Watertown's Mosesian Center for the Arts Celebrates "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

When it comes to classic Christmas albums, Vince Guaraldi's "Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack often ranks up there near the top! You can hear it live this coming week at Watertown's Mosesian Center for the Arts, performed by the Eric Mintel Quartet on December 9. It's just one of many different winter programs that the Center is putting on this year, including educational opportunities for residents of all ages. Executive Director Aliana de la Guardia joins Nichole with all the details.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together right here talk about all
the topics important to you and the place where you live.
Thanks again for tuning in this week. I'm Nicole Davis.
So if you ask me, it's not really Christmas until
I've heard the Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack from start to
finish at least once. This is an absolute classic here.

(00:28):
Vince Guaraldi did such a good job on this soundtrack,
really all the Charlie Brown soundtracks, but it is really
that much cooler when you get to see it live.
You can actually do that this coming week in Watertown,
over at the most Sessian Center for the Arts, Aleana
de la Guardia is the executive director. She is here
to tell us all about it. Good to have you
with us, and before we talk about the concert, tell

(00:51):
us a bit more about the center.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
The Messessians are family here from Watertown, and Dorothy and
Charles are the generous owners that gave us a significant
donation in order to remodel a lot of the inside
of this and so they made this donation that allowed

(01:13):
us to remodel and rename the Center for the Arts
which was previous previously the Arsenal Center for the Arts.
This is a multi arts center, so it means that
what we do here is very interdisciplinary. We have visual
art galleries. We also have classes for adults and students

(01:34):
in visual arts, but also in theater and in performance
and sometimes in other things. We have a very robust
arts education program. We have a longstanding jazz series that
has been going for eighteen years here. We used to
be home to the New Repertory Theater and now we're
home to the Actor Shakespeare Project and also our newest

(01:56):
company in residence, the Boston Dance Theater. And we have
a lot of community members that come in to rent
our theaters and do other performing arts offerings as well
as events.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
You've got these great holiday options as well. But the
one that really stuck out to me, I am a
sucker for Snoopy and the Peanuts, and so when I
saw that you all were doing Charlie Brown Christmas, I
knew I had to talk to you about it. So,
of course, Vince garaldin no longer with us, but it's
being brought back to life with the Eric Mantel Quartet.
So tell us about this performance.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
This performance is part of our Cords and Cocktail Series,
which is our Jazz series. We newly rebranded it this year.
We wanted to be more open and friendly, not just
to jazz, not just to jazz offisionados, but also to
people who could be curious about jazz or just looking
for a really great night out or an interesting date.

(02:52):
And when I came in here, I was really interested
in repeatable offerings that are seasonal and this just like
a really beautiful opportunity to engage in this and this
was curated by one of our board members. We're really
happy to have them. I think they've been wanting to

(03:13):
perform on our Jazz Series for quite a while and
we're happy that we could find a way to get
him in.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
So you've also got this beautiful grand piano, which looks
gorgeous by the way.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
This piano was donated to us by Curtis Bryant Cello's.
He is a local instrument maker and restorer of antique
instruments and he came into this piano and decided that
this should be the home for it, and we're really

(03:46):
thankful to have it now. We didn't have any piano
before and now we have this really beautiful instrument that
we can offer two artists coming into rent, but also
the artist that we bring in. It's always wonderful to
have a really high quality instrument that we can offer

(04:08):
to our community.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
So something else I noticed before the event, You're going
to be holding a holiday mixer in toy drive, which
I love because we have a lot of families in
need right now who could really use assistance, trying to
get kids, just presents for anybody really under the tree.
Tell us a little bit about this event and what's
involved with that.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, this is the annual holiday mixer that is run
by the Watertown Rotary Club as well as the Watertown
Business Coalition, and we are partnering with them as well
as the Watertown Police Department in this annual toy drive

(04:49):
that supports the Holy Foundation. And the Holy Foundation does
a lot for youth that are in need in the area,
so we know having a robust youth program here, we're
happy to partner on important initiatives like that.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
And it's also going to benefit your tuition Assistance fund,
which is pretty important as well.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
That's really important absolutely. I mean, we serve over one
thousand young people in Watertown, but also in surrounding communities,
and one third of them receive tuition assistance from thirty
percent to one hundred percent. So it's really important for
us to be fueling our tuition assistance fund because we

(05:34):
also help the youth in the area have access to
really high quality arts education programs. And you know, for
a lot of young people, the art is really a
place for belonging, where they discover themselves, where they start
to realize who they are through their talents, through developing

(05:56):
skills that are needed for those talents. So it's you know,
I was a theater kid myself, and I can tell
you that without without that, I probably I have honestly
have no idea who I'd be.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, look drama kid here as well, but both on
and off the stage. So I think we're we're a
very particular breed, us, those of us who enjoyed the
arts in the stage. But it's so true because you
can be anybody you want to be on the stage.
And when you're a child and you are trying to
not just figure out who you are, but you're also

(06:30):
trying to figure out the world. I mean, there's no
better place to try to you know, just kind of
expand your horizons than taking on those different characters.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Absolutely, I mean involving your child in the arts is
one of the healthiest things you can do for them.
You know, playing a character on the stage and stepping
into someone else's shoes teaches you empathy. When you're up there,
you're learning teamwork, and you're learning when it's your turn
to take the lead, when it's your turn to follow.

(07:02):
You're gaining social skills. There's coordination skills that you're learning
because you have to memorize, you have to sing and
dance at the same time. You have to receive you know,
you learn how to receive feedback and take directions in
a positive way, and how to embitter yourself by receiving

(07:23):
that feedback. It's yeah, there's just there's no end to
healthy the arts can be for a child, but especially
when they're in the right program for them.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Well, you've got plenty to offer. I've been looking at
your website. You have so many different classes for kids.
You've got February break programming. I mean, there is just
a myriad of ideas for kids to take part in.
How can parents sign their kids up or learn more
about your options.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Absolutely. They can come right to our website that's Mossesian
Arts dot org and look under our education offerings. And
not only do we have education offerings for young people,
but we also have education offerings for all ages. Our
new dance company in residence has just offered some dance

(08:10):
dance based wellness programs that are for all all levels
and any sort of mobility challenges. People can still engage
in these programs. And we have lots and lots of
visual arts. So if your child is a little bit introverted,

(08:32):
if you're a little bit introverted but you still want
to engage in the arts, you know we have we
have a lot of offerings. Our communities can look forward
to the River of Light Lantern Parade coming up in January.
This is a really fun event where you get to
make your own lanterns and then parade. There's a large

(08:52):
parade that goes around the building. So that is a
really big community event. Last year we got one hundred
people coming in and we're just really looking forward to
welcoming more people this year.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Aleana, this is really such a cool lineup that you've
got over at the center. Thank you so much for
the time on the show.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio