“I love adrenaline. When you’re up there on stage, it’s an incredible rush.” That’s Amanda Roy describing playing drums during jam sessions at Black Eye Sally’s or alongside local bands. 

Such enthusiasm jives perfectly for a visual artist whose work is steeped in sound. Each of Roy’s multimedia pieces are shaped by the music Roy listened to while creating it. Her creation is a meditative process in which she uses sound, thread, and natural pigments homemade from foraged flowers, grasses, and other materials to examine how we as humans can reflect on, and redirect, pain into strength. Portishead, Vince Clark, and the xx were all cited as mediative inspirations in her summer 2025 show, “Through the Layers,” at Hartford’s Amos Bull House. 

Amanda’s art and music became more interwoven in “Before and Beyond”, at the Mandell JCC in West Hartford, where Nicholas Biello played saxophone as the crowd admired Roy’s Before the Flood, which, at 19-feet, is Roy’s largest piece ever. And, in a crescendo of sorts, Roy live-painted on stage as guitarist Andy Sorenson performed.

By the way, this is all on top of Roy’s day job as Chief Executive Officer at the Greater Hartford Arts Council.

Of that role, Roy is well-aware of the challenges arts advocates and allies face in a world where free expression is under attack. “We’re in an incredibly volatile time for the arts,” she said. The paradigms that worked before are gone. “For the past 53 plus years that it’s been around, we were mostly funding major institutions with operating support. That kind of thing just doesn’t exist anymore.” 

GHAC is leaning into this shift. Pandemic relief funds let them engage artists more directly through grants for necessities like rent, supplies, and food. “We have to make sure that artists can thrive here,” said Roy. “So many are just getting by and it’s unacceptable.” 

Roy also points to Cultural Districts as a plausible way to push arts forward, though sustainable housing remains a persistent problem, and only a piece of the puzzle. “We can’t just have affordable housing,” she said. “There has to be a whole system in place for that.” One idea bandied about in certain circles is tax incentives for property owners who create artist housing.

A real solution will require buy-in from the 34 towns in the Council’s purview. “That’s a lot of places for us to touch,” Roy said. “But there’s an opportunity there to shift who we are to meet the needs of today.” 

What a wonderful rush that would be.  

Check out more of Amanda Roy’s art at her website: Amanda Roy Art. Her pieces would look beautiful on your wall.

Four images from Amanda Roy’s series, “What Echoes Within” and “Through the Layers”.