PUTNEY, Vt. – Next Stage Arts Local & Global series presents Kimaya Diggs’ “Green” album release, a love note to the New England landscape that showcases 12 tracks of glittering, genre-bending indie pop, on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:45 p.m., at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill in Putney. Tickets are discounted in advance at www.nextstagearts.org. The show is open to all ages.
Next Stage Arts is committed to presenting high-quality, innovative artists who are developing and performing new work, and to cultivating a vibrant, multigenerational arts community in rural southeastern Vermont. Presenting Diggs is a natural extension of these values. As an acclaimed singer-songwriter rooted in New England, whose work spans soul, R&B, folk, and indie rock, Diggs represents exactly the kind of artist Next Stage wants to champion: deeply talented, regionally connected, and at an exciting moment in her career with the release of her third studio album, “Green.”
Diggs joins Next Stage through support from the New England Foundation for the Arts and its New England State Touring grant. As a part of this grant, Diggs will be visiting the Brattleboro Senior Center during its lunch time for a short performance, as well as some participatory songwriting activities.
Diggs is an artist at a pivotal and exciting moment in her career. Recently off tour dates with Mavis Staples, Emily King, and Trombone Shorty, Diggs has built a reputation as a performer who meets her audiences with intention and creates space for genuine emotional connection. Her passion lies in crafting live experiences where people can tap into their emotions together – moments of collective meaning that linger long after the music ends. The “Green” album release is a milestone that deserves to be celebrated across the region, and Next Stage is honored to be a part of that.
Presenting Diggs at Next Stage on Oct. 30 – just weeks after her album-release concert with Bombyx at the Academy of Music in Northampton – extends the momentum of that milestone into Vermont and introduces her to a new audience community. Rural southeastern Vermont has a deep and devoted live music culture, and Next Stage believes Diggs’ sound and story will resonate powerfully here. This presentation will broaden her regional reach, deepen her connection to New England audiences, and demonstrate to the broader presenting community that her work translates beautifully across different venues and communities.
This engagement also reflects a shared vision with Bombyx for what broader regional artist development can look like; not just a single booking, but the beginning of a longer relationship. Next Stage hopes this tour becomes a model for future collaborations: routing artists across the two organizations, supporting residencies, and helping early-career musicians build the kind of sustained regional presence that allows their careers to grow. With audiences aging and dwindling across New England, arts organizations need to be cultivating not only the next generation of performing artists, but also the next generation of audiences – and Diggs’ work does both.