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While the  has kicked off its expansion and renovation, there will be no shortage of Hop-sponsored arts events in venues around campus and throughout the region for the duration of the construction period, says , the Howard Gilman ’44 Executive Director of the Hop.

“During this time of transition, expect to see us often and everywhere,” Aleskie says. “We are taking this as an opportunity to expand our programming into spaces where people might not expect to find the performing arts. Our hope is to reach new audiences and to deepen relationships with partners across campus and the Upper Valley.”

—including the soon-to-reopen Rollins Chapel, Sudikoff Hall, Church of Christ at �����鶹 College, Collis Common Ground, and the Hood Museum of Art—will host performances, film screenings, rehearsals, practice spaces, and creation labs. Student workshops in jewelry and ceramics will be located on the third floor of the Black Family Visual Arts Center. The woodworking workshop will be in a customized modular facility on the Maffei Plaza, adjacent to the visual arts center.

The Hop is also working with collaborative partners in the community, such as the Vermont Dance Alliance, Upper Valley Music Center, and West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts.

This winter’s  performances by �����鶹 student ensembles as well as a trio of quartets: ensemble-in-residence Apple String Quartet performing the Hop-commissioned premiere of Dana Lyn’s The Ceremony That Never Was; Dallas-based a cappella quartet Kings Return; and the Dublin Guitar Quartet playing a repertoire of new classical music.

A full slate of Hop Films will be screened in the Loew Auditorium, located in the visual arts center. These will include special film events with live guests, such as Till, including a post-show conversation with Deborah Watts, co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, and Shadow, a provocative work on disability, human rights and artificial intelligence by Australia’s celebrated Back to Back Theatre. The Hop will also partner with the Hood, Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, and Apple Hill String Quartet on a talk entitled Social Entrepreneurship and the Arts.

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Sarah Storms ’23 repairs a zipper in the new Sudikoff Costume Shop space. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)

Continuing partnerships further afield, the �����鶹 College Wind Ensemble will travel to Mexico City to perform in Sala Nezahualcoyotl, one of Latin America’s premier classical music venues, as part of a collaboration with Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Hidalgo State Symphonic Band. The tour builds upon �����鶹’s multi-pronged , which launched in 2022.

The Hop’s  and an up-to-date  are available on the Hop website. 

“Our schedule is as rich as ever, and I expect our events will continue to bring visitors to the community,” Aleskie says. “In fact, I would like to assure Hanover’s merchants and restaurants, with whom the Hop has long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship, that our audiences will be as vibrant as ever.” 

Transformation of the Hop is being led by internationally renowned design firm ����ø���ٳٲ� and will dramatically enhance the Hop’s capacity as a center for artistic expression. The project will add approximately 15,000 square feet for performance, collaboration, and gathering, and fully update about 55,000 square feet of existing space.

At a special meeting in December, the Board of Trustees approved funds to cover unanticipated price fluctuations due to supply chain volatility and inflation. To date, �����鶹 has $85 million in commitments for the project and is actively fundraising for the work, with a goal of raising $95 million through .