Dreaming Bigger: The Latino Hispanic American Community Center sets sights on future with new building

August 29, 2024 | by Maddie Gittens

Adriana Rios

Adriana Rios came from Venezuela to the United States in 2015, on a mission to get her sick 1-year-old son medicine that wasn’t accessible back home.

Rios didn’t speak English and quickly realized how challenging it would be to find a job—even with her master’s degree in finance and degree in economics. Early on, she drove a bus for work, and she cried when she started that job. She couldn’t believe that, after all her years of collegiate education, she was a driver.

“When you are a mom, you’ll leave everything and start again,” she said. “I had my car in Venezuela, I had my profession. I had a good life at that time, but, when the economy problem started, my focus was my kids.”

When Rios found the Latino Hispanic American Community Center (LHACC) in Allison Hill, Executive Director Gloria Vázquez Merrick saw the knowledge she could offer the center and brought her on to volunteer and then work on staff.

The center also helped supply Rios with basic needs, such as clothes and furniture, and connected her to HACC classes to learn English and take business classes to help acquaint her with all the financial terms she already knew, just in a new language.

Rios is one of many community members who has walked into the center for help over the organization’s more-than-a-decade of service to the Latino population.

LHACC’s mission has remained steady, even as it expanded to help clients throughout the region coming for assistance, especially during and since the pandemic. All the while, the center has done so with a small staff, limited budget and small office and programming space.

However, one of those limitations dissolved in recent months, as LHACC cut the ribbon on a new, much-larger office space at 1301 Derry St., purchased through a donation from Peggy Grove, a Harrisburg resident who has long served the community through charity and volunteerism. With the now-ample room for programs and administrative work, Vázquez Merrick has room to dream about the future of the organization and how it should continue to evolve as the demand for its services and the Latino community in the city keep growing.

“We wanted to stay in close proximity to the heart of our community,” she said. “I never dreamed that we could purchase this. I feel like I have all this space now. It is a really good feeling—just being able to have a space where we can breathe and expand. We are very happy that we can now spread our wings and begin to do more things for the community.”

Gloria Vázquez Merrick

Planting Seeds

Vázquez Merrick described the center’s move to the new building like extracting a root-bound plant from a snug pot. The organization had stuffed its former space to the brim, which included small units next door to its new building and tiny first floor space in the current Derry Street building.

The roots of the center can be traced back to 1973, when Vázquez Merrick’s father, Luis Vázquez, founded the Mount Pleasant Hispanic Community Center, which helped thousands of people. The building, secured by Luis with help from the late Fannie Krevsky, was located just down the street from where LHACC stands now.

After its closing in 2006, a local study found that there was now a significant gap in services in the community, leading to LHACC’s founding in 2010, with financial help from United Way. The seed that her father planted, Vázquez Merrick nurtured as she became a founding board member of LHACC and then the director in 2011.

Since then, the center has built up years of programs, clients and services

Just as the plant may be stressed when suddenly placed in a much larger pot, LHACC’s move to its new home is taking time as the roots stretch out and get their bearings, Vázquez Merrick described.

But she’s already seeing the benefits.

LHACC now has its own dedicated computer lab to help people with job training and searching. The center has also started a new entrepreneurship class for Latina women interested in starting a business. Additionally, Vázquez Merrick is expanding the center’s mainstay ESL courses and hopes to partner with local colleges and other entities to offer programming to the community. The center is also responding to a need Vázquez Merrick sees among the youth—mental health education and assistance.

Grove is also working with LHACC to help them find much-needed additional parking for the building, in order to support their expanded services.

Whereas LHACC’s primary focus used to be meeting immediate needs for food, clothing, translation, etc., they now have the capacity to include more education. A lot of LHACC’s time in recent years has been dedicated to emergency situations—including when hundreds of Puerto Rican families fleeing Hurricane Maria came to Harrisburg in 2017, and when the pandemic hit—but now they have time to expand.

“As we are providing people their basic needs, when you’re doing that for people, they’re able to focus more on other things,” she said. “But now, we are able to also look at our services from an educational perspective in terms of teaching people and giving them some skills to improve their quality of life.”

Community Heart

Rios has seen the difference that the Latino Center has made in her own life.

After learning English, she was able to get a job as a banker at PNC Bank, which occupies space in the same building as LHACC. She helps people from her community with financial services, but also often refers them to the Latino Center. Rios is also in the process of starting her own Venezuelan food truck business, a longtime dream.

“I never lost the connection [to the center],” Rios said. “She [Vázquez Merrick] put in effort to help me. She’s always proud of me.”

Grove, who gave LHACC the money for its building and has long supported the center through clothing, food and other donations, said that she plans to honor Vázquez Merrick and her father’s commitment to the community by dedicating the building to them. A bronze plaque in their honor will be placed on the building.

“She is just magnificent,” Grove said of Vázquez Merrick. “She just makes it happen. She doesn’t turn anyone away. It’s the heart of the community.”

