Mission Statement

Engage, Enrich, Inspire! Our mission is to provide a variety of professional arts events at affordable prices that appeal to people of all ages in northeastern Connecticut and nearby areas. Central to our mission are our Children’s Educational Opera, our Children’s Educational Symphony, and our kindergarten “Science of Sound” programs, presented free of charge to area towns, which introduce schoolchildren to professional arts experiences.

 

Overview

Supporting 50 seasons of entertainment, the Performing Arts of Northeast Connecticut (“P/Arts”) Fund brings high quality, accessible and affordable professional performing arts to Northeast Connecticut and surrounding towns. We seek to expand and deepen arts engagement among economically diverse audiences in the area. Our flagship programs (free to area school children) are our Children’s Educational Opera and Children’s Educational Symphony, and our Kindergarten “Science of Sound” program. Through our artistic partners, Salt Marsh Opera Company and the Azul String Quartet, local schoolchildren are introduced to the creative artistry, beauty and timeless narratives in productions of the opera and orchestra. Our programs provide teachers with standards-based study guides, in-school workshops with the artists, and fully staged one- hour productions at the Loos Center for the Arts at The Woodstock Academy. Since 1974, over 176,000 schoolchildren from 26 area towns have attended our free performances.

 

Our Kindergarten workshop was launched in 2015. Called The Science of Sound, it is led by Sally Rogers, a Connecticut Master Teaching Artist and local professional talent.  This in-classroom program engages the youngest students in a hands-on exploration of what makes music, using song, instruments, and a variety of everyday items to help children experience the basic physical principles of sound.

 

Serving Our Community

Each year over 4,000 local schoolchildren engage in our free opera, symphony, and kindergarten programs. In our under-served communities, few school budgets allow for a hands-on, high quality, engaging curriculum of professional music education and artistic performance.  Students participate first-hand in diverse ideas of complexity, high standards of artistry, and discipline which can nurture creative, inspired and ambitious young minds. 

 

Beyond our free educational programming, P/Arts also sponsors family-oriented professional productions performed at local venues, making them available to the community at a reasonable cost. Past shows include jazz artists Lenny White & Friends, Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Madama Butterfly, Ocean State Pops Orchestra and The Nutcracker.

 

The Performing Arts of Northeast Connecticut Fund is a restricted fund within The Woodstock Academy Foundation, Inc. All donations go directly to programs and performances. All children’s educational programming is funded through corporate sponsors, board member donations, local and state awarded grants and individual donors. You can help keep music alive in Northeastern Connecticut by supporting our mission and the cultural well-being of our entire community.