Westport Arts Advisory Committee Hosting TEA Talk

WESTPORT, Conn. – The Westport Arts Advisory Committee will present its first “TEA Talk” (Thinkers, Educators, Artists) on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 2 p.m. in the Westport Town Hall Auditorium.

Nick DiBerardino
Photo Credit: *Contributed*

Nicole Briggs

10/24/2014 5:00 p.m.

Both the talk and a reception at the Westport Historical Society immediately following are free and open to the public.

First Selectman Jim Marpe will present opening remarks before three 20-minute moderated conversations on the theme of technology and the arts. TEA Talk features professionals in the visual arts, music and theater.

Demonstrations of each artist’s use of technology in their discipline will be included.

This year, Horizon Awards for emerging young artists will be presented to Gina Rattan and Nick DiBerardino, both graduates of Staples High School.

“The success of the TED talk format led us to imagine our first TEA Talk where artists could discuss and demonstrate how technology is currently employed in various artistic disciplines,” said WAAC co-chair Nancy Diamond.

Bill Derry, Head of Innovation and the 3D Makerspace at the Westport Public Library, will begin the program with a discussion and demonstration of 3D printing’s application to the visual arts with Thomas Bernsten, a well-established photographer and sculptor.

Richard Epstein, professional bassoonist and host on WPKN radio for 38 years of "Sometimes Classical," and composer Nick DiBerardino will explore the integration of recent technology into music composition and performance.

DiBerardino, a Rhodes Scholar pursuing a masters in music at Yale, is the co-founder of Princeton University’s Undergraduate Composers Collective as well as the University of Oxford Laptop Orchestra.

Carole Schweid, director of the Connecticut Play with Your Food series and former original Broadway cast member of “A Chorus Line,” will discuss technology’s impact on Broadway productions with Gina Rattan.

Rattan, currently represented on Broadway as resident director of “Matilda – The Musical,” was also resident director of “Billy Elliot” and associate director of Rodgers+Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” and “The Sound of Music,” Live on NBC.

For more information about the TEA Talk and the WAAC, click here.

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