Thank you to all who joined us for an amazing 3 days of creative musical journey during our first-ever Mini Jazz-fest! Don’t be sad if you missed it, the video will be uploaded to YouTube soon!
And, it’s no time to slow down just yet. We’ve got a Thur-through-weekend marathon of visual art workshops! Make sure to check below for the schedule and locations for each workshop, and make sure to reserve your spot!
Check the dates below, sign up for lessons, or visit our calendar for all the upcoming events! I hope to see you soon at our next event.
Bring your creativity and improve your drawing skills in a relaxed and welcoming environment. No experience necessary, just bring your smile and maybe your favorite drawing materials. Let’s have a great time together!
Suggested Donation of $15 per Class. No one will be turned away for being unable to pay.
Arts Exploration Day – Music and Art Petting Zoo plus African Drumming Workshop with Mamadou Diabate Friday 10/10 3:30 PM @ Claremont Creative Center Free, donation accepted
Come try out instruments, meet music and art instructors, and sign up for lessons, workshops, ensembles, and more! Inviting all homeschool and local students to come explore the programs that WCCMA is offering this fall, sign up for classes (art and music), and enroll in ensembles (especially the rock band, mixed ensemble, and African percussion ensemble).
We’ll have the world famous African Balafon virtuoso Mamadou Diabate to give everyone an opportunity to play together and try out balafon (African xylophone), djembe, and other percussion instruments. Be a part of our first ever African Ensemble. No experience necessary! All ages welcome.
Join us for a monthly Comic workshop for school age students through adult. Suggested donation of $100 for 4 sessions. This workshop will take place over 4 sessions led by Wayne Carter. Wayne is a Cartoonist and Educator living in Vermont. Wayne is an Alum from the Center for Cartoon studies and recently finished a Residency for the National Parks Service.
Cyanotype Workshop taught by Emil O’melia Saturday 10/11 1:30–3:00 PM @ Union Episcopal Church
Cyanotype
Join us for a one-time workshop where participants will learn to create sun prints using found objects, plant materials, and anything else that can cast a shadow! Printmaking with Cyanotype is one of the oldest forms of photography and is accessible for all ages. Pay what you can, suggested contribution for this workshop is $20 for adults or $10 for Students. No one will be turned away for lack of ability to pay.
Emil O’melia is a Cartoonist and Educator living in Vermont. Emil is an Alum from the Center for Cartoon Studies and recently finished a Residency for the National Parks Service.
Cartooning Workshop with Wayne Carter 3rd Saturday @ 11 AM at CCC
Come join us for this monthly cartooning workshop for students and adults. This month, we will be drawing with our very own animal models.
Wayne Carter is a Cartoonist and Educator living in Vermont. Wayne is an Alum from the Center for Cartoon studies and recently finished a Residency for the National Parks Service. You can find more of his work at @pinkclownoress on Instagram. More information
SACRED HARP Singing 3rd Saturday @ 2 – 4:30 PM at CCC
Join us, friends! We’ll sing from the Sacred Harp (Denson, 1991)
Free with donations gladly accepted. All are welcome; no experience is necessary. Loaner books available.
Have you missed previous concerts? Watch them on our YouTube Channel!
Thank you for your continued support! Donate to WCCMA or Become a Sponsor!
As I write this we are at a moment of great joy and great struggle. The arts are in trouble, including right here at WCCMA. We are in a moment of so many things, with big questions to answer.
I could tell you about the trials of the past year, the incredible loss of funding by corporations, foundations, and the loss of our own NH State Council on the Arts (that’s nearly 70% of our budget this year). Not through any wrong doing, or funders changing their opinion of how important what we do is – its politics, it’s the economy, it’s personal spending priorities. Instead I want to tell you how we have resisted and thrived inspite of all that.
For over a year we have been working through the process of accessing the federal money we are allocated by congress for the remaining construction at the Claremont Creative Center and the first few years of operations while we go through the rapid expansion we have already started. We cleared all the paperwork last week, the day before the government shut down. Now we wait with bated breath. We have amazingly been able to grow despite the financial and political stresses: investing in our programs carefully, accepting very generous fee reductions from artists, using our amazing partnerships to deliver the level of programs that we have been know for for most of the last 17 years. It has been a truly incredible show of love, support, and enthusiasm for the future by so many artists. My amazing and energetic staff have been quick, adaptable, and clever (they are all artists, so that’s no surprise). They have been the energy that has fueled the incredible expansion of our music education and arts education programs. Music lessons, ensembles, workshops with world renowned artists, an incredible slate of visuals arts programs. To top that off, a partnership with Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park for an incredible Art in the Park event, and the upcoming 3-Day Jazz festival. Two events that are among our greatest programming triumphs.
