The Art Roundup 25/02/20

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

Art Off the Walls: The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org) is kicking off a new “Art off the Walls” evening event series on the third Thursday of each month, starting with Thursday, Feb. 20, from 5 to 8 p.m. when admission is free, the band Pickleback Jack will perform and gallerist Bill Stelling will discuss the 1980s New York City art world, inspired by the Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts exhibit, which will close Feb. 23, according to the website. The Winter Garden Cafe will be open during the event.

Free jazz: The Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) will present “Sittin’ In & Groovin’ Out: An Evening of Jazz with Metta Quintet featuring the Concord High School Jazz Ensemble” on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 6:30 p.m. The event, part of the Gile Concert Series, is free; reserve tickets online.

Hatbox carries on: The Hatbox Theatre (hatboxnh.com) doesn’t have a physical location but it is presenting monthly shows “Discovering Magic with Andrew Pinard” on select Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. in the Kimball Jenkins carriage house, 266 N. Main St. in Concord. The next show is Wednesday, March 19. The Hatbox is also looking for singers for an upcoming production of An Evening Wasted (… with Tom Lehrer) in April; contact [email protected], according to a Facebook post.

Art and nature: The New Hampshire Audubon’s McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord; nhaudubon.org) will open the exhibit “Simply Nature” on Wednesday, Feb. 26, to run through Saturday, May 3. The exhibit features a small portion of photographer Pierre Garand’s catalog of nature photography. An artist reception will be held on Thursday, March 6, 4 to 6 p.m.

At the Audubon’s Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn), the Manchester Artists Association is partnering on “Nature’s Gallery,” an art exhibit to “celebrate creativity and nature’s beauty” via pieces in a variety of media from 15 local artists, according to the website. This exhibit will run from Thursday, March 6, through Friday, April 25. Both McLane and Massabesic centers are open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Jury duty: Bedford Off Broadway is holding auditions for 12 Angry Jurors, the company’s spring show, which will be performed June 6-8 and June 13-15, according to a press release. Rehearsals are Sunday afternoons and Monday and Wednesday nights. Auditions will be Monday, March 10, and Tuesday, March 11, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Bedford Town Hall (70 Bedford Center Road, across the street from the public library) and will consist of cold readings, “monologues are appreciated,” the release said. Contact [email protected] with questions.

Paint! The Center for the Arts, 428 Main St. in New London, has several painting classes on the schedule. “Beginner Paint with Zoey Parys” will run Monday, Feb. 24, from noon to 4 p.m at 428 Main St. in New London. Paint on a 5-inch by 5-inch canvas with oil paints (materials provided); cost is $35 per person. “Perfecting Birches with Kim Schusler” will be Saturday, Feb. 22, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, 428 Main St. in New London, and feature instruction in painting birches using watercolor; BYO supplies. Cost is $35. A four-week “Oil/Acrylics Fundamental Painting Approaches with Tatiana Yanovskaya-Sink” class will run Tuesdays, March 1-25, from 9 a.m. to noon; the cost is $300. Also in March, “Painting Spectacular Flowers in Watercolor with Robert O’Brien” will run Saturday, March 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; cost is $120 plus materials. See centerfortheartsnh.org/classes.

On stage: Described as a “darkly comic, atypical love story,” Gruesome Playground Injuries will run at the Players’ Ring Theatre (105 Marcy St. in Portsmouth; 436-8123, playersring.org) Friday, Feb. 28, through Sunday, March 16 — 7 p.m. on Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets cost $29, $26 for students, 65+, military and first responders.

Fairest of them all: Southern NY Youth Ballet will present Snow White at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org) on Sunday, March 30, at 1 and 4 p.m. The show is “appropriate for children and young ballerines of all ages” with an approximately 90-minute runtime and a brief intermission, according to a Palace email. Tickets cost $24 to $29. Tickets to a pre-show tea with Snow White cost an additional $20. The tea starts 45 minutes before showtime.

