Blogs

The Greater New Haven Community Chorus is excited to announce that we have hired Alysoun (Aly) Kegel as Artistic Director for the 2022-2023 season. Kegel is the first woman Artistic Director the chorus has had in its 59 years. She will be leading GNHCC in Open Rehearsals on Sept. 8, 15, and 22 at 7 pm at the First Presbyterian Church, 704 Whitney Avenue, New Haven. For more information about joining the chorus for our Fall 2022 semester, see our website: www.gnhcc.org.

She says, “I am thrilled to be joining the singers at GNHCC in their mission to ‘Build Community One Note at a Time’ and their goal of reflecting the full diversity of greater New Haven. I am excited to work with this amazing team as we commit to embodying values of inclusive community through song.”

An accomplished conductor, music teacher, and soprano, Alysoun Kegel has been working as the choir director and K-4 music instructor at Worthington Hooker since 2019. 

Kegel began singing as an 8-yr-old treble in the St. Luke’s Girls Choir of Evanston, Illinois, under the direction of Richard Webster. Kegel began conducting as an undergraduate at Yale University, She has conducted ensemble tours of Japan, South Korea, China, Sweden, Norway, Italy, France, and the UK. Additionally, she has prepared young people to sing under the batons of Sir Colin Davis, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, David Hoose, and Bernard Haitink, in collaborations with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, and Boston Early Music Festival. 

She completed her MM in conducting at Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied with Maestro Robert Page. She earned an earlier MM in Dalcroze Studies from the Longy School of Music. Kegel has led choral workshops throughout the US, as well as in South Korea, Ghana, and Somaliland. In addition to serving as the Artistic Director of the Greater New Haven Community Chorus, Kegel currently teaches music for the New Haven Public Schools and through Yale’s Music in the Schools Initiative.

Joy Bush’s photographs tell a story…without telling a story. City Gallery visitors will find themselves, like the photographer, WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN at Bush’s upcoming exhibit, on view September 2 - October 2, with an Opening Reception on Friday, September 9 from 4PM - 8PM.

“I am always waiting,” say Bush. “Waiting for something to happen. Waiting to piece together what just happened. Waiting to figure out what could have happened. My photos tell a story within its frame. While you might see a photograph of a coffee cup on a table, I see the narrative of someone who waited for a friend who never showed up.”

Bush is drawn to places that feel the echo of human presence — places that reveal nothing clearly, or something out of reach. Sometimes her photographs evoke a feeling of discomfort or distance. Others are ironic or amusing. Some provoke a sense of curiosity about what could be or could have been. Others just offer a place to rest with thoughts and imagination.

“I tell a story. My story. Maybe your story,” she says. And that’s the beauty of the work in this show — the fill-in-the-blank opportunity for the viewer to create her or his own meaning. “The work exists as an alternative future… maybe an alternative past. You decide.”

Bush’s work was recently featured in Unbeatable Women at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum (2022), and HOME VIEWS at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts. (2021). Her photographs have appeared in The Village Voice, The New York Times, Connecticut Review, and many other publications. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibits, nationally and internationally, including shows at the International Center for Photography (NYC), Mattatuck Museum, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Copley Society (Boston, MA), Drawing Rooms (NJ), Garrison Art Center (NY), Umbrella Arts (NYC), the Westport Arts Center, and Artspace (New Haven, CT). Bush is represented in the permanent collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Monetfiore Hospital (Bronx, NY), the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Yale Medical Group Art Place, and many private collections. She is a member of City Gallery, and lives and works in the Greater New Haven area.

WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN is free and open to the public and runs September 2 - October 2, with an Opening Reception on Friday, September 9 from 4PM - 8PM. City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. City Gallery follows New Haven City’s mask mandate policy. For further information please contact City Gallery, info@city-gallery.org, www.city-gallery.org.

Floods in City Point. Heat waves in tree-sparse, lot-heavy Newhallville. More storms that require evacuation. More periods of drought.

