BarnArts Center For the Arts
Building Community through Art
Celebrating 10 years of BarnArts in 2021!
December 2021
Dear Friend of BarnArts,
These past two years have been a challenging time for arts organizations whose work is to bring people together. We are proud of the programming BarnArts has produced through the pandemic and look forward to an exciting 2022 with new events to serve our community. Many in our community still suffer from the effects of social isolation, but the healing power of music and storytelling is a needed balm as we gingerly approach another Covid-challenged winter with modified in-person gatherings supporting our local community of artists and viewers.
This past year, we:
- brought expansive, outdoor theater back to Barnard with an engaging production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in early summer and a new community building project “Haunted Village Theater” this Fall.
- returned to the Barnard Town Hall for our 10th Summer Youth Theater with Fiddler on the Roof.
- continued Music on the Farm with a successful 19-week Thursday Night Music Series highlighting diverse local and regional artists, in collaboration with Feast and Field farmers.
- expanded our Artists in Schools work by creatively bringing outdoor residencies and workshops to Barnard Academy, including a Taiko Drumming residency on the Barnard tennis courts in February!
- strengthened BarnArts by expanding our staff to a three-person team collaborating on grant writing, community outreach, long term sustainability and new multicultural programming.
Coming up, we will:
- return carefully to indoor programming with Holiday Cabaret (Dec 11), Winter Carols (Dec 17) & Masquerade Jazz & Funk Winter Music Carnival (Mar 6).
- bring BarnArts Community Theater back to Artistree’s Grange Theatre with A Streetcar Named Desire (Apr 1-10)
- introduce our first 10-day Global Music Residency with Lakou Mizik in April/May, including school & community workshops and two public performances.
- continue our successful summer schedule of outdoor theater, world-class music series & youth theater.
The vision of BarnArts is to foster and continuously support a community that views art as essential to social well-being, a community where a thriving arts culture and a thriving rural economy are mutually supportive, where the careers of artist, teacher and farmer are equally valued, and where time is set aside for the pursuit of creativity and shared learning.
Your support this year will allow us to continue and sustain our work and value the people that help make it happen.
Best Wishes from the BarnArts Board of Directors,
Cynthia Bystrak
Ted Donlon
Peter Kahn
Deborah Rice
Carin Ewing Park
Stephen Stuntz
Download our Fundraising Letter