Delaware State of the Arts Podcast

Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald interviews multi-media artist and maker Samara Weaver about her June exhibition in the Mezzanine Gallery, her work, and his inspirations as an artist. Send us Fan Mail The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its...

Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald interviews Lewes Public Library Adult Program Coordinator, Rebecca Lowe, and Experiential Teaching Artist, John Donato about their joint Creative Aging project. The Whimsical Masterpieces: Pastel workshop ran for 8 weeks at the Lewes Library. Participants have their artwork from the series on display at the library for the month of June. The workshop series was funded by...

Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald talks with Jana Savini & Dan Stabb, Co-Producers of City Theater Company’s Tax Free Comedy Festival — Delaware’s only comedy festival — which opens its 3rd season at The Delaware Contemporary on June 17 & 18. Send us Fan Mail The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creati...

Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald interviews guest curator Elaine Rice Bachmann about the current Winterthur exhibit, “Jacqueline Kennedy & H.F. DuPont: Winterthur to the White House.” Send us Fan Mail The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with...

Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald talks with arts advocate Leslie Sinclair about CAMP Rehoboth’s multifaceted arts initiative “Shine a Light on the Arts.” Send us Fan Mail The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware S...

Andy Truscott talks with Executive Director Jen Boes from the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau about the organization’s rebound post-COVID and exciting events coming this summer in Downtown Wilmington. Learn more about the resources available from the GWCVB at their website: https://www.visitwilmingtonde.com/. Send us Fan Mail The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Del...

Andy Truscott interviews David Pickrell and Marcia Reed about the upcoming Ladybug Music Festival in Downtown Milford, Delaware on July 30 from 2-9pm. To learn more about the 2022 Milford Ladybug Festival visit https://www.theladybugfestival.com/ or https://downtownmilford.org/ . Send us Fan Mail The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to suppo...

Andy Truscott interviews Pam Manocchio, the newly appointed Executive Director of The Grand Opera House and The Playhouse on Rodney Square about the upcoming events this summer and beyond at Wilmington’s historic theatre complex. To take a look at upcoming events at The Grand or The Playhouse on Rodney Square, visit www. TheGrandWilmington.org . Send us Fan Mail The Delaware Division of the Arts,...

Andy Truscott interviews Dr. Traci Currie, the Program Director for the CityFest ArtsWork Youth Apprenticeship Program at the Urban Artist Exchange in Wilmington, Delaware. Cityfest Arts Work began its inaugural 6-week summer program in June 2020 with 12 youth apprentices, 4 teaching artists, 1 volunteer community member, a yoga instructor and the program director – Monday through Friday from 10am...

Andy Truscott interviews Leslie Shaffer, the Executive Director of The Delaware Contemporary, located on Wilmington’s Riverfront. The Delaware Contemporary is an art space that infuses contemporary art and creativity into our community through compelling exhibitions, dynamic educational experiences, and access to the artistic process. Founded in 1979 by artists, The Delaware Contemporary presents...

Andy Truscott interviews Joan Beatson, Director of Advancement, and Taylor Ciampi, company dancer, with First State Ballet Theatre. First State Ballet Theatre—Delaware’s professional ballet company—has written an unparalleled chapter of artistic, educational and financial achievement in Delaware dance history and is the only major Delaware performing arts company to have presented a statewide seas...

Andy Truscott interviews Leah Beach, Founder and Executive Director of the Developing Artist Collaboration (the DAC) located in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Their Artist Development Programming provides Artist Members of DAC with access to resources, development based programming, studio space and a supportive community of like-minded individuals. Whether it’s a simply a space to work and collaborate or ta...

Andy Truscott interviews Kiara Florez , a 2022 Delaware Division of the Arts Individual Artist Fellow in the field of Visual Arts. A recent graduate of Delaware State University with a B.A. in studio art, Florez has already been seen in several exhibitions, was the Delaware winner of the 2017 Doodle4Google competition, and has had her work on view at the U.S. Capitol. Her imaginative paintings mag...

