Darien Arts Center
Casting Call DAC Theater 09=05-17

Darien Arts Center Replaces Theater Lighting System With $100K Grant from Darien Foundation

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Darien Arts Center’s Weatherstone Studio soon will get a new, state-of-the-art lighting system, thanks to a $100,000 grant from The Darien Foundation, the foundation announced. The new system could attract more performance groups to Weatherstone Studio, the DAC’s stage, and allow the DAC to invite in more outside performing troupes, DAC and foundation officials said. — an announcement from The Darien Foundation

The new lighting system will allow for more sophisticated performances, enabling the DAC to use “more complicated stage lighting to amplify and expand our schedule of live performances, as well as to expand our community collaborations,” said Amy Allen, the DAC executive director. The Board of Directors of The Darien Foundation (which provides grants for technology and capital initiatives in Darien), felt that the new system can help the DAC expand its role as a creative and cultural resource in town. The new system will use the same state-of-the art technology used in many professional theaters, said Sarah Woodberry, executive director of the foundation.

Community Organizations
Latasha Smith, resident Lauren Lindsey

Darien Foundation Awards $80K To Convert The Cottage, a STAR Group Residence, Into a ‘Smart Home’

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While the six residents at the Darien Cottage are already living semi-independently and several of them hold jobs and volunteer locally, smart home assistive technology will soon allow them to be more self-reliant in their home. — an announcement from STAR Inc., Lighting the Way and The Darien Foundation

Nestled on Edgerton Street, the STAR Cottage is home to six residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including wheelchair user, Ashley Milne. Now, when Ashley wishes to enter or exit the Cottage, she relies upon other people to open and close the doors for her. Now, through a $80,707 grant from The Darien Foundation, the STAR group residence will literally be able to open doors for Ashley. When fellow resident Tom Gogolak turns in for the night, he and the residential staff perform a series of tasks to lock up the house, arm the security system, and shut down all of the devices.