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BRAVO!

ANNUAL REPORT THE 2020/21 SEASON IN REVIEW

CHUCHO VALDÉS piano

WELCOME

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR AND PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DEAR FRIENDS,

Welcome to Bravo!, Celebrity Series of Boston’s annual report publication on the past 2020/21 season and the year to come.

The 2020/21 season was a year of firsts, major accomplishments and organizational learning. For the first time in Celebrity Series’ 83-year history, performances were streamed online, in response to the impact of the pandemic and to the desire to strengthen the relationships with our artists and with you, our audience and supporters. Audiences from 50 states and 29 countries discovered our artists and our use of international and local venues. The power of our Neighborhood Arts program was recognized by new and returning audience members, with high virtual attendance. And if these achievements weren’t enough to celebrate, we were able to achieve an operating surplus through the generosity of our incredible donors and special COVID-19 government funding.

As one of the first presenters in the nation to produce streams in April 2020 after the pandemic lockdown, we are thankful to you for making Celebrity Series’ 2020/21 season a success. Without our audience and your encouragement, we would not have been able to navigate through the many challenges presented by the 2020/21 season and exhibit strength and resilience. Thank you to all who supported us through annual contributions, ticket donations, and stream views.

While we strove to deliver audiences intriguing and transformative experiences at home, we also began staff and Board work to evaluate racial equity, bias, and systemic racism in our organization and in our industry. The work will be an ongoing part of Celebrity Series’ efforts to make demonstrable changes internally and externally through a plan with detailed goals, accountability and measurements.

We are looking forward to returning to live performance with digital options for select performances, and experiencing the power and joy of the performing arts in-person once more.

Thank you so much for your support and for being an important part of our family.

Joshua Boger

Gary Dunning Chair, Board of Directors President & Executive Director

MISSION

To present performing artists who inspire and enrich our community.

VISION

We believe in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experience, transform lives, and build better communities. We envision a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience — on stages, on streets, in neighborhoods — everywhere.

CELEBRITY SERIES AT HOME

Created in the 2020/21 season to keep our communities connected during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Celebrity Series at Home initiative provided consistent streaming content that highlighted the work of Boston-based Neighborhood Arts artists alongside international touring artists. We showcased 136 total artists during our 2020/21 season, of whom 80 identify as Boston-based.

Our Commitments to Racial Equity and Accessibility

IN SUMMER 2020, Celebrity Series of Boston began a long-overdue organizational journey inspired by the racial justice reckoning taking place nationally and, in particular, within the performing arts sector. Staff and Board joined together in guided personal and foundational learning and formed an ongoing Racial Equity Task Force with the goal of formalizing an official Racial Equity Statement and Plan for the organization. The goals and statements in these plans will be incorporated into our organization’s strategic plan, mission, and vision, and will be core to Celebrity Series’ organizational values moving forward, as we know it.

Our Racial Equity Statement and Plan will be released in fall 2021 as staff, Board, community partners, and more finalize the goals, metrics, and means to which we will hold ourselves accountable.

Abilities Dance Boston

Abilities Dance Boston Founder and Executive Director Ellice Patterson brings together professional dancers with and without disabilities, championing artists of color and queer artists. The October 29th program centered and celebrated the diversity of human movement. The performance included audible visual descriptions and captions that made the program accessible for people who are deaf or hard of hearing or who are blind and have low-vision..

Black Voices Boston: Our stories, in words and movement

Black Voices Boston is a storytelling and movement project featuring seven short works co-created by Rafael Palacios, Artistic Director of Afro-Colombian dance company Sankofa Danzafro, and seven individuals from Boston’s Black communities. Based on personal stories, the participants depicted narrative vignettes through dances, movements, and emotions, on racial and social justice, professional communities, housing, Black history, and achievements and struggles of Boston’s Black communities.

Read more in the dedicated Black Voices Boston section of BRAVO! on page 14. ⊲

accessiBe

Celebrity Series implemented accessibility services application accessiBe on our website, identified as a small blue symbol with a human figure in the lower right-hand corner of a webpage. The service has a multitude of disability profiles, is offered in fourteen languages, allows content adjustments to website text, color and light adjustments, and orientation adjustments to improve the cursor, hide images, and more.

