The Quarry Project Update
January 2018

Lately in conversations, the process of The Quarry Project has come to be referred to as slow dance, honoring the time it takes to bring forth the desired quality. Here is a lovely, slow snippet from Michael Fisher who was there to capture our experiments this past summer.

I am grateful for all those who have jumped onboard to help with this multi-faceted work. Your involvement at this nascent stage is definitely contributing to the shape of the outcome. Due to the project’s many layers, we are finding leaders who will form “teams” to concentrate on each particular aspect. Alana Rancourt Phinney has agreed to be the Media team leader and will be gathering people to help. We have a motley crew, leaderless at this point, working on the platform for the audience, leaning into the challenge. I have had several meetings to do with a secret aspect of the choreography requiring rigging, with more to be revealed in a few months. The group for Community Engagement just met and are planning a series of meetings with the residents of Websterville who will be our hosts. It has been a delight to be getting to know so many people in this process. Together we are laying a strong foundation for The Quarry Project.

After a setback with a pair of grant writers who left the project, we have gained our footing, made the right connections, and have submitted the first grant applications with more in the pipeline. Sarah Judd, our new lead grant writer was in the audience for Dear Pina and ready to buy a block of tickets for the hoped-for second go around in 2013. She has extensive experience in both writing art-focused grants and in arts development, and also connects with the creative process through her partner who sculpts snow, a most temporary art form for sure!

I’d also like to introduce Kristen Fountain, who has written successful Economic Development grants, and responded to our inquiry saying she wanted to write about meaningful, community based art projects. She introduced herself thus: I enjoy modern dance, studied it a bit in college and wrote about it with relative frequency during my previous life as a journalist in the Upper Valley. I was a big fan of your “Dear Pina” project, though only got to see it on film.

During our first fundraising drive, we raised nearly $17,000. This gives us traction for Phase Two Development expenses which are $114,480. If you want to help financially, please make a secure donation here. Contributions go directly towards The Quarry Project.

If you are interested in offering your skills, please click here to sign-up on my website and Molly, my excellent assistant, who, amongst other things, is organizing the volunteer teams, will be in touch. Help is needed in the following arenas: Media, Fundraising, Technical, Education, History, Institutional Partnerships, and Production.

I leave you with this quote that says it all for me today.
If you know who wrote it, please tell me.

“Art is at the core of our most intimate being and a part of the nature of things as surely as is a tree, a lake, a cloud. When we ignore it, even as spectators, we deaden ourselves in this brief transit.”