Category Archives: Arts

Justice Dance Performance Project Presents Staged Reading of ‘With These Hands’

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“With These Hands: Connecting Self, Community, and the Earth” was first performed at York Correctional Institution in 2024 as the culmination of a year-long performance residency overseen by the Justice Dance Performance Project (JDPP). Graphic courtesy of JDPP.

OLD LYME — A staged reading of ‘With These Hands,’ a piece developed by incarcerated individuals at York Correctional Institution, will be performed next month at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme. 

The free performance will be held at 11:30 a.m. on May 4.  

“With These Hands: Connecting Self, Community, and the Earth” was first performed at York in 2024 as the culmination of a year-long performance residency overseen by the Justice Dance Performance Project (JDPP).

Participants at York created written pieces, dances, and songs, while working with JDPP teaching artists to develop the performance. 

JDPP will bring excerpts from the piece as a staged reading that includes narrative, song, and dance. The cast includes JDPP teaching artists from the project and women who are part of JDPP’s Stepping Out program for returning citizens in the community.

A Few Tickets Still Available for Lyme Art Association’s Signature Spring Fundraiser

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Among the silent auction items at the 2025 Sea & Sky Soiree is “Abandoned Orchard” by Jim Laurino. Image courtesy of Lyme Art Association.

OLD LYME —The Lyme Art Association promises an evening of fine art, music, and cultured camaraderie at its Sea & Sky Soirée on Saturday, May 3. 

Described in a press release as the place where “art meets elegance,” the signature spring fundraiser includes live jazz, hors d’oeuvres from Flanders Fish Market, a silent auction showcasing works of art, and a raffle of themed baskets featuring unique items and experiences.  

Basket Raffle tickets are now on sale. Visit this link to purchase tickets in advance of the event. Raffle tickets can be purchased ahead of time and picked up at the event or at Lyme Art Association (LAA) starting or purchased at LAA.

Tickets are one for $10, three for $20, or ten for $50. Baskets are currently on display at the LAA. The raffle drawing will take place at the Sea & Sky Soirée. Participants need not be present to win.

The event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the association’s historic gallery at 90 Lyme St.

Lyme Art Association Executive Director Elsbeth Dowd prepared for last year’s silent auction in this photo courtesy of Lyme Art Association.

Proceeds support educational programs, exhibitions, and special projects carried out as part of the association’s mission to promote the visual arts.

Sponsorships and auction donations are still being accepted.

For more information or to donate auction items, contact Elsbeth Dowd at elsbeth@lymeartassociation.org or call 860-434-7802.

Tickets are available at www.lymeartassociation.org/sea-sky-soiree.

Old Lyme Town Band Celebrates 50 Years with Gala Community Concert, April 26

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On Saturday, April 26, the Old Lyme Town Band celebrates its 50th anniversary with a free Community Concert at Lyme-Old Lyme High School. All photos courtesy of Old Lyme Town Band.

OLD LYME —The Old Lyme Town Band (OLTB) sounds off its 50th anniversary season with a free gala concert in the auditorium of Lyme-Old Lyme High School on Saturday, April 26, at 7 p.m. A reception will follow the concert. All are welcome and there is no charge for admission.

These four early members of the Old Lyme Town Band still play in it today. Michele Smith Dickey at right conceived the idea of re-forming the band in 1975 after a 65-year hiatus. The other three members are from left to right, Barry Weiner, Ann Lander, and Ned Perkins.

it was Michele Smith Dickey of Old Lyme—a member of the current band—who conceived the idea of re-forming the band in 1975 after a 65-year hiatus. She notes there were about 30 musicians at that time and the first volunteer conductor was Donald Janse. That was, in Dickey’s words, when, “We started making music and making friends a half century ago”. “

The original incarnation of the Old Lyme Town Band (OLTB) spanned 1886-1910. It was re-formed by Dickey in anticipation of the US Bicentennial coming a year later in 1976.

This photo shows the band in 1910 shortly before it took a 65-year break.

“The group has played continually for half a century,” she noted, continuing, “It’s great to have a musical outlet for people of all ages where friendships are forged.”

A series of 15 conductors followed Janse through the years. Under the direction of its current conductor, Richard Chiappetta, the band entertains audiences with a variety of music including movie medleys, traditional marches, showtune favorites, and Americana selections. 

Dickey commented that the band has grown to more than 50 members since 1975 and continues to provide summer and holiday concerts to shoreline and river valley communities. 

The April 26 concert will feature a commissioned piece by composer Anthony Susi titled, “Impressions of Old Lyme.” It was inspired by three Lyme Art Colony painters in summer residence at the home of Florence Griswold, where the new school of painting became the center of American impressionistic art. Susi hopes “Impressions of Old Lyme,” expresses the rich art history of the community. “The French impressionists often painted scenes around Paris; the American impressionists in Old Lyme painted the rural landscapes of New England.”

