Alan Schneider

The 5th BJ Goodwin Memorial Fund Award was granted this month to Alan Schneider of Leeds, MA for the unique opportunity to sing the title operatic role in Mozart’s Idomeneo at the prestigious International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel this summer.

The Board of Directors of the Northampton Arts Council, Inc, on the recommendation of the BJ Goodwin Memorial Fund committee, voted to award Alan Schneider, $900 in support of this invaluable opportunity. Mr. Schneider, a native of the region and graduate of UMASS/Amherst and the Boston University Opera Institute program, has worked as an opera singer specializing in the spinto and dramatic tenor repertoire. He has appeared in opera, operetta, music theatre productions with many companies in his native New England and elsewhere, including Opera Boston, Sarasota Opera, OperaDelaware, Florida Grand Opera and The Huntington Theatre Company. Mr. Schneider has most often appeared with Boston Lyric Opera, appearing in La Traviata, Lucie de Lammermoor, Salome, Don Carlos, Carmen, La rondine, and Rigoletto.

The BJ Goodwin Memorial Fund is a special fund in honor of local performer, dancer, and educator, BJ Goodwin. The formation of this memorial fund was announced following her death on March 31, 2003 after battling breast cancer. The BJ Goodwin Memorial Fund is designed to provide direct assistance to a Northampton/Florence/Leeds-based artist, writer, or arts organization in recognition of exceptional work and to support the further professional development of their talents. It is our hope that this opportunity will also provide artists with recognition and affirmation from their peers and the public. This memorial fund is very unique and should not be thought to replace funding that can be found in the traditional ARTSEZ spring and MCC/LCC fall grant rounds to artists and arts organizations.

The first award of $1000 was made in 2004 to Mollye Maxner towards a danceWEB-Europe scholarship. In 2006 Mo Ringey, publisher of Mo’s Better Living Through Art: Arts & Culture Email Newsletter, was awarded $500. In 2008, a $2,500 award was made to C3 (Commonwealth Center for Change) and storefront ART in support of a residency and exhibition program that uses empty storefronts to provide artists and the community greater access to the studio, exhibition and gathering space. In 2009, Serious Play! Theater Ensemble received a $1,000 grant to travel as the first American theatre company to perform their production Milosevic at the Hague at the 4th International JoakimInterFest in Kragujevac, Serbia.

The BJ Goodwin Memorial Fund Award to Alan Schneider will be the only award from this fund in 2010 as the Arts Council works to raise more money insure its maintenance and long-term growth. The Northampton Arts Council, Inc. always accepts donations from the community towards the continued building of this endowed fund. All donations are 100% tax-deductible.

sondra peron, arts administrator

northampton arts council

240 main street, room 5

northampton, ma  01060

http://www.northamptonartscouncil.org

413-587-1069 direct (mon/wed/fri)

413-587-1269 office

413-587-1548 fax