As climate change progresses, those conditions will become the new normal for New Haven, especially for the heat- and flood-vulnerable neighborhood of Fair Haven, reported officials tracking the trends.

An environmental transformation is already in motion. But, the officials said, the city can adapt its current infrastructure and prevent carbon emissions from making the problem worse...

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/how_climate_change_will_affect_your_neighborhood

Do you enjoy working with numbers and data?  Are you the type of person who takes pride in getting the details right and is excited to support programs that help families thrive in greater New Haven? Are you enthusiastic about using your organizational talents as a force for good in our community?

United Way is seeking a part-time Finance Assistant who is passionate and organized to support our finance department with Accounts Payable and other finance functions.

This is a part-time, 20 hour/week, hourly position.  The pay range is $20 - $22/hour.

What You Will Do

• Process Accounts Payable invoices and disbursements; input into MIP Abila accounting system utilizing proper coding for departments and grants
• Record daily cash receipts
• Assist with reconciling cash receipts
• Review expense submissions from grant sub recipients
• Assist with data entry into accounting software
• General Accounting Support tasks
• Other duties as assigned

What You Need

• Associates Degree in Business, Finance or Accounting preferred
• Knowledge of basic bookkeeping principles
• Numerical ability
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Outlook, Word
• Ability to multi-task and ability to prioritize, plan and coordinate responsibilities
• Demonstrate good communication and interpersonal skills

In accordance with organizational policies, this position requires a criminal background check as a condition of employment.    

About United Way

United Way of Greater New Haven brings people and organizations together to create solutions to Greater New Haven’s most pressing challenges in the areas of Education, Health, and Financial Stability grounded in racial and social justice. We tackle issues that cannot be solved by any one group working alone. We operate according to these organizational values.

Initially this position will be on location in our offices in New Haven.   Possible remote possibilities in the future.  20 hours/week during regular office hours with some flexibility regarding scheduled hours.

United Way is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Join Artspace New Haven for the opening of our fall exhibitions and continued free and public programming throughout the semester. These exhibitions continue our yearly 2022–2023 theme exploring complex systems exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, these exhibitions address the varying scales and arenas in which extractive capitalism operates.

In her solo exhibition Revelations, artist Ilana Harris-Babou presents recent video installations, collages, and ceramics navigating contradictory desires bound within our all-consuming image culture. Using the aesthetics of advertising and social media DIY influencing within wellness culture, Harris-Babou stages darkly humorous and subversive revelations about material quick-fixes for structural inequities. Rather than offering a critique of biblical proportions, the works disclose Black self-determinations.

Artistic duo Alejandra Salinas and Aeron Bergman (Bergman & Salinas), present a new series of conceptual works including sculptures, wall-mounted mixed-media, photography, painting on canvas, sound, and text works in their solo exhibition Against the Common Good/ Contra el Bien General. This body of work critiques how systems of capitalism corral the commons, against the general good for humans and non-humans alike. The title is borrowed from a print from The Disasters of War series (produced between 1810–1820) by painter and printmaker Francisco Goya (1746–1828).

The exhibitions open on Saturday, September 17th, 6:00–8:00 PM, preceded by a poetry reading from Joan Naviyuk Kane at 5:00 PM, "Saġuiŋaruq: It Is Sinuous." Both exhibitions are accompanied by free public programming series available on our calendar (subscribe to add all to your calendar), in addition to publications. For Bergman & Salinas, the publication Contra el Bien General constitutes a work in the exhibition, and the exhibition catalog for Ilana Harris-Babou's exhibition will be available in December, featuring new scholarship from Re'al Christian, Laurel V. McLaughlin, Yasmina Price, and Wendy Vogel.

If you'd like to schedule a tour of the exhibitions, please reach out and let me know. I'm offering tours in English on Wednesdays/ Thursdays, from 12–6 PM. Our Gallery Assistant, Andry Peña del Jesus, is offering tours in Spanish on Thursdays, 12–4 and Fridays 3–6 PM.

