Greetings from Manchester NH – The Crossroads of Opportunity and Access

Greetings from Manchester New Hampshire
The Crossroads of Opportunity & Access.

Welcome and congratulations to Mayor Jay Ruais. Winner of an election contest that most agreed was above board, gentlemanly, and reflected well on the traditional political process in general and on Manchester, New Hampshire in particular.

Welcome to 2024 from Manchester, a place that offers you everything you might be looking for. And if for any reason you find something lacking, you are rarely more than an hour away from filling those needs. Now that we’ve got the rebranding issue resolved, let’s focus on search engines need for content that proves all this.

Lead with Arts and Culture.

By population, diversity, and by a centrally located geographic access, we are the crossroads. If you feel the need to travel, go North, South, East or West and find most everything you need within an hour’s drive.

Most recently, Ashley Middleton and Hillary Lorenz completed an Artist in Residence opportunity at The Factory on Willow. This is a Manchester NH, local, mixed use, collaborative space for creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs.

Hillary Lorenz drove here, 2,259 miles from her home in New Mexico. She is a multidisciplinary artist “who explores the intersections of running, nature, and solitude.”
The First 2 things she did when she got here? She signed up for a library card and joined a run club from Runners Alley.

When I asked her what she liked about Manchester NH, she listed without hesitation; “the food is amazing…love the downtown area. The people on the street are friendly. It’s clean and nice and easy to get around….really great coffee, really great beer. Every day there is a new adventure. There’s a rail trail nearby. It is a very easy, fun and inviting place to live.”

And that was before we invited her and Ashley to be guests of Manchester Ink Link at Symphony Masala, the Symphony NH live Bollywood (in Nashua NH) experience with only orchestral not traditional Indian instruments. One didn’t have to imagine it – the audience was dressed for the occasion and the community exuberance was palpable.

World-influencing, artist events

Here is a snapshot of just three, world-influencing, artist events that took place within the same two weeks of May 2023. All accessible. All took place within an hour of downtown Manchester. You only needed to have opted in at the time to be able to attend.

Gary Samson. 7th Artist Laureate of New Hampshire.

Book signing with Gary Samson and musical numbers by TJ Wheeler, blues musician. I met Gary some 30 years ago when I arrived in Manchester. I walked into the photography department at the then NH Institute of Art to get some help on photographic lighting. I’ll never forget our first interaction. Subsequently, I joined the NH Society of Photographic Artists (NHSPA) and exhibited at a few of their shows in Exeter NH.

Gary Samson has had a huge impact on generations of aspiring photographers. He continues to practice his craft and celebrated the release of Creole Soul, a book written by his friend, collaborator, and Portsmouth resident, Burt Feintuch (1949-2018).

The Seacoast African American Cultural Center hosted the photographic exhibit chosen from Samson’s contributions to that book. He previously collaborated with Feintuch in 2015 in Manchester, when they celebrated their project and book Talking New Orleans Music.

First Day of Issue and Dedication Ceremony Tomie dePaola Postage Stamp.

Tomie dePaola US postage stamp. Hosted in Manchester NH at the Currier Museum of Art. Friday May 5, 2023
The US Postal Service receives some 30,000 suggestions each year for commemorative postage stamps of which some 30 might be approved.
First Day of Issue is a big deal among stamp collectors.
Tomie dePaola (1934-2020) is a big deal always and remains our most beloved artist and children’s book author across the generations.

The event opened up with the National Anthem, sung by Sean Parr. Sean lives in Manchester, is a Board of School Committee member. He is also a teacher, operatic tenor and co-founder of an opera company.  Opening remarks were made by Dr. Susan Lynch, and Tomie’s sister Judie dePaola Bobbi.

The widest coverage of the event came from the most energized speaker, Sarah Mackenzie; founder of Read-Aloud-Revival.    She told an incredible story of how she got to meet Tomie and introduce him to her Global audience.

Dudley Laufman. A 2009 National Heritage Fellow.

Performer at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when Bob Dylan went electric. Dance caller since high school and a founding figure in the New England Contra Dance scene. May 16, 2023 Gibson’s Bookstore (Concord’s Indie Bookstore since 1898).

Dudley Laufman, of Canterbury, New Hampshire, joined writer/farmer/conservationist Thomas S Curren for a book signing about this traditional dance and music world. If you know, you know. If you don’t, but showed up, you got a condensed history from this still active nonagenarian.

Laufman and Curren played some gorgeous tunes together and they both autographed copies of Curren’s latest book. All Join Hands, the story of what happened when a ten-thousand-year old musical tradition was put into the hands of the then 17 year old Laufman. You can read the book. Many of us who attended, lived it and danced in the small towns of Fitzwilliam, Dublin, Canterbury, Durham and yes, even Manchester and Concord.

I met Dudley back in the 1980’s He was running community dances around the state. Caller, musician and keeper of the flame for old country dance traditions, he received the National Heritage Fellowship Award in 2009. Dudley shared stories with an audience quite familiar with his work. And by the way, the book was produced and published by Peter Randall of Portsmouth NH. I met Peter through Gary Samson as we were both members of NHSPA.

What These Stories Share in Common

What these three stories share in common is accessibility to the individual. The events resonated with me and others who attended because we have all had years of connection and access to each of the three “local” celebrities. The opportunity is open to all in a small state like ours.

Today’s world moves with online search. Telling these stories of Manchester and New Hampshire based Arts, opportunities and access, make our community easy to find in search anywhere in the world and for all the right reasons.

If we want to encourage young people to move here, stay here, or work and play here, we must supply the patronage. We must support and talk about opportunities and access. This is news worth reading, sharing and relocating for.

The State of Opportunity 2024

Manchester Ink Link and Symphony New Hampshire are collaborating in raising the opportunity for students and young people to be seen, heard and understood. I know it is much more than just coincidence that both publisher Carol Robidoux (the Manchester Ink Link), and Deanna Hoying (Executive Director, SNH) are women and live in Manchester.

Success is about risk taking. Wynton Marsalis’s A Fiddler’s Tale was performed here in Manchester at The Rex. Hoying, in speaking about Fiddler’s Tale, said to us, ““Thank you so much for helping to elevate the profile of this unique show. It’s always a little risky to do a chamber piece that is unfamiliar to the audience so it really helps to have such great reporting and support!”

Another result through the Ink Link: Symphony NH got national recognition for Fiddler’s Tale when the award-winning publication of the League of American Orchestras, referenced our Manchester Ink Link article using Art as a tool for social change. Symphony New Hampshire is actively looking for a new home. A concert venue to replace the venerable but aging Keefe center in Nashua.

Symphony NH will be back at The Rex Saturday March 2nd to present Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Penelope. Manchester Ink Link is the show sponsor.

One final peek behind the scenes of an event anyone can buy a ticket and attend.

On April 20, 2024 Symphony New Hampshire will premiere The NH Concerto. This special commission was created with collaboration from 4 New Hampshire undergraduate music programs. Dartmouth College, Keene State, Plymouth State and UNH put an incredible amount of work into preparing original compositions for a reading before the full Symphony NH orchestra and two judges. The winning movements will be featured at SNH New World concert at the Keefe Theatre in Nashua.

We will shortly begin sharing some of the student personal experiences here in the Manchester Ink Link at the Crossroads of Access and Opportunity in Ink Link Arts.

Sign up here if you don’t already subscribe to Carol’s daily news feed.