Supporting the arts means supporting who we are

The Norwich Arts Council has hosted a diversity of performances in some wonderful shows during its First Friday Live Sounds concert series this past 2008-2009 season, a time during which many of us experienced difficult financial hardship.  Approaching the last concert of this season, I’d like to thank all those who have supported us and hope that you’ll join us for more cultural endeavors as we wrap up this season and plan for the next one. It isn’t always easy to support a cause like the arts in the face of an uncertain (pessimistic) economy, so I want to extend my gratitude to all of you have and continue to do so.  In your own way, you are a hero, defending local arts from extinction.

I’d like to think that there’s a benefit to the current recession climate however. When a budget is in crisis, it inspires people to take a look at what is really important. 

Take a look at the YMCA…the outreach as people joined forces and sprang into action hoping to stop the doors from closing on an organization that people obviously believed enriched their lives.  Because the organization has made that connection to our humanity, our humanness, our identity as people, it became imperative for folks to try to save it by donating, speaking out and rallying at meetings. And after its launch on Facebook—the networking Mecca itself—over 700 people joined the group “Save the YMCA!!” within 48 hours. The numbers are now over 1000 and growing. 

Support is contagious, and reminds us to look out for each other. As financial guru Suze Orman always reminds her listeners, "People first, then money, then things."

Culture is an identifying trait to who we are as people; it is not just some abstract buzz-word but a tangible connection to ourselves and each other. 

With that said, I hope you’ll celebrate some expression of culture with us at one of our upcoming events. 

NAC’s 2008-2009 season of First Friday Live Sounds concerts draws to a close with a performance by jazz octet Conga Bop on the first of May in the Donald L. Oat Theater. Fusing hard-bop harmonies with Caribbean rhythms, Conga Bop produces a sound that is uniquely and vibrantly both Latin and Jazz. Drummer and composer Ed Fast and his band-mates groove from one Latin flavor to the next including rumba, cha-cha-cha, son, and Afro-Cuban.  Fast leads his ensemble through an array of his own originals and jazz classics by legendary artists such as Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, and Hilton Ruiz.  Partly funded by a grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, Conga Bop shares with its audiences a passport to a vast tour of  Latin and Caribbean sounds.  You can find out more about these artists at www.edfastmusic.com.

On May 15, NAC will be hosting a fundraiser “Swing in to Spring” at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in the Industrial Park with the energetic jump n’ jive sensation Eight to the Bar. A revival band who has kept the torch of the swing era burning for over 30 years, the talented Eight are one of our highlights in our First Friday line-up every year, performing in what has been dubbed our “Alternative New Year” concert in January. They are an example of what makes the First Friday’s so spectacular and such an important ritual in Norwich. With all the splashy, dance-aholic flare of the band’s horn-infused melodies, along with hors d’oeuvres and an hour-long open bar, the event promises to be a fabulous party. 

Not to make it sound like a superfluous indulgence, but supporting the arts should be a celebration of our lives. The arts give us the right to express who we are as people, and I’d say that’s worth defending.

-Joe Matovic

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Supporting the arts means supporting who we are (4/25/09)