NOTES ON BELONGING

Notes on Belonging: An ongoing series of projects exploring the connections between the arts, the beauty of experiences the world across multiple senses, and how increasing accessibility enriches the creative experience for all.

Coming in 2026: Breath and Line

An interdisciplinary performance combining music of Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré, poetry of Mallarmé, and choreography by Julian Donahue Dance. Breath and Line explores breath as the foundation of music, dance, and poetry, affirming the inclusive and universal power of the arts.

The project will include workshop performances for students at the Northshore Education Consortium. We will collaborate with Consortium staff in order to best serve the needs of their students, offering them a chance to participate in accessible creative movement. We will also present two performances for the general public, sharing the multi sensory experience with all audiences.

May 2025: Brushstrokes

A multidisciplinary, multisensory performance shaped by Deaf culture, visual art, and shared creation. With live painting, Soundpainting improvisation, Mozart and Hadyn on historical instruments, and ASL interpretation, Brushstrokes reimagines what a concert can be, and affirms that music is for everyone. Please find more info on the program and our collaborators here.

Brushstrokes was developed in collaboration with the Children’s Center for Communication/Beverly School for the Deaf and Deaf artist Nancy Rourke. We will present free outreach performances for students at CCC/BSD, and two performances for the general public, at Peabody’s Black Box Theater at ArcWorks Community Art Center, and Marren Theater at Lesley University.

May 2024: Dreams and Dances

An accessible concert experience for all ages: Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with original choreography by Julian Donahue Dance. Free outreach performances at the Northshore Education Consortium, Beverly Council on Aging, and performances for the general public at Manship Artists’ Residency, Gloucester and Waring School, Beverly.