Join us!

All best,

Laurel McLaughlin

SomethingProjects has launched its first project, a statewide Connecticut artist treasure hunt called THE EXCHANGE, on view daily, August 15 - November 1, 2022 (rain or sun). It includes GPS-tracking, QR codes, and adventuring to 15 unique public art installations. The designated sites can be accessed through a map with GPS coordinates or by following clues and video prompts created by each of the artists. Visit www.SomethingProjects.net to learn more about THE EXCHANGE and the participating artists, then…

Get ready for an adventure! Plan your outing to visit the many exciting projects in which the public is invited to engage in fun and meaningful ways in the towns of: Beacon Falls, Branford, Bridgeport, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Hamden, Hartford, Meriden, New Haven, North Haven, Washington Depot, and Waterbury. Learn about these artists selected from your community by participating in the act of discovering what they have created to exchange with you.

THE EXCHANGE ARTISTS

Jeff Becker, Easton

Meg Bloom, New Haven

David Borawski, Hartford

Susan Breen, Bridgeport

Finoula Breen-Ryan

Joy Bush, Hamden

Susan Clinard, New Haven

Jennifer Davies, Branford

Sierra Dennehy, New Haven

Ellen Hackl Fagan, Darien

Crystal Heiden, Milford

Allison Hornak, New Haven

Fritz Horstman, Bethany

THE EXCHANGE ARTISTS

Jeff Becker, Easton

Meg Bloom, New Haven

David Borawski, Hartford

Susan Breen, Bridgeport

Finoula Breen-Ryan

Joy Bush, Hamden

Susan Clinard, New Haven

Jennifer Davies, Branford

Sierra Dennehy, New Haven

Ellen Hackl Fagan, Darien

Crystal Heiden, Milford

Allison Hornak, New Haven

Fritz Horstman, Bethany

Joe Bun Keo,Vernon/Rockville

Judith Kruger, New Haven

Susan McCaslin, New Haven

Adam Niklewicz, North Haven

Jen Payne, Branford

Roxy Savage, Fairfield

Max Schmidt, Meriden

Rosanne Shea, Waterbury

Kim Van Aelst, Hamden

Jo Yarrington, Fairfield

Judith Kruger, New Haven

Susan McCaslin, New Haven

Adam Niklewicz, North Haven

Jen Payne, Branford

Roxy Savage, Fairfield

Max Schmidt, Meriden

Rosanne Shea, Waterbury

Kim Van Aelst, Hamden

Jo Yarrington, Fairfield

ABOUT SOMETHINGPROJECTS

In 2022, longtime friends and artists, Howard el-Yasin and Suzan Shutan decided to partner and launched SomethingProjects: a nomadic and provisional space providing short-term exhibitions that dually highlight artists as well as introducing communities to new viewpoints and practices by state, regional, national, and international artists. As an incubator for ideas, it encourages artists to step outside their boundaries and experiment with the intersection of materials, production, presentation, and means of engagement with audience and space. Their locations will change and offer site-specific opportunities.

THE EXCHANGE is generously supported by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the federal ARPA.

For more information about SomethingProjects and THE EXCHANGE, visit www.SomethingProjects.net.

Visit the Careers page on the GreenWave website for a full job description (including responsibilities and required knowledge, skills, and abilities) and application instructions: https://www.greenwave.org/careers

Synopsis: 

The Office Coordinator will support day-to-day operations of the organization and manage the office at GreenWave’s Headquarters (HQ) in New Haven, CT, where our seaweed hatchery and ocean farm operations are housed. Reporting to the Co-Executive Directors, the Office Coordinator will be responsible for providing administrative support for all activities that occur at HQ and some activity led by staff working remotely around the country. This position requires the ability to work successfully within a team environment, build effective working relationships, maintain a comprehensive awareness of the organization, and become the “go-to” person for support activities. This position is based in New Haven, CT and is full-time in-person.

