March 2021 The arts and support are here! Where did March disappear to? It was another busy month for us at Arts Alive! We have some awesome community programs in the works. Read here about the next phase of the Arts Accessibility study and of the soft launch of the Arts Ambassador program. Enjoy learning about the architect behind the Colonial's new Showroom space in an Artist Spotlight. We introduce our newest fiscal sponsee as well. Finally, check out upcoming Artist to Artist workshops through the spring. It's time to apply as an artist or store front for Keene's Art Walk! We encourage you to think about donating in some way to the future home of Sharing Arts. Lastly, remember to share your event to the Discover Monadnock Calendar!

arts accessibility: next step includes focus groups

We had fantastic success with our Arts & Loneliness online survey - with almost 400 responses from all over the region! Now, we look forward to a series of focus groups next week. For these, we partnered with local artists to convene these conversations with community that include an arts experience. Our artist partners include (l-r above) Jesse MacDonald, a violinist with Apple Hill String Quartet; Shanta Gander, a poet from Brattleboro; Richard "Dobbs" Hartshorne, a musician and storyteller; Anne Jennison, an Abenaki storyteller; and Pedro Ka'awaloa, an actor and musician who works with the Peterborough Players. We are grateful we're able to work with these amazing folks and honored that so many community members offered to share their experiences with us. We are also indebted to the National Arts Strategies Forward Thinking Fellowship program, which has provided funding and peer support to our Executive Director, Jessica Gelter, to move this project forward!

read more about this project

nova arts new fiscal sponsee

Arts Alive! is delighted to be working closely with NOVA Arts as our newest Fiscal Sponsee. We incubate nonprofits that align with our mission and they help us go above and beyond what our current projects or capacity allow us to achieve. So, with this program, we are supporting other artists and moving towards our mission in community, together. Nova presents, incubates, and promotes arts and culture. They facilitate performances, presentations, arts education, and community collaborations that have a social impact, enhance culture, and encourage creative inquiry.

learn more

Visit their website

Catch their live-streamed performances on their Facebook page: Facebook.com/NovaArtsBlock

arts ambassadors the soft launch

We are giving you a sneak peek of the SUPER SOFT launch of our Arts Ambassadors program. As trusted members of the Arts Alive! community, we welcome you to take a peek at our landing page, and check out the sign-up process. Give us your feedback - what do you think of our next big idea and who should be on our list to recruit as an ambassador?

peek at the program!

Thanks go to... We are grateful for Hannah Ellingwood's beautiful logo design which includes one of her incredible papercuts.

Also, huge thanks goes out to our SNHU Interns who continue their enthusiastic work with us on this project. Read more about them.

discover monadnock one stop shopping for regional events

Our Discover Monadnock Calendar is the Region's centralized tool to spread the word about events and has an ever-growing audience. With your help, it's becoming the go to place to learn of arts and community events. Add your event today! The Discover Monadnock Happenings  e-newsletter highlights live and virtual events from the Discover Monadnock Calendar. Subscribe to learn about the wealth of creative activity this region offers!

Discover Monadnock today - subscribe and list your event!

artist workshops: learn from other local artists Crowdsourced fundraising for your big ideas! Tuesday, April 6, from 12 - 1pm Presenter Jen Risley Free Workshop, or $5 donation Jen Risley runs The Local Crowd Monadnock which connects projects and ideas with the needed funding to get started. In this 1-hour lunchtime workshop, she'll share more about the program and how you can get involved. She'll share stories of past projects and how crowdsourced funding helped to activate their dreams. We'll take time so everyone can introduce themselves and connect in the chat.

Project Planning for Artists Wednesday, April 28, from 5-6:30pm Presenter Shanta Lee Gander $10 members / $20 non-members Project planning often seems daunting. If you are a writer, you may have questions about where to start to manage your writing projects or about timelines for creating and submitting your material. If you work in other areas as an artist—whether you paint, dance, work with textiles, or within any other medium—how do you pace a project to completion as life is happening?

upcoming workshops

We give a special thanks to C&S Wholesale Grocers for their generous sponsorship of this program. They help keep your registration fee low!

sharing arts a spring update Early on when the Sharon Arts Center lost its base in Peterborough and began the proces of deciphering 'what next?', Arts Alive! became involved and we remain thoroughly invested in the success of the transformed "Sharing Arts." Over the course of the winter the group was able to raise over $20,000 towards its goal to move a unique ceramics studio to the new space in Dublin and to make other renovations. The group still needs to raise more though and look to businesses to step forward and purchase tax credits to support the project!

more on Sharing Arts & tax credits

arts spotlights: stories from the pandemic Creatives are finding strength in community and dreaming and building towards the future. In this account, we hear from Dan Scully. He is an architect who has made his mark on downtown Keene in many ways. He was also in our first cohort of Ewing Arts Awardees. We’re proud to share this story of creating The Showroom, the newest addition to the Colonial Performing Arts Center, from architect Dan Scully.

read Dan's story

2021 Art Walk send in your application today! It's time to sign up for Art Walk! Applications are being accepted from artists. Storefronts around Central Square are needed! During the annual artwalk, art in mediums such as oil, pastel, photography, watercolor, mixed media and more take over storefront windows to connect artists of all ages with the community of Keene and beyond. Arts Alive! is honored to serve on the planning committee for this project. We'll keep you posted on details for this year's event! *photo credit: Shannon Arteta Perry

application details for artists and storefronts

arts alive! is supported by: New Hampshire State Council on the Arts New Hampshire Charitable Foundation National Arts Strategies Hoffman Family Foundation Eppes Jefferson Foundation Savings Bank of Walpole C&S Wholesale Grocers Carl & Ruth Jacobs The Keene Sentinel The City of Keene, NH Tom & Babs Putnam The Arts Alive! Board of Directors Arts Alive! Members & Creative Businesses And our greater community of donors!

Join Them and Donate Today!