I’ve been writing my award-winning humor column, Tete-a-tete, for nearly six years, and I previously worked in a newsroom for a decade. As a result, I have been privy to the work of many lifestyle and humor columnists, as well as reader and editor reactions to these columns.
There are two significant mistakes that lifestyle/humor columnists commonly make, both of which affect the way their work is received as well as the longevity of their columnist careers. Continue reading
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Can you guess how many public performance venues there are in Nashua?
Three? Nope. Six? Try again.
“14 venues. Who knew that?” said Liz Racioppi, chairwoman of the Nashua Arts Commission.
Most people are familiar with the Court Street Theater and the Edmund M. Keefe Auditorium, but there are a dozen other locations throughout the city – outdoor stages, standalone venues, spaces inside public buildings – where arts organizations can exhibit or perform.
The closure of Nashua’s Studio 99, a listening-room-style music venue, in early March has led some to question the future of the city’s arts scene, but interviews with city officials and various arts professionals have painted a picture that’s far from bleak.
“When the (state) commissioner of Cultural Resources comes to Nashua and tells me how excited he is about all the things we’re doing, I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Mayor Donnalee Lozeau said.
Nashua is home to many successful arts organizations and events, but most people are acquainted with only a few of them. To truly make the most of the city’s cultural assets and provide the greatest benefit to residents and visitors alike, Nashua needs to increase awareness that it has a cohesive arts scene and promote itself as a cultural destination.
The Nashua Arts Commission, whose purpose is to facilitate, advocate, coordinate and educate on behalf of the city’s arts and cultural organizations, is working on exactly that. The commission was formed in 2011, however, so plans are still in the discussion stage and will likely take some time to come to fruition.
To help keep the conversation going, we reached out to two New Hampshire cities well known for their cohesive cultural scenes – Portsmouth and Concord – to find out how they made the transition from planning to implementation, and if either of their paths might be helpful to Nashua.
Portsmouth – An arts-based approach
For Portsmouth, familiarity with the city’s demographics and the needs of its artistic community, as well as its audiences, has been key, said Nancy Carmer, economic development program manager for the city of Portsmouth.
She cited the recent creation of 3S Artspace, which houses a gallery space, a performance space, a farm-to-table restaurant and artist workspace, as an example.
Co-founder Chris Greiner “saw the need for a venue for emerging artists,” Carmer said. “We have these other venues that serve different needs, different creative outlets,” such as the Music Hall, a performing arts center with two theater spaces, and Prescott Park, which caters to outdoor events.
“It kind of hearkens back to how Portsmouth started to become a cultural destination,” she said, in that 3S Artspace renovated an existing building to create a new venue.
In Nashua, Racioppi has seen demographics and audience play a role in some of the emerging arts groups, such as Positive Street Art, which has a more urban style.
“People are excited about it, and they draw people, a lot of young people, to their art events,” she said.
Young people have also been influencing Nashua’s cultural scene through Renaissance Downtowns, a real-estate development company tasked with doing some work near the bridge to Hudson.
The company holds meetings each month that draw a lot of younger attendees, Racioppi said, and crowdsources suggestions, giving this demographic a stronger voice in the arts community.
It’s a voice that has encouraged her to look at art a little differently, she said.
Racioppi is also interested in the possibility of repurposing empty spaces as smaller venues, particularly for use as an arts cinema.
“I’ve always loved that idea,” she said. “I think it’s great to be looking at empty buildings like that.”
It’s a concept Lozeau finds feasible, as well.
“I think ideas like that are always on the table,” she said, adding that such a venue might be a possibility for the closed space that is currently not up to code at the Court Street Theater.
Concord – A business-based approach
In Concord, the business community, rather than the arts community, has taken the lead in transforming the city into a cultural destination.
“It’s the Chamber of Commerce that has been the driver of creative economic development in the city,” said Byron Champlin, chairman of the Creative Concord Committee.
The Capitol Center for the Arts, Concord’s performing arts center, is on South Main Street.
“Some of it was actually considered a blighted community for federal tax purposes,” he said.
Concord’s City Economic Development Advisory Council urged the City Council to authorize a creative economy task force, which spent a year and a half looking at the assets in the city and how they could be used to sustain and broaden the creative economy.