The Latino Hispanic American Community Center is located at 1301 Derry St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.lhacc.org.

To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, the center will host its annual festival on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Derry Street, between 13th and 15th streets. The event’s signature sponsor is Capital Blue Cross. The festival will include live music, food, entertainment, kids’ activities, vendors and more. The event serves as a fundraiser for LHACC.

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September Publisher’s Note

August 29, 2024 | by Lawrance Binda

At TheBurg, we love getting face time with our readers.

That’s why we like September so much, because it gives us multiple opportunities to meet you and greet you.

For the past few years, we’ve held an annual blowout that we call “TheBurg Bash.” We started this event to honor our Friends of TheBurg members, to show them how much we appreciate their support, and to provide a communal gathering for some of our biggest fans.

It’s such a wonderful, positive event, as folks pack into the stately King Mansion to chat about TheBurg, Harrisburg and anything else on their minds. By the time this issue hits the streets, tickets may be gone for this year’s bash on Sept. 5. But, if you became a Friend, you’re guaranteed to get an invite to our next event.

The very next day, we get another chance to meet up—in our own space. On Sept. 6, our office will be open (very) late, with great sounds filtering out onto the street. For the fourth straight year, we’re hosting a band for Jazz Walk, the annual tour de music organized by the Central Pa. Friends of Jazz. So, stop by, say “hi” and enjoy some tunes as you make your way around Midtown venues.

Lastly, we’re usually out and about for 3rd in the Burg, Harrisburg’s monthly art/nightlife happening, which we organize and promote. This month, it falls on Sept. 20, with another terrific lineup of events planned. See you there!

So, there you have it—three opportunities to see us in person this month. Of course, there are many more things to do in our area. For instance, in our arts-themed September issue, we have stories on the annual Gallery Walk, on the New Cumberland Music + Film Fest and on the start of new music seasons, among others.

If you want even more ideas, just flip to the back of this issue for the most comprehensive calendar of events in the Harrisburg region. It’s all here, and it’s all free, within the pages of TheBurg.

Lawrance Binda
Publisher/Editor

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Whitaker at 25: Challenges, opportunities lie ahead for Harrisburg’s premier center for science and the arts

August 29, 2024 | by Lawrance Binda

Mary Oliveira

Could it really be 25 years already?

Back in September 1999, Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts opened to great fanfare, heralding the dawn of a new institution and attraction in downtown Harrisburg.

A lot has changed since then for both the center and the city. To get a feel for where Whitaker is today—and where it’s going—we sat down with Mary Oliveira, who took the helm as president and CEO last November.

The following is our Q&A with her, edited for length and clarity. You can learn much more this month, as Whitaker plans an entire week of celebratory events, including a birthday bash and a block party, culminating with a 25th Anniversary Celebration on Sept. 14. Check out www.whitakercenter.org for more information.

TheBurg: What interested you in heading up Whitaker Center?

Mary: Whitaker Center is just this amazing anchor of our region. The pandemic and being a shuttered venue really caused it a lot of challenges. The opportunity to help work through some of those challenges and see how we can revitalize it and re-introduce it to the community seemed like a very exciting thing to want to be a part of.

TheBurg: What are some of the specific challenges you’re facing?

Mary: Whitaker Center is a big place and a nonprofit business entity. So, it faces the challenges that many nonprofits do when it comes to funding streams, revenue, balancing an operating budget, etc. And the physical maintenance of a 130,000-square-foot building presents us with some unique things to have to figure out answers to. So, we need to make sure that we become again a destination of choice with great performances in our theater, a lot of exciting exhibits happening in our science center, and the coding, gaming programs and workshops that we offer. There has to be a good balance with the fundraising, the donors, the grants, the foundation support, and all of that blended together.

TheBurg: What has impressed you about Whitaker Center?

Mary: The brand reputation is still so positive. So, one of the things I committed to early on was an intentional listening tour. It started with the staff members: “What’s your Whitaker why?” That’s an essential question I’ve asked everybody, and that’s really what we’re trying to amass information on so that it can help us strategically plan. This is Whitaker’s 25th anniversary year. So, what do the next 25 years look like? So, we’re using the mantra, “Whitaker Next,” to build that platform of stability.

We then followed with a board survey, taking it to the next level of those community leaders and business leaders who are connected to us by their service. Then we took it even further and went out to the community this spring, and we did a community survey of over 35,000 that are in our email database: “What is your Whitaker why?” It was overwhelming to hear the feedback that this is still considered a place of wonder and curiosity and learning and delight and experiences that multi-generational families are excited to share with one another.

TheBurg: Where do you see Whitaker headed?

Mary: In 1999, no one predicted the digital era that we’re in. So, they built this grandiose brick-and-mortar venue with the anticipation of enticing plenty of foot traffic to make it this cultural enrichment center that included both science and arts. We’ve now adapted. We have a first-of-its-kind coding and gaming den, where kids can come in and really get an opportunity to experience things that maybe they don’t have at home, especially with a focus on lower- and middle-income students.

