Our Hometown
Nashua | Nashua Center for the Arts
Clip | 4m 11sVideo has Closed Captions
Rich Lannan tells us about the NCA, from concept through completion.
Rich Lannan tells us about the NCA, from concept through completion.
Our Hometown is a local public television program presented by NHPBS
Our Hometown
Nashua | Nashua Center for the Arts
Clip | 4m 11sVideo has Closed Captions
Rich Lannan tells us about the NCA, from concept through completion.
How to Watch Our Hometown
Our Hometown is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
I bought a building in downtown Nashua Just kind of go back one more.
One additional step 26 years ago.
So it's the old Sears block as a lot of people call it, which is across the Martha's, which goes from Tostao's to Pompanoosuc Furniture.
So that building I've owned for 26 years, I've been involved in downtown.
And at one point I started getting involved in the downtown Improvement Committee that I was asked to be involved in things, you know, all of downtown a little bit, had connection with Great American Downtown.
And a lot of it was just, you know, because of it was that's a committee of the Board of Aldermen.
And it was about then when I found out that in around 2000, I believe is when the masterplan talked about having some sort of performing arts center, you know, because back 120 years ago there was a ton of those in Nashua and they are all gone.
The theater burned down.
And by coincidence, the building that I own had theaters, three of them actually.
And one day I got into we were in the building and my maintenance guy said, I need to get some plumbing.
I don't know.
There's a wall here.
There's something I don't know how I can get on the other side of the wall.
And it's like an empty wall.
It was an empty wall, an empty room, and there was projectors in there, The old fat projectors or facing a brick wall that you could see was bricked in.
That was where my parking lot behind my building now, which was the theater.
So we ended up my maintenance man was in the camera repair business and we took this big several hundred pound movie projector out of there.
The other one was kind of beat up and literally refurbished it, and it's on display in the second floor of the theater.
So slow but sure, things started and Positive Street Art ended up being my tenant saying all that, that there was a one story building attached to my building next door, which is in front of the church.
And when they tore it down, I got this big, ugly, you know, different color, faded wall and Positive Street Art said, what about doing the mural?
So one thing led to another.
And all along in the middle of all that, they were talking about performing arts venues, performing arts venues and the theater and things started matching up and at that point I was asked to be on the committee to select a, um, a consultant to study whether National can handle a performing Arts Center.
And that was probably ten years ago.
Yeah, but eight years ago.
And we selected somebody and he said 80% of the time we tell cities, towns, you're wasting your time, you're wasting your time and money.
That's not what happened here.
He said, It's ripe for it.
He interviewed a ton of people, studies of what size, where it should be.
And so that's where the seed kind of really, you know, couple of tiny seeds that I mentioned.
But that really set me off of figuring that'd be pretty cool.
Once I get into something I get into something.
And once we decided to do it, there was the aldermen decided to put a steering committee together and I was asked to be on that.
So there was groups from the art community, you know, Chamber of Commerce, Board of Aldermen members, the Downtown Improvement Committee that was on.
And after McCarthy died, who was the president, the Board of Aldermen.
He passed away and I was asked to become and take his place as the Chair.
And that's when things really started heating up with my involvement.
And at that point, the steering committee, design, inside, you know, hired.
We you know, we would have to hire an architect, hire a contractor, hire an operator.
And it just started developing from there.
And one thing led to another and we got the approval from the city and the money.
And here we are.
