PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts stretches to suit the times, its audiences, and the community. And that’s a cause for celebration.
On Friday, Oct. 9, the public is welcome to the former church turned arts venue on Kimball Hill for the Next Stage Sweet 16 Birthday Party.
“It’s been 16 years since Next Stage Arts began thanks to the leadership of our founders,” a press release explains, “and 10 years since we completed the major renovations that transformed a historic church building into the multifaceted performing arts space it is today.”
Next Stage Executive Director Natalie Dreyer says the party celebrates both of these milestones and offers a chance to “bring back the people that helped to make that renovation happen.”
There’ll be popcorn and snacks, a big birthday cake, an instrumental trio, a cash bar, and a dance party with a D.J.
“We’ll also be unveiling a new installation: three banners built around our core values, made with input and support from people across this community. Consider it a public promise about the work we’re committing to next,” Dreyer said.
Looking back, looking ahead
Dreyer reflected recently on the state of the arts at Next Stage. Referencing a strategic plan the board completed soon before she arrived last year, she notes its focus on foundation, on developing a strong business model and strong systems internally, on community, and on innovation.
She said the planning process, with “some really deep value work,” yielded three core values: ignite curiosity, inspire creativity, and embrace community.
“And so for me, what I’m really trying to do is figure out how we internalize that into programming and into partnerships,” Dreyer says.
The process incorporates review of past events and their draw, variety, and genre.
An educator by training, Dreyer adds, “that’s where my curriculum lens comes in: I can say: ‘These are our goals, let’s go back and look at the data, and how did it sell?’
If the event was not well attended, that raises more questions: “Is that because of the time of year? Is that because ofthe day? Is that because it was too close to something else?” she says.
Dreyer finds such intentionality in programming even more important now as ticket sales for an event are increasingly affected by the impact the economy — like rising healthcare costs and overall cost of living — has on its potential audience.
“People’s discretionary income has completely shifted,” she says. “And then you add the [Iran] war, you add the price of gas.”
Whereas not too long ago, she notes, “folks would come two or three times a month,” they may “now only be coming once a month.”
“One of the reasons I wanted to take this job [was Next Stage’s] legacy as a gathering place and wanting to honor what it means to be one of the largest gathering spaces in this community,” she says.
Thus, Dreyer says, “I’m committed to trying to find ways to make sure that Next Stage remains accessible for our community” — and, she adds, “for families.”
A focus on community
Dreyer said she first visited Next Stage during a community supper night and performance by an indigenous group from Alaska. She recalled the energy in that space and it clearly being “a resource for this community.”
Sitting next to her was a New Hampshire couple who had come to the venue for the first time with their grandson at the teen’s urging.
At that event, she recalls, “The middle school boys were the ones that got up and started the dance party. And I just thought, ‘What a space!’ That middle school boys, who could be in some of the most awkward parts of their development, can feel comfortable enough to be the first ones on the dance floor!”
Dreyer says that for Next Stage, “it’s about relationships, it’s about partnership, it’s that we’re always stronger together.”
“And so, how do we lean into and around each other to make those things work well?” she says.
Dreyer partners with Next Stage Programming and Production Director Barry Stockwell on music programming. “He’s super tuned in to the community and to artists, and he [is] passionate about artists and who he wants to bring,” she said.
Next Stage is exploring avenues such as “Open Stage,” its own version of open mic, to which not only musicians but also storytellers and poets will be welcome.
And monthly community suppers and group sings with Rich Grumbine will endure.
“What can be more connecting than singing together?” Dreyer muses. “We’re working on finding ways to build connections, and it’s so much easier to [do so] through the arts” as Next Stage is doing with other area arts organizations and venues as well as with area schools, through offering workshops and performances.
Aiming to complement other venues’ offerings and avoid redundancy, Next Stage juggles potential programming and its costs, including utilities and staffing.
In the strategic planning process, “one of the things the board heard is that the community really wanted to focus on putting the community first, not just on being a regional venue,” said Dreyer.
Resisting the image of Next Stage as being primarily producers, she says that “there’s so much more thought and connective tissue going on behind a lot of [our] work and how we’re thinking about programming.”
More diversity
Intent on honoring community input and also presenting diverse voices, Next Stage is one of 29 recipients of a 2026 Music in Action grant from Live Music Society, “a nonprofit dedicated specifically to empowering small, independent venues across the country,” the news release states.
Since 2020, the organization has distributed nearly $6 million in grants to 250 venues nationwide.
The grant helps to bring Local and Global, an innovation to Next Stage’s programming.
The series aligns with the venue’s long-standing mission to celebrate and present both regional performing artists and those from farther reaches.
“Now we are making that commitment explicit and consistent,” the news release notes, featuring “at least one locally-rooted and one globally-informed musical artist every month.”
The Local and Global series opens Thursday, Sept. 24 with local Open Stage, hosted by Vermont Timbre, an acoustic folk music duo, Amelia Struthers and Mike Mrowicki of Putney.
On Saturday, Sept. 26, Next Stage’s Bandwagon series features the global Kotoko Brass which, according to a news release, “delivers an electrifying, cross-cultural sound that bridges continents and traditions.”
On Saturday, Oct. 17, Tony Vacca and the Rhythm Nomads will perform with Massamba Diop (“known world wide as Senegal’s treasured talking drum master,” according to Vacca’s website, tonyvacca.com).
On Friday, Oct. 30, Easthampton, Massachusetts–based Kimaya Diggs will release her album, Green, with Road Dogs, which describes itself as “a Massachusetts-based trio of hometown honeys.”
For more information on Next Stage and all its offerings and to reserve tickets for the Oct. 9 party, visit nextstagearts.org.
This Arts item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.