ABILITIES DANCE BOSTON

SPONSORED BY FIRST REPUBLIC BANK, AND 2020/21 DANCE SERIES SPONSORS STEPHANIE L. BROWN FOUNDATION, CYNTHIA & JOHN S. REED FOUNDATION, AND ROYAL LITTLE FAMILY FOUNDATION

Artists of color represented 49% of the total number of artists performing in the Celebrity Series 2020/21 season

Celebrity Series at Home Subscription Series

The fall and spring Celebrity Series at Home subscription series contained a total of thirteen digitally streamed performances from six states in the USA and four countries, in eleven brand new locations. All of our featured artists were originally slated to perform in our 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, but had their performances canceled due to the pandemic. Artistic Director Amy Lam worked with each artist individually to pivot their unique styles to a streaming environment.

DEBUT PERFORMANCES INCLUDED:

Nikolaj Busk and Ale Carr of Dreamers’ Circus

Marcus Strickland, Josh Evans, and Nasheet Waits of Christian McBride’s New Jawn

Harumi Rhodes and Richard O’Neill of the Takács Quartet

Sean Watkins of Watkins Family Hour

Jeremy Denk piano

September 20, 2020 | Fraser Performance Studio, GBH, Boston

What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow –

The Music of Cole Porter

Venue Partners for Digital Performances

Subscription Series Venues

For the first time, Celebrity Series used Fraser Performance Studio at GBH in Boston and Studio 9 at The Porches Inn of Mass MOCA in North Adams to conduct four subscription season artist performances.

In addition to local venues, Celebrity Series worked with artists to stream from unique venues in Florida, Colorado, California, New Jersey, and New York City as well as the far reaches of Switzerland, Denmark, and Germany.

North Adams, MA / Studio 9 at The Porches Inn at Mass MOCA

New York, NY / Nureyev Studio at the Baryshnikov Center for the Arts

Madison, NJ / Concert Hall at Drew University

Miami, FL / Sun Trust Pavilion, New World Center

Boulder, CO / Chautauqua Auditorium, (Takács)

La Jolla, CA / Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center

Los Angeles, CA / Fanciful Fox Studios

Copenhagen, Denmark / Rundetaarn (the Round Tower)

Zurich, Switzerland / Church of St. Peter

Berlin, Germany / Performance video produced by Cal Performances, UC Berkeley

Local Venues

Celebrity Series distributed 134 COVID tests to staff and artists to ensure a safe working and performance environment before local performances. Celebrity Series production staff also arranged for safe transportation and room setup, and worked alongside video producers and sound engineers to bring to life the high-quality streams we savored at home. Select artists also produced performances from their homes.

Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts

Celebrity Series at Home office studio

Futura Productions

Fraser Performance Studio at GBH

Hibernian Hall

Longy’s Pickman Hall

First US stream outside of Boston: New World Center in Miami with Chucho Valdés

First International stream: Zurich, Switzerland with András Schiff, piano 10 BOSTON PREMIERE performances

6 WORLD PREMIERE performances

Black Voices Boston

Created in Colombia by Afro-Colombian dance company Sankofa Danzafro’s Artistic Director Rafael Palacios to keep his artists engaged during COVID-19 lockdowns, and to honor personal stories inspired by racial justice movements around the world, the BLACK VOICES project tapped Sankofa Danzafro’s company members’ ancestral roots to create works that connected stories of AfroColombian peoples to those of the African continent and its diaspora.

Commissioned by Celebrity Series of Boston after the pandemic cancelled Sankofa Danzafro’s performance, BLACK VOICES began an international journey to create a body of work anchored by words and motion. It builds on ideals of social bonding, personal growth, and the positioning of local cultures in global dynamics during a time of restricted gathering, heightened social tensions over racial injustice, economic stress and a fraught election season. Dozens of participant applications were sent to Rafael Palacios, recounting stories of communities, traumas, social justice, marginalization, race, and learning and observation, with themes of determination, triumph, and hopefulness.

