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| | 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. |
| All links in green link to pages on our website |
| | | | | The Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County has kicked off its annual appeal campaign, which will be ongoing through the end of the year. If CAFC has touched you, or inspired you, or helped you or your organization during the past year, please consider a small, medium, or larger donation to let us know your appreciation for what we do. Text to 56512: ARTS (amount) and (your name), i.e., ARTS 250 JOHN SMITH, or mail us a check to CAFC, 301 West Ave., Norwalk, CT 06850. Or donate online here. |
| | | Please join us in welcoming our new administrative assistant at the Cultural Alliance, Viktoriya Barabanova. Viktoriya was born in Belarus and immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 with her immediate family. She is passionate about music, food, nature and travel and has spent a significant amount of time out on the wild West Coast, in Hawaii and Paraguay. Viktoriya also enjoys her work as a paralegal with M.C. Law Group, an immigration law firm in Bridgeport. She graduated from Warde High School in Fairfield, and her professional goals include obtaining court certification to be an interpreter and returning to school to finish her degree. Viktoriya is also a CT state authorized notary – if you are in the neighborhood, stop by to say hello.
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| | HEAR PODCAST OF LATEST SPOTLIGHT SHOW BRIDGEPORT ART TRAIL - WHERE DOES IT LEAD? |
| If you missed our November edition of Spotlight on Arts & Culture on WPKN 89.5FM, then you can hear it on Soundcloud here. This month's edition focused on the Bridgeport Art Trail, the largest arts event in our region, with more than 4,000 visitors to 200+ artists in over 40 venues. Hear how it went, what was new this year, what the impact of the Arts Trail is on the City of Bridgeport and its arts, cultural, community and economic life - and what's coming up next. Our guests this month were Suzanne Kachmar, creator of the Art Trail and Executive Director, City Lights Gallery; Courtney George, Board member of City Lights Gallery, and Principal at Cohen & Wolf; Jane Dávila, artist and Managing Director of The NEST Arts Factory; Shiran Nicholson, Principal, Nicholson Events and owner of The Knowlton; and Lauren Coakley Vincent, President and CEO, Bridgeport Downtown Special Services District.
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| | PRESERVATION MEETING: SAVING YOUR HISTORIC TREASURES |
| On Nov. 13, the Fairfield County Preservation Network (FCPN), a program of CAFC, presented No Demo! How to Protect Your Historic Treasures, hosted by Weston Historical Society. In this program, we heard about the failure to save the Sanborn Library building from demolition in Bridgeport, and the success in rescuing two threatened houses in New Fairfield. Tod Bryant, President of the Norwalk Preservation Trust, and member of the FCPN Steering Committee, then succinctly described the process for listing historic properties with the Connecticut Register of Historic Places and finding funding and tools to protect historic buildings. See videos and presentation slides on the FCPN webpage.
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| | ARTS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP |
| On Nov. 8, CAFC collaborated with the CT Office of the Arts in co-hosting with the Fairfield Museum a workshop on Arts & Economic Development developed and presented by Dee Boyle-Clapp and Meri jenkins of the Arts Extension Service of U. Mass Amherst. Thirty participants from 9 towns, included cross-sector teams from Bridgeport and Norwalk, presented projects that involved collaboration between commercial entities, municipalities and nonprofits. At right Kim Morque (Spinnaker), Lauren Coakley Vincent (Bridgeport DSSD) and Jane Dávila (The NEST) discussing the Pop of Color installations in vacant Bridgeport storefronts, and at bottom Kim Morque in a Q&A session with the team from Norwalk: Susan Sweitzer (Norwalk Redevelopment Agency), Julio Pardo (ArtUP.CT) and Duvian Montoya (artist) who presented a public art project being created in Norwalk's Ryan Park as part of The Washington Village/South Norwalk Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.
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| | WEBSITE UPDATE: To ease and expedite searches on our website, we are now employing a system to erase past events. In our first year on our new website we amassed well over 3,000 events, which was making it hard to find current ones. We hope this will make the search function easier for all. Members will still be able to access their previous events.