I think there’s so much transformation that still needs to happen—kind of shifting from information age to innovation age. We’re looking at ways to update and enhance our science center. Some of the exhibits we have are the original ones from 1999. So, it’s a great opportunity to make sure we remain relevant to the students of today. So, I see Whitaker becoming a strong workforce development partner to the business community. We start with programs for children as young as 3 years old here. We have a weekly program called Little Learners, where we’re introducing STEAM and STEM concepts to them at an age-appropriate curriculum level of playing. It goes all the way up through high school.

TheBurg: What are you hearing from the community regarding your future?

Mary: I think the community is still very excited about Whitaker. I also think there’s an opportunity to introduce us to this newer generation that is growing up in a world where they can sit and watch a movie on their phone on their sofa.

I was asked in an early interview, “What do you want your legacy to be?” Without hesitating, I said, I want the conversation to include the question: “What do you mean you haven’t been to Whitaker lately?” So, that phrase, “creating Whitaker” or reinventing or revitalizing Whitaker Center as a destination of choice. Young adults, young professionals, young families are moving into this area, and we have to give them reasons to be excited and reasons to want to stay here.

TheBurg: Is there something about Whitaker you’d like our readers to know that they may not?

Mary: We want to build or rebuild our brand equity in the marketplace. We’re trying to figure out how we just get out there and get our voice heard. We want to invite people in the door. To explore us is to love us, so just come explore us.

The Animation Academy is an incredibly interactive exhibit [runs through Jan. 10]. It’s all about how science and art come together in an animator’s world. Some of the students’ favorite cartoon characters will be here. We’ll have artists come in and host workshops on animation skills. We’re told that this is one of those repeat exhibits that families will want to come back to time and time again, because there are so many components to it. All ages, from 8 to 88, hopefully, will find something that they enjoy about it.

We have our Celebration Week coming up, Sept. 9 to 14. Whitaker Center opened its doors on 9/9/99. We thought, “Let’s do five events in the span of six days.” So, we have a robust calendar of exciting events, all meant to encourage so many populations to engage with us.

Whitaker Center is located at 222 Market St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.whitakercenter.org.

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Bloom to Loom: Natural color blossoms at Berry Mountain Color Farm

August 29, 2024 | by Kylie Stoltzfus

Wesson Radomsky drying indigo

Wesson Radomsky’s earliest memories were shaped by two things: farming and fiber arts.

Growing up on a farm in Elizabethville, Radomsky tended to the animals living on the property and spent time helping on neighboring dairy farms.

“There are plenty of things you can do to help out around a farm, and I was doing them,” they recalled.

When not farming, Radomsky experimented with fiber arts, inspired by grandmothers who were devoted artists themselves. Later, Radomsky attended HACC and then Georgetown University, staying in Washington, D.C., to work in higher education for 12 years.

“It was a fascinating job, but I burned out pretty hard during the pandemic,” they shared. “I left in 2021 and did a big reset in my life.”

Radomsky returned to the farm and began planting Berry Mountain Color Farm’s first crop of dye plants. Through self-education and trial and error, Radomsky broke through, establishing practices and routines that resulted in vibrant fibers to share with the local artist community.

“It was just so incredible,” they said. “I loved it so much that I had to do it all the time and share it with people.”

Community Share

From July to September, the annual and perennial dye plants at Berry Mountain Color Farm are at peak bloom, packed with their most vibrant pigmentations. These months are the most intense for Radomsky, harvesting and processing plants like Japanese indigo, goldenrod, marigolds, sunflowers and many others.

“I am harvesting every day and doing as much as I can with every bit of daylight available to me to not let anything go to waste,” they said. “Then I am doing the dying with the fresh dye stuffs that I just harvested from the fields, and then I’m also drying the extra flowers or leaves.”

For a small farm like Berry Mountain Color Farm, securing funding at the start of the season is critical to support the labor needed to plant, harvest and produce fibers. So, Radomsky established Berry Mountain Color Farm as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a model that allows customers to purchase products from farmers before a crop is harvested, animals are butchered, or, in the case of Berry Mountain Color Farm, fibers are dyed.

Once a year, Berry Mountain holds a pickup day to distribute fibers to members. Operating on a CSA model, Radomsky aims to budget their resources and ensure they have committed customers prior to production so the plants, dye and fibers don’t go to waste.

“I want there to be a sense that there is a community affiliated with and attached to this farm,” Radomsky said. “This is not something I want to do in a vacuum. It’s something I want to invite folks into and share with people.”

Despite the challenges of running a small farm—securing funding, intense labor and making ends meet—Radomsky has found joy in the change of pace, as well as the rich community built around local fiber arts. In particular, Radomsky praised the support of Andrea Grove, founder of Elementary Coffee Co. in Harrisburg.