All that has happened in just the last 3 months. I’ve never been more excited for what we have to offer this community. And yet, I’m also in the most difficult position I’ve ever been in as the Executive Director. We’re down to the bottom of our cash flow, I’m running out of clever tricks to bring in the money we need to survive while we wait. Even with the appropriations money, support will be a crucial piece of the growth of the organization. Donations, class fees for those who are able, attending these amazing events. This is where the magic happens, and that’s why I’m writing you today.
In short, we need your support. Whether that’s making a donation, signing up a class, attending events, telling your friends about the programs and having them come with you – now is the moment to decide what value you put on our place in your life. If you don’t have money, just come and be apart of this incredible thing we are doing together against all the odds. My staff and myself, we are all artists, and we need some love (and to get paid) to keep us moving forward. It means our survival – as artists, as the people who keep the lights on, as creators of the experiences that can bring joy into your life during even the most difficult of times.
So what I’m asking you today is, will you help to keep us fueled?
You can make a donation by visiting www.claremontmusic.art/donate; sign up for lessons, workshops, and ensembles; or buy tickets to some of our incredible upcoming programs. The joy is here, will you join us?
With continued (and anticipative) optimism,
Melissa Richmond
PS. Check the dates below, sign up for lessons or visit our calendar for all the upcoming events. I hope to see you soon.
Claremont Mini Jazz Fest!
The inaugural Claremont Mini Jazz Fest will take place from October 6-8, 2025. A collaboration between the West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts, the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, Center Stage and the U.S. Department of State, the three-day Mini Jazz Fest is donation-based, and offers an array of performances, talks, and community jam sessions.
The festival kicks off the evening of Monday, October 6th, with a performance by musician-improvisers and long-time collaborators Taylor Ho Bynum and Tomas Fujiwara. Musician, teacher, and writer Taylor Ho Bynum is primarily a cornet and trumpet player; Tomas Fujiwara is a Brooklyn-based drummer and composer.
Tuesday’s lineup kicks off with a Creative Chat at 7:30pm, featuring Bynum, Fujiwara, and Abozekry. The chat is followed by an Open Improv Primer, a conducted, directed improvisation session led by Bynum. The sesson is open to high school through professional level musicians, and no improv experience is necessary. The final event of the evening is an Artist and Community Jam featuring Bynum, Fujiwara, and the Mohamed Abozekry Sextet.
The Mohamed Abozekry Sextet takes the stage for their performance on Wednesday evening, the final event of the Mini Fest. A master of oud (a lute-like Middle Eastern plucked string instrument), bandleader Mohamed Abozekry is a contemporary musician innovating within the frames of Egyptian classical music. Abozekry’s boundary-pushing sextet includes musicians who work across different continents and disciplines, all united in their Improvisational exploration of Egyptian music.
Hosted by the West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts (WCCMA), a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization, in collaboration with the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College. The Mohamed Abozekry Sextet is on tour in the USA as part of Center Stage, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government.
Monday, October 6th
Performance: 6:30 PM Taylor Ho Bynum and Tomas Fujiwara
Tuesday, October 7th
Creative Chat: 7:30 PM Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara, and Mohamed Abozekry
Open Improv Primer: 8:00 PM A conducted directed improvisation led by Taylor Ho Bynum. For High School through professional level. No improv experiences necessary.
Artist and Community Jam: 8:30 PM with Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara, and the Mohamed Abozekry Sextet
Tickets are by donation. Choose and amount that is meaningful to you to support the arts. Suggested at $10-$45 per day, or whatever works for your household. Special thanks to our Fall Season Sponsor Monadnock Mills, LLC. Their support helps to keep tickets by donation!
In collaboration with the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College. Mohamed Abozekry Sextet is on tour in the USA as part of Center Stage, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government. It is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts in cooperation with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations. General management is provided by Lisa Booth Management, Inc. www.centerstageUS.org.
