NOTE:  The official webpage for WestonArts.org can be found HERE. 
This unofficial page dates from the earliest time during which WestonArts was just getting going...up until today!  It should not be considered an official website for anyone except opinions of About Town!

THIS WAS THE VISION - SEE SEAT CAMPAIGNOLD DRAWING WHEN WESTON ARTS FIRST BECAME AN ORGANIZATION...AND NEW ART PROJECT SUMMER 2009!
The Executive Board of WestonArts includes, from left, Nancy Brown, Claudia Hahn, Kathy Meighan, Joey Pfund, Donna Bauman, and Missy Dorsey.(Kimberly Donnelly photo) .  "About Town" became involved with the organization in a minor assisting role at the suggestion of...the architect who produced the second picture above...who is the mother of the sundail and other excellent additions to the first school improvement project at Hurlbutt, mother of "Peter Pan" and "Annie (Get Your Gun)" in Short Wharf's excellent productions...wind power and graphic power at right.

SO WHAT DID THEY DO FOR AN ENCORE?
From the WestonArts website...

During the summer of 2009, Weston High School Principal Lisa Wolak approved a large-scale (100 ft) mural project for the first floor of the science wing of Weston High School. Heading this project is Kate Lupo, a Weston High School alumnus, currently a Middlebury College student and native of Weston. The project will enliven the otherwise white, blank science hallway and will become a destination for students, faculty and staff. WestonArts contributed funding toward this project along with the Weston High School PTO.

The science wing has 6 sections of wall space, and  the mural will be divided into 6 different scenes. Painted directly onto the wall, the visual content of these panels will be exciting and dynamic, incorporating various themes and images that will encourage students and adults alike toward environmental stewardship and the sciences. Themes such as biology, conservation, clean energy technology, and green living will be explored.

Under the leadership of the mural’s artistic director, Sarah Macwilliams (Weston ’09), a group of Weston High School artists will finalize a design for the mural by mid-June. The first wall sketches of the mural should be up in the science wing by the end of the June.

Kate Lupo and members of the WHS Green Club will recruit volunteers to help paint the mural on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the end of June and into July.The mural is scheduled to be completed on August 14, 2009...
Weston High School auditorium seat campaign gets underway
Weston FORUM
by KIMBERLY DONNELLY
Sep 20, 2007

When it comes to the numerous town meetings, school assemblies, classes, theater and dance productions, concerts, and community events that take place at the Weston High School auditorium, WestonArts would like townspeople to take a seat — literally.

This month, WestonArts, a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting and developing the arts in town, is launching its Auditorium Seat Campaign.

Kathy Meighan and Joey Pfund, co-presidents of WestonArts, said the group decided on a seat campaign as a way to make fund-raising more concrete for donors. While people are not purchasing a specific seat with their donations, knowing that the money raised is being used for something tangible “makes people feel more involved and more connected to the activities there,” Ms. Pfund said.

The campaign is off to a fast start. Thanks to an anonymous donation of $150,000, and early contributions by the Weston High School PTO and the Police Benevolent Association, WestonArts is already more than halfway to its goal of raising $300,000 to replace the nearly 40-year-old seats in the high school auditorium.

The seat replacement is just part of the renovation taking place. In March, Weston voters approved the reallocation of about $2.9 million to replace the leaking high school roof and to renovate the auditorium there.

Of that, the town has allocated $1.3 million for the auditorium, a project that is expected to cost about $1.6 million. WestonArts is spearheading the effort to raise the additional $300,000 for the new seats.

Theatre Projects Consultants of Norwalk is designing the project. The School Building Committee is expected to hire a contractor before the end of the month. The renovation work will likely take place next summer.

To make a tax-deductible donation, which will be commemorated in the auditorium with a donor plaque, visit www.WestonArts.org, download a donation form, and mail to WestonArts, P.O. Box 1124, Weston, CT 06883.




Weston is the arts.  That goes without saying (see immediately below).  We don't need a "staff" and we don't need sheet music...we're "sharp" not "flat" and most of all we've got the greatest motivation - we want to make beautiful music together!  In a "major" way (not "minor").




Lights, camera, action!!!

The curtain went up on the new Intermediate School and sections of the expanded high school devoted to science, administration, library and cafeteria...and a super art wing.  So what is next?  See the "About Town" tours of Weston High School here.

Now is the time to get on board the WestonArts.org bandwagon.  There are some details to attend to before the auditorium reopens, to make the old space new again--actually, better than it ever was!  Soon you can link to the WestonArts.org website here, and find out how to help, and specifically...were you wondering why the Weston High School Auditorium is not due for a total new look as part of the Referendum work?

The answer lies in-between the lines of School Building Committee notes from the July 31, 2002 meeting of that body:  at this time it was suggested that the total high school project as designed was $2,000,000 over the Referendum budget.  Related history:  architect's fees and expenses "...for the continued planning and design of future improvements to current school facilities" pre-Referendum went down in a machine vote at an "adjourned Special Town Meeting" June 28, 2001.  Details of that Special Town Meeting-adjourned-to-votingmachines here.