The Black Voices Boston showcase shared seven dance vignettes of personal stories from seven participants from Boston’s Black communities and their journeys through the project. The stories, emotions, dances, and movements presented a narrative on racial and social justice, professional experiences, housing, Black history, and achievements and struggles of Boston’s Black communities.

Celebrity Series is grateful to Cherié Butts, Ellice Patterson, Janaeya Moon-Sprinkle, Marlon Forrester, Napoleon Jones-Henderson, Nina LaNegra, and Shirley Jones-Luke for their vulnerability and courage in sharing their stories, Akiba Abaka for her masterful narration and hosting of the artists’ post-performance Q&A, and Rafael Palacios for producing this project and allowing Celebrity Series and Greater Boston to take part.

The Black Voices Boston project lived on demand on our website from December 6, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

BLACK VOICES BOSTON WAS SPONSORED BY and 2020/21 DANCE SERIES SPONSORS Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, Cynthia & John S. Reed Foundation, and Royal Little Family Foundation

SUPPORT FOR THIS PROJECT IS PROVIDED BY the Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative and by the National Endowment for the Arts through its CARES Act funds.

DIRECTED BY:

Rafael Palacios Sankofa Danzafro Artistic Director Colombia

NARRATOR AND HOST:

Akiba Abaka Director, Dramatist, Producer, Actor and Arts Educator Boston, MA

PARTICIPANTS:

Cherié Butts Medical Director Medford, MA

Ellice Patterson

Executive Director of Abilities Dance Boston and Ballet Rox Brookline, MA

Janaeya Moon-Sprinkle Rising High School Senior and Rapper Dorchester, MA

Marlon Forrester Painter and Art Educator Mattapan, MA

Napoleon Jones-Henderson Renowned Artist and Educator Roxbury, MA

Nina LaNegra Resident Teaching Artist and Art Educator South End, Boston, MA

Shirley Jones-Luke Writer, Poet, and Public School Educator Dorchester, MA

Digital Stave Sessions

From April 21-24, 2021, Celebrity Series’ Stave Sessions festival, traditionally held at Berklee College of Music’s 160 Mass Ave, went digital with three nights of premiere performances and an evening of encores. The festival — dedicated to discovery, experimentation, thrilling and path-breaking music — hosted seven artists and ensembles from their locations around the globe.

Sybarite5 with special guest Ehsan Matoori

Sybarite5, a quintet of violins, viola, cello, and bass, was joined by Iranian santoor virtuoso Ehsan Matoori

New York, NY

Cristina Pato

A master of the Galician bagpipes, a classical pianist, and a passionate educator Galacia, Spain

Meklit

An Ethio-American vocalist, songwriter, composer, and cultural activist, making music that sways between cultures and continents

San Francisco, CA

Kinan Azmeh CityBand

CityBand strives for a balance between classical music, jazz, and the music of Syria, with clarinet, guitar, percussion, and double bass

Brooklyn, NY

Sid Sriram

A singer/songwriter/producer building a musical style where Tamil, R&B, blues, gospel, pop, and Carnatic music clash and blend vibrantly Chennai, India

Spektral Quartet

A string quartet actively pursuing a vivid conversation between exhilarating works of the past and the extraordinary works of today Chicago, IL

Mark Lettieri Group

Playing instrumental music, the Mark Lettieri Group focuses on jazz, world, R&B and numerous other genres McKinney, TX

STAVE SESSIONS WAS SPONSORED BY Susan & Michael Thonis and the Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative.

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Kathleen & Chris Gaffney, Michael & Debra Raizman, Yukiko Ueno & Eran Egozy, Randolph Hawthorne & Carliss Baldwin, and Marylen Sternweiler. Stave Sessions is made possible in part by support from Celebrity Series’ LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Innovation Funds.

Arts for All! Community Engagement Programs

The 2020/21 virtual Arts for All! season included free digital Neighborhood Arts streams, virtual and socially distanced youth workshops, and the Black Voices Boston project. The season featured 22 free Neighborhood Arts concerts featuring local artists, and 57 digital Neighborhood Arts youth and community-focused workshops.