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| | AMERICAN CLASSICAL ORCHESTRA
Founder and Director: Thomas Crawford
The American Classical Orchestra specializes in performing historically-informed classical music on period instruments, and through its award-winning music education outreach program, Classical Music for Kids, stimulates the interest of young people in music from the Classical era. While the Orchestra is based at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and performs at other intimate sites around New York City, it's Classical Music for Kids performs on site at schools and family concert venues throughout the tri-State area, particularly in Connecticut. The ACO was founded in 1984 in Fairfield, at the Old Fairfield Academy, and was renamed American Classical Orchestra in 2005, when Mr. Crawford established its permanent home in New York City. |
| | FAIRFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
President: Beverly Balaz
The Fairfield Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1946 by a handful of business owners. Today, membership includes a wide range of businesses and organizations that represent the highest standards of excellence. The Chamber is an integral part of the Fairfield community and helps foster economic development, where all businesses succeed together. Acting as a resource, partner and advocate, the Chamber attracts businesses through strong membership alliances, innovative educational programs and creates opportunities to effectively grow a business. The Chamber is the essential gateway, providing the resources, tools and access for businesses to be successful - and stay in Fairfield. |
| | TOWN OF WESTON COMMISSION FOR THE ARTS
Chair: Cynthia Armijo
Weston has a proud history as a welcoming community for internationally recognized professional artists and amateur artists from an array of fields, including visual, written, and performing arts. The natural beauty of the town and the proximity to large urban centers provides access to artists who are active in providing joy through their art to our town as visitors or as residents. The Commission for the Arts provides rich and vibrant art and cultural experiences and promotes activities that emphasize our commitment to art as a fundamental part of a happy and healthy lifestyle. |
| | WESTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Library Director: Karen Tatarka
The mission of the Weston Public Library is to provide a broad range of informational, educational, technological, social and recreational resources to serve the diverse needs of the community. The Library was founded in 1935 and was housed in the basement of the Horace C. Hurlbutt, Jr. School. In 1950, it was moved to a larger room on the first floor of the school where it continued to support the school and the general public. The current Library building was completed in 1963 and has had two subsequent additions. The original Library consisted on 6,742 sf (including a small mechanical basement and mezzanine). Expansion projects in 1985 and 1994 increased the total square footage to 14,152 sf. The most recent renovation brought the library ever closer to its goal of providing the community with a comfortable and modern space. Friends, board and staff are excited to see what the future holds for this small and spirited library! |
| | ❦ – Latest List by Town of Organization and Creative Business Members: here
❦ – Latest List by Town of Artist Members: here |
| | | The transformation project to reimagine the Bruce Museum is proceeding safely, on schedule, and on budget, according to a museum spokesman. The current phase of the $45 million construction project involves the top-to-bottom renovation of the Museum’s changing galleries. The purpose of this renovation project is threefold: to reconfigure the galleries in the existing building to accommodate major new art and science exhibitions, opening February 1, 2020; to prepare this expansive space as the future home of the Museum’s Permanent and Changing Science Galleries, after the new Art Wing opens; and to implement upgrades to the Museum’s climate control system (HVAC). These enhancements will be followed by a complete renovation and reinvention of the Permanent Science Galleries, beginning in February 2020. Groundbreaking for the Art Wing addition is expected to begin next summer, with the opening of the New Bruce scheduled for the summer of 2022. |
| | INTEMPO music school's holistic approach to learning, that now combines music with reading and literacy tutoring, and family advocacy, is paying off. INTEMPO is pleased to report that four of the 10 students who took part in the Literacy Initiative during school year 2018-19 are now reading at or above grade level and have transitioned out of the program. Building on this success, INTEMPO is continuing to work with a cohort of 10 students who are most in need of literacy help, providing them with one hour of one-on-one tutoring per week in reading during school year 2019-20. Support for investing in the Literacy Initiative and music school programs comes from the Pitney Bowes Foundation and the New Canaan Community Foundation |
| | The Fairfield Museum and History Center has announced its new Visitor Services team: Kathy Lee (at left in photo) from Fairfield is bringing new excitement and will curate gifts to the Museum Shop, Angel Bleggi from Seymour is the new weekend manager of visitor services, and Allison Burress (at right) from Fairfield is managing rentals at the Museum and the Burr Mansion. All three will oversee the visitor experience at the Fairfield Museum to ensure visitors have a fantastic visit. We welcome them all to the community. More... |
| | The Fairfield University Art Museum recently announced that the National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the museum a second grant, to support the conservation and storage needs of the James Reed Print Collection. In addition, a prestigious grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation has paid for the creation of a Kids’ Guide to the Kress Collection, which has just been published, and was unveiled at the recent Family Day program focusing on Renaissance art. |
