Noa Gimelli, expert in female economic participation and chair of the Fund for Greater Lexington, joins host Kate Savage to discuss the ambitious vision behind incubating transformational projects for Lexington—including a proposed Visual and Performing Arts Center downtown. Noa explains how the Fund’s advisory group mapped local needs into five pillars—arts and culture, youth, green spaces, housing, and transportation—leveraging community data and qualitative research to identify high-impact opportunities. Together, Kate and Noa dive into the phased research and feasibility process behind the new arts center, why Lexington urgently needs a mid-sized performance venue, and how similar cultural investments have revitalized cities like Durham. They discuss the challenges and promise of building creative infrastructure, the economic and social ripple effects of robust arts investment, and what’s next as the project prepares to move from incubation into an independent organization, calling on the community to get involved and help shape Lexington’s cultural future.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Drew Barr has directed productions of new, modern, and classical plays and musicals for theaters across the United States and around the world. He directed the Dutch-language premiere of the National Theatre of London’s War Horse, which opened at Amsterdam’s Royal Carré Theatre before a year-long tour of the Netherlands and Belgium. For the National Theatre, he also directed the Australian premiere of War Horse, which ran in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. He was the Resident Director for War Horse on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater. Also on Broadway, Drew served as associate director for Nicholas Hytner’s productions of Sweet Smell of Success, starring John Lithgow, Kelli O’Hara and Brian D’Arcy James and Twelfth Night, starring Helen Hunt, Paul Rudd and Kyra Sedgwick, as well as for Simon McBurney’s acclaimed revival of All My Sons by Arthur Miller, starring John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson and Katie Holmes. Drew was associate director and dramaturg for Simon McBurney’s production of The Kid Stays in the Picture at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

Drew has directed and guest taught for many of the country’s leading actor training programs, including the Juilliard School, NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, USC’s School of Dramatic Arts, SUNY Purchase, the University of Delaware’s PTTP, the University of Washington’s School of Drama and the Department of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He is on the acting faculty of AMDA College of the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.

As an actor, Drew appeared on Broadway in Wendy Wasserstein’s An American Daughter. He was a founding member of East Coast Artists, a performance collective under the leadership of Richard Schechner, with whom Drew devised and performed in Faust/gastronome, The Three Sisters and Amerika. He toured the country as a member of Maurice Sendak’s national children’s theater, The Night Kitchen, playing the role of Alligator in the Sendak/Carol King musical, Really Rosie.

Drew moved to Lexington with his filmmaker husband, Tim Kirkman, in June of 2024

Drew is directing ANGELS IN AMERICA, a play written by Tony Kushner debuted in 1991, that will be presented by ACT OUT THEATRE GROUP and open at the Black Box Theatre in the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center on 6th June and play the 7th, 13th, 14th and 15th June.
A complex and at times metaphorical examination of AIDS and its social impact - this play, that won 3 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer, has been called "a turning point in the history of gay drama."

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Lina Tharsing and Liz Swanson, Lexington-based artists featured in the Lexington Art League’s “Axis Mundi” exhibition, join Kate to discuss the deep thematic roots and personal resonances behind their work. Liz reflects on her fascination with the ethereal—clouds painted atop near-forgotten architectural renderings, exploring temporality, memory, and the shifting value of creative artifacts. Lyna shares how profound loss and dreams of her late parents led her to paint luminous landscapes and “portals,” searching for thin places where the boundaries between worlds feel especially permeable. Together, they contemplate ideas of grief, gratitude, connection, and the vital need for meaningful community gatherings—moments that, both in their work and in the energetic exhibition opening, transcend the everyday and invite viewers into a richer, more tender understanding of life and art.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html