“Andrea’s early and enthusiastic support has been key,” Radomsky said. “Elementary Coffee Co. has given Berry Mountain Color Farm a home in Harrisburg, helped me connect with a wider audience, and provided me with a sense of community and support that has been critical to sustaining this work.”

After connecting with Radomsky at the café, Grove wanted to help amplify Berry Mountain Color Farm by becoming a pickup location for CSA distributions.

“The more that as humans we can encourage other humans doing rad things, the better everybody is and, I think, the more growth we get to see in a society, hopefully for the better,” Grove said. “It is really hard for micro-businesses to really get the exposure they need and deserve for what they’re doing.”

Such a Gift

Frankie Laird saw a flyer for Berry Mountain while working as a barista at Elementary. A fiber artist since high school, Laird was interested in finding locally dyed fiber for knitting projects.

“I signed up through a mailing list that was on a flyer and got to pick from two different kinds of yarn,” Laird said. “I got this lovely bag of all these beautiful oranges and color variations…It has really helped me feel a bit more connected as I’m working with the yarn that came from someone’s garden.”

In addition to Elementary Coffee, CSA members can pick up their annual share from Radomsky’s home yarn store, Humble Stitch, in Newport and the Dickinson College Farm in Boiling Springs.

As Berry Mountain Color Farm develops, Radomsky hopes to offer educational opportunities for people, teaching dye workshops and providing numerous entry points where people can interact with natural color.

“There is so much that explorations of natural color can bring into folks’ creative lives and so making a space where people could come to the farm, get their hands on the dye plants, really immerse themselves in it, feels like it would be really impactful and satisfying,” Radomsky said.

Recently, Berry Mountain Color Farm was selected to participate in Pasa Sustainable Agriculture’s Climate-Smart Farming & Marketing program, a pilot program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program provides funding and assistance to farmers implementing regenerative practices and supporting programs deemed climate-smart.

“It’s been a really creative process getting to work with Wesson,” said Delaney McKinney, technical assistance provider for the Pasa program. “They have a really big vision that feels more and more tangible the more we plug in these practices to different areas of their farm.”

From workshops and new products to selling at markets and stores, Radomsky has a big vision for what Berry Mountain Color Farm could become. Regardless, they are choosing to prioritize sustainable growth at a pace that supports their wellbeing, amidst the intensity of a farming career.

“The most fulfilling part is the way that slowing down and paying attention has grounded me and opened my eyes to such beauty and joy [and] to things that I would not have paid attention to before,” Radomsky said. “Slowing down has made room to really center wonder and beauty and joy in my life—that is such a gift.”

For more information on Berry Mountain Color Farm, visit www.berrymountaincolorfarm.com or follow at @berrymountaincolorfarm.

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Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

August 29, 2024 | by Sara Bozich

Plan your weekend with my weekly list of things to do around Harrisburg and central PA!

What you’ll find ⤵️

For something new: Puppet Parade (part of Kipona) Worth noting: Labor Day Weekend, baby, plus SoMa Block Party tonight! Things on my agenda this weekend: A quick trip for a 100th bday party

For your weekend planning

TONIGHT! SoMa Block Party – check out the lineup
End-of-summer travel? Check out my go-to for pet boarding
See what else you missed on the blog

Below are more options for your weekend.

A Look Ahead

Exclusive promo code for the Dauphin County Jazz & Wine Festival, which is next weekend
Celebrate 25 years of Whitaker Center!
You can now sponsor the Weekend Roundup! Ask me how!
Are you on my email list?
Submit your events for the Weekend Roundup

Labor Day | Monday

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Creative Path: The new Harrisburg Arts District crafts an inspired walk

August 29, 2024 | by M. Diane McCormick

Event at the Art Association of Harrisburg. Photo courtesy of Art Association of Harrisburg

Carrie Wissler-Thomas can’t say for sure how the family of tourists from Ohio found their way to the Art Association of Harrisburg.

They had visited Hersheypark and the usual suspects around town, but they wanted to see a gallery, and the Harrisburg Arts District now has an app for that.

“They visited what was going on in the region, and they saw us and they came,” Wissler-Thomas said. “Maybe it was because of Google. I like to think it was the Harrisburg Arts District.”

Opinions differ on whether Harrisburg needs an arts czar, but the new app from Visit Hershey & Harrisburg does some of that coordinating. The app puts the Harrisburg Arts District in the palms of hands, whether those palms belong to visitors or locals looking for a new scene.

With its walkable array of galleries, performing arts groups, murals, shopping, and food and drink, the Harrisburg Arts District was just made for an app that helps patrons customize their own experience.

Critical Mass

The Harrisburg Arts District spans the city’s downtown, Midtown and riverfront. Created by Visit Hershey & Harrisburg, the district now has an app for digital-age relevance. The new app allows visitors to search by categories of murals, performance venues, events, museums, galleries, monuments, shopping and food and drink.

