Dear Friends,

Please check out the recent news below from the Lexington Council for the Arts (LCA).

What an exciting January! We held our first Comedy Night, which resulted in over $500 in donations from audience members to LexRap (a Lexington-based non-profit organization helping refugees to settle in the United States). And we are pleased to announce that we have selected the recipients of our 2023 grants to enhance the cultural vitality of the Lexington community.

Lexington Council for the Arts 2023 Grants

One of the more fascinating projects that received a LCA grant is the Earth Day Awareness Sculpture to be built by Munroe Center for the Arts. With the recent emphasis on climate change and plastic proliferation, artists are creating powerful art works that remind us of the impact of our waste on our environment and stimulate us to consider our own lifestyles. Hoping to build people’s awareness about the vast amount of plastic that humans ingest each year, Munroe is planning to partner with Lex Zero Waste to work with a local sculptor and build sculptures filled with discarded plastic pots, yogurt containers, bottles etc. These sculptures highlight the importance of recycling and the damage plastics are having on our environment.

The Munroe 2022 Plastic Collection

Generally, the backside of stores and office buildings are drab and dreary. But when they are adorned with a colorful mural, they can become quite thought-provoking. LCA is sponsoring Jill Strait, who, once the necessary approvals are secured, will create a mural on the back of the Music Emporium facing the Minuteman Bikeway. It will be a treat for cyclists and walkers, encouraging everyone to slow down and admire their surroundings.

Of course, some of LCA’s grants went towards music in this musically diverse town. There will be Brass in the Grass from the Lexington Symphony, band concerts at Hastings Park, and Harmony on the Green Coffeehouse. There will be a concert of staged scenes from the worlds of Operetta/Musical Theatre; Francis Hart will treat us to a cultural and historical reflection of the 1960s through the music of the Beatles; and Thomas Rull will take seniors on a musical journey through the years.

Additionally, the LCA grants will provide sheet music for the Lexington Bicentennial Band, fund art supplies for neurodiverse art classes in the Special Needs Art program, help sponsor a May Day celebration at Munroe Center, and support the popular Open Studios Weekend tours on May 20-21. It will subsidize summer programs at Lexington Community Farm and help fund a juried exhibition of contemporary ceramics created by clay artists at LexArt. Seniors will do hip hop chair dances and celebrate the season.

Local Youth to MC Dance Around the World

Arth Joshi, a filmmaker and editor and a Lexington High School senior, and Jodi Chen, a dancer and sophomore at BB&N, will be the MCs for Dance Around the World this March.

Arth has written, edited, and directed 10 award-winning short films with two more projects underway. Arth is a winner of “20-Under-20 Stars of 2021” by India New England. His short film Caged was selected in seven film festivals, a finalist in two, and winner in one. Two of his short films Cherish & Then & Now, were selected in nine festivals, including Busan International Film Fest, semi-finalist in one and finalist in two.

Jodie Chen has danced for around 10 years in various styles, including but not limited to ballet, Chinese folk dance, lyrical, hip-hop, and jazz. Currently, she is a company dancer at the Dance Laboratory with Karrisa Filault and will perform in a group hip-hop at the Dance Around the World 2023 Festival.

Dance Around the World (DAW) is a public art project, where the many cultures represented in and around Lexington will share their cultures through dance. LCA will cosponsor this free event with the Town Celebrations Committee (TCC) on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at Lexington High School Gymnasium.

Music and dance are languages common to everyone who loves life. This event brings different cultural groups together, creating new ties with each other, as they display an impressive range of dance and music styles while the audience will have a whirlwind tour of some of the most iconic dance styles in the world. In the March event, Chinese, Indian, Korean, and American groups will perform. The finale will involve the groups and the audience in one multicultural, continually evolving dance.

Arth Joshi & Jodie Chen, 2023 Dance Around the World MCs

Lexington Council for the Arts To Sponsor Fairy Homes & Gardens

LCA will sponsor the annual Fairy Home & Garden event to be held on May 27, Discovery Day weekend. Its purpose is to bring people of all ages together as they create fairy homes and to further our sense of community through shared creativity and enjoyment of nature. Fairy Homes & Gardens, which involves many town organizations and individuals, appeals to all ages and is free to all.

Last year Lexington’s Tourism Committee and the Chamber of Commerce enthusiastically endorsed this free family-friendly cross-town celebration. Many organizations including Munroe Center for the Arts, Cary Library, CAAL, Recreation and Community Programs, Lexington Community Farm, preschools, and individuals collected their pine cones, pods, odd bits of jewelry, etc. to make their fairy houses. There was even a fairy house in the Patriots’ Day parade!

This year, we will invite artists to create more elaborate fairy houses to decorate the Lexington greenscape and to have a Fairy Scavenger Hunt.

Typically, tourists are drawn to Lexington for our historical attractions. However, with projects like this and the Town’s ongoing application to receive State Cultural District designation, we aim to make Lexington known for arts and culture as well. Fairy Homes & Gardens will encourage not only its residents but visitors from other towns to visit Lexington, to walk through its many parks along Massachusetts Ave, and enjoy this historic town.

We hope to engage as many individuals and groups as possible in the fun and creativity of building fairy homes! We invite you to join us. For more information, visit us at https://www.lexartscouncil.org.

SNAP's and the Community Center's Fairy Houses 2022

What Is Porchfest?

LCA also plans to present another new event, Porchfest, this summer. What is Porchfest? Have you ever sat on your porch on a sultry summer evening and overhead someone strumming a guitar? Porchfest builds on this experience and amplifies it to become a community event where Lexingtonians share their love of music. What could be nicer on a hot summer night? Maybe a cool drink to go with it? If your neighborhood is interested, please contact us at [email protected].

About the Lexington Council for the Arts

The Lexington Council for the Arts administers State Funds by soliciting and evaluating applications for funding from eligible recipients, distributing the funds, and ensuring that they are properly used. Applications may be in the arts, humanities, or interpretive sciences.

The Council also undertakes projects intended to further the appreciation and support of the arts in Lexington.

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Lexington is one of the Commonwealth’s 329 Local Cultural Councils partnered with the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), a state agency with annual appropriations from the legislature.

For more information visit us at www.lexartscouncil.org.

Lexington Council for the Arts Committee Members 2022-2023

Jessie Chen

Lisa Hebert

Marie-Aude Hewes

David Hoose

Shalini Kakar

Claudia Lach

Stephen Poltorzycki

Ashley Rooney

Anwell Tsai

Douglas Urban

Elizabeth Xu