Javier Colon signs autographs during a welcome home celebration at his alma mater, Bunnell High School, in July 2011.

Stratford’s Javier Colon, winner of NBC’s The Voice, will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at Ridgefield Playhouse.

For information about the show or to purchase tickets, visit ridgefieldplayhouse.com.

Are you interested in Stratford’s vibrant theatre and arts community?

If you want to know more about Festival! Stratford 2012, get involved in the early stages and become part of Stratford’s grand cultural legacy, join festival organizers at an informational volunteer meeting on February 9, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Council Chambers at Stratford’s Town Hall, 2725 Main Street.

Thanks in part to the hard work and dedication of the 2011 volunteers, last year’s great success numbers and audience feedback will be shared at the February 9^th meeting in addition to committee descriptions and needs.

The committee is seeking volunteers for the mid-August event to assist with communications, volunteer coordination, staffing, vending, ushering, parking management, donations/raffle and main stage support.

Based on the success of the 2011 festival, organizers are expecting an increased need for community and volunteer involvement. The 2-week festival will include theatre and music performances, art exhibits, children’s shows and so much more on the grounds of the American Festival (Shakespeare) Theatre.

To volunteer, please contact festivalstratfordct@gmail.com or visit www.festivalstratford.org for more information on the Festival.

The disc jockeys will host special guests DJ Buck from Hot 93.7 and former NBA player Wesley Matthews. Matthews, 52, is a Bridgeport native and former Harding High School President.

CAV uses music to inspire youth to stand in unity against gun violence. The group will dedicate its music show tonight to victims of gun violence in Connecticut.

The Bassick-Harding game starts at 7 p.m. tonight at the Bassick High School gymnasium.

Donna M. Curran, director of communications, said that along with free admission, the open house will feature a reception and announcements regarding 2012 special events.

Several local and state officials also are expected to attend, she added.

The museum, which now focuses on science and technology, was opened on Jan. 21, 1962, as the Museum of Art, Science and Industry.

The Discovery Museum and Planetarium is at 4450 Park Ave., Bridgeport. For additional information, call 203-372-3521 or visit www.discoverymuseum.org

The house, which is condemned due to structural problems, sits at the forefront of the Shakespeare Theater property on Elm Street.

The White House on the National Register of Historic Places, but until Monday, it did not have any local historical protections. The new designation protects the building from demolition and makes it eligible for historic preservation grant money.

An Austrian-themed buffet will be offered in honor of Meier’s favorite composer: Mozart. Cost is $35 (reduced from $40), including tax, with a portion of each ticket benefiting the GBS.

Seatings will take place from 5 until 6:30 p.m. so that diners will be able to travel the short distance between the 1070 Main St. hotel and the 8 p.m. concert at the Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Avenue.

The buffet, say hotel officials, will include such Austrian specialties as potato pancakes, spaetzle, Wiener schnitzel with lingonberries, beef goulash with paprika, bratwurst, broiled salmon and sauteed cabbage. Desserts will include apple strudel and Linzer cookies. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate will be included. For reservations, call 203.334.1234, extension 5181.

The 8 p.m. concert, “Gustav and Mozart,” will feature violinist Elena Urioste performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish. Tickets for the concert, $20 to $50, may be purchased by calling 203.576.0263 or visiting www.GBS.org.
The concert will be repeated at a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 13, also at the Klein.
Urioste and GBS Executive Director Benjamin Loeb, a noted pianist, will be featured at the inaugural event in the Guest Artist Recital Series on Monday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at First Church Congregational, 148 Beach Road, in Fairfield. Tickets, available at the door, are $40.

The public is invited to attend ceremonies at the offices of the Bridgeport Arts & Cultural Council in the historic Arcade Mall, 1001 Main Street.

The program is funded by the city of Bridgeport and administered by the BACC.

Marianne Brunson Frisch, BACC executive director, points out that the program supports creative arts and heritage projects of individual artists and organizations throughout the City of Bridgeport.

Mayor Bill Finch will present award letters and checks to the following individual artists:
Andrea Asprelli, Maralyn Adlin-Donovan, J. Eve Liptak and Jodiann Strimiska.
Organizations receiving awards are: Bridge Academy, Bridgeport Theatre Company, Greater Bridgeport Area Prevention Program (GBAPP), Slant of Light Theatre and WPKN RADIO.