During the 2020/21 season, these online Neighborhood Arts programs attracted more than 25,214 viewers (and counting). By contrast, in the 2018/19 season, Celebrity Series engaged 8,575 participants total through our Neighborhood Arts program. All 79 Neighborhood Arts digital activities in the 2020/21 season were offered completely free of charge and embodied our commitment to diverse programming, amplified local artists, fostered community partnerships, and focused on youth development.

NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS DIGITAL SERIES

Jason Palmer Quintet Places

September 10, 2020

Futura Productions

Shaw Pong Liu

September 17, 2020

Living Room Concert

Débo Ray

September 24, 2020

Living Room Concert

Boston “Freedom & Resilience” Stringfest with Castle of our Skins and Youth Musicians

Neighborhood Arts Residencies

Celebrity Series continued Neighborhood Arts’ commitment to youth development programming by offering 40 digital youth development workshops engaging 798 young people and employing twelve artists in the 2020/21 season.

HIGHLIGHTS

A digital Boston Stringfest took place in January 2021 in partnership with Castle of our Skins, an artist collective dedicated to advancing Black artistry through music. Students from City Strings United, Boston Citywide String Orchestra, and Boston String Academy joined Castle of our Skins for Zoom workshops focused around works by composers of color, including a grand finale world premiere of composer Jessica Mays’ Anthem for Go.

Fabiola Méndez led an interactive Zoom concert streamed live from Puerto Rico for students at Boston Community Leadership Academy. This was in addition to several Neighborhood Arts artist collaborations to provide family-friendly concerts in the early evening to students and families from Bates Elementary School, Hurley K-8 School, and Sumner Elementary School.

Five digital Neighborhood Arts concerts were performed for residents of the Dorchesterbased Boston Home, a residential facility that serves adults with advanced multiple sclerosis and other progressive neurological disorders, to ease the social isolation caused by the pandemic. These were part of seventeen digital workshops and events with community partners not serving youth.

NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS ACTIVITIES INCLUDED RESIDENCIES WITH LOCAL ARTISTS:

• Devin Ferreira in a songwriting residency with the Mattapan Teen Center

• Hub New Music in two musical storytelling residencies with the Quincy Lower School

• Ryan Edwards and Ellice Patterson in a movement residency with the Boston City Singers

Vocalise Choir for a Boston Home performance

• Ryan Edwards and Yo-El Cassell in a movement residency with the Boston City Singers

Vocalise Choir for a recorded outdoor performance

QUARTET KALOS THE SONGS WE MAKE

3 way residency with: Boston City Singers Vocalise choir, sound and installation artist Ryan Edwards, and BU Assistant Professor of Movement Yo-El Cassell ⊲

New and Deepened Community Partnerships

As part of Celebrity Series’ effort to produce high quality streams, Celebrity Series partnered with Futura Productions, a recording studio in Roslindale, MA to host ten local Neighborhood Arts artists’ streams in the 2020/21 season. Futura Productions owner and sound engineer, John Weston, lighting designer, Fred Young, and video production producers, The Loop Lab, a BIPOC-led non-profit based in Cambridge that is dedicated to empowering young women and people of color to access jobs in creative fields, brought together their expertise with Celebrity Series production staff for our first-ever streams. Neighborhood Arts also partnered for the first time with videographer Ernesto Galan (Scalped Productions) for Abilities Dance Boston’s production at the Calderwood Pavilion. Steve Colby, a sound engineer with a career working for large orchestras and film productions, was also hired to produce and enhance the audio quality of our Neighborhood Arts artists’ living room concerts.

The Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End was a new venue partner for larger stream productions, such as Verónica Robles’ All-Female Mariachi Band and Abilities Dance Boston. Neighborhood Arts made its debut at the Calderwood in 2019 as part of the commissioned Boston Tribute to Pablo Casals with an orchestra of 56 cellos and the world premiere of Aristides Rivas’ Suite Boricua

VIDEO embedded HERE

2020/21 NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS PARTNERS

DORCHESTER

BAMSFest

Boston Arts Academy

Boston City Singers

Boston Home

Conservatory Lab Charter School

Epiphany School

MATTAPAN

Church of the Holy Spirit

Mattapan Teen Center

ROSLINDALE

Bates Elementary School

Futura Productions, Inc.