This Week 25/02/20

Thursday, Feb. 20

The Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, 800-657-8774, nashuacenterforthearts.com) will host Less is More: An Evening with Joss Stonetonight at 8 p.m. Joss Stone is a Grammy and Brit Award-winning artist who released her acclaimed debut album, The Soul Sessions, in

Thursday, Feb. 20

Mosiac Art Colletive (66 Hanover St. in Manchester; mosaicartcollective.com) will host Gelli Jam, a workshop on Gelli printing, tonight at 5:45 through 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $5 to $10. Some materials available for use. Register on the website.

Thursday, Feb. 20

LaBelle Winery Derry (14 Route 111, Derry, 672-9898, labellewinery.com/labelle-winery-derry) will host Harvest & Rust, a Neil Young tribute concert, tonight at 8 p.m. Harvest and Rust represents the wide range of Neil Young’s six-decade career,. Tickets are $40.

Friday, Feb. 21

The Warren Haynes Band will play the Chubb Theatre (Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, 225-1111, ccanh.com) tonight at 8 p.m. as part of its Million Voices Whisper Tour. Tickets start at $55..

Friday, Feb. 21

Tonight marks the first of three nights of one-act plays from the Nashua Theatre Guild (14 Court St, Nashua, 978-300-2444, nashuatheatreguild.org). The plays will include a noir play, The House on the Hill on the Boulevard at the End of the Sidewalk; Neil Simon’s Rumors; Big Al, and Hammered: a Thor and Loki Play. The curtain will go up tonight and tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 ($18 for students and seniors) through the Guild’s website.

Saturday, Feb. 22

The New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra (647-6476, nhphil.org) will perform Eroica Inspirations: A Journey from Beethoven to Torke tonight at 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m. at the Seifert Performing Arts Center (Salem High School, 44 Geremonty Drive, Salem, 893-7069, ext. 5601, sau57.org/pac), with special guest pianist Taige Wang. Tickets are $35 for adults, with reduced prices for seniors, students, Salem students, and streaming. Visit The Phil’s website.

Saturday, Feb. 22

There will be an Apokriatiko Greek Dance tonight at the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral (650 Hanover St., Manchester, 622-9113, stgeorgenh.org) tonight from 7 to 11 p.m. in the church hall, DJed by the Salonica Boys. There will be Greek and American dancing, hot hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. There is a suggested donation of $25; children 12 and under are free.

Save the Date! Saturday, March 1

The Red Hot Chilli Pipers will bring their hard-rocking bagpipe fusion to the Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, 800-657-8774, nashuacenterforthearts.com) Saturday, March 1, at 8 p.m. The band has been described as “AC/DC meets the poet Robert Burns.” Tickets start at $29 through the Nashua Center’s website.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Quality of Life 25/02/20

Headed for the Big Show

Venomous snake on Aisle Four

As reported by WMUR in a Feb.16 online article, an employee at the Manchester Market Basket received a surprise on Friday, Feb.14, while unloading a box of bananas: a venomous snake. According to New Hampshire Fish and Game, the snake was a 2-foot-long Ornate Cat-eye, a mildly venomous snake species native to Central America. “The snake was not harmed and given to Rainforest Reptiles Shows,” the WMUR article reported, and went on to quote Mack Ralbovsky, Vice President of Rainforest Reptiles. “We get something like this maybe three or four times a year,” Ralbovsky said. “A lot of the invasive species we see come from situations like this where an animal might be shipped in produce.”

QOL score: -1 because SURPRISE!

Comment: According to Ralbovsky, while technically venomous, this species feeds mostly on lizards and amphibians, and poses little danger to humans.

NH Super Bowl bets

According to a Feb. 14 press release from the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, New Hampshire football enthusiasts wagered more than $7.5 million on last week’s Super Bowl game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. “Of those who wagered on the outright winner, 89% of them were correct in their bet on the Eagles,” the Lottery Commission wrote, then went on to quote Charlie McIntyre, New Hampshire Lottery’s Executive Director. “Between the standard touchdown, yardage, or MVP and the Swiftie Special betting options, the Super Bowl certainly lived up to its reputation as New Hampshire’s largest sports betting event of the year.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: “Since the New Hampshire Lottery and DraftKings launched mobile sports betting in New Hampshire on December 30, 2019, bettors have wagered more than $3.5 billion,” the press release reported.

