Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Kovner joins MCP board

MILLBROOK — The Millbrook Community Partnership (MCP) announced that Suzie Kovner, long-time patron of the arts and education advocate, has joined its board.

Kovner is a trustee of Carnegie Hall and founding member of the Drama Council at The Juilliard School with expertise in program development and non-profit management.

The MCP board aims to transform the old Thorne Building and former Bennett College campus into cultural, educational, and recreational hubs for the greater Millbrook community.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have Suzie joining our leadership team during this pivotal moment,” commented Oakleigh Thorne, President of MCP.

“Joining the board of the Millbrook Community Partnership was a natural decision for me, as the project combines my passion for the arts with my desire to revitalize Millbrook and create spaces for community members to gather,” Kovner said in a statement.

The Millbrook Community Partnership’s goal is to convert the dilapidated Bennett College campus into a park at the entrance to the Village, and the preservation and renovation of the abandoned Thorne Memorial School Building as a community center focused on the arts and learning.

Asbestos abatement recently was completed at the Thorne Building.  On the Bennett site, the old college has been torn down and landscaping has begun. The site is on a track to open for the community in 2023.

The new Thorne Building Community Center will serve the Village of Millbrook, the Town of Washington, and central Dutchess County by offering programs for all ages.

Latest News

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

Left to right: Hannah Wheeler, Matin Malikzada and Yonah Sadeh.

D.H. Callahan

On Monday, Oct. 26, a group of students, teachers and local residents gathered at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville for a screening of the new short documentary “Matin.” The film tells the story of Matin Malikzada, a seventh-generation Afghani potter making a new life in New Milford, Connecticut. The film was made by local filmmaker Yonah Sadeh, creator of the Video Wall at the David M. Hunt Library, and Berkshires-based potter Hannah Wheeler, who were both present for the screening, along with Malikzada himself.

As a member of the seventh generation of his family to master the art of pottery, Malikzada had done things the way his family had for over a century. Istalif, the village where his family has lived for generations, was known throughout Afghanistan for its pottery, with wares sent across the country for use as everyday cups, bowls, plates and other vessels. The pottery-making families of Istalif gathered clay from the same mountain, about 30 to 45 minutes away by donkey. Every July, they would head north toward the Uzbekistan border to gather ishkar, a plant they processed by hand to make their signature glazes.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.

L. Tomaino

When Meg Sher came to Falls Village in 2006 from Old Lyme, Connecticut, where she grew up, she never imagined she’d someday be the executive director of the David M. Hunt Library.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps it makes sense.

Keep ReadingShow less
Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, conducts the audience at a performance.

Steve Potter

For Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, music from centuries past is anything but a relic. It is a living, breathing art form, full of drama, emotional complexity and, occasionally, surprises. As the regional choral and period-instrument ensemble launches its 23rd season, Gevert is once again bringing forgotten masterpieces into the present.

“Early Music has been my lifelong passion and the focus of my specialization in Europe and South America,” Gevert said. “Bringing this repertoire to our audiences in a nuanced way that does justice to its incredible depth, intensity, and beauty is deeply important to me.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music’s 35th season opens with “Saluting the Clarinet” featuring clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein.

Provided

For 35 years, cellist Yehuda Hanani has been inviting audiences to experience classical music in unexpected ways. As founder and artistic director of Close Encounters with Music, Hanani has built a concert series that goes beyond the music itself, exploring connections to literature, history, politics and the human experience.

This year, Close Encounters celebrates its 35th season with “Celebration & Discovery,” a seven-concert series that opens Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.