Arts Exploration Day – Music and Art Petting Zoo plus African Drumming Workshopwith Mamadou Diabate
October 10th, 3:30PM
Claremont Creative Center 56 Opera House Sq Claremont, NH 03743
Free, donation accepted
Come try out instruments, meet music and art instructors, and sign up for lessons, workshops, ensembles and more! Inviting all homeschool and local students to come explore the programs that WCCMA is offering this fall, sign up for classes (art and music), and enroll in ensembles (especially the rock band, mixed ensemble, and African percussion ensemble).
We’ll have the world famous African Balafon virtuoso Mamadou Diabate to give everyone an opportunity to play together and try out balafon (African xylophone), djembe, and other percussion instruments. Be a part of our first ever African Ensemble. No experience necessary! All ages welcome.
Cartooning Workshop with Wayne Carter 3rd Saturday @ 11 AM at CCC
Come join us for this monthly cartooning workshop for students and adults. This month, we will be drawing with our very own animal models.
Wayne Carter is a Cartoonist and Educator living in Vermont. Wayne is an Alum from the Center for Cartoon studies and recently finished a Residency for the National Parks Service. You can find more of his work at @pinkclownoress on Instagram. More information
_____________
SACRED HARP Singing 3rd Saturday @ 2 – 4:30 PM at CCC
Join us, friends! We’ll sing from the Sacred Harp (Denson, 1991)
Free with donations gladly accepted. All are welcome; no experience is necessary. Loaner books available.
Have you missed previous concerts? Watch them on our YouTube Channel!
Thank you for your continued support! Donate to WCCMA or Become a Sponsor!
Well, technically, it starts next Monday, 9/22, but it sure feels like it’s been here already, and oh boy, do we have a busy season of arts and music planned!
Join us at the 3rd Saturdays@CCC comic workshop—this month, it’s Animal Figure Drawing! What’s more fun than drawing some cuddly and cute animal friends & fuzzy family members!? Followed by the return of the Sacred Heart singing group, returning from the summer break and ready to sing! And certainly don’t miss the opportunity to see and hear the Newmont Military Band in the crisp fall air at our annual WCCMA benefit concert. You can also donate here to keep the WCCMA community events going strong. We are grateful for all your continued support!
Check the dates below, sign up for lessons or visit our calendar for all the upcoming events! I hope to see you soon, at our next event.
Newmont Military Band Sunday 9/21 2:00 PM @ Union Episcopal Church
Newmont Military Band performing, 2024
Join us for the annual Newmont Military Band concert, a fundraiser to support the WCCMA’s community arts programs.
Newmont is a local gem, a band group that performs on period instruments keeping the tradition and history of the 19th-century town band tradition alive. Bring your own chair or blanket, rain location inside the Union Episcopal Church. Admission is by freewill donation; all funds benefit West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts’ community arts programs.
SAVE THE DATE — Art In The Park Saturday 9/27 @ Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, Cornish NH
Learn, create, and explore during the park’s free fall festival. This special event is built around the idea that everyone is an artist. Activities include sculpture demonstrations, family art activities, ranger-guided tours, art workshops, and musical performances.
Free park entry in honor of National Public Lands Day. Food is not sold at the event, but the park is an excellent place to bring a picnic.
A very special award-winning round up of musicians will offer a one-of-a-kind performance event, including: Kinan Azmeh, Taylor Ho Bynum, Balla Kouyate, Paulina Luna, Kyle Sanna, and Luis Villalobos.Music funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
No tickets necessary, but register to receive event updates, reminds, and invitations to more events like this!
Cartooning Workshop with Wayne Carter 3rd Saturday @ 11 AM at CCC
Come join us for this monthly cartooning workshop for students and adults. This month, we will be drawing with our very own animal models.
Wayne Carter is a Cartoonist and Educator living in Vermont. Wayne is an Alum from the Center for Cartoon studies and recently finished a Residency for the National Parks Service. You can find more of his work at @pinkclownoress on Instagram. More information
_____________
SACRED HARP Singing 3rd Saturday @ 2 – 4:30 PM at CCC
Join us, friends! We’ll sing from the Sacred Harp (Denson, 1991)
Free with donations gladly accepted. All are welcome; no experience is necessary. Loaner books available.
Have you missed previous concerts? Watch them on our YouTube Channel!
Thank you for your continued support! Donate to WCCMA or Become a Sponsor!