Joann Fabric holding on by a thread

In a Feb. 12 online article, WMUR reported that troubled fabric and craft chain Joann Fabric has announced it will close more than half of its 800 stores, including seven of eight stores in New Hampshire. “According to court filings, the Hooksett location is the only one of the state’s eight stores expected to stay open,” the story read.

QOL score: -1

Comment: “Joann has filed for bankruptcy twice in the past year and is looking for a buyer,” WMUR reported.

Do not disturb until August

In a Feb. 15 online article, New Hampshire Public Radio reported that “New Hampshire farmers can now apply for funding in exchange for leaving their hayfields alone in the early summer.” The conservation group the Bobolink Project hopes to preserve a strong breeding environment for bobolinks, small migratory birds that nest in New England in the spring. As reported by NHPR, the group will “compensate farmers for the income they might lose by not haying in early summer, paying them to keep their fields as habitat for the birds. Keeping that habitat also helps other birds, like meadowlarks and grasshopper sparrows.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Farmers can apply to be part of the project at bobolinkproject.com/farmers.php. Applications are due by March 31.

QOL score: 53

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 53

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at [email protected].

Future homeowners

New Hampshire Housing helps Granite Staters find their home

New Hampshire Housing was established by statute in 1981 and is, according to its website, a self-supporting public corporation that promotes, finances and supports housing solutions for the people of New Hampshire. It operates rental and homeownership programs to help those with low or moderate incomes obtain affordable housing. It has assisted 55,000 families in the purchase of homes and helped finance the “creation of more than 16,000 multifamily housing units,” while receiving no operating funds from the state government. Etienne LaFond, the Director of Communications and Marketing for New Hampshire Housing, spoke to the Hippo about what New Hampshire Housing does. Visit nhhfa.org.

Can you give a brief overview of what New Hampshire Housing does?

New Hampshire Housing is a housing authority for the state of New Hampshire. We are a public company with a board that is appointed by the governor. We help administer rental assistance programs. We work with our partners in multi-family development in order to fund and execute on the construction of various developments throughout the state of New Hampshire and we also have a home ownership division which helps people get affordable single-family home loans, down payment assistance and various other programs.

What is rental assistance and what sorts of services do you provide for people looking to rent in the state?

We provide direct assistance to very low-income households. We help them maintain decent and affordable housing through HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Program. This program, it’s always pretty much been set up to help prevent homelessness and offers stable housing for thousands of Granite State residents. Through that program a qualified household pays a portion of their income toward rent and utilities, and New Hampshire Housing will pay the balance directly to the landlord … [also] emergency housing resources, we provide a lot of those to renters. Normally, setting up the voucher and wait list program, we’re mainly administering that program. HUD also supports the program in which the voucher can also be used for home ownership mortgage assistance, which is actually one of our favorite programs here. It kind of gives the ability to take these people who, home ownership is just never in the cards, but it’s possible to kind of convert that voucher to sort of help with mortgage payment assistance. This has helped hundreds of participants purchase their own homes.

Can you expand on the home ownership aspect of New Hampshire Housing?

We work statewide with a larger network of lenders and real estate professionals, so Realtors, etc., to offer single-family mortgage programs. These also can include purchasing your home yourself, refinancing, or even a purchase slash rehabilitation. It’s primarily used by moderate-income buyers, but we have low down payment options. We have various programs where people can get up to $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000 in cash down payment assistance. We also provide programs that have closing costs assistance, discount mortgage insurance and rehab options.

Can you talk about the work you all do with lead removal?

We have a Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Programs program (NHH LHCHHP) that helps to basically eliminate childhood lead poisoning. We provide educational tools, resources and funding. We get those through federal grants but also state loans, and that’s to assist homeowners, property owners of rental apartments, and even child care facilities so they can be lead-safe certified. That grant funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. So that’s been a pretty big thing for people to apply for that grant. We prioritize a property where there’s a poisoned child under 6 years of age with an elevated blood level of lead…. It’s something we’re pretty active with. Those are actually federal grants, so it’s not a loan….