Sumner Elementary School

ROXBURY

Boston City-Wide String Orchestra

City Strings United

UU Urban Ministry, Roxbury

HYDE PARK

Boston Community Leadership Academy

JAMAICA PLAIN

Dimension Sound Studio

OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center

South End

The Boston Center for the Arts

The Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA

Hurley K-8 School

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

BACK BAY

Ágora Cultural Architects

Boston String Academy

CHINATOWN

Boston Music Project

Josiah Quincy Elementary School

CAMBRIDGE

The Dance Complex

The Loop Lab

BOSTON AREA

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston

MMEA (MA Music Educators Association)

Scalped Productions, Inc

A Virtual Night of Gratitude

On September 15, 2020, Celebrity Series celebrated the generosity and loyalty of our many supporters through a digital celebration of gratitude. With the cancellation of the April 2020 SHINE! Gala, a crucial fundraising event for our organization, as well as our entire spring 2020 performance roster, the Virtual Night of Gratitude sought to honor and the resiliency and investment exhibited by artists and patrons in the early days of the pandemic.

Thank you to event co-chairs Susan & Michael Thonis and Kathleen & Chris Gaffney, as well as event producer Rafanelli Events, for their tremendous support in producing Celebrity Series’ first large scale digital event.

Surprise artist appearances occurred throughout the night with Joshua Bell on violin from his New York City apartment, Débo Ray singing from her home studio, and Monica Bill Barnes with Robbie Saenz De Viteri taking us on a walkthrough of dance performance memories from 2014, 2015, and 2019.

THANK YOU to ALL of our wonderful donors, patrons, and supporters for helping Celebrity Series artists, community partners, audiences, communities, and staff in times of uncertainty.

Your support allows us to embark on new learning and new initiatives with our Celebrity Series at Home and our digital concerts. It allows us to invest in our Boston-based artists whose livelihood has been so decimated by the loss of live performance. And it allows us to stay connected with the roster of international artists so associated with the Celebrity Series’ seasons.

I believe our success as an organization in these times will be defined by how we treat our artists, audience, donors and staff. Those relationships have been and remain the foundation of the Celebrity Series enterprise.

-GARY DUNNING

Virtual Donor Events

In addition to pivoting Celebrity Series performances to a digital environment, during the 2020/21 season, Celebrity Series offered our supporters the opportunity to gather virtually as well.

Celebrity Series offered frequent Patron Lounges through Zoom, allowing patrons to connect with one another in private rooms prior to virtual performances; four Town Hall events with Celebrity Series leadership; and two virtual book clubs with Rob Kapilow, the creator of What Makes It Great?, focusing on music of the Woodstock generation and the Great American Songbook.

“ “ “ “

Delightful and innovative. Nice way to socialize during the pandemic.

-PATRON LOUNGE SURVEY RESPONDENT

Thanks to the Celebrity Series for making this possible, because even in this inability to get together live, they took the plunge… they reinvented themselves… and made this possible.

-ROB KAPILOW ABOUT THE WHAT MAKES IT GREAT? BROADCAST FROM GBH

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT? WITH ROB KAPILOW THE MUSIC OF COLE PORTER

Shine! Together Virtual Gala

The SHINE! Together Virtual Gala was our most highly produced virtual event of the year, streaming to homes on March 4, 2021. Co-chairs Reuben Reynolds & Bill Casey led us through the night, echoing themes of resiliency and emerge stronger together. The event was a huge success, thanks to our incredibly generous donors, and raised vital funds in support of Celebrity Series’ mission during a particularly challenging season.

Four artistic performances took place throughout the night by Emanuel Ax, Time for Three, Wynton Marsalis and the Young Stars of Jazz presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Kelli O’Hara, ending with a fifth surprise performance by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, introduced by the company’s Artistic Director Robert Battle. Event attendees enjoyed benefits varying from a “gala in a box”, to virtual table access, and more.

