Don't miss this event May 8 at Ansonia High School

Arts celebration to showcase work of Valley students

Logo created by Ansonia High School senior Taylor Madore

By Patricia Villers, New Haven Register

Posted: 04/07/14, 7:30 PM EDT
 

ANSONIA >> Showcasing the talents of area high school students is the goal of the Valley Celebration of the Arts at Ansonia High School.
Students and teachers from Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton and Woodland High School in Beacon Falls are collaborating on the May 8 project, art teacher Nancy Bennett-Morgenstern said Monday.
Bennett-Morgenstern has wanted to hold a celebration for several years, she said during an interview in the school atrium.
“I’m so excited to use this space,” she said. “It’s truly one of the nicest (school) spaces I’ve ever seen.”
The program will run 6-8 p.m. In the first hour, there will be a concert by the new Valley Honors Choir, made up of students selected from each of the six schools.
Seymour High School music teacher Brandt Schneider is coordinating the performance.
Cory Ganschow, assistant professor of music and music education at Western Connecticut State University, will conduct the choir.
A juried art show will follow in the atrium. Teachers will select eight pieces of work from each school, each piece by a different student.
Bennett-Morgenstern said culinary arts also are on the menu. Ansonia High School students will prepare and serve refreshments after the concert as people look at the artwork.
Ansonia technical education students are constructing display stands for the art, she said.
Ansonia and Derby youth services are sponsoring the celebration. Ansonia Youth Services Bureau Director Robert Lisi said he and his Derby counterpart, John Saccu, are planning the event, with the support of youth services funds.
Lisi, former principal of Ansonia High School, said he has seen his city’s artists and musicians and he is sure students in the other Valley towns are just as talented.
“We’re excited about this,” Lisi said. “We just want people out there to see what our kids have to offer.”
Valley Arts Council President Rich DiCarlo said the group aims to make sure the arts are recognized, valued and promoted.
“What’s great here is that the high school teachers have recognized the effect that the arts have on the minds of kids and how it enriches their lives,” DiCarlo said. “We wholeheartedly support this endeavor.”
DiCarlo will put some council members’ work on display and he plans to demonstrate portrait painting during the event. He said he will use acrylic on wood to show students they don’t have to buy canvases on which to paint.
“Perhaps (the celebration) will inspire kids to pick up a brush, or a camera, and express themselves,” he said.
Making art “helps promote creative thinking,” DiCarlo said. “Problems are solved with outside-the-box thinking.”


I'm looking forward to seeing the talent that will be display at this celebration.    

Crisco announces arts grants

Organizations in Bethany, Hamden, Naugatuck among awardees

HARTFORD - State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco, Jr., D-Woodbridge, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Monday three local organizations have been awarded grants through the Connecticut Arts Endowment Fund to sustain their contributions to the community.

“Congratulations are in order for these outstanding awardees,” Crisco said.

“Thriving local arts are a hallmark of flourishing communities, and my constituents are lucky to have access to such outstanding offerings. I want to thank the governor for taking an active role in supporting the arts in our cities and towns.”

“Having a vibrant arts community not only increases our quality of life, it also spurs our economy and helps to create thriving centers of commerce,” Malloy said. “I’m proud that we could make investments in these different groups, so that they can continue to do the good and important work of enriching our communities.”

The grants will be awarded through the Connecticut Arts Endowment Fund, which is maintained by the state Department of Economic & Community Development and its Connecticut Office of the Arts.
The Fund was established to stimulate the development of private sector funding for the arts and to help stabilize arts institutions.

COA develops and strengthens the arts in Connecticut through its grant programs, investing in Connecticut artists and arts organizations and encouraging the public’s participation as creators, learners, supporters and audience members.

The local grants are:

Bethany	Dandelion Productions/Bridgeport Free School	1,081.00
Hamden	The Eli Whitney Museum	941.00
Hamden	Young Audiences of Connecticut, Inc.	694.00
Naugatuck	Shakesperience Productions, Inc.	1,221.00

This is a press release from Crisco's office.

