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From June 12, 2009

October 30-November 1, 2009: Arts Education Partnership Conference
Save the weekend of October 30 to November 1, 2009, for the annual Arts in Education Partnership Conference, Maps & Journeys: New Perspectives on the Future of Arts Education in New Hampshire, sponsored by the NH State Council on the Arts, the Arts Alliance of Northern NH and the NH Department of Education. Keynote speakers are James and Maureen Tusty, filmmakers and producers of The Singing Revolution, a film telling the story of how the Republic of Estonia gained its freedom; and Julie Lyonn Lieberman, musician, composer, educator, and creator of the Green Anthem Project. Robert Morrison of Quadrant Arts Education Research, will give a report on NH's first Arts Education Survey of public schools, a partnership project of the NH State Council on the Arts and the NH Department of Education.

The weekend will also include arts education workshops, exhibits and presentations by N.H. Artist Fellows Alexandra de Steiguer (photographer) and Hideaki Miyamura (potter and glazer). This conference brings school educators and parents together with teaching artists and arts resources to design Artist Residency in School project grants and improve the quality of arts education in New Hampshire.    

The site for the conference is the AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch in Bretton Woods, N.H. To learn more, and for registration details, visit www.nh.gov/nharts or www.aannh.org. Questions? Contact Catherine O'Brian, arts education coordinator, N.H. State Council on the Arts, at 603-271-0795 or Catherine.R.OBrian@dcr.nh.gov

Bob McQuillen Wins Lifetime Contribution Award
He’s been named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts and has won a New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award. Now traditional musician and composer Bob McQuillen of Peterborough has earned a new distinction: a 2009 Lifetime Contribution Award from the Country Dance and Song Society, a Massachusetts-based organization dedicated to preserving and sustaining English and Anglo-American traditional and historical folk dance, music and song.

A mainstay of the New England contra dance scene for more than 60 years, McQuillen took up accordion and then piano and, after service as a Marine during World War II, began playing at dances throughout the region. He worked with the legendary dance caller Ralph Page and played with Dudley Laufman’s Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra, along the way serving as a mentor to numerous young musicians. McQuillen, whose “day job” was teaching industrial arts at Peterborough High School, wrote his first tune in 1973. Since then he’s written over a thousand more, and published them in a series of booklets, “Bob’s Note Books.” A member of the group Old New England with Jane Orzechowski and Deanna Stiles, McQuillen is included on the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts’ Traditional Arts and Folklife listing, and has received several Apprenticeship grants through the State Arts Council.

In Memoriam: William Reynold Johnson

William Reynold Johnson, a retired state Supreme Court justice who, as a legislator, was instrumental in establishing the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, died May 30, 2009, while en route from his summer home in Florida to New Hampshire.

As a state senator, Bill Johnson authored Senate Bill 97 in April 1965. The bill called for the establishment of a state commission on the fine arts. Johnson had served as state chair for New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s bid for the presidency, and learned about Rockefeller’s formation of a state arts agency. He modeled his bill on New York’s legislation. It passed – minus the $2,000 appropriation he’d included.

Arts Council Director Rebecca Lawrence and former Artist Services Coordinator Audrey Sylvester interviewed Johnson for Drawing Your Own Conclusions, Lawrence’s 1995 history of the N.H. State Council on the Arts published in connection with the agency’s 30th anniversary. Sylvester remembers “a fabulous interview that reflected on the politics and how the arts council was legislatively established.” Johnson, then a N.H. Supreme Court justice, was pleased to have been tracked down for the interview.

From the text of the SB97: “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state to join with private patrons and with institutions and professional organizations concerned with the arts to insure that the role of the arts in the life of our citizens will continue to grow and will play an ever more significant part in the welfare and educational experience of our citizens. It is further declared that all activities undertaken by the state in carrying out this policy shall be directed toward encouraging and assisting rather than in any ways limiting the freedom of expression that is essential for the well being of the arts.”
A reception will follow at the Hanover Inn. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund is being established at Dartmouth College in Bill's name. Gifts should be directed to: The Honorable William R. Johnson '53 Memorial Fund, Dartmouth Athletics, 6083 Alumni Gym, Hanover 03755. The Rand-Wilson Funeral Home of Hanover is in charge of arrangements.
Read the Concord Monitor obituary here: http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090606/NOCOMMENTING/906060346

Congratulations to:

Bob Lawson of Peterborough
A film by Robert Lawson of Peterborough, a 1999 State Arts Council Artist Fellowship finalist, has opened in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas and Buffalo, with showings scheduled for Brooklyn and Boston as well. The feature-length movie, “What Goes Up,” began as a play at Andy’s Summer Theater in Wilton, where Lawson was for many years artistic director. The co-writer of the play and screenplay, Jonathan Glatzer, also directed the film, which stars Hilary Duff, Steve Coogan, and Molly Shannon. The DVD will be released June 16. Here’s a link to the official web site: http://www.whatgoesup-themovie.com/.

Gary Haven Smith of Northwood
Works by sculptor Gary Haven Smith of Northwood, a State Arts Council Lifetime Fellow, are on display at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester as part of the museum’s Spotlight New England series. Smith’s work, along with work by Vermont artist Gerald Auten, who is on the fine arts faculty at Dartmouth College, will be up at the Currier through September 13, 2009. For more information, visit the Currier web site: http://www.currier.org/nowonview.aspx. 

Last updated: August 13, 2009