App users can customize their itineraries, curating and mapping the walks that deliver the experiences, sights, sounds and tastes they crave. They can play concise audio narrations describing each of the Sprocket Mural Works’ pieces they’re pausing to see, perhaps learning how Ryan Spahr drew inspiration from the surrounding city for the colorful butterfly of “Arise,” or how the dramatic “Bruja” from Ecuadorian artist Vera Primavera celebrates female empowerment.

A Creative Communities Grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts funded development of the app. Dauphin County tourism grants are helping support ad campaigns promoting the arts district.

The creative sector contributes $30 billion to the Pennsylvania economy, according to PCA Executive Director Karl Blischke. A defined arts district gives that sector a place, he said, and “place is the driver of decisions that are made about where we want to live, where we want to visit.”

The app adds momentum to a growing arts scene that’s contributing to Dauphin County economic development, tourism and a record number of hotel rooms booked, county Commissioner George Hartwick said at the app’s launch in July.

“Sometimes, we don’t even know what’s in our backyard,” he said. “This is an opportunity for us to reacquaint ourselves with all the great assets we have as well as help visitors from around the country have that opportunity.”

Susquehanna Art Museum Executive Director Alice Anne Schwab credited the changing look of Midtown Harrisburg, including a new cocktail lounge going where a saloon once stood, to the “critical mass” of activity in the Harrisburg Arts District.

“More and more, things are happening in this area because people want to be connected to the arts,” she said. “Yes, it drives money, but it drives something that’s even more important—all those feet traveling to our door, to Whitaker Center, to all of the performing arts organizations.

Mural by Sprocket Mural Works

Finer Things

The Harrisburg arts sector comprises organizations and artists who are dynamic enough to thrive on their own without a city arts director or umbrella organization adding bureaucracy, said Art Association of Harrisburg Executive Director Carrie Wissler-Thomas. But the Harrisburg Arts District does need VHH’s cross-promotional marketing, amplified by the app, to attract visitors, audiences and participants, she said.

“It’s hard to reach an audience beyond our own constituency,” Wissler-Thomas said. “All of us share so many people that like the finer things in life—the theaters, the galleries, the art, the fine food and breweries—and this widens our audience.”

Harrisburg-based artist Reina “R76” Wooden watched in dismay when the pandemic wiped out the area’s small galleries. As showcase spaces dwindle, she found her home in a studio at the Millworks, an app presence in Midtown Harrisburg.

Wooden told TheBurg that she has been “barking every four years in the mayoral race” that the city of Harrisburg needs an office of arts and culture. Creation of the Harrisburg Arts District helped fill that gap, she believes.

“Clearly, something has been happening behind the scenes,” she said.

The app is “a great start” and a powerful megaphone for artists and performers promoting their work and their presence, she added. Going forward, she hopes to see more inclusivity, with the addition of smaller galleries, music and spoken word, and a footprint that expands into other parts of the city, including Olde Uptown and Allison Hill.

“If you are going to say ‘Harrisburg,’ it has to be beyond Midtown,” she said. “There are staples in the art world that we as a creative community know, but you want the people who are traveling from outside because they like to find those quirky, small, unique spaces where it’s not just all about, ‘Please buy my food, please buy my beer.’”

Visit Hershey Harrisburg App

The Beginning

The idea for the app originated with Harristown Development Corp. President and CEO Brad Jones, who approached VHH about developing it. The app sticks to downtown, Midtown and the riverfront because research by the VHH director of experience development found that the key to successful arts districts nationwide is walkability.

“We asked if someone is coming and wants to park their car and doesn’t want to move it around, what does that footprint look like?” said VHH Director of Communications Allison Rohrbaugh. “It’s not every arts-related business in the city of Harrisburg. It’s that walkable footprint that says you can come here, and you can spend an entire day or weekend visiting something that’s really accessible and really close together.”

Listed sites and venues also needed a physical presence with reliable hours and established websites to help visitors unfamiliar with the city “easily understand where an arts organization is, when it’s open, and what they can do,” she said.

Some of the listed organizations are VHH partners, but VHH membership is not a requirement, Rohrbaugh said. The list of sites “is always going to flex and grow a little bit.”

City Director of Economic Development Jason Graves called the app “just the beginning of what could be happening” to bring more people to the community.

The app and its direct links to the websites of listed organizations is “very cool,” said Wissler-Thomas.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s a miracle. It gets the word out there for all of us. All the culture groups do such wonderful things. There’s no denying that it’s hard just getting the word out to people beyond our members. It’s now reaching people beyond that.”

For more information, visit www.visithersheyharrisburg.org or just download the app.

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Musical Mindset: Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz tunes up for another Jazz Walk, looks toward future

August 29, 2024 | by Kawena Jacobs

Justin Morell. Photo courtesy of Amy Spangler and Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz.

September in Harrisburg brings many things: a crisp fall breeze to cut through the heat, the beginning of trees turning all sorts of warm hues and, of course, jazz music drifting through Midtown courtesy of Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz’s (CPFJ) annual Jazz Walk.

