Lyme Academy College Launches New Center for Arts Programming

"We’re fortunate to be in a community that not only values the arts but wants to actively engage with them," said Todd Jokl, campus dean of the Lyme Academy College.  "It’s not enough for us to just have a physical presence in Old Lyme; we must open our doors and share our expertise and resources with our community in a meaningful way."

Aimed at enriching life in the region, classes and events are intended for those both with and without previous arts experience. Events will include an artist lecture series, pre-college summer courses for high school students, studio instruction in all areas of fine arts for adults, and the center’s first artist-in-residence workshop with T. Allen Lawson, a nationally recognized plein-air painter and former student, who will lead a workshop at the college from Aug. 2-7.  Participants from as far
away as Kentucky, Florida, Colorado and California have already registered to attend.

The center’s programming will be developed by Marguerite d’Aprile Quigley of Lyme, director of the new center. She has extensive experience in public relations, outreach, community development and research for a variety of arts and cultural organizations and non-profit organizations including Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, where she served as director of communications and developed and implemented integrated communications and marketing strategies for all academic programs in the arts, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, where she served as director of external affairs and worked with more than 400 arts institutions statewide.

"Marguerite has already made significant strides in launching the center," Jokl said. "Her energy, enthusiasm and ability to activate ideas into reality are impressive. She approaches community and arts programming holistically and is creating a high-caliber, integrated program of studio and lecture courses for the community and surrounding region that is representative of the quality people expect from the Lyme Academy."

Drawn to art as a child growing up in Kingston, N.Y., d’Aprile Quigley was within easy reach of Manhattan’s cultural treasures. An artist and art historian by training, Marguerite holds a bachelor’s degree in art history and applied design from the College of New Rochelle. She later earned a master’s degree in museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program.

D’Aprile Quigley was a .senior editor for the J. Paul Getty Trust’s "Art and Architecture Thesaurus," a seven-volume art history reference book published by Oxford University Press and more recently, she founded the Artful Network, a communications and marketing firm based in Chicago that specializes in the arts, culture and education sectors. She is a devoted arts advocate and patron.

A passion for the arts is clearly evident not only in d’Aprile Quigley, but in her family. Her husband, Sam Quigley, is the director of New London’s Lyman Allyn Museum, and her daughter works at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

D’Aprile Quigley says she is thrilled to be living and working in an area with such rich art and cultural resources. She believes opportunities for community outreach abound. "This is not about competing but complementing and collaborating with many of the arts and cultural institutions in the area, as well as in and around the state," she said.

The arts, she contends, aren’t only for those who are attracted to artistic expression. "The arts foster creativity and imaginative approaches to problem solving, as well as improve the quality of one’s life." she says.

For more information about the center and its activities, please visit http://www.lymeacademy.edu/index.php/community-engagement or contact d’Aprile Quigley at mdaprilequigley@lymefs.newhaven.edu, or 860-434-3571, ext. 135.

About Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts

Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts is a college of the University of New Haven. Its mission is to educate aspiring artists through a rigorous studio curriculum rooted in figurative and [Tree Glove] representational art. The college offers a comprehensive liberal arts education essential for advanced critical and creative thought.

About the University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a private, top-tier comprehensive institution recognized as a national leader in experiential education. Founded in 1920 the university enrolls 1,800 graduate students and 4,600 undergraduates.