PUTNEY — Three major arts organizations are joining forces this Thanksgiving weekend for a novel “Weekend of the Arts” in Putney.
The Putney Craft Tour, Next Stage Arts Project, and Sandglass Theater are waving one banner for what Ken Pick, potter and one of the founders of the Putney Craft Tour, celebrating 35 years this year, says will be a great treat for locals and visitors alike.
Not only will the annual Putney Craft Tour take place during the day, as usual, but Friday night at 7, Next Stage Arts plans a special screening of “The Central Park Five,” the 2012 documentary film about the Central Park jogger case, directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon. Sarah Burns will attend.
Speaking for organizers, Pick explains Weekend of the Arts was envisioned as an economic opportunity: The major weekend draw will benefit area inns, restaurants, other merchants, and the members of all three organizations.
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sandglass Theater mounts co-founder and Artistic Director Eric Bass' award-winning solo puppet signature piece, “Autumn Portraits.” Bass says he's particularly drawn to the spirit of collaboration the weekend affords:
“For an arts organization, being part of an area is helpful. Sandglass has already collaborated with Next Stage on an event; we believe that working with other organizations benefits us all,” he says.
Bass says his view of competition in the arts is akin to what's at play in an Arab market: “There, if you want to buy poultry, you go to a poultry street. [As a seller,] there may be other poultry stores around selling something similar to what you have to offer, but you will sell your poultry.”
And if you're the only poultry store in town?
“You may have no competition, but … people will not so readily know you're there,” he says. In that spirit, he adds, “I want everyone to think that Putney is the place to go for what's happening in the arts.”