FESTIVAL NEWS

COVID-19 has led to the complete shutdown of gatherings of people as the government tries to slow the spread of the virus. Businesses have either closed, with staff working from home where possible, or have remained open but under strict guidelines. Things like...

OverviewThe Guilford Performing Arts Festival Artists’ Awards were created to support the development of new work by Connecticut performing artists and to provide a vehicle for premiering new work at the festival. They are artistic/creativity awards, not income-relief...

We're tripling the number of Artists’ Awards this year to six, and the total grant money available to $15,000, in an effort to support the creation of new work by Connecticut performing artists and provide some relief for artists who have lost income during the...

Pianist Noah Baerman, recipient of the inaugural Guilford Performing Arts Festival Artists’ Award in Music, recently put the finishing touches on his extended jazz composition, Cliff Palace, after working on it for much of a year. He sent us an email on September 3,...

Playwright Susan Cinoman, our 2019 Artists’ Award winner in drama, has been busy reworking her play Guenevere for presentation at the festival in September. A staged reading is scheduled for Saturday, September 28, at the Christ Episcopal Church in Guilford, our home...

The United States Coast Guard Band, one of America’s premier military concert bands, will perform on Sunday, September 29, as part of the Guilford Performing Arts Festival. The free show, to be held at the Guilford High School (GHS) Performing Arts Center, will...

The internationally acclaimed dance company Pilobolus will perform, teach in the public schools, and hold dance and movement classes for the public as part of the 2019 Guilford Performing Arts Festival. Pilobolus will present a full-company performance of “Come to...

The Connecticut Humanities Council, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment of the Humanities, has awarded the Town of Guilford and the Guilford Performing Arts Festival a $5,000 grant. The money is being used to help bolster humanities programming within the...

So many thanks to Shoreline Ballet and its director, Katie Contessa, for sponsoring the 2019 festival at the Major level! This outstanding dance studio in Guilford is helping support the cost of an innovative dance performance, teaching and public-service program,...

The Latin Grammy award-winning Afro Bop Alliance Latin jazz sextet will be the featured entertainment as the 2019 Guilford Performing Arts Festival kicks off on Thursday, September 26, with a benefit dinner under a tent on the historic Guilford Green.            The...

The 2019 Guilford Performing Arts Festival will kick off on Thursday, September 26, with an exclusive Dinner on the Green for patrons and guests, held under a tent on the historic Guilford town green.The elegant evening will feature a farm-to-table-style dinner with...

We've just announced a second wave of 24 performers, bringing to more than 60 the number of artists committed to the 2019 festival. More performers, including several national “marquee” names and artists who will teach in the public schools, will be announced in the...

We’re very excited to announce that we’ve lined up 38 performers in our first wave of commitments to the 2019 festival! We’re continuing to review applications and will announce a second wave, including several national “marquee” names, in early July. A full schedule...

Those of you who have met or spoken to her already know this, but we’re very fortunate to have Mia Sage Kriksciun working with us this summer as an intern, helping out in marketing and production. Mia’s a recent graduate of Middletown High School, a singer,...

The Guilford Foundation, whose initial grant provided the seed money for the first Guilford Performing Arts Festival in 2017, is supporting us in 2019 with another substantial grant.Funding from the foundation has been critical in enabling us to bring a few national...

Whitfield & Water Shoppes, a collection of stores, offices and residences in downtown Guilford, is supporting us as a platinum-level sponsor and exclusive sponsor of a patrons’ event that will open the 2019 festival. Watch this space, as we plan to announce...

The Guilford Performing Arts Festival has an opening for a paid intern, and we're looking for a college student, emerging creative professional or military veteran for a roughly four-month position in marketing and production. The intern will work approximately 250...

The Guilford Performing Arts Festival (GPAF) and Guilford Public Schools have formed a partnership in which musicians, actors and dancers from the festival will teach at Guilford High School and some festival performances will be held at the high school’s 500-seat...