Do you all have any events or new programs coming up?

We often send out, like TEFRA, notices of public hearing for certain places where we’re developing. I know that we had one in the rail yard. We also have an upcoming home ownership conference, which is coming in three weeks. That is going to be talking to Realtors and professionals and the bank industry about the current state of single-family home ownership and what tools are at their disposal in order to make home ownership possible, especially in an area of high demand but low supply. One thing that I think that has been really of note is that there’s a new Opioid Use Disorder Supportive Housing Capital Program. We launched this new initiative to provide stable housing for people who have been impacted by opioid use disorder. So there’s a notice of funding opportunity. We still have applications all the way until March 11.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention about New Hampshire Housing that I haven’t asked you about?

One of the other things that is lesser-known in our various divisions is from our research and advocacy wing. We look into the way that local municipalities and citizens can find ways to tackle housing challenges. So most recently on Feb. 7 we released a case study. We had a housing opportunity planning program where we gave grants to a lot of local municipal communities and we had case studies about people who had used those funds, Bethlehem, Berlin, Canterbury, Keene, Plymouth, there’s quite a few. It shows how they’re addressing housing challenges through changes to their zoning, their planning ideas, and actually updating their master plans to deal with innovative housing solutions. That report is actually currently up and available on our website. It’s pretty awesome to see some of the innovative ways people have done things. For example, Keene, they created a cottage court overlay district, which is encouraging more pedestrian-friendly housing downtown. Canterbury, for example, made a farmstead design alternative for more flexibility through a view process about what’s required in a property and offered design incentives to protect the towns for people who have often been worried about the rural character or something like the open space. Perhaps there’s other ways to figure out the actual design of housing to not lose the character but still provide it for a population that increasingly has to move out in order to find new opportunities. —Zachary Lewis

News & Notes 25/02/20

Landfill moratorium

During her Feb. 13 budget address, Gov. Kelly Ayotte announced “a landfill moratorium and a revamped regulatory process for approving these projects going forward, to ensure that our beauty as a state is not compromised,” according to text of the address available at governor.nh.gov. New Hampshire has six large landfills including “two private mega-landfills” in Bethlehem and Rochester and “roughly half of the waste buried in New Hampshire landfills comes from out of state,” according to a press release from the Conservation Law Foundation. “For too long, our state has been burdened with out-of-state waste, leading to harmful pollution,” said Tom Irwin, vice president of Conservation Law Foundation, in the statement. “While this is a significant first step, more work remains. It’s essential that we prioritize waste reduction and implement innovative solutions to ensure that waste disposal is only a last resort.” For more on that organization, see clf.org.

More from Ayotte

In her address presenting her recommended budget for fiscal year 2026-2027, Ayotte said, “In comparison to our last budget, we are spending $150 million less in General Funds. This adjustment in General Funds was undertaken smartly and thoughtfully, with a scalpel, not a shovel. It does so without across the board cuts and prioritizing those who are depending on services provided by the State,” according to the text at governor.nh.gov. Ayotte highlighted aspects of the budget including that: “This budget … ensures that our education system has the resources it needs. We are making a $98.8 million investment in special education, nearly a 50% increase from the previous biennium.” Ayotte’s address also highlighted that the budget “sends more money to the local level,” “begins the overhaul of the Group 2 retirement system,” “expands education freedom to all public school students,” “will help get cell phones out of the classroom,” and “continues the tuition freeze at our community colleges” among other points. In discussing cuts, Ayotte said “We focused on making our government more efficient and ensuring tax dollars do more with less. We cut bloated contracts with out-of-state vendors, took a hard look at how our agencies operate and worked with commissioners to dial in spending. … We brought our adult Medicaid eligibility back in line with pre-pandemic levels and joined our neighbors in requiring nominal copays for those receiving these benefits.”

See the full address at governor.nh.gov/news/2025-budget-address. You can find the text of Ayotte’s recommended budget at gc.nh.gov/lba/budget/fy2026_2027_budget.aspx.

