Shelly Hudson

Shelly Hudson began her career in arts education 25+ years ago, upon returning to her hometown after college, when she saw the lack of opportunities for collaboration and youth arts education. Over the years, Hudson has worked with more than 1,000 early-career artists from across New England, many of whom have gone on to build careers in the arts. In 2016, Shelly formed Amplified Arts, whose mission is to enhance the Greater Claremont community and its creative economy through shared arts experiences, for AMP, that includes live and locally sourced theatre, interactive film screenings, special events for and to benefit our community, as well as a Pop-Up Art Gallery that supports local artists, who can exhibit and sell their art through Streetside Gallery. Even during COVID, AMP continued to create the first theatre production in Moody Park, Claremont, NH, and collaborated with artists from the tri-state area to adapt Shakespeare's Scottish play. With live hand drumming and scene lighting by torch and headlights, the production 'M' was a memorable arts experience. 

Over the years, Amplified Arts and its artists worked to create theatrical works of artistic excellence through our award-winning Academy for early-career artists ages 13 – 18 and our critically acclaimed adult (18+) Company. In 2025, AMP produced its last show under that mantle with the production tour of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In collaboration with her Daughter, Azalea Hudson, Shell worked with AMP alums and new artists from Vermont to bring the show to two historic halls in NH and VT. Both weekends of the two-week run were dedicated to two nonprofits, which received a portion of ticket sales and awareness generated by the well-received weekends. 

Winner of the 2016 NH Theatre Awards: Vision and Tenacity Award, Shelly has held the position of Executive Director at several arts/business organizations in NH including The Performer's Playground, an award-winning youth theatre company, which she founded in 2004, and Red River Theatres, the award-winning art-house cinema located in our state's capital where she developed media arts education programming and over 30 interactive movie events. She has also served as the Executive Director of the NH Theatre Alliance. This statewide nonprofit works with NH theatre companies and artists to foster collaborative conversations, resource-sharing, and audience engagement. Her desire to bring the world of "straight" theatre to underserved regions of the state has allowed for a rewarding creative career for Shelly, which in turn has created opportunities for the communities that she has served.