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A Note from Donna
It may be hot and steamy now, but dry sunny days, blue skies, crisp air, and ripe pumpkins are all just around the corner. What better time to search for new meanings through music! Whether you play an instrument, sing, perform on stage, or attend live events, the arts can penetrate your soul and help you build bridges to new friends. Experience our new 10-week early childhood music education classes, private lessons, keyboard classes, community chorus, or theatre arts programs! Find inspiration in the unique energies every individual brings to our programs, and add your own. Our amazing faculty is ready to guide your way. Our wonderful board and hard-working staff are dedicated to bringing the best arts experiences to all of you. Call or email us, or visit us online. Come visit us in our new business office on the second floor of the Grafton Town House. We look forward to seeing you! --
Donna Blanchard, Executive Director |
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Register Now for Fall Classes!
Throughout history, humans have benefited from the joy of making music, so why not add music to your life this year? Registration is now under way for a wide variety of exciting fall programs and classes for people of all ages. Visit our website for details!
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Grafton Town House Update
The Grafton Town House |
As our business office settles into our new two-room office at One Grafton Common, significant progress continues on the restoration of the Grafton Town House for use as an area performing arts center.
Phases 1 (restoration of the roof) and 2 (restoration of the fire escapes) are now complete. Phase 3 (accessibility) has been our focus this summer, and I am happy to report that it has been fully funded, thanks to a $45,000 grant from the Massachusetts Projects Preservation Fund and $393,267 from the Grafton Community Preservation Committee. Construction-ready plans prepared by Dixon-Salo Associates are almost complete. They will include an interior and exterior ramp, ADA-compliant door hardware, a limited-use elevator, four handicap-accessible bathrooms and a new copper roof over the portico. As soon as we get the nod from the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board, which must approve the variances associated with the project, we will go out to bid on the construction work. We hope to begin construction by December, so stay tuned! --
Paul Scarlett, President, Board of Directors |
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Welcome, New Faculty! We're very excited about welcoming two outstanding new faculty members to our team of 26 dedicated teachers this fall!
Tina Ho, piano. Tina earned her masters degree in piano performance/pedagogy at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University and her bachelors degree at Northwestern University, with a double major in piano performance and psychology. Born to Taiwanese immigrants, she has participated for years in the Chinese Foundation for Performing Arts' Summer Music Festival at Walnut Hill, where she won the concerto competition to perform with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, under Jonathan McPhee. In addition to teaching, Tina will become the new accompanist for the Apple Tree Arts Community Chorus.
Nina Bishop Nunn, violin, comes to us via Boston University, the University of North Texas, and the Interlochen Arts Academy, the premier performing arts boarding school in the US. Her many notable concerts include Kanye West's Touch the Sky tour, the Boston Early Music Festival, and a nationally televised broadcast with Sheryl Crow.
Regional groups include the New Bedford Symphony, Orchestra of Indian Hill, and the new Baroque Orchestra of Boston, L'Academie.
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Music of the Hemispheres  We all know that music adds joy to our lives. Whether your tastes incline toward Bach, Brubeck, the Beatles, or Lady Gaga, it just feels feel good, right? Well, now new research is providing more evidence of something we at Apple Tree Arts have known all along -- that the process of making music is not only enjoyable, it actually makes you smarter! In fact, the bi-monthly publication Science News devoted most of its August 14 issue to the latest music research. Their conclusion? That playing instruments (and also singing) gives brains a boost! It's not the so-called "Mozart effect," which spawned the whole Baby Einstein industry. According to one of the publication's articles by Rachel Ehrenberg, it's the active engagement with sound that has "a pervasive effect on how the nervous system gets molded and shaped throughout our lifetimes." Long-term studies peering into brain structure and activity are now showing that musical training changes the brain in lasting ways, she says. |
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Calling All Performers! Do you have someone special you'd like to thank? Is there some important event in your life that you'd like to celebrate? Here's your chance! On Saturday, November 6, a group of central Massachusetts residents will host a new Gratitude Gala at the Highfields Golf and Country Club in Grafton. Their idea is to offer people of all ages the opportunity to express their gratitude for someone or something important to them, while giving expression to their artistic abilities through music, spoken word, dance, or other media. Net proceeds from the event will benefit central Massachusetts famlies in need during the Thanksgiving holiday season. Apple Tree Arts is pleased to offer this event our support. For information about auditioning and performing at The Gratitude Gala, visit www.thegratitudegala.com or call 508-439-2896. |
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Apple Tree Arts, One Grafton Common,
P.O. Box 75, Grafton, MA 01519
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"Apple Tree Arts is one of the best things about Grafton!"
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Five first through fourth grade "sheep" rehearse for their performance of E-I-E-I-Oops! on July 2. Their musical trip to MacDonald's farm was both funny and charming! |
Thirteen 4- and 5-year-olds clearly enjoyed their summer Arts Alive! experience "Down on the Farm" in Whitinsville this summer! |
Friday, November 19, 7pm -- a ONE-ACT COMEDY to be presented by third through fifth graders, at Grafton Elementary School
Sunday, December 5, 2:30pm -- HOLIDAY CONCERT, featuring the Apple Tree Arts Community Chorus, at Grafton's Evangelical Congregational Church |
Abigail Brann, Allison Benbenek, and Ashley Scarlett posed for pictures with 30 other 7th-12th graders after their August 20 performance of Night at the Wax Museum, a comic romp through the wackiest wax museum in history. |
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Paul Scarlett, president
Cam Sowa, vice president
Steve Lotterman, secretary
Kristen Graham, treasurer
Connie Hopkins, Mike O'Brien, Katie O'Neill
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Ed Dinaro, Chair
Sue Almy, Beth Concaugh, Karen Durand, Ann Morgan, Gary Murray, Rachel Murray, Anne Porcella, Laura Shunney, Lori Dauphinais Trahan, Jen Vacca, Cyndie Webster, Deanna Wong
STAFF
Donna Blanchard,
executive director
Jan Barlow,
education director
Kathy Vandenengel,
business director
Lisa Scarlett,
theatre arts director
Dana Wilson, marketing and publicity manager
Elaine Birkholz, writer/editor
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