Arts

Brattleboro resident Nye Ffarrabas’ 50-year retrospective of her work is being celebrated in a new exhibtion and book just published through C. X. Silver Gallery.

C X Silver Gallery presents Nye Ffarrabas: A Walk on the Inside, an exhibition May 2 to Saturday August 23, 2014. The accompanying publication, with the same name as the exhibition, is part catalogue, part memoir, part monograph, a tribute to an artist and poet whose creative works span more than fifty years from the heyday of Fluxus Art of the sixties and seventies and continue to the present day. Please join us for the opening reception and book launch Sunday afternoon May 4th, 2014, 1-4pm, at the Gallery, 814 Western Avenue, Brattleboro, VT. Some improvisation, readings, and performance pieces may be part of the event.

“Project Unspeakable” Reading Explores Why Our Leaders Died 1964-1968

A dramatic reading of “Project Unspeakable,” a new play about the 1960’s assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert F. Kennedy, will be presented on Saturday, May 3 at 7:00pm at New England Youth Theater.

“Project Unspeakable” was inspired by James Douglass’ groundbreaking and meticulously researched book, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters.  It was written by playwright Court Dorsey and associate playwrights Debbie Lynangale and Steve Wangh (author of The Laramie Project), based on extensive research.  Like the book, the script focuses not on how the four leaders died, but why.

On exhibit for the month of April at the Brooks Library: Liza Woodruff (In the Children’s Illustrators’ Book Cases, 2nd Floor Hallway, across from the Children’s Room) and t(in the Main Room). 

The Saxtons River Guild was established in 1976 for the purpose of encouraging and stimulating the cultural growth of the arts locally. The Guild is very active and new members are always welcome. Members meet during the fall and winter months at Open Studio to collaborate working in various media of watercolor, oil and pastels, as well as acrylic, collage and drawings in pen/pencil.

Southern Vermont-based The Hatch presents its third Storytellers on a Mission event featuring nationally renowned storytellers who will tell hilarious stories to raise money for a great cause. The event’s recipient is the Morningside Shelter in Brattleboro, Vermont, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. The event will be held on Saturday, April 19 pm at 7:30 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro.

The evening’s storytellers will be hosted by Peter Sagal, Host of NPR’s Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! and will feature Cindy Pierce, Elna Baker, Peter Aguero and Ian Chillag, with additional special guests. All performers have performed on critically acclaimed stages that include The Moth, National Public Radio (NPR) shows, Comedy Central programming and much more.

Chamber Music in the Foothills of the Green Mountains

Events are during the days of July 31- August 9, with the opening concert on the night of July 31st, at 7 PM. Events include concerts, family/ community events, and appearances from many talented guest artists and composers, all taking place in the Jamaica Town Hall on Main Street. Admission is free of charge, but donations are welcome. A portion of the donations will be contributed to the Stratton Foundation to benefit Hurricane Irene relief efforts.

Nancy Calicchio Shows Vermont Landscapes Through April

During March and April, Westminster West painter Nancy Calicchio is showing “Landscape Trilogy” in the foyer and other gallery spaces at All Souls Church in West Brattleboro. This exhibition features groups of three paintings of the same subject, each canvas a further interpretation of the landscape. In the larger (36”x36”) works, Nancy explores the balance between earth and sky. She invites the viewer to feel the long view of overlapping hills and the mysterious ambiguity of the far horizon as she searches to create the illusion of depth on a flat surface. Additional paintings round out her study of the earth-sky relationship.

16” x 16” paintings by 27 area artists

Strolling of the Heifers celebrates the opening of its new art gallery at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden Friday evening, March 7 with a reception to introduce the inaugural exhibit, “16 by 16 by 27”.

Curated by artist Caryn King, the show presents the work of 27 artists, each of whom produced a 16-inch by 16-inch square painting on canvas. The paintings reflect a variety of subjects including still life, figurative, landscape, animals, and abstract. 

Hamlet, performed live at the Latchis, 7:00pm Thursday, February 20.

Just realized this wasn’t in the calendar!

Truly Live at the Latchis, don’t miss this production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a collaboration of  two Tony Award winning companies, The Guthrie Theatre and The Acting Company. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts for his father’s murder, setting him on a journey seeking personal meaning and coming to grips with his own mortality. Published between 1601 and 1603, many believe that Hamlet is the best of Shakespeare’s works and the perfect play. It is certainly one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays.

Guilford, Vt. – On Saturday, February 22, at 3:00 p.m., Friends of Music at Guilford presents “Lucy Terry Prince & The Black Man in Song” at Guilford Community Church (snow date: Feb. 23). Co-sponsored by Guilford Historical Society, this Black History Month event includes a talk by Linda Hecker on early Guilford resident Lucy Terry Prince (1730-1821) and a concert of works by ten African-American composers featuring tenor Irwin Reese and pianist Julia Bady.

African-born Lucy Terry grew up as a slave in the Ebenezer Wells household of Deerfield, Massachusetts. Considered the earliest African-American literary figure, she authored a poem about a 1746 Indian attack on Deerfield that was handed down orally for many years before its first publication. She married Abijah Prince, a free Black man from nearby Northfield, and raised a large family on land they bought in Guilford, Vermont. Lucy’s skills as an orator were legendary.

