a Curator of Exhibitions and Collections. This will be a full-time position beginning July 2019. The ideal candidate has an M.A. or Ph.D. in history or art history and 4+ years full-time curatorial experience organizing and curating exhibitions and collections. She/he is a scholar familiar with the professional practices of an AAM-accredited museum for the care and presentation of collections; has superior writing, communication and organizational skills; is a team player (7 f/t, 12 p/t staff); likes working with volunteers and interns; and is proficient in Microsoft office suite and collections database management software.
Primary Responsibilities: Develops two exhibitions per year in Special Exhibitions Gallery (990 sq. ft.); Oversees independent contractors’ work including designer and, when hired, guest curators; Organizes packing, shipping and insurance for occasional loan exhibitions; Works closely with Exhibitions Committee to vet and evaluate proposals for special exhibitions; Conducts research on the permanent collection (3,000 objects) and is responsible for its preservation, care and planning for its greater impact and accessibilit; Rotates collections on exhibit in Permanent Collections Gallery (500 sq. ft.); Provides seasonal interpretive displays in Bush-Holley House and oversees cleaning of period rooms and supports education department with training on its collections; Presents items for acquisition to the director and Collections Committee; Works closely with the development, marketing and education departments by supplying them with information required for funding, publicity and program planning; Presents gallery talks and/or pubic lectures on the museum’s exhibitions and collections. To Apply: pleaseemail a cover letter and resume to sflinn@greenwichhistory.org with “Curator Search” in the subject line by June 15. No phone calls please. |
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| | | | FOR JOBS, FOR SALE, FOR RENT, VOLUNTEERS, AND CALLS FOR ARTISTS - CONSULT AND POST IN OUR CLASSIFIEDS |
| | | | | JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER Sept. 18: CT Office of the Arts: Arte-Accesible Grants Application Deadline. OCTOBER ROLLING
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| | | The Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County is a 501(c)(3) cultural nonprofit membership organization. We are grateful to our members and our donors whose support enables us to do our work. Donations are always very welcome and may be made here. In particular, we are grateful for support from: |
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