To prolong the Gala celebration, we held our first-ever Food & Wine Auction. The auction supported our local businesses and performing artists hard hit by COVID-19, allowing us to give back to the community through purchases of gift cards, items, and culinary experiences, donated by Celebrity Series’ family.

We want to thank our Celebrity Series family of supporters, partners, and friends for their support in the face of challenge and uncertainty.

CO-CHAIRS

REUBEN REYNOLDS & BILL CASEY

PRESENTING SPONSORS

AMY & JOSHUA BOGER

EVENT PARTNERS

Rafanelli Events Management

Studio HHH

Lux Box

Winston Flowers

The Catered Affair

SHINE! Together Virtual Gala Support

PRESENTING Sponsors

Amy & Joshua Boger

SHINE! TOGETHER Sponsors

Anonymous

Leslie & Howard Appleby

Stephanie L. Brown

Reuben Reynolds & Bill Casey

GLOW! TOGETHER Sponsors

Anonymous

John Alam & Sylvie Gregoire

Jill and David Altshuler

Anonymous

Kathleen & Chris Gaffney

Susan & Michael Thonis

SHIMMER! TOGETHER Sponsors

Anonymous

John Alam & Sylvie Gregoire

Jill and David Altshuler

Anonymous

Kathleen & Chris Gaffney

Susan & Michael Thonis

SHINE! PARTYGOERS

Anonymous (4) AAFCPAs

James E. Aisner

Paul Belanger & Teri Groome

Harris A Berman, MD & Ruth Nemzoff

Outside the Box: A Production of the Boston

Ellen & Richard Calmas

Stacy and Mo Cowan

Marjorie & Len Freiman

Susan Y. Friedman & Norm Appel

Gabor Garai & Susan Pravda

Drs. Joan & Alfred Goldberg

The Goldenheim Family Garth & Lindsay Greimann

Paul & Kay Hartung

Maryel

Stephen Langlois & Sally Marrer

Randi & John Lapidus Royal Little Family Foundation Stephen Leonard

Margot LeStrange &

Stern

Liebisch & Ivana Magovcevic-Liebisch

Royal Little Family Foundation

Cameron Little

Valeria Lowe-Barehmi

Charlotte & Gordon Moore

Mary & Sherif Nada

George and Sharyn Neble

Norman & Eleanor Nicholson

Arnold & Ellen Offner

Melody Pao

John Patterson & Michele Demarest

Beth

Stephen

Sandra

Barbara

SHINE!

Margie

Marlene

Susan

Sharon

Andrew

Rafanelli

Studio

Lux

Winston

Annual Giving 2020/2021

Founder’s

2020/21 Corporate, Foundation & Government Support

Principal Producers - $50,000+

Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative

Stephanie L. Brown Foundation

Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation

Massachusetts Cultural Council

National Endowment for the Arts

US Small Business Administration

Corporate Producers - $25,000-$49,999

Anonymous

Foley & Lardner LLP

Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation

Cynthia and John S. Reed Family Foundation

Stifler Family Foundation

Angels - $10,000-$24,999

Anonymous

First Republic Bank

Liberty Mutual Foundation

Outside the Box: A Production of the Boston Arts Summer Institute

Royal Little Family Foundation

Partners - $2,500-$4,999

Bessie Pappas Charitable Foundation

Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany

Egloff & Wood, LLP

Aaron Richmond Legacy Society

The Aaron Richmond Legacy Society was established in 2001 and honors the memory of Celebrity Series of Boston founder Aaron Richmond (1895-1964). The Society recognizes the following individuals who have notified Celebrity Series of estate provisions including bequest intentions, charitable remainder trusts, gift annuities, and other forms of deferred support.