Art class for kids slated at Ansonia Library

ANSONIA - The Ansonia Library children’s department will offer an arts and crafts class for children ages 6-9 at 4 p.m. Oct. 28.

This program is free. The library is at 53 S. Cliff St.

For more information call the Ansonia Library children’s department, 203-734-6728.

This is a press release from Joyce Ceccarelli, Director, Ansonia Library.

SoupStock festival slated today in Shelton

Shelton students learn about media, arts careers

SHELTON - Shelton Intermediate School hosted its first JAM (Journalism/Arts/Media) day  Wednesday to celebrate journalism, arts and media in the community.  

 The day provided students with the opportunity to learn about various careers related to the fields of journalism, performance and visual arts, and media.  

Guest speakers included Gary Scarpa, the director of Center Stage Theatre in Shelton; Bob Moseley, author of "Out of Bounds;" David Merrill, artist; Seth Davis, CBS Sports College Basketball Studio Analyst, Sports Illustrated senior writer, and author; Sean Barker, Sports Editor of The New Haven Register, Middletown Press, The Register – Citizen of Torrington; Joseph Morelli – Scholastic Sports Editor of The New Haven Register; Fred Ruggio, Editor of Shelton Life Community and Business News; and Aleta Miner, Associate Editor of Shelton Life Community and Business News.

      The seventh and eighth graders listened to the presenters speak about their experiences in their related fields and the paths that led them to success. 


This post is taken from a press release from Shelton Intermediate School housemaster Carolyn Ivanoff.

Dance takes flight at St. Mary-St. Michael School in Derby

Eighth graders do the 'Swing' / Contributed photo

DERBY - Thanks to a grant from the Jamie A. Hulley Arts Foundation, St. Mary-St. Michael School provided students in grades 4 through 8 with an enrichment program in ballroom dancing.

The dancing lesson was held once a week for a period of five weeks for each grade level. The fourth and fifth graders learned the merengue, the sixth graders learned the waltz and the seventh and eighth graders learned how to swing. Dance instructor was Kristie Entwistle.

The students performed for their parents and the school Friday. Pictured are eighth graders doing the "Swing."

The Jamie A. Hulley Arts Foundation created by Judy Primavera and Fred Hulley in memory of their daughter, Jamie A. Hulley, provides funding to broaden the students' appreciation for the visual and performing arts.

The goals of the mini-grants are to enhance the curriculum and student learning through hands-on learning experiences in the arts.

This information is taken from a press release from Linda Coppola, Principal, St. Mary-St. Michael School.  

Enlightenment found in the near-darkness

The Valley Arts Council's Gallery@37, at 37 Elizabeth St., Derby. Patricia Villers/Register 


Sometimes it helps to be in the right place in the right time.

That's what happened to me late Friday afternoon when I stopped in the Valley Arts Council's Gallery@37 at 37 Elizabeth St., Derby to take a photo of two board members sitting in the near-darkness.
The only light was natural light coming through the storefront windows. I had written a story about the lack of electricity earlier in the day. It was dark because the arts council, which relies heavily on state funding, couldn't afford to pay the electric bill.

When I arrived, an impromptu poetry reading had just started. A teen-ager read her poems that were filled with raw emotion. In one she talked about her late mother, who died 11 years ago, and what she would have liked to tell her.
Two of the women listening to her got tears in their eyes.

She also wrote about her bout with depression, and about a relationship that didn't work out.

I found out later the talented poet was Jen Mandeville, 17, a senior at Seymour High School.

After she read her poems, several council members there discussed holding a public poetry reading. Minutes later they decided to hold the first such event at 7 p.m. May 19.

The council has put out a "call to poets" for that night.  

As we sat in the late afternoon shadows listening to Jen, one person said the young poet had truly "enlightened" those of us gathered in the gallery without lights.

And I wholeheartedly agree.