This famous work,“Kalmia” by Willard Metcalf, is one of the paintings that inspired Anthony Susi’s original work, “Impressions of Old Lyme,” which will be given its premier by the Old Lyme Town Band at their celebratory concert on April 26.

They used a technique of high-key colors and broken brush strokes seen in the paintings “The Ledges” by Childe Hassam, “Peonies” by Matilda Browne, and “Kalmia” by Willard Metcalf. The works reflect the meadows, marshes, and flowers in the area known for inspiring art.

Brian Girasoli, OLTB President, said that the show will feature debut compositions as well as old favorites as the group celebrates 50 years of musicianship. 

“Since 1975, we  have been fortunate to not only have nearly a thousand people from the surrounding area provide his or her musical acumen, but also the support of the community to put on more than a dozen concerts each year,” he continued. 

Concert dates can be found at oldlymetownband.net/oltb and by visiting Old Lyme Town Band on Facebook. Regular annual events include a concert preceding the fireworks display at the Midsummer Festival, a summer concert on the Town Green, and a winter holiday concert at Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook.  New this summer will be a concert at Water’s Edge in Westbrook.

The OLTB welcomes players of all ages, students to retirees. No audition is necessary. Rehearsals are held Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme.

For more information contact oldlymetownband@gmail.com.

Lyme-Old Lyme Schools BOE Reinstates Sixth Music Teacher to Proposed Budget with No Increase to Bottom Line

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OLD LYME – The Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Board of Education on Thursday voted unanimously to reinstate an elementary school music position to the district’s $39.7 million 2025-26 proposed budget while calling for harmony between the music department and district administration. 

The district school board called for the special meeting amid vocal opposition from some community members after the position held by Mile Creek School music teacher Matthew Guevara was not included in the proposed budget. The school board approved the spending plan in February. 

There are currently six music teachers in the district, including Guevara. He was hired in January. 

Superintendent of Schools Ian Neviaser on Friday said the bottom line of the 2025-26 budget proposal will remain the same despite the added position. The cost, which he valued at $70,201 in salary and benefits, will be absorbed in the proposed budget. 

It hasn’t yet been decided exactly where money will come from, according to Neviaser. 

The budget proposal represents an increase of $2.7 million, or 7.39 percent, over the current spending plan. It’s the highest increase among comparable schools in the shoreline area, according to a presentation given by Neviaser earlier this week. 

He said $1.8 million of the $2.7 million increase is attributable to debt payments for the renovation project happening in all district buildings except the high school. 

The move to reinstate the music position came after school board members heard from members of the music department about how to enhance the program using the existing ensemble of six teachers. 

The school board members were receptive to the music department’s plan and surprised it was the first they were hearing of it. 

School board member Chris Staab, who made the motion to add the sixth teaching position and to require the administration and music department to work together in coming up with an implementation plan, voiced concerns about the dynamic he was seeing in the district. 

“The departments don’t seem to be working in conjunction with the administration, at least in this case, and that’s concerning to me,” he said. 

Kristine Pekar, music department chair and Lyme-Old Lyme High School choral teacher, said members of the department have not been asked for their thoughts like this before.

“It’s the first time anybody’s hearing it because when we put ideas out there, it doesn’t feel like they are really looked at for what they can do for kids,” she said. 

Neviaser has cited underenrollment, rather than cost cutting, as the reason the district could not maintain current staffing levels. 

Pekar said she’s heard over and over that the cut wasn’t a financial decision. 

“We’re not asking for more finances,” she said. “We’re asking for the opportunity to grow this program.” 

Critics said eliminating the music teacher at Mile Creek School would have negative implications at all grade levels by spreading the five remaining teachers too thinly across the district’s five schools. 

Pekar gave an hour-long presentation on the structure of the district’s music program and how it compares to area districts. She also laid out how the program could better serve students whose musical education had been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic with lasting effects. 

Some of the strategies to more fully utilize existing staff included introducing instrument lessons, band rehearsals and chorus classes earlier in elementary school; scheduling one-on-one lessons for students with disabilities at the middle school; and promoting existing music electives at the high school to make more students interested in taking them. 

Key to increasing enrollment at the high school is classifying the high school’s music theory class as a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) credit students can choose from to satisfy graduation requirements, Pekar said. 

She used the example of a current student planning to study music in college who signed up for marine biology as his STEM credit. 

“He’s going into music education and he had to take marine bio to fulfill his STEM credits, instead of taking music history to get ready for college, or AP music theory to get ready for college. And I think that is a huge disservice to our students,” she said. 