Anonymous (2)

Dr. Harris A. Berman & Ruth Nemzoff

Robert Binney & Janet Veasey

Diana Bourgeois

Mark H. Cooley, MD

Martin Gantshar

Gabor Garai & Susan Pravda

Randolph Hawthorne & Carliss Baldwin

Ellen S. Heller

David R. Janero & Jeffrey A. Thomson

Martha H. Jones & Christine Armstrong

Paul & Elizabeth† Kastner

Mary Ellen Kiddle

Joan Lebach

Margot LeStrange & Andrew Stern

Susan Matz†

Charlotte & Gordon Moore

Stewart Myers, in memory of Maureen McGuire Myers

John David Ober† Eleanor & Frank Pao

Mr. Jonathan Scott Reichner

Libby Roberts

Sandra Shapiro & John Kirsch

Marylen Sternweiler

Peter J. Wender

Constance White

Nancy Richmond Winsten

Marvin & Katherine Wolfthal

Miriam M. Wood & Charles O. Wood, III

Ron & Janet Zwanziger † Deceased

If your name was inadvertently omitted or misspelled in any of these listings, we apologize and ask that you contact us so that we may correct your listing for the future.

The listings in this publication reflect activity through June 30, 2021.

Martha H. Jones Society For Lifetime Giving

The Martha H. Jones Society for Lifetime Giving was established in 2018 in honor of former Executive Director, Martha H Jones. The Society honors the following individuals whose cumulative gifts to Celebrity Series have met or exceeded $100,000.

Linde Family Foundation Mabel Louise Riley Foundation

Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation

Massachusetts Cultural Council

Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation

National Endowment for the Arts

New England Center For The Performing Arts

New England Foundation for the Arts

P&G Gillette

Bessie Pappas Charitable Foundation

The Peabody Foundation

Philanthropic Advisors

PTC

Cynthia & John S. Reed Foundation

Mabel Louise Riley Foundation

Royal Little Family Foundation

Stifler Family Foundation

Talbots

Tufts Health Plan

† Deceased

Institutions

Harris A. Berman &

E. Nemzoff Family Foundation

Center

The Boston Foundation Stephanie L. Brown Foundation

Catered Affair Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC Clipper Ship Foundation

Foundation

College

& Lardner LLP

2020/21 Celebrity Series Board

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Joshua Boger, PhD, Chair+

Jill S. Altshuler

Howard Appleby

Stephanie L. Brown+

Michael S. Canning+

Joanne

Amy d’Ablemont Burnes

Margaret

Kathleen

Paul D. Goldenheim, MD

Randolph Hawthorne, ex officio

P. Mordes, MD

Celebrity Series Staff

Gary Dunning, President and Executive Director

Amy Lam, Artistic Director

ADVANCEMENT

Emily Borababy, Chief Advancement Officer

Sara Brookner, Associate Director of Institutional Giving

Anya Hess, Senior Coordinator of Board Relations and Stewardship

Sean Meyers, Senior Coordinator of Individual Giving and Communications

Miranda McLean, Advancement Associate

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Heather Clark, Chief Financial Officer

Alex Larin, Finance Manager

Connor Buckley, Accounts Payable and Payroll Coordinator

MARKETING AND AUDIENCE SERVICES

Courtney A. Burke, Director of Marketing and Communications

Andrew J. Moreau, Associate Director of Digital Marketing and CRM

Gillian Morrison, Associate Director of Marketing

Vawnya Nichols, Senior Manager of Ticketing and Audience Services

Robert Torres, Senior Graphic Designer and Photographer

Kristín Otharsson, Design and Multimedia Manager

Angela Flores, Assistant Manager, Email Marketing and Social Media

James L. J. Nuzzo

Ellen Offner

Rich Parker, MD

James Perrin

Dr. Beth Pinals

Suzanne Priebatsch Oliver Radford Mona J. Roberts Millard Rose

Rosenfeld

Sally S. Seaver, PhD

Sandra Shapiro

Dr. Samuel J. Shubrooks, Jr. Dr. Michael Silverman Dr. Margaret Simon

Lori Solon

Joel A. Stein

Marylen R. Sternweiler

Jeffrey A. Thomson

Elizabeth G. Tréhu, MD

Sarah Rainwater Ward

Wendy L. Watson Barnet Weinstein

Sharon R. Weinstein, MD

Peter J. Wender

Sarkis Zerounian

+ Denotes Executive Committee

Williams, Assistant Manager of Audience Services

Kirby, Senior Audience Services Representative

Bonta, Program Book Associate Mia Straccia, Audience Services Associate Annie Coyne, Audience Services Representative

