Today is a special day in the New Hampton School community. While art classrooms, stages, and studios are frequently bustling with students, it is a commendable undertaking to spend an entire day as a community focused on and engaging in the arts. Art is, after all, something for everyone. Director of Visual and Performing Arts Amy Wilson with the support of alumni, faculty, students, and friends, organizes this event each year. Today’s event included 27 diverse workshop offerings from producing music to film creation and cross-stitch to throwing clay on a pottery wheel.
To end the day, we joined together for reflection and the annual Arts Awards ceremony. Please join us in congratulating all of the honorees!
A day just for the arts
Following a quick overview of the day in McEvoy Theater, students and faculty dispersed to their selected workshops for morning and afternoon sessions. Favorites such as special effects make-up, guitar, and hip-hop dance, worked in concert with visiting professional artists such as Frankie and the Fuse, featuring Frankie White ’19, who performed during the lunchtime cookout. The diversity of the arts available reminded us of the incredible range and effect that visual and performing art touches. New Hampton School is grateful for the support of all the workshop leaders and the support of the school community to partake in this tradition each spring.
Celebrating artistic expression
To begin the Arts Awards ceremony, English Department Chair Luke Tobin announced the winners of the April Poetry Contest, an annual tradition in celebration of National Poetry Month. With many poems submitted this year, Mr. Tobin shared that each poem is evaluated by faculty readers without the writer’s name attached, instead assigning a number only to each piece. Honorees this year included Taylor Settles and Mia LeBrun for honorable mentions, while Luna McCulloch’s “Country Store” (3rd place), Mary Banker’s “Modern Romance” (2nd place), and Gus Kusch’s “seven” (1st place) earned top positions. Their award-winning submissions will be shared with the community in the days ahead.
In turn, each arts faculty member provided insight into the year our community has experienced. The rising stars in studio arts, music, and theatre, we learned the meaningful stories behind the art created among us. From the classrooms to the gallery and stages, each piece had a story and a person behind them that demonstrates not only creativity, but more importantly a passion for artistic expression and a commitment to growth in their art. Please join us in congratulating each of the honorees.
An Exciting Year Ahead
Alycia Leriche ’25 had the amazing honor of announcing the theme and slate of shows for the theatre program’s 2024-2025 season. She noted the year’s theme of “Draft Your Destiny” highlights characters that take control of their lives to rewrite the narrative. Members of the community also participated in a poll on the NHSArts Instagram to help choose plays for the season. To the great excitement of the audience, there will be two phenomenal musicals! Students interested in participating should watch for details in “News” following the opening of the 2024-2025 academic year in September.
Mamma Mia! – Fall 2024
Mamma Mia! is a jukebox musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson based on songs recorded by Swedish group ABBA and composed by members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.
Six – Winter 2025
Six is a British musical comedy in the style of a pop concert. Music, book, and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. It is a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, presented in the form of a singing competition. In the show, each of the wives (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr) take turns telling their story to determine who suffered the most from their shared husband.
She Kills Monsters – Spring 2025
Six is a drama-comedy play by Qui Nguyen that debuted in 2011. It tells the story of Agnes Evans, an average woman who loses her parents and little sister Tilly in a car accident. Having been very distant from her sister while she was alive, Agnes embarks in an adventure to get to know her sister better by playing a Dungeons & Dragons module that Tilly had written, and discovers things she’d never imagined.
2024 Art Awards
Congratulations to the following students who were recognized with Art Awards:
Excellence in Graphic Design Award: Liam Duhame ’25
Excellence in Ceramics Awards: Kayleigh Michaud-Nolan ’25
Emerging Artist in Ceramics Award: Grady Moore ’25, Asa Gilman ’26
Career Ceramics Award: Chris Clancy ’24
Artistic Vision Award: Angel Ran Liu ’24
Excellence in Animation Award: Eric Zhang ’27
Emerging Artist in Photography Award: Emily Hansen ’24
Portfolio Award in Photography: Will Wu ’24
Portfolio Award in Studio Art: Jerry Chen ’24
Emerging Artist Award: Inaya Robinson-Wood ’27
Best Behind the Scenes Award: Moriah Smith ’24
Distinguished Performer Award: Laura Liebert ’24
Director’s Award: Alycia Leriche ’25
Most Improved Musician Award: Elise Arvidson ’25
Music Citizen Award: Emma Morel ’24
Career Musician Award: Teddy Sang ’24
Whole Artist Award: Kristy Kong ’24
Candidates for the 2025 Diploma with Distinction in the Arts
Jocelyn Fan ’25
Zoie Greve ’25
Mia LeBrun ’25
Alycia Leriche ’25
Claire Levesque ’25
Miles Sargent ’25
Rising 10th and 11th graders who will be participating in this pursuit include: Mary Banker, Asa Gilman, Angel Liu, Adia Robinson-Wood, and Inaya Robinson-Wood.
