Arts For All! Community Engagement Programs

ARTS FOR ALL!

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMING

The 2021/22 season marked the long-awaited return of Celebrity Series’ signature Arts for All! community engagement programming. From both live and digital Neighborhood Arts performances featuring Boston-based artists, to our first-ever outdoor summer series collaboration with Sanative

Arts Festival, and the return of our signature public performance project Let’s Dance Boston!,

Celebrity Series’ commitment to free and reduced-price artistic experiences reverberated throughout the year. To be an artist working with Celebrity Series has been a goal of mine for many years. The quality of artistic experiences they make possible and available to the public is astounding. Celebrity Series always challenges me to reach new heights and more deeply consider my craft and how it communicates. Whether I have been featured as a solo artist at such places as St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, as part of an ensemble at Harvard-Epworth Church, as a workshop leader and performer with The Cantare Singers in Cambridge, or with future engagements such as collaborations at Stringfest with artists like Shaw Pong Liu, Celebrity Series “ consistently demands I do with my art what they do as an organization, that is, find new and powerful ways in which to engage, entertain, affect, educate, and elevate an audience.

– Regie Gibson, poet and Neighborhood Arts Artist

ARTS FOR ALL! IMPACT-AT-A-GLANCE

Over 12,654 Arts for All! program participants 9,322 people engaged in Neighborhood Arts programming

NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS IN 2021/22

SOLO(S) TOGETHER

Launched in spring 2020 with an invitation to five diverse composers to compose a short work for musicians of Celebrity Series’ Neighborhood Arts program, Solo(s) Together then blossomed in the 2021/22 season to include a season-long calendar of community concerts, live events (instrumental masterclass, lecture demonstrations, coaching sessions, composer rehearsals, artist talks, and a WGBH radio interview), and a virtual composer panel discussion.

SELECT 2021/22 SOLO(S) TOGETHER EVENT HIGHLIGHTS March 2: Solo(s) Together Composer Discussion

This event kicked off the Solo(s) Together activity bringing together all five commissioned composers in a virtual roundtable discussion moderated by composer and Boston Conservatory faculty member and 2022 Guggenheim fellow Jonathan Bailey Holland.

March 31: Composer Daniel Bernard Roumain Discussion with BEAM Families

Mr. Roumain spoke with families with young musicians of color from the Bridge to Equity and Achievement in Music program (BEAM) about his career encompassing his various roles as composer, musician, college teacher and father.

April 2: Masterclass & Post-Concert Talk with Valerie Coleman

Composer Valerie Coleman offered feedback for two New England Conservatory Preparatory Division wind quintets performing works of Beethoven and her own wind quintet Umoja, and several student compositions. During the world premiere of Four Bostonian Scenes Ms. Coleman gave an introduction before her piece was performed by the All-Star Flute Quartet as well as a post-concert talk moderated by flutist Sarah Brady.

April 9: Amir and Saul Bitran Lecture/Demonstration in partnership with BEAM

Composer Amir Bitran and his father, Unitas Ensemble concertmaster Saul Bitran, gave a joint lecture demonstration about balancing two career paths as a scientist and composer. Audience members heard the “Instability” solo from Bitran’s Morphogens and Manuel Ponce’s Estrella for violin and piano. Students and parents from BEAM exchanged questions and music suggestions for diverse contemporary Latin composers.

CHANGING THE STANDARD

There is now an effort to actively incorporate these new works into the chamber music canon of regularly performed works, a selection of pieces not known for representing female composers nor composers of color, through repeat performances and study by younger players. Efforts are underway to submit these works to the MA Music Educators Association (MMEA) for inclusion in the required high school level District and All-State repertoire. If accepted, these works will receive broad awareness and study by young performers and influential music educators across the Commonwealth.

NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS IN 2021/22

SANATIVE ARTS FESTIVAL

In collaboration with Nuestra Communidad Development Corporation (Nuestra CDC), Neighborhood Arts presented three outdoor concerts in summer 2021 as part of Sanative Arts Festival 2021. Held at Bartlett Station in Roxbury’s Nubian Square, Celebrity Series’ first set of summer performances supported a family-friendly, COVID-19-responsible series of local artists of color in partnership with community organizations connected with neighborhood residents of all ages.

From July through August, about 150 people attended the three concerts featuring the Fabiola Méndez Trio, Albino Mbie Quartet, and 3nity. Each performance was also accompanied by local opening acts and vendors selling food and other goods.

FALL 2021 JAZZ/POPULAR ARTISTS SERIES

Neighborhood Arts welcomed back its live indoor concerts in Fall 2021 with a jazz and contemporary music series featuring five eclectic and impressive ensembles at the Arlington Street Church and the Salvation Army Kroc Center.

The Claudio Ragazzi Quartet’s Tributes and Tangos featured the Grammy-winning guitarist and composer’s influences of his native Argentina with a Latin jazz-inflected quartet. The Charles Overton Group’s Once More debuted its namesake harpist with his first in-person Neighborhood Arts concert. Vocalist Débo Ray and the Screaming Headless Torsos’ Soul, Rock and Sounds of the Heart fused jazz, rock, and world music in a blend of uncompromising skill and relatable emotion. The Albino Mbie Quartet’s Mozambican voices and cultures featured the guitarist and vocalist offering Mozambican jazz and original songs done with retro synths and funky bass lines. Closing out the calendar year, the Jason Palmer Quintet’s Holiday favorites, inspired by Ellington and Jones provided a full house with a joyous, festive concert.

62 Neighborhood Arts events 15 free, in-person Neighborhood Arts concerts 1,000 live Neighborhood Arts performance attendees

ONLINE AND LIVE WORKSHOPS

AND LEARNING EXPERIENCES.

In addition to the Solo(s) Together engagement opportunities, the 2021/22 season featured 39 online and in-person master classes, workshops, and lecture-demonstrations for youth. Highlights included:

● Rap artist Devin Ferreira worked with local community music directors and teens from

Charlestown Boys & Girls Club, Mattapan Teen Center, Burke High School, 826 Boston Teen

Writing Program, and Zumix. They created lyrics to four original songs, with Devin and guest musicians on vocals, guitar, bass guitar, saxes, drums and piano recorded at The Record

Company. His residency culminated in an album release party and live presentation at CROMA@

Arlington Street Church in December.

● Flamenco expert Nino de los Reyes conducted master classes for students at Boston

Conservatory and the Dance Complex.

● Zoom concerts from musicians Verónica Robles, Fabiola Méndez, and Brian and Rosi Amador for

Boston Public elementary schools, followed by Q&A sessions with the artists and students.

● A HubLab residency with Hub New Music chamber group leading a composition workshop series with Boston Music Project students at Josiah Quincy Elementary School in Chinatown.

● Poet and literary performer Regie Gibson in residence with the Boston City Singers Cantare

Choir, performing at St. James Episcopal Church in Cambridge.

● Celebrity Series sponsored choreographer Jean Appolon in leading a Haitian dance workshop at Franklin Park during BAMS Fest.

“These young performers deserve a large following for their creative, masterful, soul uplifting music. – Charles Overton Group Audience Survey Artists were amazing! Music was spectacular! Such a dynamic sound with only three instruments? Loved seeing how much fun they had on stage. – Albino Mbie Audience Survey

ARTS FOR ALL! IMPACT- AT-A-GLANCE

1,604 workshop participants (in person and virtual) 1,274 youth participants 39 in-person and virtual workshops