CenterStage: Art & Community
New this year is our Art & Community series—an opportunity for in-depth focus, community engagement and conversation. Look for sculptor Gillian Christy who is creating a piece of public art at the Water Street Bridge. There are many opportunities for the Fitchburg community to shape and create this piece of art with Christy.
CenterStage will also be part of a national multi-media creation and tour called Imaginary City. With video, captured sounds of Fitchburg, found objects and traditional instruments, So Percussion will engage us in the magical conversion and integration of our city into a multi-city collage resulting in a new Imaginary City. Members of So Percussion begin their Fitchburg exploration and conversation with us and students in September.
During Women’s History Month filmmaker and Leominster native Sara Colangelo shares her newest film project, Little Accidents, shot entirely in Central Massachusetts—in factories and industrial settings in Worcester, Leominster, Athol and Erving—and developed with many community members.
In the spring, we are inviting the community to participate in “Fitchburg Reads” —a project focusing on books by New England writer Lois Lowry. Kicking off this reading and discussion series will be a live radio interview with Ms. Lowry, followed by literature circles, book clubs and culminating with an Evening with Lois Lowry.
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Imaginary City: So Percussion
Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 5:30 PM
Kent Recital Hall (Conlon Music) |
Meet two members of So Percussion as they begin their year-long residency and exploration of Fitchburg—its landscape and soundscape! Their talk will focus on So Percussion’s process of capturing a city’s unique and universal elements. Additionally, they will share their first day meeting the community and our students who will contribute to Fitchburg’s Imaginary City performance.
Tickets: $10/general public; $7/faculty, staff and seniors; $5/FSC students (at the door)
Free with CenterStage membership card!
ASL interpreters will be provided
Photos from field trip with Fitchburg Arts Academy students:
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Gillian Christy, Sculptor
Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 5:30 PM
Ellis White Lecture Hall (Hammond Campus Center) |
As part of her ongoing Water Street Bridge project, Gillian Christy will discuss her approach to creating public artwork—the public artworks that have influenced and inspired her; and the community that lives in and among the works. Her work on the Water Street Bridge project has ranged from conversations with students to conversations with the bridge’s daily users. This conversation will share Christy’s thoughts and ideas thus far.
Admission: free
ASL interpreters will be provided |
Lois Lowry
Radio Interview on AM 1280 WPKZ
Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 7 AM |
Lois Lowry is the author of over 20 books and winner of two Newbury Medals. Her books are used extensively in schools, provoking serious discussion about young adult issues. Speaking of her own writing, Lowry says “My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly-fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.”
This spring the community is invited to explore the writings of Lois Lowry through literature circles and book reading clubs, a public discussion and culminating in an evening conversation with Ms. Lowry.
Sponsored by media partner AM 1280 The Pulse WPKZ |
Sara Colangelo
Making Movies in the Community
Tuesday, March 2 at 7 PM
Ellis White Lecture Hall (Hammond Campus Center) |
Sara Colangelo's latest project, Little Accidents, is a 25-minute short film shot entirely in Central Massachusetts— in factories and industrial settings in Worcester, Leominster, Athol and Erving.Set in a small American town, the film is about a young factory worker who struggles with the prospect of motherhood and recruits a mentally disabled young man to steal a pregnancy test for her. Central Massachusetts' factory-filled communities and striking landscapes proved to be a fitting backdrop for the film's gritty, industrial vision.In her talk, Colangelo will share how artistic vision can be unexpectedly altered by the very landscape that shaped the vision. There will also be a screening of Little Accidents followed by a Q&A. The film was shot on 35mm film and is the director's M.F.A thesis project for NYU's graduate film program.
Tickets: $10/general public; $7/FSC faculty, staff and seniors; $5/FSC students (at the door)
Free with CenterStage membership card!
ASL interpreters will be provided
With support from WITS (Women in Today’s Society) |
Lois Lowry
Talking about Lois Lowry
Tuesday, March 9 at 5:30 PM
Kent Recital Hall (Conlon Music) |
Lowry references The Giver in her Newbury Award speech: “The man that I named The Giver passed along to the boy knowledge, history, memories, color, pain, laughter, love, and truth. Every time you place a book in the hands of a child, you do the same thing.
It is very risky.
But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere. It gives him choices. It gives him freedom.
Those are magnificent, wonderfully unsafe things.”
Join fellow book lovers and readers as we delve into two of Lois Lowry’s most well-known books—The Giver and Number the Stars. Fitchburg State faculty scholar Dr. Patricia Smith will facilitate our discussion.
sponsored by:
Admission: free |
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