Pekar pointed to data showing 121 of Lyme-Old Lyme High School’s 368 students, or 33%, are enrolled in chorus or band ensembles. She said the number compares favorably to area districts, including 11.7% in East Lyme and 20.4% in the Region 4 school covering Chester, Deep River and Essex. 

Members of the school board agreed they can still cut the music position after the proposed budget is approved by voters if the administration and music department doesn’t come forward with a compelling plan for implementing the ideas laid out at the meeting. 

Neviaser on Friday remained focused on enrollment.

“We look forward to building upon the creative ideas presented by the music department last night in order to grow student enrollment in this area,” he said.

The board did not discuss a suggestion from Mary Powell-St. Louis, a former district school board member from Lyme, to offset the cost of the sixth music teacher’s salary by paying for the high school sound system and middle school lighting system out of the district’s undesignated fund balance, or rainy day fund. 

She said the move would end up lowering the overall budget increase to 6.85%.

There is $3.1 million in the undesignated fund balance, according to Neviaser.  

He said it is “yet to be determined” whether the district will consider Powell-St. Louis’ suggestion.

The referendum on the proposed budget will be held May 6.

Lyme-Old Lyme School Board to Hear from Music Department Amid Outcry About Threatened Cut to Elementary School Position

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OLD LYME—After backlash to a proposed budget cut that would eliminate an elementary school music position from the proposed 2025-26 Region 18 schools’ budget, the district Board of Education has invited members of the music department for a conversation about how to maintain a vibrant and appropriately-staffed music department amid declining enrollment.

The proposed cut comes as part of the $39.7 million budget proposal coming in at an increase of $2.7 million, or 7.39 percent, over the current spending plan. It goes to voters at a May 6 referendum.

The district school board heard from about a dozen people each at its March and April regular meetings, who were clamoring to keep the music program undisturbed. 

Neviaser in a phone interview Tuesday cited “underenrollment” as the reason the district cannot maintain current staffing levels. 

“We just don’t have the students to support that, or the student interest in music that we used to have,” he said. 

Neviaser said the remaining five music teachers would ensure continued coverage throughout the district. While the schedules have not yet been decided, he suggested a framework that could involve the middle school choral teacher moving to Mile Creek to take over both chorus and band duties, with some support from both the high school band teacher and the music teacher at Lyme Consolidated School. 

“The high school choral teacher, because we have so few enrollments in chorus at the high school, would teach two classes and the rest of her day would be spent at the middle school teaching chorus there,” he said. 

Data provided at an April 2 school board meeting shows there are 40 students in the chorus program at the high school and 73 students in the high school band. At the middle school, there are 119 students in chorus program and 87 students in the band.

Small group chorus lessons at the middle school would combine under the new framework but would not exceed 10 students each, according to Neviaser. 

He has emphasized throughout the budget season that programs available to students would not change due to the staffing cut. 

Overall, the budget proposal assumes there will be 23 fewer students districtwide in the coming year than there are currently. Data in a January budget presentation by Neviaser showed enrollment at the high school is expected to go down by 13 students, while middle school enrollment is expected to increase by 17 students. 

Sara Goldin, a 2014 graduate of Lyme-Old Lyme High School, presented the school board at their April 2 meeting with a petition she started on change.org. It has since garnered 918 signatures. 

Goldin said the change has implications that will affect to varying degrees the number and quality of the ensembles, concerts, music festivals and small group classes in which students are able to participate. 

“Ensembles would be reduced and students at both the middle school and high school level would be losing dedicated staff. This is the definition of affecting programming for students,” Goldin wrote. 

Mary Powell-St. Louis, a former district school board member from Lyme, said retaining the Mile Creek music teacher at an estimated cost of $100,000 for salary and benefits could be accomplished by paying for planned upgrades to the high school sound system and middle school lighting system out of the district’s undesignated fund balance, or ‘Rainy Day Fund,’ rather than the operating budget. 

She said the move would end up lowering the overall budget increase to 6.85%.

There is $3.1 million in the undesignated fund balance, according to Neviaser.  

He said the Board of Education will hold a meeting with music department teachers this Thursday to gauge their thoughts, “and what their solutions might be to address these underenrollment and staffing issues.” 

The school board at the May 5 district budget meeting will vote to send the budget to referendum the next day. 

Neviaser said the budget proposal can be revised prior to or during the May 5 district budget meeting. 

“You can change those numbers right up to the last minute,” he said. “We’ve done it in the past.”

The meeting will be held Thursday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. at Lyme Consolidated School. A livestream will be available here.

Editor’s Note: This report was updated with details of the time and location of the meeting with the district school board and music department .