According to the grant guidelines, individual artists, artisans, craft makers and musicians who reside or work in Bridgeport are invited to apply for grants up to $250. Bridgeport visual, performing or heritage groups and non-profit educational, faith-based or social service organizations offering cultural programming may apply for grants ranging from $500 to $1,000.

The city has provided $10,000 and the United Illuminating $1,000 for the program. Half the monies were distributed in the inaugural spring round and half now. Additional information may be obtained from Frisch at the council at 203-522-4154 or mbfrisch@BridgeportArts.org.

BACC visitor center at the Arcade, 1001-12 Main St., Bridgeport, is open regularly Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Fairfield Museum and History Center announced this morning that it will extend the run of its current exhibit in memory of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America that killed nearly 3,000.

The exhibition was to have closed on Sunday, Sept. 18, but museum officials said today that the show is “not coming down now until after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 21, because “is has been so well attended and received.”

Admission to the museum is free during the run of the exhibit. Featured in the show are several photographs taken at Ground Zero by the renowned Westport photographer Stephen Wilkes shortly after two commercial airliners were crashed by terrorists into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, destroying them both.   

The museum presents exhibitions on the history of the Greater Bridgeport area, as well as topics of general interest to the region. It is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekends noon to 4 p.m. For additional information: www.fairfieldhs.org; 203-259-1598.

Because of  complications resulting from last weekend’s Tropical Storm Irene, the Fairfield Museum announced this afternoon that the opening of  its 9/11 commemorative exhibition will be delayed by a few days.

In Thursday’s Go section, which was printed prior to the announcement, an article on Page 16 pointed out that events would run from Sept. 3-18 at the museum at 370 Beach Road. They now will run from Tuesday, Sept. 6, through Sept. 18.

Featured will be a small collection of photographs taken by Westporter Stephen Wilkes at Ground Zero, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The museum also clarified another point:  The commemoration will include an ABRIDGED version of the Connecticut Historical Society’s traveling show that pays tribute to the 153 men, women and children from Connecticut who lost their lives, as well as the state residents who responded to the tragedy. 

A Sunday, Sept. 11, interfaith service, at 3 p.m.,  in memory of those who perished, will proceed as planned.

The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekends noon to 4 p.m. Admission will be free for all Sept. 6-18.

For additional information, call 203-259-1598; www.fairfieldhs.org.

The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority board voted this morning to shut down the home of the famed Trash-o-saurus, a dinosaur sculpted from one ton of garbage, after falling $32,000 short of reaching a $100,000 fundraising goal.

The museum, which in 2010 provided educational services to 30,708 adults and children through museum visits and outreach programs, has an annual operating cost of about $300,000. But the museum’s pockets are currently only about $60,000 deep, excluding $68,000 in commitments the board was able to garner this summer from local municipalities and corporations, said CRRA spokesman Paul Nonnenmacher.

“There’s just not enough money to keep it going,” Nonnenmacher said.

Historically, the 16-year-old museum has been funded by the Southwest Connecticut Recycling Committee, a group of 19 local municipalities that trucked recyclables to the regional recycling facility and helped support the museum through deposit fees. But in 2009, several of those cities and towns pulled out of the group and began sending their recyclables elsewhere. Funding for the museum plummeted.

At the time, CRRA said the museum would likely close. But, until now, it survived on new funding sources, including a $2 fee for entry into the museum.

“The museum is a building with a a lot of interesting stuff in it, but the reason that it works so well is because of the staff,”  Nonnenmacher said. “They have been doing everything they can think of to try to keep the museum going. They have hung in there even though they knew that their jobs were in jeopardy. They could have gone out and found other jobs, but they stuck with us. That kind of dedication and loyalty is what made the museum great.”

Stephen Edwards, the only CRRA board member to vote against closing the museum Thursday morning, said he is hopeful more funding will surface over the next year and the museum will be able to reopen.

“We’re essentially going to just mothball (the exhibits) right now,” said Edwards, who is also chairman the Southwest Connecticut Recycling Committee and director of the Westport Public Works Department. “There’s no immediate need to liquidate anything. We’re going to shut the lights, close the doors and go out and try to find more funds.”

He added, “I haven’t found anyone who doesn’t think this is a worthwhile endeavor. It’s just that times are tough.”