NewArts, an innovative theatrical nonprofit that began as The 12.14 Foundation in the months following the shootings at Sandy Hook School — and expanded to incorporate a unique character development program — is ceasing its operations.

Organizers reached out to The Newtown Bee earlier this month to affirm concerns about the closing after the organization did not move forward with a planned summer program featuring Seussical: The Musical, reprising their first production that was hastily and successfully mounted in the summer of 2013.

The official notice was issued by the organization via e-mail and the NewArts social network sites Friday morning, August 12.

The related text of the NewArts announcement, which was endorsed by Founder Dr Michael Baroody and Creative Director Michael Unger, is as follows:

“The NewArts/1214 Foundation will come to a close this fall. We thank the many people who have participated in our programs and supported us the past nine years. We are proud of the amazing work we have done together in our ARC and Theatre programs: 17 shows, an original musical, a documentary, an original anthem, We Day, a cast CD, concerts with Broadway performers, performances at 54 Below and Radio City Music Hall, and ARC activities that helped us all be stronger and kinder.

“Memories, friends and NewArts family to last a lifetime! We will miss spending time together with all of you and hope you stay in touch. We will be in touch with our monthly donors shortly.

“‘Rise Above and Go Beyond.’ We truly reached our mission and wish every one of you success and happiness in the future,” the notice continues.

“We feel so fortunate to have built the 12.14 Foundation/NewArts family together with such love, respect and joy. We are forever changed by the magical time spent with all of you! Please let us know where you are rising above and going beyond in the future. Love, Michael Baroody, Michael Unger, Maryrose Kristopik, Gina Mazzariello, Armel Kouassi and many more…”

The organization has also put out a call to interested volunteers and past members for assistance sorting, labeling, cataloguing, and taking pictures of everything in the troupe’s possession as it is prepared for donation. Anyone able to assist should contact Maryrose Kristopik at inzerokristopik@gmail.com.

The organizers say that everyone who helps will be able to take home some swag/spirit wear. Friends and parents are encouraged to volunteer together.

“We hope many of our NewArts family members will turn out as it is too great a task for only a few,” the notice states. “There will be future dates; so please let Maryrose know if you would like to help in the future.”

Founders’ Recollections

Baroody, in a follow-up conversation to the official announcement, said he never wavered in his belief in and support for the NewArts mission over the past decade.

“I believe there is nothing more powerful you can give our kids than what our mission was: to instill great resilience and to improve their overall well-being through character development,” he said. “There is nothing that is going to affect every decision they are going to be making moving forward.”

In the end, he said, executing that mission simply became financially and logistically impossible considering the number of recent participants and the level of support that was available.

“Every year, we had a handful of people doing extraordinary work, and eventually it comes to a point where it becomes difficult to keep that going,” Baroody said. “I wish we could, but it got to the point where we just had no other option.”

Baroody said NewArts worked hard through the earlier stages of the pandemic, offering virtual programming, “but it’s just not the same as in person. But it was a momentum issue.

“We’ve done some incredible things over the years. The kids who came to us in first grade are going into 11th grade. And we tried to be there for them as much as we could, to be a resource, and help build their skills for the future,” Baroody said. “We feel like if we had to end at this point, we fulfilled a large part of our mission to help and support them.”

Not willing to close the book and toss away the key, the NewArts founder said he still holds out hope that the ARC program — the character development program whose acronym stands for Awareness. Resilience. Confidence. — will either find a home with another nonprofit, or it can somehow resurrect in a new iteration of a creative arts and theater program springing from the foundation NewArts established.

“Who knows what’s going to happen after this,” he said.

Unger recalled being approached by Baroody shortly after he produced “From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert For Sandy Hook” along with Van Dean and Brett Boles featuring top Broadway talent and over 100 Newtown youths on stage at the Waterbury Palace Theater in January 2013. It took little convincing, he said, for him to partner as director and creative leader for the newfound effort, at the time dubbed The 12.14 Foundation.

“That’s what brought me to Newtown along with Jeff Saver, who had also remained involved with the organization over the years,” Unger said.

What started as a dream to create a brick and mortar performing arts center that would also host resilience and character development programming became the entity that utilized a number of other performance facilities and practice venues to accomplish their annual projects.

“We decided not to wait for the building, so we decided to quickly offer this respite and solace in an environment of creativity and unabashed love and support for anyone interested in participating,” Unger said. Eleven weeks later, the foundation staged Seussical: The Musical.

From that moment until the final live production, 2021’s staging of A Christmas Carol, many participants either stuck with NewArts every year, or left and returned over the near decade of its existence. Over the years, Unger, all the participants, and the many theatrical talents who participated were touched by the magic that NewArts was making in Newtown and the surrounding communities.

