Time To Say Thanks, Paul

By Lloyd Garrison

In the past, the relationship between Yale’s summer programs and most residents of Norfolk could best be described as distant. Except for the few who boarded summer music students or were partial to chamber music, the closest most residents got to Yale’s presence was the sight of all that flaking paint on Whitehouse. There is now a new coat of paint on Whitehouse that is emblematic of numerous other changes that began in 2004. That is when Paul Hawkshaw took over the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Yale Summer School of Music. Together with Sam Messer, head of the Yale Summer School of Art, the two immediately began reaching out to Norfolk. Messer personally teaches a free adult drawing class and has introduced free photography workshops. Free week-long art classes are also available for Norfolk’s children. Hawkshaw has thrown open the doors of Whitehouse to guided tours and an “ice cream social” on the lawn. Three winter concerts in Battell House raise funds for the library, Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department and Lions Club Ambulance. Teaming up with the Battell Stoeckel Associates, Hawkshaw has also arranged for concerts and workshops at Botelle for students in the string and brass programs. A key turning point in Yale’s relations to the community took place last year when Hawkshaw inaugurated “Norfolk Volunteers Night,” which offered members of every volunteer organization serving Norfolk free tickets to a concert in the Music Shed. This year, on August 12, volunteers are invited to the final choral concert followed by a gala reception in Whitehouse. For many Norfolkians, the musical highlight this summer may be the Coast Guard Band concert in the Shed marking the town’s 250th anniversary. That too comes to Norfolk as a gift to the community, compliments of Paul Hawkshaw.