| | MoCA Westport has taken over the management of the longstanding, renowned Heida Hermanns International Music Competition. Founded in 1972 by pianist, teacher, and philanthropist Heida Hermanns, the contest is dedicated to advancing the careers of the most accomplished young pianists, string musicians, and vocalists around the world, while inspiring audiences and the community with their performances. The competition has found a new home with MoCAWestport, and this week, Heida Week, contestants have taught master classes with Suzuki Music School students at the Westport Library, interviewed with WSHU Public Radio's Kate Remington, and two finalists have performed salon concerts in private homes. Two salon concerts remain before Saturday's awards party at MoCA Westport. More... |
| | | | SURPRISE ARTS EDUCATION DATA POINT
Arts education researchers, disappointed by the low-level of federal research into arts education (there hasn't been a single study to capture arts education data on a state-by-state basis in the last 25 years) were delighted and surprised to find on a national math assessment report a question asking if the 8th-grade math students were also taking a visual arts course. This in itself has produced the first state-by-state data point on arts education from the 147,000 8th graders that were part of this study. See this Americans for the Arts blog on what was learned from this one question and what the many implications of this study are for arts education research. |
| | THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SEATTLE CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT
The City of Seattle has published its first Creative Economy report: There's Something About Seattle. The city undertook the study to define and quanti-fy the sector and to inspire action from policy-makers, creative advocates, creative workers, employers, and consumers of creative works. It found that in 2012-2017, growth in creative occupations (23%) outpaced overall job growth (15%) and that the Arts, Design, Entertainment, and Media and Computer job families accounted for most of the growth, adding 5,539 and 5,422 jobs respectively. See the report here. Note that Americans for the Arts creates a Creative Industries: Business & Employment in the Arts report for many regions of the country. See its 2017 report on the Creative Industries of Fairfield County. Above graphic (click for larger version) reminds us there are creative occupations in "non-creative" industries and vice versa. |
| | AASLH: NATIONAL VISITATION REPORT
● Small institutions reported strongest gains. Those with operating budgets of under $50,000 reported an 18% increase in visitation from 2013 to 2018. Those with a budget between $50,000–$250,000 reported a 12.7% increase.● History museums (10.7%), historic sites (10.2%), and historic houses (8.8%) reported the largest visitation increases.● Visitation increased in every region (the Mountain Plains led at 19.4%). |
| | COMMON FIELD ACCESSIBILITY IN THE ARTS
Accessibility in the Arts: A Promise and a Practice is an online guide, open-source pdf, and audio recording, that offers a set of recommend-ations for small scale arts organizations striving to become more accessible to their audience. Conceived of and written by artist Carolyn Lazard, this guide is not comprehensive but rather offers examples of how organizations might adapt to meet the needs of a diverse public. Accessibility in the Arts breaks down specific accommodations, how to list access information appropriately, and how to budget for inclusive spaces. The content is free to stream or download and it is Common Field's hope that organizations make this guide their own by adapting practices that suit their capacity and stretching to improve accessibility. |
| | FUNDING & OTHER OPPORTUNITIES |
| | SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS FOUNDATION ARCHIVAL PROJECTS GRANTS LOI: DECEMBER 1
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) works to promote the value and diversity of archives and archivists. Through its Strategic Growth/Professional Impact grant program, the SAA Foundation awards grants of between $500 and $5,000 for work that advances the mission and/or goals of the foundation, which include research and reporting about the profession, its practice, and its practitioners; the development of professional growth opportunities; recognition of archivists via scholarships, travel stipends, and awards; improving the performance of repositories; and efforts to persuade influential external organizations to create or promote archives. Eligible applicants include practicing archivists, organizations of archivists, and allied professionals. Letters of Inquiry are due December 1. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal by February 1, 2020. |
| | VANS CUSTOM CULTURE DECEMBER 6
Americans for the Arts, in partnership with VANS Custom Culture, is now accepting grant applications for the 2019-2020 VANS Custom Culture Grant cycle. VANS Custom Culture Grants are available to public high schools serving students in grades 9-12, or community based nonprofit organizations/governmental agencies serving as a fiscal agent for arts programming at a qualifying school. The grants are intended to encourage the inclusion of the arts as an integral component of an excellent education and to support activities that are consistent with local and national learning standards for arts education. Ten (10) schools across the country will each receive a $2,000 grant to support their work in providing high-quality dance, media arts, music, theater, and/or visual arts instruction for students. More details on eligibility and evaluation criteria can be found in the full grant guidelines. |
| | BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPIES OFFERS MUNICIPAL GRANTS DECEMBER 12
Bloomberg Philanthropies' Asphalt Art Initiative responds to the growing number of cities around the world embracing art as an effective and relatively low-cost strategy to activate their streets. With the goal of improving street and pedestrian safety, revitalizing and beautifying underutilized public space, and promoting collaboration and civic engagement in local communities, grants of up to $25,000 will be awarded to ten small to medium-sized cities (pop. 30,000-500,000). To apply, click here. |
| | 1772 FOUNDATION PRESERVATION GRANTS DECEMBER 31
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| | | | CONFERENCE REMINDER: THE WORD OF NONPROFITS THE NEW NORMAL
DECEMBER 5
