Arts Initiatives
ARTS at BENTLEY and the Waltham Arts Community
Bentley students can now pursue their interests in the creative arts though newly established co-curricular programs embedded in Waltham’s extensive and vibrant arts community. Bentley has formed partnerships with three arts organizations in theatre, music and visual arts. All three organizations have long-standing histories in the Waltham arts community, and all are within a mile of campus on Bentley’s side of the Charles River, in the Moody Street area.
Students with an interest in theatre can participate in productions mounted by The Hovey Players. Students are welcome to audition for roles in any play and can work with the production team on stage management, lighting and set design and construction. Those interested in the business of nonprofit theatre production can become involved with marketing, management, fundraising and other areas.
Those who play symphony instruments are welcome to join the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra. The group rehearses one night a week and gives concerts several times each year. No audition required. Students interested in the business of not-for-profit arts organizations are welcome to learn-by-doing in marketing, management and fundraising among others.
Students who work in any number of visual arts mediums will have opportunities to develop their talents with artists from Artists West of the Waltham Mills Artists Association. Opportunities are also available for those interested in the business side of the arts.
The Hovey Players
Bentley students are invited to be a part of Hovey Players community, Waltham’s critically acclaimed community theater since 1936. Many Boston area noted playwrights and directors have worked with Hovey over the years. Located in the lower level of the D’Angio Building, the 52-seat D’Angio Memorial Theater is an intimate performance space.
The Hovey Players produce five or six major events per season, featuring a full range of plays including comedy, drama, and musicals. Actors, both amateur and professional, audition for parts in productions. The Hovey Players welcomes area directors, stage managers and set designers to participate. They also offer local playwrights the opportunity to submit short pieces of original work for the theatre’s wildly popular annual Summer Shorts Festival. There is no fee involved for participation.
Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra
Any student who plays a symphony orchestra instrument is welcome to make music with the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra. There is no audition process. If more students are interested than there are places in the orchestra, chamber groups will be established. This is an orchestra focused on the enjoyment of playing where students have the opportunity to continue to grow as musicians.
Founded in 1985, the Waltham Philharmonic comprises 60 semi-professionals and amateur musicians. The orchestra’s mission is to provide the community with the opportunity to perform and attend classical concerts of the highest quality.
There are multiple opportunities to perform in regularly scheduled concerts, including the fun and enormously popular Holiday Pops Concert in the fall and the Children’s Concert in the spring. The annual Concerto Competition provides a vehicle for aspiring young musicians to perform works with an orchestra.
Music director Jonathan Girard is in his second season as music director. Last year he was selected as one of the “Top 50 Orchestral Conductors in the United States by School Band and Orchestra Magazine.” There is no fee for participation.
NOTE: For those whose instrument is voice, Bentley’s on-campus Concert Choir representing a wide range of styles, historical periods, and cultural contexts performs both on and off campus. No audition required. Bentley’s Gospel Choir is another venue providing students with the experience of learning and performing gospel music. While the primary emphasis is on traditional through contemporary gospel styles, the choir also performs anthems, Negro spirituals, and other religious repertoire. Performances are held both on and off-campus.
Artists West of the Waltham Mills Artists Association
Students may work with professional, working artists in their studios. Students may assist artists in their work or participate in workshop opportunities.
Located in a former Wool Factory on the Charles River, this group of artists has rehabilitated the space and transformed the building into studios where they create art and where some of the artists live. Each studio is a unique space reflecting the creative individuals who work there.
An annual event called “Open Studios” attracts hundreds of art lovers from all over the greater metropolitan area. Artists open their studios to the public, exhibiting and selling their work. Open studios in the fall gives students an opportunity to see the work of artists they may then be interested in working with.
The following is a brief description of just a few of the artists associated with Artists West: Rosemary Broton Boyle, a painter who is currently involved in mixed media and whose works are represented by the Miller Block Gallery of Boston; Robert Freeman, currently represented by the Clark Gallery in Lincoln and artist in residence at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham; Randy J. Garber, works in a variety of media and styles to explore visual metaphors that reveal the always shifting nature of language, exhibits widely nationally and internationally, works included in the collection of the De Cordova Museum and the Children’s Hospital in Boston; Eleanor B. Goud, work treats the dramatic shifting moods of nature giving the viewer a sense of wellbeing and appreciation of nature’s power over the human psyche; Suzanne Hades, painter and printmaker, portraits, images of social commentary, landscapes and city life, shows at the Joan Whalen Gallery in New York City, the Artana Gallery in Brookline and Framingham. Bernie Klim, painter, works live in private homes, restaurants, and offices in Boston and surrounding areas, New York City, and Washington D.C.; Anne Lambert, drawing, painting and creating assemblages from found objects; Mary Craig McLane, painter, works explore life-long connection with France, its language and its culture; Doreen Mastandrea, ceramics, mosaics, clay sculptures have been exhibited throughout the U.S.; John Thompson, painter, printmaker, works characterized by experimentation with material and techniques, currently working on oil paintings, large woodcut prints (up to 10 feet), and mono-prints, works included in several Boston area group shows; Michael B Wilson, painter, printmaker, produces monoprints and etchings; Barbara Zees, works include life-sized figures, figure drawing, expressive acrylic painting and drawing, blown and cast glass. There are some fees for participation.
Connections to the arts community beyond Waltham are made through the Bowles Performing Arts Series. Visiting artists offer performances that span a wide range from chamber music to physical theatre to traditional Irish celebration.
Students interested in exploring their creative side, or continuing to engage in an art form, or becoming involved in the business side of nonprofit arts organizations should contact:
James Morris
Bentley Arts Initiative
STU 330H
781-891-2362
jmorris@bentley.edu
