An evening of art, jazz, and speakers including NHPR All Things Considered host Brady Carlson officially kicks open the doors to the Millspace, a new civic center for arts, culture, and history in the Newmarket Mills. The inaugural event, “Ignite: Millspace,” is Saturday, January 25th at 7:30pm, presented through the generous support of Access Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics. Tickets are $10. Purchase them at https://buytickets.at/millspace
“This is not just a cultural event, but it is a historic one for the community,” says event host John Herman. “This once derelict building is alive again, and at its heart is the Millspace. We want this civic center to ignite passions. There will be speakers on a wide range of topics. Each talk will be brief and illuminating. Some are new ideas and visions. Others will look to the past.”
Speakers include popular host of “Greg and the Morning Buzz” Greg Kretschmar, Music video director and comic book writer Alex De Campi, 2013 Bancroft Prize for History winner W. Jeffrey Bolster, visual artist Sam Paolini, and more. Each speaker will present personal passions in the form of an Ignite talk, a fast paced presentation style popular around the world.
The evening will also feature a display of the Bridge Board Project, a collection of art generated from weathered boards and beams recovered from an old covered bridge spanning the Lamprey River that washed out in the Mothers Day flood of 2006. Artists and craft persons brought boards home and got creative by painting, drawing, and carving the unique pieces.
“Ignite: Millspace” marks the successful completion of the center’s first phase of construction. “We are grateful to Access Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics for their generous donation which made this important first phase of construction possible and allows us to host events in the space. Right now the center is a big empty room,” says Herman. “Our goal with this huge kick off is to get the community inside the space and inspire them to dream about the possibilities.”
ABOUT MILLSPACE –Plans for the civic center include a theater, lobby, gallery, information desk, meeting room, large function area, and concessions cafe. Learn more about the upcoming center and take a look at a virtual walk-through at Millspace.org.
ABOUT IGNITE – If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only had 20 slides and they transitioned automatically every 15 seconds? Around the world people have been putting together “Ignite” nights to share ideas and passions. More information about Ignite Events held around the world can be found at O’Reilly’s Ignite website, Ignite.OReilly.com.