Human Rights Arts Project in Chile by Namaya, Zoe Kopp, & B 4 Peace Team

The Vermont based artist and poet Namaya,and Zoe Kopp the Program Director for B4 Peace presented a multimedia performance art project at a Peace Park  in Santiago Chile from December 21 through the January 21, 2014^t.  “MEMORIA. HABLAR.DIGNIDAD. 40,” to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the coup d’etat on September 11, 1973 that lead to eighteen years of a brutal dictatorship. 

We are thoroughly enjoying the incredible, culturally rich, and diverse city of Santiago, Chile.  We wake up in the morning surrounded by the snow covered Andean mountains and do our morning yoga to the rising sun.  Some mornings I stroll out to the main square and play my classical guitar.  It is a city of an old and gracious charm, yet it is vibrant with terrific music, dance, art, and performance. 

This has been a time of great transformation and for Zoe and me to focus even more clearly on our B4 Peace and social transformation projects.  We send you the warmth of the Chilean summer and great joy.

The Brattleboro Women’s Chorus agrees with the late, great Pete Seeger that anyone can sing! They invite you to join them for the spring session that will feature American folk songs, both familiar and lesser known, all within the Chorus’s larger theme of music that is spirited and spiritual; in other words, music for the soul.

For the spring concert, the Chorus welcomes back singer/songwriter Lisa McCormick who will accompany on guitar along with other instrumentalists. And as a tribute to Pete Seeger, a sing-along, sixties-era “hootenanny” will be part of the concert.

Brattleboro Film Festival, Media Release
Contact: Lissa Weinmann (917) 239-8743

BRATTLEBORO, Vermont (January 20, 2014): On the heels of a very successful November 2013 event, the Brattleboro Film Festival (BFF) announced the 3rd Annual Brattleboro Film Festival will take place from Thursday October 31 to Sunday November 9, 2014 at the Latchis Theatre in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont.

BFF is a unique, all volunteer-led and -run festival. The 30 films and accompanying events of the 2013 festival were enthusiastically received by more than 2,200 festival-goers. Enough revenue was brought in by attendance to get a strong start to this year’s fundraising effort, which has already commenced.

ON EXHIBIT January/February Lita Judge Children’s Illustrators’ Book Cases, 2nd Floor Hallway Across Children’s Room. 

Lita Judge grew up immersed in all aspects of nature as she lived in remote areas of Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and Wisconsin. Since her grandparents were both wildlife biologists, the summers spent with them included banding hawks and rehabilitating falcons. Read more about Lita’s work HERE. 

ON EXHIBIT January Mia Scheffey’s work in oil paint. Main Room. .

Brattleboro Art Collective, The Future Collective, is announcing its acquisition of a community arts space at 17 Elliot Street in Brattleboro. The collective will use the two-room studio as a not-for-profit art gallery and performance space, as well as for community workshops and other community events and meetings. The Future Collective has been organizing events and fundraising without a space since January of 2012, and is excited by the additional opportunities that having a consistent space will provide. The space will be referred to as “The Future” from here forward.

I recently joined the Blanche Moyse Chorale, a longtime hope and ambition of mine, and discovered that the group is down a few singers. If you are an experienced choral singer, drop me an email and I will put you in touch with the Chorale’s officers for an audition. I just know there are a few fine singers out there who will jump at the chance to join one of the finest select choruses in the region!

COMPANY OF MUSES PRESENTS THE NUTCRACKER AT NEW ENGLAND YOUTH THEATER, DECEMBER 20-22.

Brattleboro, VT — (November 18, 2013) — Tickets are on sale now for the Company of Muses presentation of Brattleboro School of Dance’s The Nutcracker at New England Youth Theater. Show time is 7:00pm on Friday, December 20 and Saturday, December 21, with matinee performances at 1:00pm and 5:00pm on Sunday, December 22.

This marks the first time in seven years that Brattleboro School of Dance students, alumni and faculty will perform a full-scale production of the holiday classic. Since that time, BSD has only presented “Excerpts from the Nutcracker” for friends and family members of its students.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Campaign for The Heavens and The Earth has reached the $550,000 goal!

Recent support from Against the Grain Gourmet, Trust Company of Vermont, and the Cherry Street community – who got together to buy a chair (great idea!) – gave the final push that landed us over the top. Enormous thanks!

What a marvelous accomplishment for our small town, with most of the funding coming from right here at home. And of course, we had help from great friends around the corner in Boston (Thomas Thompson Trust), up the road in Montpelier (State of Vermont, Vermont Arts Council and Vermont Cultural Facilities Coalition), through the woods in Grafton (Windham Foundation)…and a little spur to the south, USDA out of Washington, DC.

Guilford, Vt. — The life and works of Jean Stewart McLean will be celebrated on Saturday, November 2, at Guilford Community Church. The date marks the publication of the author’s collected writing in book form, edited by her son, Don McLean, of Guilford. The 7:30 pm program combines a publication party with performances of her work, presented by Friends of Music at Guilford.

“Sparks” is the title of the new book, the evening’s program, and a musical setting of eleven of the author’s poems, set to music by Don McLean, to be premiered by mezzo-soprano Evelyn McLean.