The task force issued a report in 2008 that recommended a committee be formed in the Chamber of Commerce to take charge of Concord’s creative economy. That committee is the Creative Concord Committee.
The Capitol Center, Champlin said, functioned as an anchor to bring more arts organizations and culturally centered businesses to South Main Street.
The redevelopment of the nearby Sears Block in 2007 brought Red River Theatres to the other end of the street, and in 2011, the Smile Building, part of the former Sanel Block, opened its doors across the street from the Capitol Center.
One of the Smile Building’s tenants is the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. The organization had been planning to leave Concord, Champlin said, until the Creative Concord Committee helped them identify the new space and move into it.
Fostering a more cohesive arts scene came from a change in the way the city viewed its cultural organizations.
“What’s different is we’ve started to think of them all as assets as opposed to institutions that happen to be there,” Champlin said.
Chris Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Nashua Arts Commission, believes an arts center is a key ingredient to making Nashua a cultural destination.
“My personal opinion is that the best way for Nashua to put itself on the arts and cultural map of New England is for us to pursue a real and modern state-of-the-art performing arts facility,” he said, adding that he believes such a venue could be possible within five to 10 years.
“We don’t have that one facility around which everyone is able to revolve,” Williams said. “We have the Keefe Auditorium, but the Keefe Auditorium is located outside of the downtown, and it’s in a school building.”
This, he explained, places Nashua at a competitive disadvantage to cities such as Concord and Portsmouth.
“Their major arts centers are located downtown and have their own space, accommodate a sizable audience,” Williams said.
For Lozeau, however, an arts center isn’t financially feasible for the city right now.
“These are very difficult economic times,” she said. “I just cannot justify that at this time.”
In the meantime …
Although Nashua is still planning how to make the jump from a city with a thriving arts scene to a cultural destination, the Nashua Arts Commission seems well positioned to help the city take that next step.
One of the commission’s greatest assets is its openness to successful ideas from elsewhere in the state.
“The state of New Hampshire is very organized when it comes to towns and cities talking to each other about things like this,” Racioppi said, adding that she’s a member of the statewide Creative Communities Network, which does exactly that.
“We do definitely have a lot to learn from other cities and towns around us.”
– Teresa Santoski
Originally published March 28, 2013 in The Telegraph, Nashua, NH.
Sidebars:
IMPACT OF THE ARTS
How much money are the arts worth to a community?
It’s hard to say exactly, but one attempt to estimate is the Americans for the Arts’ Arts & Economic Prosperity study.
A statewide study was conducted in 2011, representing fiscal 2010, but Nashua was not well represented, with only two arts organizations contributing data.
The study determined that in New Hampshire in 2010, $53 million was spent by arts and culture organizations and $62 million was spent by arts and culture audiences, for a total of $115 million.
Because the study only includes nonprofit arts and culture organizations and only some of them participated, the economic impact of the arts on New Hampshire is likely even greater.
Greater Portsmouth and Greater Concord also participated in this survey as individual communities.
In Portsmouth, Nancy Carmer, economic development program manager for the city, said the study determined that $10.5 million was spent by arts and culture organizations and $31 million was spent by audiences, for a total of $41.5 million.
“We were a little concerned, given that 2011 was the middle of a recession,” Carmer said. “This sector of our economy continues to grow in spite of the recession.”
In Concord, the study determined that arts and culture organizations spent $10.8 million and audiences spent $6.96 million, for a total of $17.7 million.
Mayor Donnalee Lozeau doesn’t think Nashua needs to participate further in the Arts & Economic Prosperity study.
“The analysis can be applied to any community,” she said of the results obtained statewide and by other cities.
Chris Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Nashua Arts Commission, agreed.
“We don’t need a study to tell us that the arts can be a big economic boost for us, because the evidence is already there, as seen by the studies done in neighboring communities,” he said. “We just need to actually make that happen.”
For more information on the American for the Arts’ Arts & Economic Prosperity survey, visit www.nh.gov/nharts/aboutus/aftasurvey2011/index.html.
NASHUA’S CITY-OWNED VENUES
Here’s the list of city-owned venues from the Nashua Arts Commission’s webpage (www.gonashua.com/ArtsandLeisure/ArtsCommission/tabid/1081/Default.aspx). Are you familiar with all 14?
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Nothing inspires a man to write poetry quite like his love for a woman. Consider Dante and Beatrice, Petrarch and Laura, Shakespeare and his Dark Lady.
Unless you’re one of the aforementioned great poets, artistry is considered secondary to the successful communication of emotion. This includes ensuring that emotion reaches its intended recipient. Otherwise, such a poem could ignite the wrong kind of passionate response.
When I was in high school, I worked part-time at a drug store. One day, I was cleaning up the cosmetics section, located near the front door, when a young man with whom I was casually acquainted walked in.
We chatted for a bit, but it was clear he had something on his mind. After a few minutes of small talk, he handed me a piece of folded-up notebook paper.
“I don’t know why I’m giving this to you,” he said. He uttered a few more variations on that theme before awkwardly departing.
Perplexed, I unfolded the paper. It was a love poem.
It wasn’t the most skillfully written poem, and it didn’t really describe me – I recall something about dark angels and brooding – but I was flattered to receive it as no one had ever written something like that for me before.
One of my co-workers, who happened to be a friend of the aforementioned gentleman, asked what he had given me. I showed him the poem and expressed my confusion at being its recipient.
“I’m surprised he gave it to you, too,” he replied, “because he wrote it for a girl who’s a cashier at the grocery store next door.”
Ah. So that explained why the poem didn’t really suit me. It was about someone else.
Later that evening, I told Mom about the strange interlude in my workday and showed her the poem. Though the poem wasn’t written for me, I expressed my intent to keep it, simply because it was my first time receiving such a missive.
Mom advised me to throw it away, encouraging me to think of my future husband. If, years from now, he and I were going through my high school keepsakes, would I want him to come across that poem and think that it and its writer had meant something to me?
I agreed it would be best to get rid of the poem, and took it upstairs to my room to dispose of it. The more I thought about it, the more upset I became. Why on earth would someone write a love poem for one girl and then give it to a completely different girl? I mean, just because she and I worked in the same retail plaza didn’t mean we had anything in common.
I shredded the poem into tiny little pieces, letting them fall one by one into my plastic trash can. That didn’t seem to be enough, so in the grand cinematic tradition of teen movie break-up scenes, I took a match from the box near my candle collection, lit an errant scrap of poesy on fire and tossed it into the trash can.
As the pile of post-poem confetti started to burn, I prudently picked up the trash can and placed it in the center of my bed lest any sparks fly up and compromise my curtains.
Thankfully, Dad smelled the smoke and burst through my bedroom door before the fire burned through the bottom of the trash can and set my bed ablaze. The bathroom was mercifully close by, so he threw the trash can into the bathtub, doused it with water and demanded to know what had possessed me to do something so dangerously idiotic.
As you may imagine, my embarrassed explanation was less than satisfactory. Dad confiscated my matches as punishment, but he needn’t have worried. Since that incident, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used matches. I do still own a few candles, but they’re for decorative purposes only.
It turns out that I didn’t need to worry about destroying the poem so completely, so quickly. I have yet to meet my future husband, so the poem would have had plenty of time to decompose of its own accord if I had just thrown it away. Hindsight is indeed 20/20.
So, Future Husband, in the event you ever happen to read this, please note that our relationship does come with one caveat. You can leave your dirty clothes on the floor, drink orange juice directly from the carton or completely fail to understand the importance of china patterns and I will gladly take it in stride.
I do, however, request that you kindly refrain from writing me sonnets, odes, limericks or anything remotely poetry-related. I still have a touch of PTSD (Poetry Torching and Singeing Disorder) and I wouldn’t want our marriage to go down in flames.
– Teresa Santoski
Originally published Feb. 6, 2014.
Filed under Tete-a-tete
The mid to late 1990s was an incredible time for Christian music. No matter what genre of music you enjoyed listening to – punk, ska, Goth, Celtic – you could find a Christian equivalent. And as a brand-new Christian and a high school freshman in 1996, I felt like a kid in the sonic equivalent of a candy store. Continue reading
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Whether your destination is a far-flung foreign locale or the next town over, any trip is better when you have suggestions and recommendations from someone who’s already been there.