Video has Closed Captions
Dan Salzer and Jonathon Picard talk about Pemi Baker TV. (3m 15s)
Video has Closed Captions
Maryann Barnsley tells us about a childhood dream. (3m)
Video has Closed Captions
Katharina Kelsey and her husband made a list, Plymouth checked all the boxes, and so much more. (2m 1s)
Plymouth | The Happiness Quest
Video has Closed Captions
Dr. Marie Sanders relates what can happen when an entire town works together to discover happiness. (2m 34s)
Plymouth | Memories, Stories and Cake
Video has Closed Captions
Patricia Hoyt came to Plymouth for college, launched her career here. (5m 41s)
Plymouth | Memories of Plymouth
Video has Closed Captions
Louise McCormick is a townie. She grew up in Plymouth, and has spent most of her life here. (1m 55s)
Plymouth | Local Foods Plymouth
Video has Closed Captions
Marianna Evans talks about Local Foods Plymouth, and how the pandemic helped to create a model. (3m 23s)
Video has Closed Captions
Carol Dunn tells about how this amazing town bonded together to save her business on Main Street. (2m 21s)
Plymouth | From Minsk to Plymouth
Video has Closed Captions
Jim Lurie tells us how in 1917, his grandfather travelled from Minsk, Russia, across Siberia. (3m 41s)
Video has Closed Captions
Bob Gannett speaks about an interesting story unfolding as he was on the radio. (1m 34s)
Video has Closed Captions
Terry Fifield has lived in a lot of places, but found that the Plymouth area to be the best. (4m)
Plymouth | Community... on Wheels
Video has Closed Captions
Mike Currier talks about the roots of the Plymouth Skate Park. (6m 14s)
Video has Closed Captions
Bill Clark talks about, even with growth and progress, Plymouth is a special town. (1m 45s)
Video has Closed Captions
Suzan Gannett talks about Artistic Roots, and the programs and passions that it has inspired. (4m 19s)
Video has Closed Captions
John Scheinman shares how the skills needed in successfully coaching can be used. (2m 31s)
Plymouth | A Commitment of Caring
Video has Closed Captions
Jessica Dutille talks about re-building community, after the pandemic changed the world. (5m 1s)
Video has Closed Captions
Yvonne recalls growing up in Berlin, and speaking two languages in school. (4m 16s)
Video has Closed Captions
Andre speaks to us about growing up in Berlin. (6m 41s)
Video has Closed Captions
Walter tells us about Berlin's Skier/Soldier, Paul Petersen, and a love story. (12m 40s)
Video has Closed Captions
Roland talks about working in every aspect of the paper industry, over 4+ decades. (3m 36s)
Video has Closed Captions
Renney tells a couple of great stories about growing up in Berlin. (4m 19s)
Video has Closed Captions
Berlin has a language all its own, and Rachelle decided to compile a dictionary of words. (5m 37s)
Video has Closed Captions
Olive speaks about growing up in Berlin, in a family that owned Bisson's Sugar House. (4m 24s)
Video has Closed Captions
Lorna recalls heading into Berlin on Friday nights, for shopping & meeting up with friends (3m 5s)
Video has Closed Captions
Moving to Berlin was a dream come true for Haven, as he loved working in the woods. (3m 54s)
Video has Closed Captions
Diane talks about going from a 45 year career in the banking industry. (2m 43s)
Video has Closed Captions
Dennis tells the story of the history of boy scouts in Berlin, NH. (6m 40s)
Video has Closed Captions
speaks about growing up in Berlin, his paper route, and a creative way to make some money. (6m 12s)
Video has Closed Captions
Aime tells the story of his immigrant grandfather, Francois Bisson, migrating from Quebec. (7m 49s)
Video has Closed Captions
You can spend your life dreaming of visiting exotic places. Sometimes it's better to dream (53s)
Video has Closed Captions
Neil Davis says he probably shouldn't have an umbrella that nice, plus another fish story. (2m 42s)
Video has Closed Captions
A little yankee math makes the negotiation more fair (1m 9s)
Video has Closed Captions
What should be in the school's curriculum? Even spouses don't always agree. (57s)
Video has Closed Captions
Sometimes you have to think about what to put your faith in. (54s)
Video has Closed Captions
A true Downeaster doesn't use any more words than need be. (1m 21s)
Video has Closed Captions
You really have to keep an eye on what the neighbors are doing. (1m 16s)
Video has Closed Captions
She has made it her mission to help other immigrants, arriving in Nashua. (3m)
Video has Closed Captions
He recalls how welcoming & helpful the people of Nashua were when he first arrived. (2m 51s)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: Tony Courounis
Video has Closed Captions
Tony Courounis edited by Jacob Whelan (2m)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: Nathan Burns/Piper Burns
Video has Closed Captions
Nathan Burns edited by Piper Burns (3m 18s)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: Nathan Burns/Carolyn Byrn
Video has Closed Captions
Nathan Burns edited by Carolyn Byrne (3m 9s)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: Kendall Reyes
Video has Closed Captions
Kendall Reyes edited by Abigail Russell (1m 28s)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: John Richard
Video has Closed Captions
John Richard edited by Jackson Torres (3m 22s)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: Gabriel Cadet
Video has Closed Captions
Gabriel Cadet edited by Austin Duponte (1m 31s)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: Ed Lecius/Torbio Blanco
Video has Closed Captions
Ed Lecius edited by Samira Torbio Blanco (2m 52s)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: Ed Lecius/Adam Breen
Video has Closed Captions
Ed Lecius edited by Adam Breen (2m 52s)
Nashua | Student Filmmaker Series: Cathrine Poulin
Video has Closed Captions
Cathrine Poulin edited by Kylie Soucy (2m 31s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
Our Hometown is a local public television program presented by NHPBS