Chamber prez retires

Tim Sink, president and CEO of the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, will step down from his position on Sept. 30, according to a Chamber press release. Sink has been Chamber president for nearly 33 years. “I have had the privilege of serving this dynamic chamber through some challenging and exciting times. It has been an incredible and fulfilling opportunity and I am beyond grateful for the hundreds of talented and generous volunteers and staff that have helped build this organization into what it is today,” Sink said in a statement in the release.

Tech support

United Way of Greater Nashua has expanded its Digital Navigator Program, which provides tree technology assistance at locations throughout the community, according to a press release. Find digital navigators available to the public at Rodgers Memorial Library in Hudson (on Tuesdays from 1 to 2 p.m.) and navigators available for clients, congregants and residents at Nashua Presbyterian Church, Coliseum Residence, AHEPA 35 and H.E.A.R.T.S. Peer Support, the release said. The United Way of Greater Nashua is looking for additional Digital Navigator locations as well as volunteers for the program; contact [email protected] for details. See unitedwaynashua.org.

Homeownership

New Hampshire Housing, “a self-supporting public corporation that promotes, finances, and supports housing solutions for the people of New Hampshire,” according to its website, will hold a Homeownership Conference on Tuesday, March 18, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord. Tickets cost $50 and include breakfast, according to an email about the event. The agenda for the conference includes: “Housing Market & Policy Update,” “AI and Digital Innovation in Real Estate & Lending,” “Economic Outlook: Market Trends & Interest Rates” and “Housing Solutions Panel: Innovation in Action,” the email said. See nhhfa.org.

For the dogs

Salem Animal Rescue League (4 SARL Drive in Salem; sarlnh.org) is holding a Pot of Gold raffle through March 17, according to a press release. The League is selling 350 tickets for $50 each with the big winner taking home $5,000, the release said. The next early bird drawing, for $200, will be held on March 3, the release said. All proceeds from the raffle will support the animals at the League, the release said.

Every Little Thing (NR, 2025), a documentary about a woman who cares for hummingbirds in Los Angeles, will screen at Sweeney Hall auditorium at NHTI in Concord as part of the NHTI Friday Night Film Series on Friday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. Admission costs $10 at the door, cash or check.

The Pembroke Historical Society’s presentation of “Vanished Veterans: An Illustrated Introduction to NH’s Civil War Monuments and Memorials” by historian George Morrison was delayed due to weather and now you can catch it on Thursday, March 6, at 7 p.m. at the Pembroke Town Library, 313 Pembroke St. in Pembroke. The event is free and open to the public. Call 566-1031 for info.

Local Street Eats, 112 W. Pearl St. in Nashua, will host a Boozy Book Swap on Tuesday, March 4, at 6 p.m. Bring up to 10 gently used books with “a little note on a sticky note sharing what you loved about each book and stick it to the cover,” according to the event description. A $25 ticket comes with a glass of wine and a personal charcuterie plate (a full menu is available for purchase). Browse others’ offerings and take up to as many books as you brought. See local-streeteats.com.

Students from Rochester’s Spaulding High School designed and painted a new mural for Max the Moose, New Hampshire’s mascot who is housed at the New Hampshire Department of Education. Max’s new background is a mural showcasing the White Mountains and created with paints and paint markers, according to a department press release.

The Nashua Garden Club will host a program on “Groundcovers: What are They and How to Use Them” presented by Kathie Skinner, lifetime master gardener, on Wednesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 121 Manchester St. in Nashua. The event is free and open to the public. See nashuanhgardenclub.org.

86 Dates — 02/13/2025

On the cover

10 Whether you’re planning a date with your sweetie for Valentine’s Day (which is, like, now — Friday, Feb. 14), an outing with a buddy or a get-to-know-you activity with someone new, we’ve got some ideas (86 of them) for places and happenings that can offer you new experiences, fun activities for two or even a little adventure.

Also on the cover

Have you voted? Vote now for best ice cream, best spa and best bookstore! Voting is open in Hippo’s Best of 2025 readers poll now through Feb. 28. See hippopress.com.

In this week’s food section, John Fladd finds out about the new Manchester eatery, Rock n Roll Meatballs (see page 20).

Read the e-edition

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