Having recently returned from my latest excursion to New York City, I feel qualified to offer a few tips on how to make the most of your time in the Big Apple. As it is a big city and I am a leisurely walker, I can only speak to those aspects of the city I have experienced myself.
It’s amazing how accessible New York City is from southern New Hampshire. One-day bus trips are frequently offered by local organizations, and you can easily travel on your own by taking the bus into South Station in Boston and taking the train into New York City from there.
So without further ado, I present Teresa’s Very Limited Insider’s Guide to New York City.
• Plan your stay, and pace yourself. Trying to cram as much as possible into your visit will only result in unnecessary stress and blurry memories. Focus on one geographic area and one or two attractions and really take the time to enjoy them. For example, get tickets for the NBC Studios tour at Rockefeller Center and follow it up with lunch reservations at the Rainbow Room and ice skating. Speaking of ice skating …
• The skating rink at Rockefeller Center is not as big as it looks in the movies – it can only accommodate about 150 skaters. It’s still a worthwhile stop, however, if ice skating is something you enjoy and you’d like to experience the most widely recognized ice rink in the world. Make sure you bring a non-skater to take your picture from the plaza – and wear something brightly-colored so they can pick you out among the other skaters.
• The line for the women’s restroom in the food court area at Rockefeller Center is long. Really long. You may want to consider eating your meal in line so that by the time you need the facilities, they’ll be available.
• You can’t go wrong with building your visit around a restaurant. Mom, Younger Sister and I love the movie “Eloise at the Plaza,” so our family has had brunch at the hotel’s iconic Palm Court (just like Eloise did in the movie) and lunch at the Oak Room. We’ve also dined at Sardi’s in the theater district, the Russian Tea Room next to Carnegie Hall, and Robert, a gem of a restaurant in the Museum of Arts and Design with incredible views of Central Park. None of these establishments disappointed.
• If you eat at a restaurant like those previously mentioned, talk to your waiter or waitress. Ask them if they have a favorite item on the menu or what wine or cocktail would best complement your entree. You will be amazed at how vastly this will improve your meal experience. As someone who, at my waiter’s recommendation, took a chance on the Russian Tea Room’s vanilla cheesecake, I can completely vouch for this.
• Should you dine at non-peak hours, your waiter or waitress may talk to you about more than the menu. At Sardi’s, Mom and I got to hear about what it was like to wait on Al Pacino, who had eaten there a few months earlier, and were treated to a mini history lesson about the restaurant itself. Which brings me to …
• Make reservations and buy tickets ahead of time. On our most recent trip, Mom and I had some free time in between meals and tried to see if we could get last-minute tickets to a Broadway show. It was pretty near impossible, especially if we wanted to sit together or see the stage without binoculars.
• If you’re taking a taxi, only take yellow cabs and look for the driver’s license and information posted on the back of the front seat before you get in. Don’t be bullied by limousine services, who will try to pick you up instead of a cab and charge you exorbitant amounts. And while we’re on the subject of safety …
• Do not be taken in by random costumed characters that may approach you on the streets. More often than not, they do not represent the character or brand and are simply people looking for attention.
• Take a carriage ride around Central Park. It really is a lovely experience, even if the weather is a bit cold. If you get a good driver, he or she will regale you with colorful anecdotes about the park’s landscaping and how the ending of “Ghostbusters” was filmed on the roof of that building over there.
• And last but not least, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to your bus or train well before you are scheduled to depart. There’s no need to spoil an enjoyable visit with a frenzied dash to catch your ride home.
– Teresa Santoski
Originally published Jan. 30, 2014.
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One of the most frequent comments I get about Tete-a-tete, my humor column, is, “Is everything you write about your family really true?”
Yes. Yes it is.
To some of my readers, especially those who haven’t had the pleasure of knowing my family personally, the exploits I record in print sometimes seem a little too odd to be believable. Surely, there must be some exaggeration taking place – even just a wee bit – to ensure that my columns are humorous.
No. No there isn’t. (Copious snaps to you, dear reader, if you’re picking up on the modified “Phineas and Ferb” references here.) Continue reading
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When I’m in the early stages of writing and editing, listening to music often makes these parts of the creative process a little less daunting. These two songs have been in my rotation a lot these days, and I find myself listening to them even when I’m not working because I enjoy them just that much. Continue reading
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No matter what challenges we may face in our lives, the Bible has wisdom that will guide, comfort and help us. Sometimes, in order to understand how very explicitly God’s Word applies to our particular situations, we need a bit of translation assistance.
