| | News and Opportunities for the Cultural Nonprofits and Creative Businesses of Fairfield County, CT September 7, 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. |
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CORRECTED TEXT FOR NEW MEMBERS WELCOMES Please read the corrected text describing our new members - Thank you. |
| | | | | GREENWICH
THEATRE COMPANY
Executive Director: Kyle Silver
Co-Artistic Director: Stephanie Hazard
Co-Artistic Director: Andrea Lynn Green
The brand new Greenwich Theatre Company (GTC) has been fostered by Kyle Silver, the executive director of the Arch Street Greenwich Teen Center and several founding members. The cast of the inaugural production of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage are all members of the Theatre Artists Workshop's theatrical community, founded by Keir Dullea originally in Westport and now in Norwalk. Kyle has run the Teen Center for 22 years (the longest-running teen center in the country) and is also executive director of this new enterprise. Kyle, an actor and producer, has worked as assistant to the Coen Brothers on The Hudsucker Proxy, and worked in casting for the WB television series Dawson’s Creek. Under his leadership, Arch Street has achieved record attendance and drawn top-notch performers. With plans to become a non-profit regional theater, GTC will be operating in the interim under the umbrella of the Teen Center, with plans to employ Actors’ Equity Association contracts. The mission of the Theatre is "to inspire empathy by telling the stories of our shared human experience." It plans to do this by: offering high quality professional theater experiences, focusing on the human stories that shape our world; fostering new works as well as staging contemporary and classic plays unconventionally, in its unique, non-traditional space that lends itself to exploratory, innovative staging; developing community educational opportunities in conjunction with the Teen Center, further exploring the work on stage, including special performances and programs for students and teachers; dedicating a part of each season to a New Works Festival, to discover, support, and present new and emerging playwrights; and inspiring the community’s young people to explore their creativity and build empathy through storytelling. GTC's educational programing also hopes to offer students the opportunity to perform in an annual outdoor summer Shakespeare production, in the Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, in conjunction with The Arch Street Teen Center, led by experienced industry professionals. The Theatre intends to become a member of The New England Theatre Conference, and plans to draw from the artistic resources of Greenwich, and surrounding communities, including actors, playwrights, and directors from NYC and across New England. Its first production of God of Carnage, runs Sept. 5-15, Thurs-Sat., 8pm and Sun. 2pm. The cast includes Stephanie Hazard (New Canaan), and AEA members Mike Boland (Fairfield), Wynter Kullman (Westport) and Jason Peck (Ridgefield). Tickets are available here. See the theatre's website, Facebook and Instagram pages. |
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| RPAC ART CENTER & ACADEMY
Founder: Dee Dee Colabella
Ridgefield's RPAC Arts Center & Academy is officially slated to open Sept. 17 with a Grand Opening & Reception planned for Thurs. Sept. 19, 6-9pm. RPAC is an art studio, a gallery and a school: the result of a lifelong dream of Dee Dee Colabella, who says art has played a consistently important role in her young professional career. Colabella, who recently graduated with a Masters of Fine Art from Western Connecticut State University, has long had the goal of creating a community where artists could create, receive instruction from MFA-certified teachers, take part in community events such as critique groups, receive continuing education on topics including marketing one’s art, and have the ability to showcase their art in a gallery with a prime, Main Street address. "I had this vision of this place that would help people get ready for arts school but also help them find a career in the arts," Colabella, who’s lived in Ridgefield since 2004, told The Ridgefield Press. "Continuing education, private and semi-private work spaces, studio space to display and hang your work in, and a gallery storefront to sell it — I thought why not tie it all into one space?” Finding available space on Main Street, Ridgefield, with gallery space nearby, was key. "That’s when I began to see it all come together,” she said. As of writing, four of the six private resident artist spaces, as well as eight of the 15 semi-private spaces, are available. Among the current resident artists are Cultural Alliance artist members Daniel Wade Barrett and Jim Malloy. Membership gives 24/7 access to studio space, security, storage, easels, disposal, state-of-the-art computer room, wifi, and use of common areas. Private and semi-private workspaces are available. The goal of RPAC Academy is to create a comprehensive preparatory program for both higher art education and career readiness. Qualified instructors are ready to help working artists, emerging artists and students become studio artists, illustrators and graphic designers. At the same time, the gallery is integral to the program: "We believe that an arts education should be about giving artists an opportunity to sell their work," Colabella said. "The right education teaches artists how to make this a career, not just to fine tune skills. Getting into galleries is very difficult. That’s why we wanted to create a gallery to showcase artists’ work. It’s a huge benefit to have a gallery to show your work in, and that’s what artists get with us." See RPAC's website, Facebook and Instagram pages. (Thanks to the Ridgefield Free Press for contributions to this profile.) |
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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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