Bridget George
Executive Director of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem
“There was a richness here that could be explored in the work; the work growing out of issues and dialogue in this community.”
Jill Dunn Jones
Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Youth Theater
Barbara Pearson
Dancer, Choreographer, and Educator
“They’re right here, they’re cooking up stuff as they go… looking for needs… and making something out of it which is helpful to the people that are there.”
Anna Russell
Former Artistic Director of Allentown Public Theatre
“[Grant giving organizations] are very concerned with quantitative proof of the number of people that you’re reaching rather that qualitative mission…”
Mark McKenna
Theater Deviser and Teaching Artist
“what’s generating those stories has more to do with the place and the experience of the artists who live there…”
Camille Armstrong
Dancer, Choreographer, Director, Teaching Artist, and Musician
“If the arts is a thing that can transform a whole neighborhood into a community… then why… aren’t we more supportive of this profession?”
Ricardo Viera
Former Director and Chief Curator of the Lehigh University Art Galleries Teaching Museum
“Each individual brought their own energy and that energy was multiplied by other individuals.”
Doug Roysdon
Founder of Mock Turtle Marionette Theater
“This in fact is the work of civilization, it is in fact the most basic economic underpinning of this town.”
Seth Moglen
Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University
“Art only takes place when people are in a community which teaches, encourages, supports and nourishes them in the doing of it.”
Bill George
Co-Founder and Ensemble Member of Touchstone Theatre
“We could make as many mistakes as we wanted… year after year after year, learning, learning, learning.”
Kim Plyler
Founder and CEO of Sahl Communications Inc.
“The best thing was to sit at that table and know that each artist coming from a different non-profit came with a different perspective.”
Lisa Jordan
Managing Director and Ensemble Member of Touchstone Theatre
“We need to have these moments of pure joy… and we need to have these moments of reflection and deeper understanding.”
Chloe Cole-Wilson
Founder and Artistic Director of Basement Poetry
“I’ve realized, a lot of my art I want to keep here… It’s home… I just love creating art in my home.”
Deb Sacarakis
Artistic Director of Zoellner Arts Center
“The arts are a synergistic relationship primarily between the audience, the artist and perhaps… the muses.”
Matt Wolf
Poet and Artist
“When something’s growing… in order to keep it fertile you feed it. You don’t tear it apart. You feed each other, and water each other.”
Ara Barlieb and Pam Wallace
Co-Founders of Crowded Kitchen Players
“Over the years I can see where the public money has been redirected more toward the institutions and less toward the unaffiliated artists.”
Cleo Leslie
Former Owner of Cleo’s Silversmith Studio and Gallery
“You have to have stores that are individual and have some character.”
Dave Fry
Co-Founder of Godfrey Daniels
“To take a cultural risk of stepping off campus onto an urban scene is very threatening… The cultural abyss still exists.”
Matt Molchany and Shamus McGroggin
Co-Founders of Tape Swap Radio
Greg Funfgeld
Conductor of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem
Geoff Gehman
Author and Former Journalist of the Allentown, Pennsylvania, Morning Call