Compensation package includes:

Annual salary $55,000-65,000 ● Health and retirement benefits ● Generous paid vacation and holiday leave

People of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and LGBTQ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. GreenWave is committed to a diverse workplace, and to supporting our staff with ongoing career development opportunities. GreenWave is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its employment decisions. GreenWave provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees as required by law.

Community Impact, Program Assistant

 We Love What Makes You Unique

Your perspective fuels our mission-driven work at United Way of Greater New Haven. We are committed to building a team that is inclusive across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and lived experience. As an organization, we are committed to addressing systemic racism and injustice in our community, our partnerships, and our practices. 

Who We Are Looking For

Do you enjoy organizing information and facilitating effective communications between community organizations? Are you the type of person who takes pride in getting the details right and is excited to support programs that help families thrive in greater New Haven? Are you enthusiastic about using your organizational talents as a force for good in our community?

United Way is seeking a full-time Program Assistant who is passionate and organized to support two programs that help families in greater New Haven improve their lives: Early Head Start, which serves families with infants and toddlers, and the Coordinated Access Network, which helps people who are at-risk of, or experiencing, homelessness.

This is an hourly position.  The pay range is $16 - $18/hour and includes benefits.

What You Will Do

• Prepare and execute contracts
• Review and submit housing applications
• Review and submit invoices for processing
• Organize and maintain file system, and file correspondence and other records
• Prepare materials for presentations and events
• Coordinate and schedule meetings and events
• Answer emails and correspondence
• Develop meeting agendas and take meeting minutes
• Develop memos, reports and other regular correspondences as requested
• Create and distribute surveys
• Participate in trainings and committee work as applicable
• Participate in program strategic planning and self-assessment processes
• Develop relationships with community partners
• Assist in special projects as requested
• Maintain a high sense of confidentiality, initiative, and good judgment
• Other duties as assigned

 What You Need

• Minimum experience of 2 years working in an administrative capacity
• Ability to work as part of a team as well as independently
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing
• Training and experience using Microsoft Office 365 products
• Ability to travel to Partner sites in the Greater New Haven area

In accordance with organizational policies, this position requires a criminal background check as a condition of employment.  In accordance with Head Start Program Performance Standards, this position also requires a medical physical and proof of Covid-19 vaccination as a condition of employment. 

About United Way

United Way of Greater New Haven brings people and organizations together to create solutions to Greater New Haven’s most pressing challenges in the areas of Education, Health, and Financial Stability grounded in racial and social justice. We tackle issues that cannot be solved by any one group working alone. We operate according to these organizational values.

United Way staff are currently working hybrid, with at least two days per week in our office in New Haven.

United Way is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

“Where are the Native Americans now?” asked fifth grade students in an Iowa City classroom last year. There are many ways their teacher, Melanie Hester, might have answered. She could have pointed out that today Native Americans live in cities and towns across the U.S. About 20 percent live on reservations, and Hester could have used that to open a discussion of the U.S. government’s forcible movement and isolation of tribes. Hester might have also discussed how European and American settlers brutally killed many Native Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-schools-honest-talk-about-racism-can-reduce-discrimination/

Art competitions formed part of the modern Olympic Games during its early years, from 1912 to 1948. The competitions were part of the original intention of the Olympic Movement's founder, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. Medals were awarded for works of art inspired by sport, divided into five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_Summer_Olympics#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DThe_competitions_were_part_of%2Cmusic%2C_painting%2C_and_sculpture.?wprov=sfla1

Connecticut is not on track to meet the greenhouse gas emission goals set by the legislature — and transportation emissions are the main culprit.

The state’s annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory released Monday, which looks at data through 2018, shows transportation emissions are higher than they were in 1990, despite greater fuel efficiency in motor vehicles...

https://ctmirror.org/2021/09/07/ct-greenhouse-gas-emissions-rise-transportation-climate-initiative/

So you think it’s hot out there now? Consider the summer of 2053. That’s what researchers at First Street Foundation, a New York nonprofit that studies climate risk, have done in a report published today.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-15/us-south-midwest-will-reach-temps-of-125-f-by-2050s

Climate change is widely acknowledged as the existential crisis of our time, a “code red for humanity,” in the words of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. With the Senate’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday — in the middle of a summer that has brought record heat and innumerable weather-related disasters — it looks like the federal government will finally take some long overdue action on climate change...