Following is a selection of Bible verses, followed by my translations to clarify how the verses apply to performers and their fans. Continue reading
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Many hands make light work, and this is especially true when it comes to moving heavy items. However, as anyone who has ever enlisted the aid of family members to do so can attest, there’s always one person who carries less than his or her fair share of the load.
Such was the case when Mom, Younger Sister and I put up the Christmas tree this holiday season.
Usually, the manhandling of the Christmas tree is handled by, well, the men of the family. Due to busy family schedules, the Santoski ladies ended up taking on the responsibility this year, and Mom bought a tree in the middle of one of the December snowstorms after picking Younger Sister up from school.
Mom and Younger Sister managed to drag the tree – a seven-foot balsam – into the house by themselves, but they needed my assistance to get it into the stand. Younger Sister and I were charged with lifting the tree so Mom could maneuver the stand into place beneath it.
I was still searching for a handhold amongst the branches when Mom announced that she was in position.
“Ready, Tres?” Younger Sister asked. “One, two, three, lift!”
I wasn’t ready, actually, but it didn’t seem to matter. I had barely opened my mouth to protest when Younger Sister hoisted the tree into the air all by her lonesome with surprising ease.
Mom managed to get the stand under the tree and told us we could rest the tree on the stand for a moment. With a grunt of effort, Younger Sister did so.
After a brief rest, Mom told us to prepare to lift the tree again.
“OK, are you ready?” Younger Sister asked me, and counted up to liftoff.
By this time, I was laughing so hard, no sound was coming out, and there was no way I could calm myself in time to assist Younger Sister. She hefted the tree on her own once again, rising up on her toes in order to lift it high enough to settle it into the stand.
“What happened there, Teresa?” Mom asked. “You’re taller than your sister. Why did she have to stand on her toes like that?”
My lack of response prompted Mom and Younger Sister to peer around the other side of the tree. Seeing me convulsed with laughter, tears pouring down my face, they quickly realized I hadn’t been carrying my weight.
Eventually, I regained my composure enough to wave aside their chastisements and explain what had happened. Though Younger Sister expressed her dissatisfaction that I had let her do all the heavy lifting, I believe she was secretly impressed that she was capable of picking up an entire tree all by herself.
I redeemed myself – at least, I’d like to think so – during the next phase of the Christmas tree setup process: straightening the tree. Mom tightened and loosened the grippers that held the tree in its stand, Younger Sister held the tree upright and tilted it as needed, and I checked the tree from every conceivable angle to make certain it was straight. This part of the undertaking was a true team effort.
Mom and I then spent a good chunk of the remainder of the day pulling balsam needles out of the Berber carpet – they get tangled in the loops of the carpet’s pile and the vacuum cleaner isn’t strong enough to pull them out – and mopping puddles off the hall floor. When you buy a Christmas tree in the middle of a snowstorm and drag it into your warm home, all that snow and ice covering the tree doesn’t remain snow and ice for long.
Younger Sister, feeling – perhaps rightly so – that she had already made her contribution, decided to opt out of this part of the process. Though Mom was not particularly amused, I didn’t really mind, as small-scale cleaning and organizing projects are one of my fortes.
Whether it’s putting up a Christmas tree, working on a last-minute school project or walking through heartache, families do a lot of heavy lifting. Depending on the situation, every member isn’t always capable of pulling his or her own weight.
It’s all about knowing your strengths and, likewise, knowing when you can carry a little more of the load and when you might need someone to carry you.
And if you’re ever in need of the latter, I’ll let you borrow Younger Sister. Seeing as she barely broke a sweat lifting a conifer as tall as an NBA player, an actual person should be no problem.
– Teresa Santoski
Originally published Jan. 2, 2014.
Filed under Tete-a-tete
Many fans want to send letters to their favorite performers, but it can be difficult to know what to include in such a letter. Is it OK to confess if you have a crush on them? Should you tell them about your problems or your daily life? Can you ask them to do an event in your area? Continue reading
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