Unger said virtually every production required some type of amendments or deletions — and each one was agreed to without hesitation by creative individuals and agencies involved. During that period, NewArts was also the subject of a globally released documentary, Midsummer In Newtown, which chronicled NewArts’ work while it produced its own original musical, A Rockin’ Midsummer Night’s Dream.

That musical was recently reprised at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of yet another mass casualty shooting incident, forever linking it with the community of Newtown and Sandy Hook, as well as NewArts.

“Midsummer was a high point of high points,” Unger said. “It became an opportunity to help five-, six-, and seven-year-olds fall in love with Shakespeare. And being able to bring our cast down to Florida, and having a picture of these kids who played these characters standing beside one another was one of the proudest accomplishments of my life.”

In closing, Unger observed that NewArts built a theater program for its community of Newtown and Sandy Hook, “and in responding to the needs of the community it has resulted in one of the highest forms of theater. You can go to Broadway and see great shows, but the personal experience and the growth that happened through the vehicle of theater and the ARC program, really changed the lives of a lot of these kids. It really shaped them and changed their lives.”

Dedicated Supporters

Van Dean, president of Van Dean Productions LLC, and whose Broadway Records was responsible for recording and producing the two soundtracks for the NewArts original production of A Rockin’ Midsummer Night’s Dream, said he “was saddened to hear of the planned closure of NewArts.

“I was there at the very beginning and the work of NewArts has been instrumental for so many. I am heartened to know of the meaningful difference it has made to countless children (and the adults in their lives) within the Newtown community,” Dean continued. “In addition to helping its participants ‘rise above and go beyond’ it has also inspired many of its young alumni to pursue careers in the arts both as performers and behind the scenes — and has certainly led to a lifelong love and appreciation of the arts within everyone it has touched.

“Personally, it has been a deeply meaningful part of my life and has made Newtown a second home to me,” Dean concluded. “My wife and I [just welcomed our] baby girl, and I regret she will never get to experience the incredibly professional and beautiful productions the youth of Newtown performed in every summer — and some winters — for nearly a decade.”

Maryrose Kristopik was an educator in Connecticut for 35 years. She spent over 17 of those years at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where she led a program combining movement, singing, instruments, skills and activities from around the world. Following 12/14, Kristopik told The Newtown Bee she wanted to continue working with students utilizing her theater background and creativity helping them move forward.

After engaging with NewArts, she said, “...it became so much more.

“It has been a blessing to collaborate with the many who have given their time, talents and hearts to our organization and the children of our community,” Kristopik said of the experience. “I’ve learned so much. It has helped me move forward after what happened at my school. I will miss spending time with the children and adults who have become a part of my life. It seems strange to move on without looking forward to our next project.”

From the beginning, Unger concurred that Kristopik was an invaluable and irreplaceable asset to the nonprofit. She volunteered and helped with the music, casting, and behind the scenes for every production.

“I’ve been music director, associate music director, board member, mentor and a little of everything else putting my hand in where needed along the way,” she recalled. “I’ve enjoyed sharing my vocal, teaching and musical expertise while showing others what they could achieve; giving them the feeling of success and the desire to reach for it again and again.”

She also acknowledged, “we would not be here if it wasn’t for Dr Baroody, the president of our board and founder of our organization. He has carried the burden of the monumental work it has taken to organize and run our nonprofit. He created and built our ARC program, bringing our organization to another level and helping all who participated build grit and resilience. And he has given countless children life skills they will carry forward forever.

Kristopik also said she and the organization are indebted to Unger, “whose vision showed us the amazing things we could do if we dreamed big enough. He has touched the lives of all of us and changed the future of many children in our community through his dedication, support and kindness. I met him when he directed ‘From Broadway with Love’ for Sandy Hook. He has continued to give of himself and to our community every year. He and his family are part of our community.”

Kristopik noted that from day one, NewArts was a family oriented group.

“Children as well as adults have worked together every year on all aspects of our organization. In our final production of A Christmas Carol, we had whole families participate together on stage and behind the scenes. I treasure the time I have spent with them and their friendships,” she said, adding thanks to the many individuals outside the Newtown community who also helped the organization thrive.

“NewArts/12.14 Foundation has built strong community bonds through art, support and friendships that will last in the hearts of all who took part and attended our activities,” Kristopik concluded. “We’ve created a legacy of stronger, kinder humans who will appreciate, respect, support or even make a living in the arts and be future leaders.”

Editor John Voket can be reached at john@thebee.com.