The Vineyard Arts Project is opening its doors to the public again for the first time in more than five years.

Beginning in 2008, Vineyard Arts Project hosted residencies for visiting artists from all over the world to hone their craft and put on events for the community to witness the creative process.

The public events stopped during the Covid pandemic, and for several years afterwards it was difficult to begin programming again, said Sam Hood Adrain, the associate producer and general manager of Vineyard Arts Project.

“We had a really long legacy of having these fabulous, high caliber people here on the Vineyard in this beautiful property,” he said. “Covid just knocked all of that down, and it really changed the financial model and really changed the way that we could support, not only the artists, but also ourselves as an organization.”

Vineyard Arts Project Founder and Tony-Award winning producer, Ashley Melone.

Ray Ewing

Vineyard Arts Project Founder and Tony-Award winning producer, Ashley Melone.

Ray Ewing

This summer’s season includes three shows, beginning with a performance on August 9 by acclaimed Broadway star Patti Lupone, cabaret performer Bridget Everett and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

“This is the first year we’re having public audiences back, and I really wanted to wait until we had enough high-quality programming to bring audiences back,” said Vineyard Arts Project founder and artistic director Ashley Melone. Ms. Melone is also a Tony-award winning producer.

“I’m just really thrilled, and I feel really proud of this season.”

Subsequent shows include a piece by New York Theater Workshop on August 16, and a studio hour by Dance Theatre of Harlem on August 22, where members of the public can watch the dancers rehearse.

“I’m always very thrilled and sort of geek out with people like Patti LuPone and Bridget Everett coming and Dance Theatre of Harlem...all of these amazing institutions that I’ve idolized since I was a kid,” Ms. Melone said. “Getting to work with them is really an honor.”

Mr. Hood Adrain said he hopes to expand the programming in subsequent summers.

“This year is three weeks. Hopefully next year it’s four weeks. Hopefully the year after that, it’s five weeks,” he said. “We are in this renaissance period at Vineyard Arts.”

According to Ms. Melone, being able to offer a space for both artists and audiences to explore is essential.

“What is so cool to me about Vineyard Arts Project is you’re in a studio with these high quality artists seeing the behind the scenes and early development that’s usually reserved either for high level donors or other producers or people who work in the business,” she said. “But we really like to open the curtain and say, this is how you create a show, and this is what a rehearsal is like.”

Keeping the arts available and open to the community on all levels is extremely important to the organization’s mission.

“Theater often can get a really bad rap, especially on Broadway, for ticket prices just being really inaccessible,” Ms. Melone said. “I do love that because of our incredible donors and board, we’re able to keep all of the performances as pay-what-you-can donations. It shouldn’t be the ticket price that bars someone from having the work be accessible to them.”