The free, one-day jazz festival transforms local businesses and organizations alike into pop-up jazz clubs, allowing anyone to enjoy the music, whether the listener is a seasoned jazz enthusiast or a curious passerby.

“It’s an opportunity for people to discover jazz without paying for a ticket,” CPFJ’s Operations Manager Sara Bozich said.

This year’s event will take place Sept. 6 with familiar spots such as the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Millworks, TheBurg and the Historic Harrisburg Association hosting shows.

CPFJ Board Vice President Dave Wagner said featuring local artists is a crucial part of the Jazz Walk’s success, drawing a larger crowd and more support when people are familiar with the performers.

“There’s a lot of competition for entertainment these days, and jazz is one of the things that we want to continue to keep on everybody’s mind,” Wagner said.

Pursuit Coworking will act as CPFJ’s hub for the evening. The space, Bozich said, will include a winery on site for refreshments, tables and information from the event’s sponsors and maps and cards to keep track of where all the performances will be.

Patrons will also be able to purchase tickets for CPFJ’s fall concerts, the Dauphin County Jazz and Wine Festival on Sept. 7 and 8 and sign up for their new and updated membership program.

Last year’s Jazz Walk featured over 40 artists in various groups and bands across 14 venues, which, Wagner said, was the most venues they have had in recent years.

“I think that it went over very well operationally and functionally,” Wagner said. “The music was awesome. It’s just a great vibe to go on down there.”

Flowing Well

CPFJ began in 1980, started by jazz pianist Steve Rudolph, lawyer Lee Swartz, local radio DJ Russ Neff and Jack Snavely, who worked in finance. Rudolph said the group wanted to grow the presence of jazz in Harrisburg and keep jazz artists coming through the city.

“I think Jack Snavely was the one who actually first said the words, ‘well, let’s form a jazz society,’” Rudolph said.

From local artists to touring national acts, CPFJ organized and hosted a slew of concerts in their early years. Rudolph credits the success to the support system that arose around the group.

“I think the heart of the organization from the beginning was the amount of volunteers that we had who were seriously into music,” Rudolph said.

The first Jazz Walk kicked off not long after CPFJ’s founding and was born from the larger jazz festival they would hold in the 1980s, which Rudolph said received a great deal of financial support from local charities and art organizations.

“One of the things we would have at the jazz festival, which was usually a three- or four-day event, [was] a Jazz Walk,” Rudolph said. “And in the ‘80s, there were probably six or seven clubs in downtown Harrisburg, right on 2nd Street, that had offered jazz on a regular basis.”

Since then, the prevalence of jazz in Harrisburg has dwindled, but Rudolph does not worry about losing it to time.

“The music is too strong to be denied,” Rudolph said. “So, it’ll always be happening, but on what level is always a curious thing to find out.”

Along with the Jazz Walk and concerts, CPFJ runs educational camps for children interested in playing jazz music, like their jazz camp at Messiah University. Last year, 80 kids attended.

“The focus of the organization now is a little more towards education and a little less towards presentation, but it seems to be flowing quite well,” Rudolph said.

Bozich was hired in May of this year and believes her expertise in marketing and management can help the organization with its ongoing mission.

“My goal with Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz is to help elevate the organization, ultimately resulting in a more robust membership and programming so that people continue to enjoy and love jazz music,” Bozich said.

For more information on Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz, visit www.friendsofjazz.org.

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The Arts Squared: In downtown Harrisburg, cultural events enhance church, community

August 29, 2024 | by Barbara Trainin Blank

Barbara Passeri-Warfel

Houses of worship meet many needs—spiritual, communal and educational. Increasingly, they also offer arts and cultural programs.

Though not unique to churches in downtown Harrisburg, one standout program is Arts on the Square, a series of musical and visual arts events presented by Market Square Presbyterian Church.

Launched in the 2019-20 season with a program that included a concert by the Vienna Boys Choir, Arts on the Square’s next season was suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic, but has resumed continuously since.

“It is the congregation’s desire to share with the community the beauty and majesty of God through music and art,” said communications manager John Robinson.

Held throughout the church’s calendar year, the programs feature international, national and local musical performers and often local or regional visual artists. Artistic director Tyler Canonico, minister of music and organist at the church, and art gallery coordinator Beth Hager plan a program with the help of a team of nearly a dozen volunteers.

The kind of music featured in Arts on the Square is varied, ranging from sacred to pop, from the classics to jazz, said Canonico. In this context, the arts are more than artistic.

APOLLO5

This season includes world-famous German concert organist Felix Hell, who last played at Market Square Church in 2000, when he was 14 years old. “Carols by Candlelight” features the Sanctuary Choir and orchestra, with carols sung by the audience. APOLLO5 is a pre-eminent British vocal ensemble singing in a wide variety of styles. And for the first time, a silent film classic, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” will be shown, with dramatic accompaniment by New York City organist Jason Roberts.