Remember to register for Sacred Heart University’s Center for Nonprofits' Dec. 5 conference: The World of Nonprofits: The New Normal. Co-sponsored by Fairfield County’s Community Found-ation, the meeting will focus on solutions to the issues of moving nonprofits forward in a time of difficult management and financial challenges. Financial pullbacks by government, reductions in giving, increased demand for services, and greater scrutiny and demand for perform-ance metrics by funders have created a "new normal." Keynote speaker Vu Le is an executive director, experienced in nonprofit management, capacity building, leadership development, fundraising, and funding dynamics, all done with a lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. The conference is free but registration is required. |
| | NOMINATIONS FOR CLHO AWARDS OF MERIT JANUARY 10
Wowed by a great exhibition or project here in Connecticut? Impressed by a book or educational program dealing with the state's past? Know someone who has done outstanding work for Connecticut history? Then nominate them for a CT League of History Organizations (CLHO) Award of Merit. Nomination can be made in the categories: Project: Exhibitions, restoration, preservation, special research, web-based projects. Publication: Books, exhibition catalogs, videos/DVDs, newsletters, and pamphlets. Educational Program: Programs for schools, children, adults, or groups with special needs; a lecture series; a demonstration, or a Power Point presentation. Individual Achievement: Recognition for an individual’s long-term efforts towards promoting and furthering a knowledge and appreciation of Connecticut history. Organizations are encouraged to nominate their own work, as well as outstanding contributions by other institutions. Individuals may nominate their own work for any category except Individual Achievement. Only works completed in the preceding 18 months are eligible. For more information and to nominate, click here. |
| | | Professional Development Events Coming Up…
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The Pequot Library seeks a Public Programs Manager - a dynamic and enthusiastic nonprofit arts professional to develop a wide variety of interpretive programs for all ages that are inspired by the rotating schedule of visual art and Special Collections exhibitions, Children’s Library initiatives, and innovative public library multidisciplinary learning opportunities. Major responsibilities include managing a robust schedule of programs involving artists, authors, musicians, performers and other vendors in the form of gallery talks, panel discussions, symposia, music concerts, theatrical performances, dance, book discussions/signings, and other related programming. The Public Programs Manager will work closely with colleagues to curate a changing schedule of innovative, high-caliber learning experiences for a diverse audience, including film series, day art/history trips, scholarly presentations, hands-on art-making and writing workshops, inter-generational learning opportunities, life-long learning opportunities for older adults, and other experiential opportunities inspired by the Library’s collections and exhibitions. Full description here. |
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The Bruce Museum seeks a full-time Registrar to oversee the proper care, handling, storage (on- and off-site), security, environment, packing, shipping, and insurance of all permanent collection and temporary (loan) objects. Registrar reports to the Executive Director and supervises the Collections Manager. Record keeping includes records of temporary custody receipts, letters of acceptance/refusal, accession/deaccession files, certificates of insurance, condition reports, exhibition contracts, other documents and information related to permanent collection and incoming/outgoing loans. Requirements include: extensive knowledge of museum/collection techniques relevant to storage, conservation, handling, materials, record development, management, ethics, maintenance. Knowledge of legal issues regarding acquisition, possession, deaccession of cultural items. Excellent verbal, written skills, meticulous, well-organized, collegial, flexible, diplomatic. Full description here. |
| | AMS PLANNING & RESEARCH INTERNSHIPS CANDIDATES OF COLOR
AMS Planning & Research is launching an Arts Management Consulting Internship and seeks candidates of color. AMS Planning & Research Corp., a national management consulting practice serving the arts and culture sector for over 30 years, has made the business of arts and culture its business. It has dedicated itself to working with arts and community leaders to develop ventures that are both effective and sustainable. For its new consulting internship, AMS seeks qualified candidates of color for internships in its Southport office. Internships are intended to provide practical training, increase and ultimately play a role in nurturing leadership, expanding and fostering inclusiveness in the consulting field. The internship stipend is $600 a week for 12 weeks. Participants work a 40-hour week for 12 weeks. For a full description of this opportunity, click here. |
| | ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM P/T ACCOUNTANT/BOOKKEEPER
who would be responsible for accurate and timely accounting/bookkeeping functions including A/R, A/P, payroll processing, investment tracking, GL journal entries, annual audit preparation and financial reporting. Requirements include: a B.A. in Accounting; 5 to 7 years accounting experience; strong computer skills and extensive experience with Financial Edge, Quickbooks, Excel; effective research and internet skills; someone who is highly organized, with a self-directed work style. Full description here. |
| | | JOBS STILL AVAILABLE
The Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center, Grantwriter |
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| FOR JOBS, FOR SALE, FOR RENT, VOLUNTEERS, AND CALLS FOR ARTISTS - CONSULT AND POST IN OUR CLASSIFIEDS |
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JANUARY Jan. 10: CT League of History Organizations: Awards of Merit Nominations Deadline
FEBRUARY Feb. v7: CT Humanities: Quick Grant (upto $5,000) Deadline
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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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