Compass Arts Creativity Project Annual Report 2023
2023 was a big year, full of old friends, new relationships and adventures, and a whole lot of creativity and play for our entire community.
We launched 2023 on New Year’s day with an adult Vision Board Making workshop, which introduced restorative circle practice and moved into an afternoon of dreaming, visioning, and collaging inspiration for an intentional year. It was the perfect way to enter the year and set the pace for thoughtful movement forward toward our individual and collective goals. Our winter programming was full of all of our class favorites, from Musical Stew to Tactile Explorers, Dance, Theater, and Beacon Rising Choir and we even hosted our Saturday morning series of rotating classes for young families, Arts Potpourri.
February brought back an old tradition and launched a new collaboration. After 3 years, Beacon Rising Choir returned to the Towne Crier stage for a rousing and inspiring performance. Backed by Andy Reinhardt, Dave Tedeschi, and Jessie Shaffer, they sold out TCC just as they had in 2019 and 2020. It was truly a magical experience.
CACP also launched a free workshop series in collaboration with the Foundation for Beacon Schools, providing free filmmaking workshops for students at Rombout Middle School. Guided by Compass teaching artist Eric Saiet, students collaborated with one another to write, act, and shoot their own films that were then debuted at the Foundation’s Beacon Student Film Festival at Beacon High School. Students not only learned about writing a script, but they also learned how to frame a shot and how to think about acting when you are working with cameras and different shots. One group even got the local pizza delivery person to be in their film!
The students in the Young People’s Performance Company went on a field trip to NYC to see a production of Livin’ the Dream?, a devised piece of theater created by CAT Youth Theatre Ensemble, a company of NYC high school students directed by Helen White. YPPC youth had the opportunity to meet the young actors from CAT Youth Theatre and were inspired by the production.
As we neared the end of winter and could smell the sweet scent of spring in the not-too-distant future, we all pulled out our dancing shoes and celebrated at a first ever dance party fundraiser for Compass Arts. Thanks to the generosity of Hudson Valley Brewery, a couple of our devoted supporters, and board member DJ Vick the Bruiser, we had an amazing evening dancing with our community and celebrating all we have been co-creating over the years while raising funds to continue this beautiful work.
The highlight of the spring was our second weekend long Spring Showcase at The Yard. Over the course of the weekend folks were able to attend performances by the youth dance and theater ensembles, and Beacon Rising Choir; view a gallery full of original student drawings, paintings, and sculptures generated in our spring classes; and hang in the Elements Club House, an interactive playspace set up for little ones to explore. The weather was as beautiful as the community members who performed and attended this joyful event. Congratulations to all involved!
May ended with another collaboration with Howland Chamber Music Circle for their Classics for Kids series. Compass Dance teacher Chelsea Acree and other members of the Mark Morris Dance Group performed and guided the children in the audience to respond to the music being played by The Beacon String Quartet through movement and dance. Also in May, local musician and songwriter Jeremy Schonfield gave members of Beacon Rising Choir an opportunity to sing and perform in his film project, “The Father Who Stayed,” alongside Tony nominee Shoshana Bean. The feature-length musical is now making its way through the festival circuit and racking up awards!
Summer was less than a month away, which meant that our school year programs were wrapping up and summer camps were on the horizon. We kicked off our annual sliding scale assistance fundraiser at the Newburgh Brewery and had a great time bringing our free Community Activities Table program to the Beacon and Newburgh Farmers Markets, the Sloop Club’s Annual Strawberry Festival, the Beacon Family Pride Celebration at The Yard, and the Beacon 4 Black Lives Juneteenth Festival in Riverfront Park.
In July, we launched our first free Dungeons and Dragons program at Beacon Recreation Center. During three sessions over the course of July and August, students in grades 6-10 were invited to learn the roleplaying game, which has been widely studied as a learning tool to help kids with socialization, creative thinking, and other life skills. These classes proved extremely popular, and we were able to offer them at no cost thanks to sponsorship from these local businesses: East City Collectibles in Cold Spring, Moo Moo’s Creamery in Cold Spring, AFA Consulting in Beacon, Brett’s Hardware in Beacon, Mountain Tops Outfitters in Beacon, The Shoppes Mall on Main in Cold Spring, Happy Valley Arcade Bar in Beacon, and Gunks Gaming Guild and Cafe in New Paltz.
