Main Presentation
Simsbury Performing Arts Center
Melissa DiNunno
No, the fellow on the right is not Melissa (Missy) DiNunno. This is Simsbury-Granby Rotarian Lee Burrus who is on the Board of Directors for Simsbury Meadows. He introduced Ms. DiNunno as our speaker.
This is Missy DiNunno. She started as the Executive Director of the Simsbury Performing Arts Center (aka Simsbury Meadows) on January 15. She worked at the Bushnell in Hartford for 14 years and was responsible for volunteers and part-time staff among other things. She left the Bushnell to go to the Schubert Theater in New Haven as director of operations, which entailed responsibilities in both the front office and also backstage. When she was with the Bushnell, Missy had managed volunteers for the Hartford Symphony's performances at the Talcott Mountain Music Festival, which takes place at Simsbury Meadows.
The Talcott Mountain Music Festival began in 1996 and was located on property owned by Hartford Insurance on Hopmeadow Street. Later it was moved down the road to property owned by Northeast Utilities. In 2002 the Town of Simsbury acquired the Baker Farm to provide a permanent home for the festival. In 2004-2005 an enthusiastic group of residents, in partnership with the Town of Simsbury, developed plans and gathered funds, through a State DECD grant and private fund-raising, to build the current Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center, a permanent band shell. Built in time for the 2005 TMMF season, the new, permanent Performing Arts Center stage is large enough for the full Hartford Symphony Orchestra and includes additional storage space, better lighting and enhanced acoustics. It was an enormous improvement and an immediate hit. In December 2013, the Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center, Inc., a non-profit company, established an agreement with the Town of Simsbury to manage the Performing Arts Center. Ms. DiNunno is the first Executive Director.
The concern of the town and of the Simsbury Meadows management is that the facility is underutilized. They are interested in increasing the number of community events. Unfortunately one hindrance to some community performing groups is that there is not permanent lighting or sound equipment, which means such equipment must be rented. This adds to the cost of having volunteer groups perform. In addition to the annual Talcott Mountain Music Festival, which is a five-concert series performed by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra beginning on June 29, there will be a River Run, a marathon, and September Fest on the second Saturday in September among other events They would also like to bring in premier performers, which they have at times in the past and are especially interested in entertainers who would appeal to younger audiences.
Ms. DiNunno said that they are always looking for volunteers and are particularly interested in increasing the number of women volunteers. The group is also looking for a volunteer bookkeeper and a digital marketing assistant to help with things like their Facebook page.
It is exciting to have this facility in our community.
