THANKS TO OUR MANY FRIENDS
AND CONTRIBUTORS!
2003 Winter/Spring
Fundraising Campaign
( ...so far, keep watching for
your name....)
We
would like to extend our warmest appreciation to the foundations,
organizations and
individuals whose funding has made our programming possible. They
are, in part:
Forest:
(5000 and up)
Connecticut
Commission on the Arts
City of Middletown/ Middletown Commission on the Arts
Connecticut Light and Power
Grove:
(2500 and up)
Middletown Foundation for the Arts
Tree:
(1000 and up)
Carl
Lecce
North End Artists Cooperative
Jeanine and John Basinger
Trunk:
(500 and up)
Branch:
(100 and up)
Sally Tomiko and David Taraskevich
Susan and Stephan Allison
Thomas W. Witherington
Peter Loffredo
Paul Rice
Matt Abrams
Priscilla Parillo
Button:
(30 and up)
Joyce and Alfred Perry
Jennifer Saines and William Pinch
David Miner
John Anthony (Tony) Connor
Betsy and David Morgan
Bob and Jean Gagnon
Robert Messina
Laurie and Peter Frenzel
Stephanie Thornton
Joyce Morral
Richard Sloane
David and Gail Porteus
Margaret & Jonathan Best
Laurie and Rick Dickerson
Guy Kluscevic
David Schulz
Nancy and John Meyers
Sari and Howard Rosenbaum
Kate TenEyck and Noah Baerman
David N. Marchetti
We
would also like to thank the following for their outstanding 'in-kind'
donations of rental
equipment and professional services:
Comcast
Cable
Ed McKeon
Roots World, Cliff Furnald http://www.rootsworld.com/
Futuris Network, Hugh Brower http://www.futuris.net/
Bob Matt, Matt's Music
Marc Italia, http://www.geografx.com/
Arun Ranganathan, musicexchange.freeservers.com/
Harry Hardjono, http://www.geografx.com/
Sudhama Ranganathan, Sudhama@aol.com
Justin Siwik, www.angelfire.com/ct3/preview20
Bobbi Berenbaum, Office of Community Service Wesleyan University
ADDITIONAL
SUPPORT - THANK YOU TO:
William C. Graustein III - start up funds for expanded youth programming
Liberty Bank- Summer's End Music Festival- funds to expand to
children's programming during festival
Hartford Courant Foundation- Youth poetry and spoken word programs
for youth
Fleet Bank - Youth
poetry and spoken word programs for youth
David Nee - much appreciated general operating funds
And
Connecticut Light and Power for keeping our youth poetry program
going and growing!
Thanks to all our many volunteers and individual
contributors, calendar subscribers and more!
NEAR,Inc./The
Buttonwood Tree has 501(c)3 status and is organized as follows:
The
Board of Directors:
John
Basinger, acting president
Celia Watson, treasurer
Ian Q. LaForce, secretary
Richard A. McGhee III
Barbara Ally
Abigail Reynolds
Ann
Sabin
Colin Haskins
Roy Lisker
Executive
Director:
Jennifer
Hawkins
Volunteer
Visual Arts Director:
Eileen
Albrizio
Volunteer
Dance Director:
Ann
Sabin
Volunteer
Music Director:
Ian
Q. LaForce
Volunteer
Literary Director:
Colin
Haskins
Volunteer
Librarian:
Roy
Lisker
Volunteer
Program Hosts:
Richard
A. McGhee:
"Monday Night Creative Music Laboratory"- every fourth
Monday
"CVIL - Connecticut Valley Improvisors' League"
- every thrid Monday
Grady
Faulkner :
"Songwriters Night"- every second Monday
Abby
Reynolds and Tom Hahn:
"Games Night"- every first and third Tuesday
Bob
Bloom :
"Drumming CIrcle"- every fourth Tuesday
Bob
Gotta:
"Acoustic Open Mic"- every second Tuesdy and first Thursday
Ann
Sabin :
"Oriental Dance"- every second Wednesday
ABOUT
US
HISTORY
Located
in Middletown, Connecticut, North End Arts Rising, Inc./The Buttonwood
Tree grew out
of Susan Allison's Ibis Books & Gallery and was incorporated in
October, 1991 as a non-profit
arts organization. The small bookstore grew quickly into a hub
of artistic activity with
exhibitions, poetry readings and concerts. Becoming a non-profit
organization was suggested
by Corinne Gill, administrator of the City of Middletown's Commission
on the Arts & Cultural
Activities, who recognized the importance of an arts industry
in Middletown.
Under
the dedicated leadership of executive director Stephan A. Allison,
The Buttonwood Tree
has become a well respected arts venue offering approximately
250 events per year.During
his ten years at the helm, Stephan developed
The Buttonwood Tree into a nationally known center for music ahead
of the mainstream.