Andy Truscott speaks with Dr. Kirsten Kunkle and Dr. Marisa Robinson , the co-founders of Wilmington Concert Opera. Wilmington Concert Opera, an exclusively woman and minority run company, was founded on principles of diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility. Wilmington Concert Opera strives to serve the greater Wilmington, Delaware community by prioritizing the hiring of local musicians to provi...

Andy Truscott speaks with Dr. JoAnn Balingit and Dr. Traci Currie, the teaching artists and coaches of this year’s Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest in Delaware. Poetry Out Loud (POL) is a national program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. POL uses a pyramid structure that begins at...

Andy Truscott speaks with Greg Hammond, an author from Wilmington, Delaware – and one of the Delaware Division of the Arts’ 2022 Emerging Individual Artist Fellows in the field of fiction literature. Gregory Hammond wanted to be a writer “from the get-go.” In elementary school, he wrote “book reports in the form of plays and presented them for the oral reports.” Later, inspired by the Civil Rights...

Andy Truscott interviews Kerriann Otaño, Vice President of Engagement at OperaDelaware in Wilmington, Delaware. OperaDelaware is a professional non-profit opera company with a reputation for excellence in both opera and arts education. OperaDelaware opens the door to bold, vibrant and creative operatic programming that enriches the community, transforms audiences, and encourages dialogue. Kerriann...

Andy Truscott speaks with Deb DeHart (Wilmington, DE), the founder of The Yuletide Singers. The Yuletide Singers are an ensemble of highly experienced, professional voices that blend to recreate the unique sound of Victorian-era carolers. Dressed in elegant costumes, the quartet sings familiar, traditional Christmas carols in four-part a cappella harmony. The combination of period costumes and Vic...

Andy Truscott speaks with Don Foster, a 2019 Delaware Division of the Arts Individual Artist Fellow in the field of fiction literature. Don Foster grew up “in a small farm town where people rode four-wheelers, practiced duck calls, and burned trash.” He’s been a resident of Dover for thirteen years now, but his uncles and cousins are carpenters, farmers and watermen in the land of his childhood –...

Andy Truscott speaks with A.T. Moffett, the Executive Director for Delaware Institute for Arts in Education (Or DiAE). A.T. Moffett is a dancer, choreographer, and educator trained in public policy. Her policy interests include arts education, arts and aging, and arts and health. Her creative work centers on arts-based research and community engagement. A.T. is the recipient of a 2020 Plant Life i...

Andy Truscott speaks with Maia Palmer, a 2022 Individual Artist Fellow and the current artist exhibiting in the Mezzanine Gallery at the Carvel State of Building. Maia Palmer was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1980. She works primarily in acrylics and charcoal, and has also created community murals, digital works and figurative sculptures. Palmer earned a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and a...

Andy Truscott speaks with Jean Dahlgren and Lise Dubé-Scherr about the Delaware College of Art and Design’s 25th Anniversary and the launch of their new UI/UX Product Design Program. For 25 years, Delaware College of Art and Design (DCAD) has empowered emerging creatives through its Associates of Fine Arts (AFA) degrees in Animation, Game Art, Illustration, Fine Art, Photography, and Graphic Desig...

Andy Truscott speaks with Neil Kirschling, the new Executive Director of the Delaware Arts Alliance. Neil joins DAA from Rodel, a nonprofit that partners with Delawareans to transform public education in the First State. His responsibilities included strategic planning, policy development, coalition management, program management, and local and national stakeholder engagement. Neil previously serv...

Andy Truscott speaks with Doug Poore, the curator of the Greater Harrington Historical Society. In cooperation with Delaware Humanities and the Smithsonian Institutes Museums on Main Street program, the Historical Society will be hosting the traveling exhibit “CROSSROADS: CHANGE IN RURAL AMERICA”. The exhibition is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Insti...

Andy Truscott speaks with Rebecca Lowe and David White from the Lewes Public Library about the Spoken Word Society. The Lewes Spoken Word Society (LSWS) celebrates the tradition and artistry of oral storytelling through lectures, performances, discussions, demonstrations, and other publicly-shared experiences. The library also has a number of services at the disposal of their nearby patrons, inclu...