Compass ran summer camps from June through August, held mainly in the shady backyard and under our outdoor circus tent at Beacon Music Factory. The first four weeks of the summer, we welcomed campers 3-6 for our elements-themed mini-camps: Earth Week, Fire Week, Air Week and Water Week. From 9am to 1pm, little ones engaged in multidisciplinary arts activities designed for each week’s theme, plus plenty of free play time. In August, our theatre teachers hosted two one-week drama camps, during which campers rehearsed and then performed a short play adapted from a classic story. First, the fifth through eighth grade students performed Macbeth, complete with spray bottles of fake blood and prop weapons they designed themselves! Then the second through fourth graders took the stage for a fun-filled version of Alice in Wonderland. Both shows were performed on the Beacon Music Factory outdoor stage and incorporated the beautiful woodland setting into the action.
Fall was an exciting season at Compass Arts! First of all, we welcomed four new teaching artists. Hampton Fluker, an accomplished stage and screen actor in the process of launching his own Hudson Valley nonprofit, joined us to teach theatre. Caty Therese Vilato, a young artist who has worked with local children at many respected arts camps and programs, joined us to teach visual art. Gabriel Pages, an animator and storyboard artist, revived our Drawing and Cartooning classes. And Laura Volpacchio Simon, a professional dancer turned teacher and photographer, came on board to teach music and movement to toddlers and preschoolers.
Our class offerings for September included a dynamic slate of new and returning classes. For students in grades 7 and up, we launched a new version of our teen acting program, now called Beacon Youth Theatre Ensemble (or BYTE for short!). We filled the class after hosting a promotional workshop, during which Hampton Fluker taught stage combat and movement, and teaching artist Gwynne Watkins taught improvisation games. Our fall session of BYTE introduced students to Shakespeare and fight choreography, through learning and exploring the opening scene from Romeo and Juliet.
We offered three additional acting classes for younger students: Theatre Crafters for grades 4-6 (in which students performed their adaptation of the poem Jabberwocky), Theatre Explorers for grades 2-3 (in which students performed their adaptation of the folktale Anansi and the Stories of the World), and Imagination Playhouse for grades K-1.
Caty Therese Vilato’s new art class Characters and Clay was a big hit. Students 6-11 years old created original characters through storytelling and drawing, ultimately bringing them to life through clay sculpting and dioramas. The program received such positive feedback that we offered a second session in November.
Our toddler and preschool programs returned with new energy, thanks to our teaching artists. Heather Davies took over Tactile Explorers, the art and sensory exploration program created by Romina Robinson. Gina Samardge offered two sold-out sessions of Musical Stew. Laura Volpacchio Simon took over our toddler and preschool dance program, singing and playing songs on ukulele while guiding little ones in creative movement.
Another returning program was the Rompatom music ensemble! After a year-long hiatus, Gina brought back her vocal and percussion ensemble for ages 8-14. The students learned a diverse repertoire of songs while accompanying themselves on xylophone, recorder, and drums. Ensemble members were also encouraged to bring in instruments they’d learned outside of class to add their own unique harmonies.
Beacon Rising Choir reached new heights, with a more than 50% increase in membership, jumping from 40 choir members to nearly 65! With new material to learn, the choir was energized and thrilled to welcome Malaysian-Canadian choral composer and conductor Tracy Wong, to present a workshop on Jam!, a three part choral piece she composed in Malay. Tracy guided the choir through the pronunciation of the text as well as the cultural and historical context of the piece and her own compositional influences.
In October, we hosted our most successful fundraising event to date: The Night of the Living Dead Halloween Dance Party! The spookiest, friendliest, danciest party Beacon has ever seen took place the night of Saturday, October 28 at the University Settlement Camp. DJs Vick the Bruiser (aka board member Vicki Vergolina) and Meatball Jack spun dance hits all night to a crowd of over 200 local revelers in elaborate costumes. Our friends at No. 7 Sandwich Hub provided food. The village that made this event possible also included Beacon Music Factory (who loaned us sound equipment), Liquid Fables (who donated cocktails), Kedem Winery (who donated wine), Story Screen (who projected vintage horror movies), an incredible volunteer decorating crew, and sponsors Psychedelic Sunset Vintage, Laura Simon Photography, Wellness Through Wisdom, and The BEACON theater. It was a blast, and we already have the space reserved for next October!
Back in the classroom, October also saw the debut of our adult acting class. Return to Theatre, taught by Hampton Fluker, was designed as a gentle introductory class for anyone over 18 who was interested in developing their acting skills. The students who enrolled encompassed a wide range of experience, from total beginners to professional performers. The class consisted of acting and visualization exercises, along with monologue work using Shakespeare texts.
In November, a grant from the City of Beacon enabled us to bring back the Compass Arts Middle and High School Hang (formerly known as the TCD Hang). In spite of the busy time of year, we had a great turnout for all five sessions, with most families opting for the free or sliding-scale rates. The city grant not only covered pizza, but afforded us the opportunity to bring in a new guest artist for each session, including photographer Eve Morgenstern, Beacon High School media teacher James Corbett, and Compass teaching artists Caty Therese Vilato, Kevin Bertholf and Zach Baxter.
On November 4, we brought our free activities table to Beacon Climate Action Now’s Taproots Festival. Our “loose parts lab” gave kids the opportunity to get creative and assemble their own artworks from recycled materials. On the 5th, Beacon Rising Choir participated in the Bonfire Festival as part of the Syncretic Liturgy at Prophecy Hall. The program included many local musicians, actors, and artists and featured the choir on numerous songs.
Also in November, we offered two sold-out “arts holidays,” held on the Election Day and Veterans Day school holidays for students 6-11 years old. Caty Therese Vilato prepared craft activities and lessons that suited a wide age range, including a mock “election” to teach students about the voting process on Election Day.
We finished off the year with two December craft workshops: one for family members to gather together to make bird feeders and ornaments, and another for teens and tweens to make hand-embroidered decorations.
And of course, we were laying the groundwork for our next year! Andy Reinhardt and Gwynne Watkins began work on a redesigned Compass Arts website, funded by Arts Mid-Hudson. Another Arts Mid-Hudson grant is enabling us to launch a free theater program for Beacon High School students, called Say It Othello, conceived by Hampton Fluker. In December, Gina and Hampton visited BHS to begin meeting with students and staff members about the program, which will explore the concept of “otherness” through Shakespeare monologues with students who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, or neurodivergent. We spoke with a lot of interested students! Our Say It Othello classes will begin in spring 2024.
2023 FINANCIALS
| STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Income | ||
| Grants, Foundations & Sposorships | $39,104 | $109,525 |
| Individual and In-Kind Contributions | $28,295 | $33,211 |
| Program Registrations | $168,121 | $160,389 |
| Other Income | $447 | $1,094 |
| Total Income | $235,967 | $304,219 |
| Expenses | ||
| Overhead | $38,927 | $31,427 |
| Administrative/Fundraising | $90,387 | $79,684 |
| Program Expenses | $120,913 | $120,623 |
| Total Expenses | $250,227 | $231,734 |
| STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Assets | ||
| Cash | $81,694 | $107,760 |
| Other Assets | $9,465 | $11,884 |
| Total Assets | $91,159 | $119,644 |
| Liabilities | ||
| Liabilities | $1,155 | $15,381 |
| Net | ||
| Net Assets, Unrestricted | $71,316 | $14,362 |
| Net Assets, Temporarily Restricted | $18,688 | $89,901 |
| Total Net Assets | $90,004 | $104,263 |