Photography: Andrea Ceraso
The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance at Grace Farms in October was a pivotal moment for the community. More than a spectacular evening and a stunning performance, the concert signaled that Chelsea Thatcher, who is the Creative Director and Chief Strategic Officer at Grace Farms, has now added fine music to the offering of high culture now available at the 80-acre New Canaan campus.
Chelsea has been on board at Grace Farms since the beginning, laying much of the groundwork for the vision, marketing, strategy, and execution of what has become a leading cultural center. Chelsea is the daughter of Sharon Prince, the inimitable Founder and CEO of Grace Farms. “I see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of building this vision with Sharon. It’s a hopeful vision that I feel so called to,” Chelsea shares. Chelsea has the primary charge of developing all things ‘culture’ at Grace Farms and, while she’s already established significant programming in the visual and performing arts, the LPO performance was something of a coming-out party for what promises to be world class music to come.
“This place is incredibly unique. There is no other organization quite like Grace Farms,” Chelsea declares. “Heading into our tenth year, I continue to see this as a unique opportunity to be part of building Grace Farms into a vision for grace and peace in the world. …And I believe culture can be a strong force in the connections, community, and communication that are so critical to that end.”
…building Grace Farms into a vision for grace and peace in the world.
Chelsea Thatcher
Music
“With the LPO’s performance in our 700-seat acoustically perfect auditorium, I felt like we lit a candle for 700 people to take a message of community involvement and peace out into the world,” Chelsea proclaims. “The LPO performed two nights before at Carnegie Hall…and this was a completely different experience! They said the same - and that it was an amazing experience for them as well - acoustically and spiritually. The musical experience here is extremely powerful, while unamplified and intimate. I want our amphitheater to become a world renowned voice for good.”
…And Grace Farms’ 10th Anniversary music season will begin September 2025 and will conclude May 2026, with tickets on sale now. Marcus G. Miller continues as Music Director for the 2025-26 season.
Dance
Chelsea has also brought world-class dancers to Grace Farms. Grace Farms has showcased the NYC Ballet, Gallim Dance - a contemporary dance company that celebrates human connection, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She will continue to pursue dance programming intended to inspire action.
Visual Arts
In the range of visual arts - beyond Grace Farms’ architecture considered in and of itself - Chelsea has developed programming intended to fit with Grace Farms’ larger vision for the community and the world, and specifically to mesh with and naturally promote Grace Farms’ global movement, Design For Freedom, to end modern day slavery and forced labor and mission to supplant aspects and elements of the worldwide building supply chain that contribute to those horrors.
“With Every Fiber is a long-term exhibit on display in the West Barn, which aims to inspire understanding and care about the materials that make up the built world around us and highlight the possibility for innovation in the space,” Chelsea explains. “For this exhibit, we commissioned a portrait of a survivor of modern slavery, Nasreen Sheikh, that is painted using egg tempera by the incredibly talented artist Hannah Rose Thomas, which will be added to the exhibit in October. And Nina Cooke John, who’s the sculptor that made the famous 25-foot-tall Harriet Tubman monument, Shadow Of A Face, that’s displayed prominently at Harriet Tubman Square in Newark, New Jersey…generously donated a piece of the original cast for that sculpture, which serves as a real focal-point of the exhibit.”
“We’re also highlighting artist John Sabraw, who’s working in conjunction with the paint company Gamblin Artists Colors remediating polluted streams in Ohio…and creating pigments for paint from the filtered pollutants,” Chelsea says. “And I have to give a shout-out to my friend, and Design for Freedom Working Group Member, and fellow New Canaanite Debbie Propst - who is the President of the renowned furniture design and manufacturing company MillerKnoll. During Covid, Debbie and I designed a face mask made entirely of ethically sourced materials, and MillerKnoll retailed the facemask - bringing great attention to the need for and issues involved in ethical sourcing.”
And, on an ongoing basis, Chelsea endeavors to exhibit art and artists aligned with the Grace Farms gestalt. “Some of the artists we work with,” Chelsea relates, “were actually first drawn to Grace Farms on their own. We recently initiated a year-long residency for James Florio to photograph Grace Farms throughout the seasons…and James is from Montana, and he had been drawn to Grace Farms on his own journey and search for inspiration, and he’d been coming to visit and photograph for years!”
“I’m also proud to announce the installation of a large-scale sculpture by Alicja Kwade in our North Field, ParaPosition,” Chelsea continues. “It will be sited within the North Field at Grace Farms’ highest point and will draw visitors into the landscape.”
“We want to encourage families, and particularly young people, to explore and address the topics that we’re bringing up through art,” Chelsea entreats. “We have a large offering of open arts studios - where anyone can come and experiment with the same materials as the artists who are creating our exhibitions.”
Lectures & Workshops
As a complement to all the music and art, Chelsea is curating a steady menu of lectures and workshops intended to provoke thought leadership and to encourage site and personal discovery. As an example, the Founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, Miroslav Volf, kicked off the spring programming with a lecture in the sanctuary. “Focusing on the inclusive design of our architecture, we’re creating a map of the sensory experience here and what to anticipate,” Chelsea adds. “As much as we want people to find their own path and have moments of discovery and curiosity, we also want people to understand what is here and to be a place that everyone can really comprehend and enjoy.”
Chelsea is also working on a few publishing projects, including a book titled Grace Farms that’s set to be published in 2026 by Princeton Architectural Press. And in her very thorough way, Chelsea will complement the focus on architecture with some related tours and panels at Grace Farms.
And as if Chelsea’s commitment to Grace Farms - and contribution to the culture in and of our community - weren’t enough…her husband, Adam Thatcher, co-founded and is the CEO of the Grace Farms Tea & Coffee Company - a Certified B Corp™ that funds the Design for Freedom movement. Adam and the Grace Farms Foundation pioneered this new nonprofit-owned business model during the pandemic, inspired by Newman’s Own and a recent change in the IRS code that allows nonprofit foundations to own 100% of for-profit companies. Chelsea says proudly, “Adam’s built Grace Farms Tea & Coffee into a major business, and in so doing he’s brought Grace Farms a big step closer to being a self-sustaining operation. And, of course, the tea and coffee is not only ethically sourced, but also procured with a focus on supporting female and minority-owned farmers and businesses in the supply chain. …It’s a great way for wholesale corporate purchasers and individual retail buyers to use their tea and coffee purchases to demonstrate a meaningful commitment to diversity and ethical sourcing.”
As featured in the March/April 2025 issue of Bedford & New Canaan Magazine