FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Something new is underfoot at the Academy of Music Theatre, and those who attend the WGBY screening of a documentary about American soldiers at 7 p.m. on April 13, will experience it.
New carpeting was recently installed throughout the Academy of Music with a grant from the International Music & Art Foundation, an agency that awards funds to preserve and restore individual works of art and architecture.
The theatre at 274 Main St., listed on the National Register of Historic Places, received the initial commitment for $26,112 to purchase new carpeting and padding about two years ago. The funding arrived late last year and paid for both the product and its installation, which took place during the first week in April. New carpeting is now located in the theatre aisles, lobby, salon, stairways and balcony.
With guidance from nationally recognized interior designer and academic Arnold Friedman, a deep red carpeting with a regal pattern was selected for the theatre, in keeping with the era in which the building was constructed.
The Board of Trustees sought guidance from Friedman, a professor emeritus of art at the University of Massachusetts and the author of four books, including the definitive text and professional handbook on the subject of interior design, titled “An Introduction to Architectural Interiors.”
“Professor Friedman is a true pioneer of the interior design profession,” said Andrew Crystal, board president. “He is an author, visionary and friend whose accomplishments include forty years as an interior design educator in Massachusetts and New York.”
Another local resident, Nicholas Thaw of Amherst, provided the connection to the International Music & Art Foundation, which is based in the European nation of Liechtenstein. Thaw is a trustee of the foundation, established in 1988 with the belief that our greatest legacy to future generations is art.
The public is invited to see the new carpeting at the next event, 7 p.m. on April 13, the free screening of “Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience,” a documentary that explores the firsthand accounts of American soldiers through their own words. For more information, go to www.academyofmusictheatre.com
