SKANEATELES FESTIVAL

Outreach Program

Widen the Circle Initiative

Our outreach program serves as an extension of our Widen the Circle Initiative.

Widen the Circle is our Diversity Initiative which was adopted by our board in 2022:

1) working with a diverse portfolio of artists

2) reaching out to minority-serving organizations in the surrounding area

3) diversifying our board and staff when the opportunity arises

4) programming music for a diverse array of composers and cultures

Our goal is to “widen the circle” in each new season.

2025: Music & Nature

This season Ziggy and Miles are the Skaneateles Festival’s 2025 Emerging Artists in Residence. As part of their week-long residency the duo will be performing a series of outreach events in the CNY area.

Ziggy and Miles are actively involved in community engagement and have a passion for providing education and music to people without access to live performances or high-quality music education. They have collaborated with organizations across Australia and the US including Melbourne Recital Centre, The Juilliard School, and Project: Music Heals Us.

In the 2025 season Ziggy and Miles performed at the Kendal at Ithaca, Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital for their residents and patients. The duo joined 2025 Robinson Award Winner Abigail Feng, anlong with Curtis Waterman for a musical trail walk hosted by Baltimore Woods Nature Center. Ziggy and Miles rounded out their residency with a public performance at Seymour Library in Auburn.

The Jasper String Quartet along with Sporano Kearstin Piper Brown joined the Festival for a public performance at the Auburn Public Theatre. This performance featured the piece Moonstrike that takes the listener on a journey of indigenous legends inspired by the moon.

Abigail Feng at the Baltimore Woods nature walk

Jasper Quartet at Auburn Public Theater

Curtis Waterman at Baltimore Woods nature walk

Kearstin Piper Brown with the Jasper Quartet

Guitar duo Ziggy and Miles

Ziggy and Miles at Seymour Library

2024: Searching for Home

This season Searching for Home invites performers, composers, and audiences toreflect on the nature of home and consider what it means to those who must search out a new one, as well as how to support those who do so. Searching for Home will highlight performers, musical traditions from among those who have resettled in Central New York: Syrians peoples from East and Central africa, Afghans and Ukrainians. The Festival recognizes this population of CNY refugee communities with a world premeire by young Afghan composer Arson Fahim and performances by Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, including a new work commisioned by the Festival.

The Ivalas Quartet is the Skaneateles Festival’s 2024 Emerging Artists in Residence. The Ivalas Quartet has been changing the face of classical music since its inception and seeks to enhance the classical music world by consistently spotlighting past and present POC composers. Through the Sphinx organization, Ivalas has presented educational programming with an emphasis on community engagement in schools with Black and Latinx communities.

The Quartet performed five outreach events across Onondaga, Cayuga, and Cortland counties including: Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, Seymour Library, Menorah Park of CNY, Center for the Arts of Homer and Auburn Public Theatre.

Ivalas Quartet at Auburn Public Theater

Ivalas Quartet at Seymour Library

Ivalas members Tiana Butts and Marcus Stevenson talk with audience members

Arson Fahim talks about his commissioned work “Memories from a Place I’ve Never Been”

Kinan Azmeh performs his commissioned work “Gravitas”

2023: Following Harriet

Harriet Tubman touched the lives of many who fought for freedom. Yet the journey continues today as American society debates what freedom means for individuals and society at large. In 2023, the Following Harriet outreach project invited composers, performing artists, longtime and new listeners to learn from Tubman’s vision, courage, fortitude, and civic responsibility. This is a critical juncture as we emerge from the pandemic with focus, clarity, and vigor about the potential for music to move the needle towards wholeness and inclusion in the Central New York region and beyond.

Six events were held accross Cayuga and Onondaga counties. This year’s venues included: The Seward House Museum, Salt City Market, Red House Theatre, Upstate Cancer Center, Auburn Public Theatre, and Seymour Library.

The 2023 program featured seven Skaneateles Festival musicians. Including Soprano Kearstin Piper Brown who, alongside a string quartet, performed the Festival comissioned piece Fortitude, which was inspired by the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman. As well as our first Young Artist in Residence Saxophonist Steven Banks who participated in 5 of the 6 outreach events this season.