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/3594406-can-philanthropy-rise-to-the-challenge-of-combating-climate-change/

How are the deep racial disparities in reproductive health care being addressed in light of Roe v. Wade’s overturning?

Connecticut nurse-midwife, nurse educator and historian Dr. Lucinda Canty recently launched Lucinda's House, to help local women of color...

https://www.ctpublic.org/show/where-we-live/2022-08-09/addressing-dire-racial-disparities-in-reproductive-health-care-is-critical-post-roe-say-advocates

The New Haven based Perrin Family Foundation is seeking dynamic and experienced individuals to join their team as Manager of Operations and Manager of Strategy and Learning. 

Learn more about the positions and how to apply here:

https://www.perrinfamilyfoundation.org/join-our-team/

Priority consideration will be given to applications received by August 22, 2022. Please share with your networks! 

A Photography Exhibit and Book Signing with Karen Klugman

The 70 photographs by Karen Klugman on display at New Haven’s City Gallery capture the funky Old Country atmosphere of Upper State Street in 1978 when most of the businesses were antique stores and self-described junk shops. Among the peeling paint, cracked walls, and piles of merchandise, the shop keepers would often hang out on chairs on the sidewalk and were always game for a friendly chat. For the exhibit UPPER STATE STREET 1978: AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS DECLINE, Klugman has recreated a bit of this flea market vibe by presenting differently-sized clusters of images, verbatim quotes by people in the photos, a map matching photographs to locations, and a scavenger hunt for kids. Like the antique stores of old, the show offers hidden delights for everyone. It will be on display from August 5 - August 21, with an Opening Reception & Book Signing on Friday, August 5 from 4pm – 7pm.

In the long and illustrious history of State Street, the late 1970s would have the distinction of being the height of its decline. Only six years after Klugman documented the neighborhood,  the people and places that she photographed would all be gone. The antique shops were replaced by a mix of vibrant businesses, and the new neighborhood was honored by the National Registry of Historic Places.

At the gallery, visitors can purchase Upper State Street, New Haven: At the Height of Its Decline, a book containing the photographs, quotes from shop owners in 1978, and Klugman’s essay about the enduring charm of State Street throughout its history. The photographs of Upper State Street are in the collection of the New Haven Museum and the book is in the collection at the Whitney Library.

The State Street project, Karen Klugman’s initial foray into street photography, evolved into a passion for learning about places by hanging out with people, listening, and taking pictures. Her subsequent street photography was supported by two Connecticut Artist Grants and is represented in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, Wesleyan University, and the Dansforth Museum. Klugman taught photography at Creative Arts Workshop, the Wesleyan Liberal Studies Program, Choate School and was Chair of the Art Department at Hopkins School. She photographed for and co-authored two cultural studies books: Inside the Mouse: Work and Play in Disney World and Strip Cultures: America in Las Vegas and produced the exposé of children’s toys, “A Bad Hair Day for G.I. Joe.” Klugman lives in the woods in Guilford and, taking a break from street photography during the pandemic, now hosts a nature blog.

UPPER STATE STREET 1978: AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS DECLINE is free and open to the public, and runs August 5 - August 21, with an Opening Reception & Book Signing on Friday, August 5 from 4pm – 7pm. Copies of Upper State Street, New Haven: At the Height of Its Decline (8.5 x 11 hardcover, 76 pages, black and white photos) may be purchased at the gallery during the exhibit for $40 ($60 afterwards). City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. City Gallery follows New Haven City’s mask mandate policy. For further information please contact City Gallery, info@city-gallery.org,www.city-gallery.org.

GNHCC seeks Artistic Director