“The church is one of the premier venues in the city,” Canonico said. “We use the beautiful sanctuary, with recently enhanced acoustics, for musical performances and historic Geneva Hall for visual arts exhibitions. Our choir regularly performs with orchestra or our organ, the newest in the city, built in 2019.”

Among the featured visual artists this year is Barbara Passeri-Warfel of New Cumberland. She will offer an eclectic mix of paintings, drawings and fabric wall hangings. Next up, Market Square Church members Susan Hoover and RonPoorman will present “Camera Perspectives,” a photographic joint exhibition.

“We can hang about 40 to 50 works in Geneva Hall,” Hager said.

In 2023, Friends of Arts on the Square was established to allow church members and the public to support its programming through a membership organization.

“These donations, as well as support from foundations and others, allow us to offer free or low-cost programs to everyone in our community,” said Robinson.

Market Square Presbyterian Church is located at 20 S. 2nd St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.marketsquarechurch.org/concerts.

Square Season

The 2024-25 Arts on the Square season begins this month and runs through the spring.

Musical Performances

Sunday, Sept. 29
Felix Hell, organ
Playing the J. Nedra Schilling Organ/Orgues Létourneau Opus 136

Sunday, Oct. 27
Bill Carter and the Presbybop Quintet
Musicians play “sacred jazz”

Sunday, Dec. 22
Carols by Candlelight
Holiday favorites with choir and orchestra

Sunday, Feb. 16
APOLLO5
British vocal ensemble showcases jazz, pop, classical and early sacred music

Sunday, April 6
Junghoon Park, piano
Works of Bach, Rachmaninoff and Gershwin

Friday, May 16
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
New York City organist Jason Roberts accompanies the 1923 silent film classic

Art Gallery

The gallery is open on the dates below and one-half hour after each musical performance.

Barbara Passeri-Warfel
Opening reception: Sept. 29
12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Joint photography exhibition by Susan Hoover and Ron Poorman
Opening reception: Jan. 19
12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

“Our Core Values in Art”
Opening reception: March 16
12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

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Part Intention, Part Surprise: Market Square Concerts intros its 2024-25 season

August 29, 2024 | by Lori M. Myers

Jasper String Quartet

Peter Sirotin doesn’t just shut his eyes and throw darts at a dartboard as a way of picking musical groups for a new season of shows.

As co-director of Market Square Concerts, he makes a “concerted” effort to have reasons for his choices. He listens, he connects, he thinks. Ask anyone who has enjoyed MSC’s rich variety of performances, and they’ll tell you that his picks are stellar.

“We spend a great deal of time listening to young performers and seasoned artists, as well as considering cultural relevance of different programs to our contemporary experience,” he said.

Sirotin also trusts his audiences. Their feedback plays a vital role, particularly in decisions about inviting artists back. Yet Sirotin will go beyond what is expected. He also loves to surprise and give music lovers new experiences. The 2024-25 season of shows is no exception.

These new experiences begin on Sept. 25 at Temple Ohev Sholom with the award-winning Calidore String Quartet, a group that debuted with MSC a few years ago and is back by popular demand. Described as intimate with a “refined balance,” and as having “grunge-band grit,” Sirotin admits to the group’s distinct style of playing.

“Calidore String Quartet offers an electric energy, tremendous dynamic range combined with an unusual clarity of individual voices,” he said. “I was thrilled to invite the Calidore String Quartet back for the opening of our season with a program exploring three centuries of string quartet evolution through compositions by Mozart, Beethoven and Korngold.”

Next on the schedule is the Philadelphia-based music ensemble Tempesta di Mare on Nov. 9 at the acoustically splendid St. Michael Lutheran Church on State Street. The program, “Cruel Amaryllis,” traces the evolution of madrigal in early 17th-century Italian music.

The popular “Stuart and Friends” program follows on Jan. 5 at Market Square Presbyterian Church. The event will celebrate Maestro Stuart Malina’s 25th anniversary in Harrisburg with two masterpieces: Messiaen’s transcendent “Quartet for the End of Time,” written during the darkest days of World War II, and Dvorak’s uplifting “Piano Quintet in A Major.”

Malina will be joined by clarinetist Richie Hawley, violinists Alexander Kerr and Peter Sirotin, violist Michael Isaac Strauss and cellist Julian Schwarz.

“I am really looking forward to performing the marvelous Dvorak Quintet with the group,” Sirotin said.

The following month, on Feb. 22 at Market Square Presbyterian Church, pianist Mark Markham will perform a recital showcasing groundbreaking works by Brahms, Ravel and other composers, written in their twenties. The recital is a part of Markham’s artistic residency in Harrisburg, which will include his appearance as a soloist with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, performing Ravel’s “Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.”

