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Speaker 1: From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.

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Speaker 1: Each week we come together right here talk about all

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Speaker 1: the topics important to you and the place where you live.

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Speaker 1: Thanks again for tuning in this week. I'm Nicole Davis.

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Speaker 1: So if you ask me, it's not really Christmas until

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Speaker 1: I've heard the Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack from start to

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Speaker 1: finish at least once. This is an absolute classic here.

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Speaker 1: Vince Guaraldi did such a good job on this soundtrack,

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Speaker 1: really all the Charlie Brown soundtracks, but it is really

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Speaker 1: that much cooler when you get to see it live.

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Speaker 1: You can actually do that this coming week in Watertown,

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Speaker 1: over at the most Sessian Center for the Arts, Aleana

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Speaker 1: de la Guardia is the executive director. She is here

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Speaker 1: to tell us all about it. Good to have you

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Speaker 1: with us, and before we talk about the concert, tell

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Speaker 1: us a bit more about the center.

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Speaker 2: The Messessians are family here from Watertown, and Dorothy and

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Speaker 2: Charles are the generous owners that gave us a significant

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Speaker 2: donation in order to remodel a lot of the inside

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Speaker 2: of this and so they made this donation that allowed

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Speaker 2: us to remodel and rename the Center for the Arts

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Speaker 2: which was previous previously the Arsenal Center for the Arts.

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Speaker 2: This is a multi arts center, so it means that

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Speaker 2: what we do here is very interdisciplinary. We have visual

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Speaker 2: art galleries. We also have classes for adults and students

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Speaker 2: in visual arts, but also in theater and in performance

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Speaker 2: and sometimes in other things. We have a very robust

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Speaker 2: arts education program. We have a longstanding jazz series that

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Speaker 2: has been going for eighteen years here. We used to

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Speaker 2: be home to the New Repertory Theater and now we're

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Speaker 2: home to the Actor Shakespeare Project and also our newest

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Speaker 2: company in residence, the Boston Dance Theater. And we have

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Speaker 2: a lot of community members that come in to rent

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Speaker 2: our theaters and do other performing arts offerings as well

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Speaker 2: as events.

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Speaker 1: You've got these great holiday options as well. But the

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Speaker 1: one that really stuck out to me, I am a

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Speaker 1: sucker for Snoopy and the Peanuts, and so when I

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Speaker 1: saw that you all were doing Charlie Brown Christmas, I

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Speaker 1: knew I had to talk to you about it. So,

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Speaker 1: of course, Vince garaldin no longer with us, but it's

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Speaker 1: being brought back to life with the Eric Mantel Quartet.

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Speaker 1: So tell us about this performance.

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Speaker 2: This performance is part of our Cords and Cocktail Series,

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Speaker 2: which is our Jazz series. We newly rebranded it this year.

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Speaker 2: We wanted to be more open and friendly, not just

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Speaker 2: to jazz, not just to jazz offisionados, but also to

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Speaker 2: people who could be curious about jazz or just looking

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Speaker 2: for a really great night out or an interesting date.

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Speaker 2: And when I came in here, I was really interested

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Speaker 2: in repeatable offerings that are seasonal and this just like

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Speaker 2: a really beautiful opportunity to engage in this and this

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Speaker 2: was curated by one of our board members. We're really

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Speaker 2: happy to have them. I think they've been wanting to

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Speaker 2: perform on our Jazz Series for quite a while and

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Speaker 2: we're happy that we could find a way to get

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Speaker 2: him in.

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Speaker 1: So you've also got this beautiful grand piano, which looks

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Speaker 1: gorgeous by the way.

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Speaker 2: This piano was donated to us by Curtis Bryant Cello's.

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Speaker 2: He is a local instrument maker and restorer of antique

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Speaker 2: instruments and he came into this piano and decided that

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Speaker 2: this should be the home for it, and we're really

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Speaker 2: thankful to have it now. We didn't have any piano

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Speaker 2: before and now we have this really beautiful instrument that

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Speaker 2: we can offer two artists coming into rent, but also

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Speaker 2: the artist that we bring in. It's always wonderful to

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Speaker 2: have a really high quality instrument that we can offer

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Speaker 2: to our community.

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Speaker 1: So something else I noticed before the event, You're going

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Speaker 1: to be holding a holiday mixer in toy drive, which

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Speaker 1: I love because we have a lot of families in

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Speaker 1: need right now who could really use assistance, trying to

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Speaker 1: get kids, just presents for anybody really under the tree.

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Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about this event and what's

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Speaker 1: involved with that.

