Category: Arts & Leisure - Page 104

Sunday, October 18, 2026

Susan Granger: Hollywood Threatened by Silicon Valley

WestportNow film critic Susan Granger told a Westport Center for Senior Activities audience today, “We’re living in the Golden Age of Distribution … and the biggest threat to the movie industry is Silicon Valley.” She said premium networks and streaming services such as Netflix, Showtime, and Amazon are making more stimulating content at less cost. “Just this week Disney acquired 21st Century Fox so that the Mouse House can be an even bigger cheese in TV’s digital future,” Granger said. One of the photos she showed was from her album — Granger as a little girl, her mother, Harriet, a Native American chief, and her father, S. Sylvan Simon, who directed “Bad Bascom (1946),” with Margaret O’Brien and Wallace Beery on location in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Thursday, December 14th, 2017

Drew Friedman Left $500,000 to Establish Art Center Awards

The late real estate developer Drew Friedman left funds to establish the Drew Friedman Community Art Center (DFCAC), which will award $500,000 to promote the arts in Westport and Weston over the next 10 years, it was announced today.

Pictured (l-r) : Nick Visconti, Miggs Burroughs, and Louise Fusco, board members of the Drew Friedman Community Art Center Inc. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

The monies will fund art programs and scholarships for underserved artists of all ages, an announcement said. There also will be a gala on May 17 to celebrate accomplishments of the first recipients.

Friedman, the founding member of the Westport Downtown Merchants Association, died in February 2016 at age 86. His Westport properties included the old Westport Library building on Post Road East and the building that housed Onion Alley and Bobby Q’s on Main Street.

“Drew’s passion for the arts was tied to his beloved wife Bobbie, who was an accomplished artist,” the announcement said. She died in December 2011 at age 83.

Tuesday, December 12th, 2017

Holiday Gift Fair Underway at Wakeman Farm

A holiday gift fair is underway today at the Wakeman Town Farm.

Shoppers today at the holiday gift fair. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Sponsored by the Facebook group Westport Front Porch, the event features holiday gifts from some of the areas best artists and artisans, an announcement said.

All proceeds go to Westport’s Homes With Hope nonprofit

Bestselling author Jane Green, who founded the porch, says: “Our real mission is to bring people, particularly middle-aged women, out from behind their screens to connect with each other again.

Gallery: Update on Library’s Transformation Project

Scenes from the lower level construction work, part of the Westport Library’s $19.5 million Transformation Project. According to Paul R. Mazzaccaro, the library’s chief administrative officer, the current work involves drilling pilings to bedrock to support the thousands of books to be moved from their second floor home to the lower level. Pictures from the former McManus Room can still be seen on some of the walls. He estimated the Library is saving about $1 million by remaining open during construction. Completion is scheduled for late 2019. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Monday, December 11th, 2017

Celebrating the Season

With holiday parties in full swing, Westport’s Tengda Asian Bistro, 1330 Post Road East, tonight closed its doors to the public to invite regular customers only to enjoy a night of complimentary food and drinks. Westport’s Melissa Newman (above) provided jazz sounds. “It’s a way to thank our regular customers,” said owner Mike Zhao. “And hopefully to encourage them to keep coming back.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

‘Sherlock Holmes’ Play Reading Tonight at Playhouse

Actors paused today during a rehearsal for tonight’s Westport Country Playhouse Script In Hand reading of “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure,” a thriller by Steven Dietz, based on the original 1899 play by William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle. The play won the 2007 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Mystery. The reading will be directed by Anne Keefe, Playhouse associate artist and curator of the playreading series. Tickets are $20 each. Pictured: (seated, l-r) Constance Shulman, David Beach, Mark Shanahan, Michael Mastro and Jennifer Mudge (standing, l-r) Anne Keefe – director, Matthew Greer, Chris Henry Coffey, John Keating, Ephraim Birney and Peter Chenot, stage directions. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Sunday, December 10th, 2017

Gallery: WHS 31st Annual Holiday House Tour

Scenes from today’s Westport Historical Society 31st annual Holiday House Tour. Seven homes were on this year’s tour. Lynn U. Miller and J.C. Martin for WestportNow.com

Saturday, December 9th, 2017

NY Times Takes a Curious Day Trip to Westport

The New York Times Sunday Metropolitan section features a curious “Day Trip” to Westport article headlined: “Literary Ghosts and Lobster Rolls (Hold the Mayo.)” Written by freelance writer Julie Besonen (identified by Amazon as a University of Arkansas graduate, Fulbright Scholar to Belgium, and food editor of New York-based Paper magazine), the story devotes its first five paragraphs to the newly opened Match Burger Lobster on Riverside Avenue (“a breezy bistro.”) The only other culinary attraction mentioned out of Westport’s scores of restaurants: Saugatuck’s Black Duck Café (“their $11 martini may be the biggest on the Eastern seaboard.”) There is reference to the William F. Cribari Memorial Bridge and the fact F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald lived a summer on Compo Road South. And a mention of “gorgeous” sunsets at Compo Beach (described as “rocky and shell-studded.”) But there is little else that truly reflects Westport past and present. See the online version HERE. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Holiday House Tour Preview

The owners of the seven houses on the Westport Historical Society’s (WHS) 31st annual Holiday House Tour Sunday were treated today to a pre-tour of each house on the tour. Pictured is Tricia Wentworth, WHS treasurer and board member, who owns the house at 54 Wright St., describing her house to other owners. Tickets for the tour are still available. For more information, visit http://www.westporthistory.org. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Friday, December 8th, 2017

Supporting ‘#Unload-CT: Art Triggers a Conversation’

Police Chiefs Foti Koskinas (l) of Westport and Gary MacNamara (r) of Fairfield tonight flank Mary Himes (2nd l) and Helen Klisser During (2nd r) at a fundraiser at a private Fairfield home to raise money to buy back guns in Hartford to be turned into art by local artists. The chiefs were showing their support for the two women who have organized a yearlong active dialogue about gun violence called “Unload-CT: Art Triggers a Conversation.” (See WestportNow Nov. 27, 2017) Klisser During is artistic director emeritus of the Westport Arts Center and Himes is the wife of U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-4). Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe and Third Selectman Melissa Kane also attended the event. Online donations may be made HERE, please write UNLOAD in the note section, or mailed with checks payable to: Guns in Hands of Artists Foundation, c/o Megan Mitchell, 400a Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130; please write UNLOAD in the memo section of the check. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo