Donors Linda Wrightsman '78 (front center) and Dwayne Wrightsman '96G (back right) visited Chelmsford High School in Mass. earlier this month. Their gift enabled faculty members Liesl Schoenberger-Doty (back center) and Emileigh Vandiver (front right) to perform and teach strings students at the school, where they also encouraged students to always have music in their lives. The strings teacher at Chelmsford, Kate Comeau (front left), is an alumna, class of 2003, and the student teacher, Gardner Rulon-Miller (back left), is a UNH music graduate student and an alumnus, class of 2014. ( Photo: Aaron Peters)
If you can’t come to the show, UNH music and theater performers say, they’ll bring the show to you.
With help from donors, students and faculty in the university’s performing arts programs each year take part in the UNH Arts Initiative, an effort to take the creativity that happens on campus off, from the Seacoast to the North Country, urban to rural.
The initiative began a few years ago with a generous donation from a class of 1945 alumnus, creating small grants to the arts departments to fund individual outreach projects. Bolstered by additional funds from Linda Wrightsman ’78 and Dwayne Wrightsman '96G, one of the first major efforts was the Chamber Music Project. Up to a dozen music students pile onto a bus or squeeze into available cars and travel the state to places such as Pittsburg, Keene and Manchester, performing and answering questions about what it’s like to study music at UNH. Since the program’s inception, students have visited more two dozen high schools.
Peggy Vagts, professor of music, has organized several of the trips, says the project has benefits beyond sharing UNH arts: it gives UNH students the opportunity to perform, celebrates the joy of chamber music, informs high school teachers and guidance counselors about UNH opportunities and lets prospective students know what to expect at UNH.
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Written By:
Susan Dumais '88 '02G | College of Liberal Arts
