Artist Exchange Honorees named by Italian Sister City group

Italian sister city names 2026 Artist Exchange Honorees

The Fredericksburg-Este Association has named Sue Henderson and Ray Dempsey as the 2026 Artist Exchange Honorees. The award provides for a three-week residency in Este, Italy, Fredericksburg’s Italian sister city.

The long-time duo will present a major concert in Este featuring selections from The Great American Songbook, including classics by Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Duke Ellington, and other American giants of jazz and Broadway composers and lyricists.

Henderson will also co-exhibit with Este photographer Franco Rubini, and ex-pat British artist Linda Winter.Rubini, an acclaimed international cultural photographer, was honored as the Este exchange artist who came to Fredericksburg in 2023 for a three-week residency, and exhibited four photo shows in the region.

In addition, Henderson will present a solo photography exhibit, A Place Called Este, featuring numerous images she captured in the city during a private three-month stay in 2025.A Place Called Este will present the Italian city through an outsider’s lens, expressing visual insights that capture Este through new eyes.

Henderson is well known for her vocal and photographic talents, as well as leadership positions in culture and history programs, and volunteer services to many arts endeavors. She has more than fifty years of performance experience, including stints at Riverside Dinner Theater. For more than a decade, she served as a Vocal Director for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

Pianist Ray Dempsey has performed with Henderson for over ten years. In the greater Washington area, Dempsey conducted community choruses with orchestra while teaching vocal music in schools.He regularly performed at the Washington Hilton Hotel and at engagements on the Embassy and Museum circuit.He later served as the organist at Fredericksburg’s St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. Now visually impaired, he continues to play by memory.

The Fredericksburg-Este Association has launched a fundraising effort to help defer the expenses of the trip. Donors will be eligible to win a performance of the Great American Songbook program at the event of one’s choice. Additional winners will be awarded one of Henderson’s exhibit photographs. The donor drawing for the artworks will occur in spring 2026, at an event where the two will also reflect on their experiences during the artist exchange. All sister city members and fund contributors will be invited to the spring event. More information is at www.fred-este.org.

The Este Artist Exchange began in 2017, when potter Neal Reed was the exchange honoree. In 2018, painter Nadir Frizzarin was welcomed to Fredericksburg. In 2022, Cathy Herndon, painter and muralist, created a mural and mounted an art exhibit in Este. In 2023, international cultural photographer Franco Rubini exhibited numerous works around the Fredericksburg region, many at various branches of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, a frequent partner in cultural programming.

Artists for the Fredericksburg-Este Association’s Artist Exchange Program qualify, in part, by being well recognized in regional artistic circles for excellence in their chosen medium. The artists also should have substantially contributed to the cultural life of the greater Fredericksburg region. The program alternates between bringing Este artists here and sending Fredericksburg artists to Este on an occasional basis.

The duo of Henderson and Dempsey are the first performance honorees, and are the fifth to be chosen for the exchange.

The Fredericksburg-Este Association, founded in 2015, nurtures friendship and cultural understanding between Fredericksburg, VA and Este, Italy, through exchanges, programs, and events.

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