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Speaker 2: Well, this is the annual holiday mixer that is run

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Speaker 2: by the Watertown Rotary Club as well as the Watertown

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Speaker 2: Business Coalition, and we are partnering with them as well

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Speaker 2: as the Watertown Police Department in this annual toy drive

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Speaker 2: that supports the Holy Foundation. And the Holy Foundation does

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Speaker 2: a lot for youth that are in need in the area,

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Speaker 2: so we know having a robust youth program here, we're

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Speaker 2: happy to partner on important initiatives like that.

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Speaker 1: And it's also going to benefit your tuition Assistance fund,

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Speaker 1: which is pretty important as well.

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Speaker 2: That's really important absolutely. I mean, we serve over one

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Speaker 2: thousand young people in Watertown, but also in surrounding communities,

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Speaker 2: and one third of them receive tuition assistance from thirty

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Speaker 2: percent to one hundred percent. So it's really important for

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Speaker 2: us to be fueling our tuition assistance fund because we

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Speaker 2: also help the youth in the area have access to

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Speaker 2: really high quality arts education programs. And you know, for

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Speaker 2: a lot of young people, the art is really a

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Speaker 2: place for belonging, where they discover themselves, where they start

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Speaker 2: to realize who they are through their talents, through developing

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Speaker 2: skills that are needed for those talents. So it's you know,

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Speaker 2: I was a theater kid myself, and I can tell

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Speaker 2: you that without without that, I probably I have honestly

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Speaker 2: have no idea who I'd be.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look drama kid here as well, but both on

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Speaker 1: and off the stage. So I think we're we're a

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Speaker 1: very particular breed, us, those of us who enjoyed the

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Speaker 1: arts in the stage. But it's so true because you

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Speaker 1: can be anybody you want to be on the stage.

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Speaker 1: And when you're a child and you are trying to

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Speaker 1: not just figure out who you are, but you're also

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Speaker 1: trying to figure out the world. I mean, there's no

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Speaker 1: better place to try to you know, just kind of

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Speaker 1: expand your horizons than taking on those different characters.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean involving your child in the arts is

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Speaker 2: one of the healthiest things you can do for them.

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Speaker 2: You know, playing a character on the stage and stepping

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Speaker 2: into someone else's shoes teaches you empathy. When you're up there,

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Speaker 2: you're learning teamwork, and you're learning when it's your turn

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Speaker 2: to take the lead, when it's your turn to follow.

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Speaker 2: You're gaining social skills. There's coordination skills that you're learning

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Speaker 2: because you have to memorize, you have to sing and

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Speaker 2: dance at the same time. You have to receive you know,

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Speaker 2: you learn how to receive feedback and take directions in

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Speaker 2: a positive way, and how to embitter yourself by receiving

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Speaker 2: that feedback. It's yeah, there's just there's no end to

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Speaker 2: healthy the arts can be for a child, but especially

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Speaker 2: when they're in the right program for them.

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Speaker 1: Well, you've got plenty to offer. I've been looking at

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Speaker 1: your website. You have so many different classes for kids.

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Speaker 1: You've got February break programming. I mean, there is just

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Speaker 1: a myriad of ideas for kids to take part in.

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Speaker 1: How can parents sign their kids up or learn more

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Speaker 1: about your options.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. They can come right to our website that's Mossesian

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Speaker 2: Arts dot org and look under our education offerings. And

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Speaker 2: not only do we have education offerings for young people,

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Speaker 2: but we also have education offerings for all ages. Our

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Speaker 2: new dance company in residence has just offered some dance

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Speaker 2: dance based wellness programs that are for all all levels

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Speaker 2: and any sort of mobility challenges. People can still engage

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Speaker 2: in these programs. And we have lots and lots of

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Speaker 2: visual arts. So if your child is a little bit introverted,

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Speaker 2: if you're a little bit introverted but you still want

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Speaker 2: to engage in the arts, you know we have we

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Speaker 2: have a lot of offerings. Our communities can look forward

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Speaker 2: to the River of Light Lantern Parade coming up in January.

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Speaker 2: This is a really fun event where you get to

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Speaker 2: make your own lanterns and then parade. There's a large

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Speaker 2: parade that goes around the building. So that is a

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Speaker 2: really big community event. Last year we got one hundred

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Speaker 2: people coming in and we're just really looking forward to

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Speaker 2: welcoming more people this year.

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Speaker 1: Aleana, this is really such a cool lineup that you've

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Speaker 1: got over at the center. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: the time on the show.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again

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Speaker 1: next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole

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Speaker 1: Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio