Kickin' It Old School for Indigo Girls

If you circle the date on a calendar, they will come.

That was the initial strategy behind booking a national music act for a one-night stand with Nashua's music-loving community.

Yes, scoring the Indigo Girls was truly a happy accident.

"We targeted that day and used it as a springboard to identify bands or acts that would be willing to do a show for us," said Brian Lavoie, a member of Greater Nashua Arts Initiative, the group of young professionals who've orchestrated the benefit concert.

With an assist from Scott Hayward of Londonderry's Tupelo Music Hall, Lavoie said the group pooled its various resources to plan the concert, which is set for Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. Proceeds will go a long way toward restoring some luster to the old Edmund Keefe Auditorium, housed at Elm Street Middle School.

Historically, the Keefe is one of the largest venues of its kind in the state, constructed in 1936 as a Depression-era project, said Lavoie. It is home stage, not only for the Elm Street school community, but also for a number of local arts and theater groups, including the Nashua Symphony, Northern Ballet Theatre, Actorsingers and the YMCA.

"The curtains are original. The bathrooms leave something to be desired. Every group that uses the facility has a wish list, and nobody is thrilled with the condition it's in. Everybody is quick to point out that it's not where it could or should be. It doesn't fully meet the needs of anyone, as it is," Lavoie said.

For instance, the Nashua Symphony has had an acoustical engineer test the sound, and it's been determined that the 75-year-old curtains are absorbing about 25 percent of the sound, Lavoie said.

"But they can't remove the curtains, because what's behind them doesn't look so good," Lavoie said.

While the Keefe will never have the capacity or versatility of Manchester's Verizon Wireless arena, if brought up to speed, it could host more national acts in the future, Lavoie said.

"If you look at the economic impact of arts in a community, it's actually quite large, when you consider that a show like this will bring people into our city who will eat dinner and spend money and, potentially, want to come back again and again," Lavoie said.

Keeping the ticket price reasonable for this show was part of the strategy for success, Lavoie said.

"Actually, the price was set following discussions between folks at the Tupelo and the Indigo Girls manager," Lavoie said. "We wanted to fill the auditorium and make sure it was a good, sell-out event. But this is an untested facility for this kind of program, so we kept the ticket price on the low side, just to be safe."

Tickets are still available through Tupelo Music Hall website.

About GNAI: Founded by a group of local young professionals – all members of the Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 “Leadership Greater Nashua” program – who believe that the arts are a cornerstone of a vibrant community. GNAI is compelled by the notion that the arts have a far greater impact than simply the sights or sounds they convey. They inspire creativity, unite our community, and strengthen our economy. Members include:

Lizzie Baker, formerly of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce

Cindy Clarke, formerly of the Nashua School District

Donna Davis, Dartmouth Hitchcock

Loren Foxx, wedu

Eric Jackson, The Stabile Companies

Linda LaFleur, City of Nashua – Office of Economic Development

Frank Lagana, Papergraphics

Brian Lavoie, Lavoie Wealth Management

Angela Provencher, The Nashua Bank

Bill Schick, MESH Interactive Agency

Jaron Slattery, Etchstone Properties

Ashley Smith, formerly of The Nashua Telegraph

Ryan Williams, formerly of Devine Millimet & Branch