Category: Uncategorized

Jess White, Operations Manager, brings over twenty-five years of experience in Arts Management ranging from Venue Management to Concert Production and Touring. Most recently, Jess has been the Department Chair for the Entertainment Management program at Bay State College where she built a student run events space, a college radio station and created an industry-acclaimed educational curriculum preparing hundreds of students for careers in entertainment management. Jess has been involved in non-profit capital improvement projects with Central Park SummerStage and the City of New York, has toured with international touring artists, and has been active in producing benefit concerts and raising awareness to many social justice causes. Additionally, Jess has produced four albums and enjoys playing drums.

In June, The Center for Arts at the Armory was a fortunate recipient of an SBA Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG).
 
Earlier this summer, we were also grateful to receive a grant from the Cabot Family Charitable Trust to do capital enhancement planning in the Armory Performance Hall. The first two phases of this plan funded by the CFCT grant will include working closely with a consultant to map out a plan that will lay the groundwork through planning and feasibility studies for transforming the Armory Performance Hall in ways that will stabilize and strengthen our non-profit organization, and better serve artists, users of the hall, and community audiences. An important part of this process will include outreach and interviews with community members, and current and potential users of the Armory Performance Hall in order to inform planning. 

And… for those of you who have supported and followed the soundproofing project in the Armory Performance Hall, we have exciting news… the project has been completed! Special thanks to the MA Cultural Council and to the generous individual donors who financed this project. Informal reports of sound levels audible outside of the Armory indicate a significant improvement as a result of the project. We look forward to sharing the results of our official assessment soon.

By now you have probably heard the news that we have a new landlord—the City of Somerville. On June 1, 2021, the City of Somerville took the historic Armory building from our former landlord, Highland Armory Realty Trust, by eminent domain. Currently, we have a Use and Occupancy Agreement with the City of Somerville that extends through the end of the year. We have been informed that the City is working on a long-term plan to permanently establish the Armory as a community resource for the arts. 

“The City will be launching a public process to get community input on the future arts function of the building. We need to better understand how to maximize the venue for programming that support the arts, Somerville artists, and the public’s desire to engage with the arts,” stated Tom Galligani, City of Somerville Director of Economic Development, in a recent email to Armory tenants. Please stay tuned to learn more about how you can engage with this process.

It is the hope of Arts at the Armory leadership to secure a long-term lease with the City of Somerville, and to continue our mission to provide free and affordably-priced space for arts, cultural and community events, and thereby bring diverse audiences together, enrich and transform lives, and promote the creative economy.