When Linda Copp arrived in Lebanon in 1984, one of her first stops was to visit the Lebanon Recreation & Parks Department to inquire about teaching ballet. What began as a small instructional program with a few dancers upstairs at the Carter Community Building is today a thriving, multi-faceted organization offering ballet, musical theater dance, and modern dance. The institution now has its own studio space on the mall in Lebanon comprised of a dance school – the Lebanon Ballet School – and a non-profit performance dance company – City Center Ballet, Inc., hosting professional artists and choreographers from around the country.… Read More

It was just one more challenge when the January night of the awards ceremony threatened a dismayingly snowy drive. But – as the award bears witness – overcoming challenges is a specialty of Opera North, the Upper Valley’s esteemed homegrown opera company. Three intrepid representatives of the company set forth for Concord to receive the New Hampshire Theatre Alliance’s Matty Gregg Award for Vision and Tenacity.

“I think of it as New Hampshire’s equivalent of the Tony awards,” says Opera North’s Director of Development, Maria Laskaris. Opera North (ON) was being honored for its collaboration with the National Park Service (NPS) which resulted in last summer’s Singers and Swingers, a surprising blend of opera music and circus performance at the NPS site, Blow-Me-Down Farm.… Read More

Jonathan Warren graduated from the Lebanon School District in 2007 with a keen interest in the arts. Now, he’s returned as the visual arts teacher. “Just as the arts helped shape me as a student, I value the opportunity to work with today’s young artists. The arts provide a vehicle for self-expression as students develop their voices… and provide an opportunity to work collaboratively.”

On the District’s last professional learning day, arts teachers Lauren Haley, Jonathan Warren, Jonathan Verge, Todd Matte, John Carey, Gary Rothe, Yvette Garnham, Todd Renninger, Christine Greenough, Margaret Schultz, Megan Cardillo, and Thea Calitri-Martin met to work on the PreK-12 curriculum.… Read More

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was credited with the following quote many years ago: “Music is the universal language of mankind.”

Joe Clifford, Executive Director of the Lebanon Opera House, apparently is an exponent of that theory and from October 10-12 he made that bit of wisdom a reality for the Lebanon community and the Upper Valley. Joe arranged to host a group of musicians from Egypt to tour the region and give performances for area music students and concert-goers.

The musicians were part of a band from Cairo, Egypt who were making their American debut. The group was led by Youssra El Hawary, a singer/songwriter who playfully blends the sounds of Cairo’s underground music scene with French chanson, Indie rock and jazz.… Read More

Community Access TV is “a conduit that fosters community connectedness,” says executive director Donna Girot. From its home in White River Junction’s TipTop building, “Its mission is to let all people find a voice. We provide training and equipment to all, for free. When there’s a problem in the community, we help solve it by helping people explain their ideas and points of view.” Donna has been at CATV for about a year. “The job seemed compelling,” she says, “because there are lots of challenges,” including that it’s the only (she thinks) community access station that contractually supports towns in two states.… Read More

It takes a special kind of athlete to play rugby. One who enjoys the challenge of a hybrid sport that involves continuous running, kicking and carrying the ball, being tackled, and passing only sideways and backwards. For the members of the Upper Valley Rugby Football Club, however, the sport is more than just a game with unusual rules, mud in your eye, and a checkered history. The Mountain Men (men’s team) and the Valkyries (women’s team) consider community service projects and genuine goodwill toward their teammates and opponents an essential part of the game.

The Upper Valley Rugby Football Club got its start in 2016 when Grant Gordon, once a local high school player, moved back to the area and wanted to play again, according to Brian Frampton, the men’s club president.… Read More

The week leading up to Earth Day on April 22 was a challenge for a group of Upper Valley folks who had taken the No Plastic Pollution Challenge – we were committed to not buying plastic. No plastic. Do you have any idea how challenging that can be? Bread bags, cheese wrap, ketchup bottles, yogurt cups, chip bags, cider jugs, peanut butter and mayonnaise jars, take-away cups, frozen food bags, maple syrup jugs, you name it, all soon-to-be-disposed-of plastic.

Two million single-use plastic bags are distributed every minute throughout the world – used for a moment, tossed, and then remain in the environment for centuries as they break down into tiny particles that infiltrate our soils and waters and bodies.… Read More

Many people don’t know there are good jobs in manufacturing, right here, says Chris Hamilton of Fuji Dimatix, which invents and produces commercial-quality inkjet printheads. Kids can buck the trend that says they have to leave the Upper Valley to find a good job after high school. Next fall, a pilot program bearing the impressive name STEM Internship: High Tech Manufacturing and Engineering, will link 16 Lebanon High School seniors and some students from Thetford Academy with Hypertherm and Fuji in a semester-long internship. “The program covers the entire business,” explains Tim Renner, a team leader at Hypertherm’s tech training institute.… Read More

Are you in the parking lot? I’ll come to the door.

That’s Sangwook ‘Sunny’ Nam – the Grammy-nominated mastering engineer – as I call him from the East Wilder Road parking lot of his studio, Jacob’s Well Mastering. Situated yards off the bank of the Connecticut River, the elegant but nondescript building has been the home of Sunny’s studio since 2012. As he opens the door and introduces himself, I step into a cozy, inviting meeting room. Sunny leads me around the corner into his studio and then steps to the side so I can admire his workspace. It’s certainly a space worthy of admiration: professional-quality speakers are built into the wall to my left on either side of a window overlooking the river, while Sunny’s custom console fills the space to my right, boasting a vast array of displays, knobs, sockets, and lights.… Read More

Tucked behind a downtown Lebanon playing field, the Canillas Community Garden is a bustling hub for longtime residents as well as Lebanon’s growing international community. The garden’s visionary founders are preparing to celebrate 10 years of success in ‘sowing the seeds’ for how to cultivate healthy soil, grow organic vegetables, and share wisdom and knowledge with the next generation of gardeners.

Pat McGovern, Helen Brody, Polly Gould, and Cherry Angell are the current coordinators of the Canillas Community Garden. Three of the team are founders, and have observed firsthand the evolution of the garden from its modest beginnings with seven raised beds and a spiral garden to an important community gathering place and educational collective with 35 beds and a reputation for innovation and welcoming gardeners of all ages and abilities.… Read More