CCT Photo
Dexter Singleton, seated, with the Collective Consciousness Theatre Board of Directors.
The New Haven-based Collective Consciousness Theatre and its co-founder and executive director, Dexter Singleton, will be one of three organizations this Saturday to receive a 2011 Morris Wessel Prize.
“The Morris Wessel Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven,” that organization said in a press release, “was established in 1993 to honor Dr. Wessel’s forty-two years of dedicated care and nurturing of Greater New Haven’s children. The Wessel prize is bestowed to individuals and their organizations creatively and compassionately leading efforts to support children and families in need.”
Tricia Caldwell, the Community Foundation’s communications manager, said in an e‑mail that each of this year’s Morris Wessel Prize recipients will receive a $4,000 award.
“The amount (of the award) can vary year to year based on the Fund’s balance,” Caldwell said, “so the $4,000 is what was available to distribute for 2011. People can make donations to the Morris Wessel Fund online at www.cfgnh.org to support its work to recognize local ‘unsung heroes.’”
As described in the Community Foundation’s press release, the nonprofit Collective Consciousness Theatre “is a multicultural theatre company dedicated to social change through the art of live theatre. CCT believes that theatre is a powerful art form that can inspire others, help them to imagine the possibilities and push them to ignite social change. Its productions tour year-round to schools, youth facilities, prisons, communities and theatres across the country. In its short existence, CCT has toured throughout Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Michigan, and Iowa, reaching more than 10,000 students and adults each year.”
Singleton, who sits on the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s Board of Directors, and Liz Hinz (née Stanley) founded Collective Consciousness Theatre in 2001.
Other 2011 Morris Wessel Prize recipients include Junta at Big Turtle Village, a camp program serving local children, and the educational program Solar Youth. Junta at Big Turtle Village is an initiative of Junta for Progressive Action, “the oldest Latino, community based non-profit organization in New Haven,” the organization’s website indicates, “whose mission is to provide services, programs and advocacy that improve the social, political and economic conditions of the Latino community in Greater New Haven, while nurturing and promoting its cultural traditions as it builds bridges with other communities.”
Solar Youth’s mission, according to its website, “is to provide opportunities for young people to develop a positive sense of self and connection and commitment to others through community youth programs that incorporate environmental exploration, leadership and community service.”
The 2011 Morris Wessel Prizes will be awarded on Saturday, October 29, at 2 p.m., at the Fair Haven School Black Box Theater.