PERFORMANCE OPERATIONS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Karen Brown, Chief Operating Officer

Liz Rosenthal, Associate Director of Performance Operations

Robin Baker, Associate Director of Community Engagement Elizabeth Kracunas, Manager of Performance Operations

Israel Gutierrez, Community Performances Manager

Sarah Radcliffe-Mars, Digital Performances Project Manager Harrison Pearse Burke, Dance Production Manager

Hope Aubrey, Production and Office Coordinator

Stephanie Janes PR, Media Relations

Prince Lobel Tye, LLP, Legal Counsel AAFCPAs, Auditors

2020 /2021 Financial Results

Operating Revenue and Support

Operating Revenue

Performance Revenue (Gross)

(Commissions and Fees)

Stabilization and Processing Fees

Total Operating Revenue

Operating Support

General Contributions and Special Funding

PPP Forgivness of Debt

Special Events (net)

Endowment and Other Income

Total Operating Support

Total Operating Revenue & Support

Operating Expenses

Performance and Community Engagement Management and General Fundraising

Total Operating Expenses

Net

$108,762 $108,762

$3,217,136 $870,900 $373,021 $342,110 $4,803,167

$4,911,929

$2,848,871 $692,487 $938,195 $4,479,553 $432,376

$2,207,022 $(156,293) $108,735 $2,159,464 $3,263,583 $963,867 $4,227,450 $6,386,914 $3,261,713 $2,669,596 $671,522 $6,602,831 $(215,917) $4,060,697 $(380,614) $212,902 $3,892,985 $2,278,519 $253,876 $1,115,749 $3,648,144 $7,541,129 $4,625,831 $2,230,204 $672,263 $7,528,298 $12,831 FY2021 FY2020 FY2019

2021/22 SEASON

SEPTEMBER

Béla Fleck, My Bluegrass Heart 9/25

OCTOBER

Brooklyn Rider 10/7

Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro, 10/24

Och & Oy! A Considered Cabaret

NOVEMBER

Nicholas Phan & Brooklyn Rider 11/12

Daniil Trifonov, piano 11/14

David Sedaris 11/21

DECEMBER

Conrad Tao, piano 12/1

Julian Lage 12/2

JANUARY

Dashon Burton, bass-baritone 1/19

What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow, 1/21

The Music of Lerner & Loewe

Benjamin Appl, baritone 1/26

Danish String Quartet 1/30

FEBRUARY

Alexander Malofeev, piano 2/2

Cécile McLorin Salvant 2/5

Simone Porter, violin 2/9

Anaïs Mitchell + Bonny Light Horseman 2/18

A Tribute to Aretha Franklin: 2/25

The Queen of Soul, with Damien Sneed and Karen Clark Sheard

Sankofa Danzafro, Accommodating Lie 2/26-27

MARCH

Imani Winds & Catalyst Quartet, 3/5 (im)migration: music of change

Academy of St Martin in the Fields, 3/6

Joshua Bell, director/violin soloist

Emanuel Ax, piano - 3/9

Leonidas Kavakos, violin- Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Brooklyn Rider & Avi Avital, mandolin 3/18

Anat Cohen Quartetinho 3/19

Matthew Whitaker Quartet 3/20

Christian Sands 3/25

Veronica Swift 3/26

Regina Carter, Gone in a Phrase of Air 3/27

APRIL

The Just and the Blind 4/1-2

Jeremy Denk, piano 4/2-3

SFJAZZ Collective, 4/8 New Works Reflecting the Moment

Redman - Mehldau - McBride - Blade, 4/24

A MoodSwing Reunion

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 4/28-5/1

Takács Quartet with 4/30

Julien Labro, bandoneon

MAY

SHINE! Gala 5/6

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello & 5/7

Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano 5/11-15

Let’s Dance Boston! 5/11-15

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Apil 28-May 1, 2022)

SPONSORED BY THE LONGY SCHOOL OF MUSIC OF BARD COLLEGE

CONRAD TAO piano