“This unique masterpiece was dedicated to pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I but developed new techniques of playing, which allowed him to continue performing with the left hand alone,” Sirotin said. “In March of 2025, the world will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth, which is a wonderful opportunity to bring Mark Markham back to Harrisburg for an artistic residency featuring Ravel’s music.”

On March 26 at the Derry Presbyterian Church in Hershey, the young, award-winning Trio Gaia from Boston will make its MSC debut. This delightfully eclectic program includes works by Schumann, Debussy, Reena Esmail and Gabriela Lena Frank, whose “Four Folk Songs” were inspired by melodic motifs and rhythms of her mother’s homeland, Peru.

Concluding the season on April 27 at Temple Ohev Sholom will be a performance by the award-winning Jasper String Quartet. The group will perform a playful and rustic program surveying folk influence in music by European, Russian, Korean and American composers from the classical era to present day.

Sirotin calls music a “powerful antidote to the growing anxiety and isolation in our society.” He has kept that power in mind as he went about creating this upcoming season. What will resonate with the audience? What will uplift listeners in these trying times?

“Attending live performances and sharing powerful musical experiences with people of different ages, backgrounds and political views help build community,” he said “Great music, like all great art, has an ability to connect us with the life experience of people from different eras and cultures. It entertains and inspires, provides emotional support and educates.”

For more information on Market Square Concerts, visit www.marketsquareconcerts.org.

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Creative Days: All-art weekend returns at the New Cumberland Music + Film Festival

August 29, 2024 | by Phyllis Zimmerman

Linda Perry

Last year, Jonny Leahan and Pamela Cullen learned that their town of New Cumberland longs for—and appreciates—culture, entertainment and community.

That’s why the duo is heading up the second annual New Cumberland Music + Film Festival, slated for this month in the downtown area. More than a dozen films and music performances are on tap at various spots in the borough.

“It was such a success last year that we decided to hold it again,” Leahan said.

The inaugural event taught the organizers a lot of lessons, so it’s a bit easier organizing for the sophomore year, Cullen stated.

“Last year, we were kind of flying blind,” she said. “Now we know there’s a market for this.”

This year’s event offers exclusive film screenings and music concerts throughout the weekend at the West Shore Theatre, with other music performances at Source the Space. Additionally, buskers, or sidewalk musicians, will offer periodic free performances in the Third Avenue alleyway adjacent to the theater.

“Buskers give a fun, neighborhood vibe to the event, and there are no tickets required for the street music,” Leahan said. “There’s also music improv at Source the Space, and lots more musical surprises in store.”

The festival is an innovation of the New Cumberland Collective, a group of locals who began with the idea that “neighbors and members of the community can come together to make things happen,” according to the group’s website.

Other collective events include an annual Pride Festival and The Wind Down, a “chance to meet folks in our community paired with vibe-y local live music,” held the fourth Sunday of each month at the West Shore Theatre.

The Music + Film Festival is “our most expansive event with it being multi-day,” noted Cullen, who serves as the collective’s vice president. New Cumberland’s “small town feel” is what she likes best about doing things in the community, she said.

“New Cumberland is very walkable,” Cullen said. “It’s very likely that you’ll run into people you’ll know here.”

To Cullen, the borough offers “the best of both worlds”—a small town but one with cultural assets.

“The West Shore Theatre is a gem,” she said. “It has a great sound system, so it’s not hard to get bands to play here.”

The festival’s music schedule includes Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, an “indie rock band based out of Philly,” on Saturday, according to Leahan.

“We’re really excited about having this band,” he said.

On tap for Friday’s opening night is Aortic Valve, which offers “incredible audiovisual performances,” Leahan said.

“This will make our opening night something to remember,” he said.

The scheduled opening night film is “Eno,” a “groundbreaking” generative documentary about ambient music innovator, songwriter and visual artist Brian Eno, formerly of Roxy Music. Eno also is renowned for his production collaborations with David Bowie, U2 and Talking Heads.

“This is a generative documentary, so it is never the same twice,” Leahan noted. “The filmmaker is using AI for a bespoke version made just for our festival. We’re really lucky to have this for our audiences.”

Also scheduled is the film, “Luther: Never Too Much,” a chronicle of vocal virtuoso Luther Vandross. Directed by Dawn Porter, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was also featured at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

“We’re really lucky to have this,” Leahan said. “(Vandross) started out backing Bowie, (Bette) Midler and many others. It’s a story about how he overcame the odds to become the greatest vocalist ever.”

In addition, the festival will feature a “magical art” poster by New Cumberland native Stephen Michael Haas, creator of New Cumberland’s Neato Burrito mural and an illustrator for TheBurg.

“There’ll be lots more announcements coming up, too,” Leahan said. “Everything will be announced on our website. We’ll have a range of events for all kinds of people and all kinds of tastes.”

The 2nd Annual New Cumberland Music + Film Festival takes place Sept. 20 to 22 in downtown New Cumberland. For more information, advance ticket purchases and event sponsorship, visit www.newcumberland.co/music-film-festival.

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