Students from Exeter and Stratham will join together for the 16th annual candlelight vigil and march for the homeless on Wednesday, Feb. 2.

The vigil raises approximately $5,000 in aid to homeless families and individuals in the Seacoast each year. The money funds loans provided by the Rockingham Community Action Security Deposit Program. A winter clothing drive and food collection will also take place during the vigil.

Students from Exeter High School, Cooperative Middle School in Stratham and Phillips Exeter Academy will gather at Exeter High's Talbot Gymnasium on Linden Street at 6:30 p.m. The march will continue to the Exeter Town Hall, with the vigil scheduled for 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

Candles for the vigil are available for a small donation at participating Exeter businesses and churches. For more information, please contact Reverend Bob Thompson at 603-777-3538.

Portsmouth Library fundraising committee gets to work this week

The fundraising committee for the new Portsmouth Library is set to hold its first organizational meeting on Feb. 3. The new library's capital fund has $21,000 so far; the fund received a boost in December with a $10,000 donation from Portsmouth residents David and Nike Speltz.

Library director Mary Ann List said the committee will work on plans for corporate and individual fundraisers as well as various grant writing efforts.

Construction plans will be finalized next week, and the committee will have a better idea exactly what the fundraising goal will be, she said. City officials budgeted $7 million for the building, but that number may increase since construction was delayed for two years due to a lengthy battle to block the new library.

The deconstruction of the old Portsmouth Armory building wrapped up last week.

Approximately 90 percent of the building material was recycled or reused, List said. Construction on the 38,000-square-foot library is expected to begin at the end of this month.

Lamprey Arts and Culture Alliance holds first fundraising event

The newly formed Lamprey Arts and Culture Alliance (LACA) will hold its first fundraising event on Saturday, Feb. 5 at the Stone Church in Newmarket.

The nonprofit group is dedicated to "supporting the arts, culture and heritage" of Newmarket and surrounding communities, according to president Arlon Chaffee. The group formed following a public forum about the future of the mills last year, sponsored by Newmarket Main Street and the Greater Piscataqua Charitable Foundation and the Newmarket Community Development Corporation (NCDC).

"We talked about what our community would like to see in there and what struck me was...there was a strong notion towards arts and culture," he said.

Since last fall, LACA has been working to encourage development of the Newmarket mills, with an eye on creating gallery, studio, performance and living spaces in the mills. Chaffe, also a NCDC board member, said the group wants public input on the future development of the mills.

Peter Egelston, owner of the Smuttynose Brewery, is interested in purchasing some of the riverfront mill buildings, according to Chaffee.

The Feb. 5 fundraiser at the Stone Church will include a live art auction, a silent auction, dinner and live jazz. Admission is $10 at the door. The event runs from 5 to 7 p.m.

For more information about LACA, contact Arlon Chaffee at (603) 659-8652 or write to the group at: P.O. Box 625, Newmarket, NH 03857.

public art competition winners announced

This spring, six pieces of art will spring up "overnight" around Portsmouth. Art-Speak, the city's cultural commission, accepted the following projects from artists based in the Seacoast area for their Overnight Art competition.

Jennifer Belkus - a poet who was a finalist in the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Voices and Visions Project for her piece "Flowers, Birds and Us," on permanent display in Portsmouth City Hall, will create a project with environmental artist Tim Gaudreau, whose public installations are meant to be "found" by unsuspecting viewers. Their commission will be on display in the Market Square-area.

Jamie Calderwood, a sculptor also trained as a landscape architect who specializes in outdoor pieces will create a commission for Vaughn Mall.

Barbara Rita Jenny, a visual artist whose work is inspired by macroscopic photographs of human flesh in Baroque-influenced patterning, andwhich can be displayed as framed prints, room-scale installations, and public murals, will create a commission for Goodwin Park, located on State and Islington Streets.

Laura Pope, an arts journalist, will create a commission at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel.

TF Moran, Inc., a New Hampshire landscape-architecture firm, assembled an artist-based team that includes Anne Cruess, Paul Kirby, Matt Routhier and Mike Krmzemiski. TF Moran's commission will be on display at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel.

The commissions will be installed as a scattered-site exhibit of temporary outdoor art around Portsmouth. The exhibit will be on display April 1- 17. The element of surprise is an important concept for Overnight Art, so the details of each commissioned artwork will not be made public until the installation.

Overnight Art is funded by a private anonymous donation and a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.