With
a keen sense of timing, Stephan brought not only many up and coming
songwriters into
the venue (including Dar Williams and The Nields in the early
'90s) but many of the highly
regarded and internationally known jazz and creative music composers
(Anthony Braxton - a
regular Wednesday night fixture on piano for three years, Robin
Holcomb, Ned Rothenburg, Guy
Klucevsek, the late Tom Cora, the late Thomas Chapin to name but
a few). The list is
extensive, impressive and includes world musicians from Europe,
Asia, Australia, Africa as well
as South & North America. The Summer's End Music Festival has
attracted crowds into the
area for over five years and has presented artists including Buckwheat
Zydeco and a veritable
who's who in blues musicians. Working with volunteer artistic
directors, Stephan created a
multi-discipline arts center presenting an unusually high level
of excellence and diversity
serving audiences in the greater Connecticut area and acting as
a creative haven for artists.
Current
executive director Jennifer Hawkins has stayed true to the original
vision and
continues to bring the outstanding performances into the venue.
Since taking over the position in
2001, Jennifer has expanded the base of funding, began improving
the space and has
made serving diverse groups a priority. The Buttonwood Tree now
offers expanded youth
programming as part of its monthly calendar of evening events.
NEAR,
Inc. remains true to our mission and offers free or reduced price
tickets to events each and every month. It remains community-based
with only one full time paid employee and hundreds of
volunteers. NEAR, Inc. offers The Buttonwood Tree as a performance
and exhibition space,
bookstore, and meeting place.
Our
Kid's Arts program, now in its 1th year, continues to be a successful
summer arts
immersion program for children ages 6 - 14. The Summer's End Music
Festival is an annual
event that reaches audiences well beyond our immediate area, bringing
artists and tourists
into the area while serving the residents with a full day of music
and family oriented activities.
WORK
WITH OTHER AGENCIES
NEAR
became an active participant, since 1993, in the Inner City Cultural
Development (now
known as the Urban Artists Initiative) - developed for inner city
artists and administered by
the CT Commission for the Arts.
Every
year, beginning in 1993, NEAR has offered Kid's Arts instruction
to Middletown youth in
music, visual art, creative writing, and, beginning in 2001, the
Free to Be exploration of
diversity through art. Permanent Displays in the North End include
a series of
mosaics and large murals of city life. This program has been funded
by the City Commission on the Arts &
Cultural Activities.
Partnerships
with organizations like the Coalition for Children, North End
Action Team,
Oddfellows Youth Theater, and Middlesex County Family Advocacy
have led to workshops, and
new school programming. NEAR, Inc. continues to play a key role
in the development of
afterschool programs and enrichment programs for all ages.
NEAR,
Inc. is recognized within the local community as a resource for
both arts and leadership.
It is cited several times in "Downtown Visions: 2000 and Beyond"
prepared by the Planning and
Zoning Downtown Committee. NEAR, Inc. extended its reach and brought
national attention to
Middletown in hosting the 1997 National Poetry Slam Championships
which was featured in a
PBS documentary.
In
1999-2000, we partnered with the Middlesex Country Family Advocacy
and other groups to
bring a journal making/photography workshop to teen mothers. The
subsequent journal entrees
were read as part of an NPR radio series, and the photographs
were published in several
newspapers and on-line. Current partnerships include working with
Oddfellows Playhouse,
representatives from the Middletown School District and other
key organizations to create an
after school arts program to be held at Woodrow Wilson Middle
School.
Statement
of Purpose
The
Buttonwood Tree is not a melting pot for cultural traditions,
but an arena for cultural
activity of various disciplines and traditions. All activities
to date have adhered to NEAR, Inc.'s
Statement of Purpose and continue to serve our long range goals.
The
purpose of NEAR, Inc. is to support the creative activities and
endeavors of artists and
potential artists; to create a forum, context and space for artistic,
cultural, creative, and
educational experience in Middletown, and to serve as a center
for community activity in
Middletown's North End. NEAR, Inc.'s goals are to: (i) provide
support to local artists, amateurs,
students and others interested in exploring their capacity for
self-expression and
communication by offering them a facility, institutional support,
funding, workshops,
performance/exhibit opportunities and other artistic support;
(ii) to provide artistic and other
cultural experiences and programs that are accessible, participatory
and unique, and to provide
these experiences for audiences in the North End, Middletown,
and Central Connecticut; (iii)
to serve residents of the North End of Middletown by offering
cultural programs, stimulating
interaction and community, enhancing commerce and creating a community/cultural
drop-in
center; and (iv) to carry on such other realated artistic, cultural,
creative, or educational
activities as may be necessary or appropriate in connection therewith.
