When Shoreline Arts Alliance (SAA) brought Legacy Theatre’s production of Hamlet to Guilford for five nights in August, Rose Marie Cushing was at every show, passing the hat among blanket-to-blanket crowds to support non-profit SAA.

“I couldn’t believe some of the donations people were giving us,” says Rose Marie, who was part of a small army of SAA volunteers, members, and board members helping out at the event. “We had over 700 people every night. And every time I walked around, they’d say, ‘Can you do this twice each summer? We’d love to have Shakespeare here again!’”

As a volunteer with SAA, Rose Marie is committed to answering the call to help with SAA’s mission to transform lives through the arts. Free, accessible artistic productions like Hamlet, which marked SAA’s 17th annual Shakespeare on the Shoreline Festival, help SAA to meet its four core principles: to educate, encourage, enrich, and engage.

Now, Rose Marie is passing the word about another SAA event that she hopes will draw a crowd: Costumes & Cocktails, an adult Halloween bash set for Friday, Oct. 26, from 7 to 10 p.m. at Madison Country Club. Tickets, $35 per person (tax-deductible and available now at www.shorelinearts.org) include hors d’oeuvres, food and treats, wine, beer, and the night’s signature Got Attitude Vodka cocktail. It’s a great excuse to break out your best costume—you might even win the night’s costume contest—while supporting a great cause, says Rose Marie.

Thanks to sponsorships and donations from local merchants, restaurants, and businesses, proceeds from this fun night will benefit SAA. Some Costumes & Cocktails sponsorships are also still available and can be secured by visiting www.shorelinearts.org.

Rose Marie and her husband moved to Guilford from Essex three years ago. When she also recently retired from her career as a realtor, “I thought, ‘What am I going to do? I cannot sit at home,’” she says. “Volunteering was a good choice.”

Rose Marie enjoys painting as her artistic outlet, but is a fan of every art form. Just eight months ago, she found SAA right in her new hometown, and jumped in as a volunteer.

“I got involved with it because I love the arts. And with Shoreline Arts Alliance, the arts aren’t just painting or photography; it’s also acting, it’s writing, it’s Shakespeare on the Shoreline...it’s everything in the arts,” she says.

SAA CEO/Executive Director Eric Dillner has an eye for talent. He quickly pulled Rose Marie into a small, active group of volunteers of about 15 that he’s dubbed “the guild.”

“I said, ‘The guild? What’s that?’ He said, ‘Well, you’re going to lead it,’” says Rose Marie, laughing.

Costumes & Cocktails is the first event being pulled together by the guild, and Rose Marie says she’s amazed at the results being driven in by break-out committees handling publicity, food and beverage donations, entertainment, sponsorships, and more planned for the event.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun for grown-ups,” she says. “People are going to love it. Got Attitude Vodka is going to make a signature cocktail, and there’s also beer and wine and really delicious food. It’s going to be a good time.”

Rose Marie is looking forward to working with the guild to help SAA for many events to come.

“We’re all volunteers and we’re all into the arts, so it’s really a great idea,” she says. “We’re there to assist with the planning, activities, volunteering, and helping with receptions and everything Shoreline Arts Alliance needs. And we’ll continue to do it, because we enjoy it.”

She adds, “The guild is wonderful, but there are also a lot of members who are a big part of supporting Shoreline Arts Alliance, too.”

Membership information and options are available at www.shorelinearts.org or by calling 203-453-3890.

SAA’s offices are based Guilford, but its outreach, offerings, and programs benefit residents and artists in towns from New Haven to Old Lyme.

SAA not only gives the shoreline community exposure to arts and culture, it provides prizes, scholarships, recognition, and opportunities to artists, says Rose Marie, ticking off some of SAA’s well-established annual offerings to support artists and budding artists on the shoreline. They include IMAGES (Connecticut’s oldest juried photography show), Tassy Walden Awards (recognizing “new voices in children’s literature”), Rising Stars (a youth summer theater programs), Shakespeare on the Shoreline, and student competitive scholarships, juried competitions, and recognition opportunities including Future Choices and Shoreline’s Top Talent.

“I don’t know if many people are aware of how much SAA offers. This organization is always giving, giving, giving. And they’ve been doing it since 1980,” says Rose Marie.

According to SAA literature, SAA is also a local arts agency for the State of Connecticut, supporting regional and state arts and culture and heritage organizations through advocacy, education, promotion, and celebrations. In addition, SAA collaborates with organizations, individual artists, educational groups, strategic partners, and the community at large to foster arts and culture along the shoreline and weave it into the daily world residents encounter.

Whether it’s partaking of Costumes & Cocktails, becoming a member or volunteer, or even just dropping a donation into an SAA bucket during a summer evening spent enjoying Shakespeare on the Shoreline, there are many ways everyone can help support the excellent efforts of SAA, says Rose Marie.

“If you really like the arts and you want to support SAA, you can,” she says. “And when we support the SAA, it’s really supporting the arts in our communities.”

Shoreline Arts Alliance presents Costumes & Cocktails on Friday, Oct. 26, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Madison Country Club. Tickets ($35, tax-deductible) are limited and can be reserved at www.shorelinearts.org or by calling 203-453-3890.