ASHBURNHAM — Traveling composer and pianist Ben Cosgrove returns to New Dawn Arts Center this weekend with a performance that will showcase his musical catalog, which explores themes of landscape, place, and environment.
General admission pay-what-you-can tickets are still available for the Saturday, April 18 show that begins at 7 p.m. Attendees of the special event will be immersed in original music that blends storytelling, place, and sound, presented in an intimate setting, part of the nonprofit’s In Our Nature concert series.
“This event supports our mission to foster creativity and community through the arts in North Central Massachusetts,” program information states. “Your attendance helps sustain a welcoming space where local writers, artists, and neighbors can gather, listen, and create together.”
The crew at New Dawn said Cosgrove’s concert last year was “such a wonderful event, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to host him once again.” The weekend show will include songs from his latest album “Topograph,” a collection of sixteen new pieces inspired by land-shaping processes around the country that was released in January.
Ben’s music and the community that surrounds and supports him is so inspirational to watch and be part of,” said New Dawn Arts Center Executive & Artistic Director Abigail Abbott. “That it is the exact thing we try to harness at New Dawn, how coming together and experiencing life through participating in art experiences is healing and life-affirming. In this case, Ben’s music is so relatable it moved so many people to tears last time he played here. I can’t wait to see what he has for us this time.”
New Dawn Arts Center Interim Board Chair and communications volunteer Emma Liddle echoed her sentiments, saying “Cosgrove’s music is inspired by and deeply rooted in the environment and the natural world and is definitely worth seeing in person in concert where he delves deeper into what he’s exploring through is compositions.”
Abbott founded New Dawn Arts Center in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, a repurposed historic church located at 84 Main St. that was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on April 27, 2021.
“After vaccines when they reopened things, it gave people the opportunity to come out of isolation and come together,” she said of what inspired it.
Now a flourishing cultural center that hosts live music and offers art classes, workshops, Dungeons & Dragons clubs, a writer’s workshop, yoga, studio space, and more for residents of the region, Abbott recognizing the need for a place for community members to gather together has certainly paid off.
“It is a lifeline for so many people,” textile artist, therapist, and center volunteer Mallory Horgan relayed about the center at “The World Needs Art” youth exhibit that took place there in March.
They are working on putting together a resiliency hub, which will include a food pantry, cots to sleep on, and other resources, “a safe place,” Abbott relayed. Her husband’s shop Spice & Grain is located on the lower level and also under the same roof is a dance company offering classes and a food pantry run by the Ashburnham Community Church, whose congregation still enjoys use of the building for services, programs, and their monthly Senior Rainbow Dinner.
Liddle and her family and so many others enjoy being at the welcoming center and experiencing everything it has to offer.
“What’s so great about New Dawn is that we have awesome events like this concert, with such a talented composer like Ben, but also, this is a place where I’ve been able to connect with other creative people,” she said. “Even my kids have taken art classes here. We love it.”
For more information and a full calendar of events visit newdawnarts.org and follow New Dawn Arts Center on Facebook and Instagram.