Munro & Page, Sonenstein, Zaks Receive 2022 Artists’ Awards
We're pleased to announce that storytellers Black & Silver Productions, playwright Peter Sonenstein and violinist Ilana Zaks will receive 2020 Artists' Awards. All three will create or complete original, new work and premiere it at the next festival, scheduled for...
2022 Artists’ Awards Applications Open
Applications are being accepted until July 31 for the Guilford Performing Arts Festival’s (GPAF) third round of Artists’ Awards, which commission new works by Connecticut artists in dance, drama and music. As many as six $2,500 grants will be awarded for the creation...
2022 Artists’ Awards Criteria & Rules
(Note: the link to the online application is at the bottom of this page. Please read the criteria and rules in their entirety before applying) Overview The Guilford Performing Arts Festival Artists’ Awards were created to support the development of new work by...
Festival Adds New Board Members
We’re excited to announce the election of two new members to the festival board of directors: Sheri Cote and Susan Rollins. Their presence increases the size of our board to 12 and brings valuable skills in business and marketing to our all-volunteer organization....
Sky Hagner Performs Invisible Cities in Philly
Skyler Hagner, recipient of the festival’s Donn Trenner 2020 Artists’ Award in Music, recently performed his composition Invisible Cities, commissioned by the festival, in Philadelphia. Skyler premiered the work, a suite for jazz nonet, at the 2021 festival and has...
Cello Program to Benefit Ukraine
A benefit concert for Ukrainian humanitarian relief will take place on Sunday, June 12, at the Church of Christ, Scientist, in Guilford. It will feature music by the cello students of Ann West, a professional cellist who has lived and taught in Guilford for several...
Thomas/Ortiz Dance to Perform Festival-Commissioned Piece in Darien
Thomas/Ortiz Dance, recipient of a 2020 Artists’ Award, will perform the piece Together, which was commissioned by a festival grant, as part of its upcoming show at the Darien Arts Center. The performance, on Saturday, May 14, will showcase Together and another new...
Call for Visual Artists in Clinton
Our friends at the Clinton Arts Council and Clinton Art Society are calling for visual artists and vendors to participate in the town’s first annual visual arts festival, a free event that will take place July 30 in downtown Clinton. The festival will feature...
Steve Van Ness Joins Festival as Head of Production
Steve Van Ness has joined us as head of production. Steve is president of Impact Arts Events Group, which produces arts, community and cultural festivals; corporate events; and performing-arts programming, residencies and tours. He coordinated videography for the 2021...
Check Out Our 2021 Impact Report
We’d love you take a few minutes to read through our 2021 Impact Report, which we published in April to report on the 2021 festival and the impact it had on the community in entertainment and education. Though the number of shows, workshops and audience members...
Great Give Giving Has Started!
The main act in the 36-hour fundraising frenzy known as The Great Give will be May 4-5, but you can start donating on Monday, April 25. We've traditionally raised nearly half of the funds for our Artists’ Awards grant program through the Great Give, so please help us...
Iddi Saaka Performs Blurring the Surface at Wesleyan’s Faculty Concert
After premiering the festival-commissioned dance duet Blurring the Surface at the 2021 festival, Iddi Saaka, Shirley Sullivan and John Dankwa performed it as part of Wesleyan University’s Fall Faculty Dance Concert in December. Saaka, assistant professor of dance at...
Julie Fitzpatrick Plans Book Version of All the World’s a Stage Script
Julie Fitzpatrick, our 2020 Artists’ Award recipient in Spoken Word, is working on a book form of the script of her play All the World’s a Stage: A Guilford (Pandemic) Love Story. She reports, “It includes background on how the piece was formed and the process of...
Festival Receives $7,400 Connecticut Cultural Fund Grant
The festival has received a $7,400 grant under a state program called the CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants. The grant is the result of a collaboration between CT Humanities and the Connecticut Office of the Arts to help arts and cultural organizations...
Festival Seeks New Board Members and Volunteers
With three successful festival cycles under our belt, we’re looking for a small number of passionate and dedicated people to help us reach the next level of effectiveness and sustainability. Thanks to a tremendous amount of volunteer effort and terrific support from...
Attention Connecticut Performers: 2022 Artists’ Awards Applications Open this Spring
Since 2019, a key element of the Guilford Performing Arts Festival has been commissioning new work and premiering it at the following year’s festival. To date, we’ve granted a total of $20,000 to eight Connecticut performing artists: playwrights Emily Breeze, Susan...
Skyler Hagner Eyes Release of Invisible Cities Album this Summer
Almost as soon as the Skyler Hagner Nonet left the stage after premiering Hagner’s jazz suite Invisible Cities at the festival in September, they headed into the studio to start recording it. Skyler tells us the band finished recording in the fall and that he’s hoping...
Dimensional Dance to Perform Whole-Souled Women in West Hartford in April
Fresh from the premiere of their work Prudence Crandall and Sarah Harris: Whole-Souled Women at the Guilford Performing Arts Festival, Dimensional Dance was invited to perform a section of the piece for the 20th anniversary of the 5x5 Dance Festival in West Hartford....
Noah Baerman Pushes Artists’ Support Initiative
With the pandemic still wreaking havoc on live performance, 2018 festival Artists' Award recipient Noah Baerman is spending much of his time teaching at Wesleyan and putting muscle behind an initiative to support artists financially burdened by the pandemic. The...
Legacy Theatre Auditioning for 2022 Casts
Our friends at Legacy Theatre in Branford are accepting audition submissions for 2022 season casts. Their season, which runs from April to September, will feature performances of I Do! I Do!; Deathtrap; Awesomer & Awesomer; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; and...