News Roundup – Arts Events Go Virtual
While most of us are “sheltering in place” and working from home, arts organizations are trying to reinvent the way they interact with audiences by reaching out to patrons online. So, there is actually quite a bit to explore this weekend.
The Briscoe Western Art Museum is leading the way with its annual Night of Artists Exhibition and Art Sale, a nationally recognized Western art auction/celebration which will happen exclusively online this year. Normally a ticketed event for artists and collectors, the 2020 exhibition, opening March 27, will be accessible to all in the Briscoe’s online gallery www.briscoemuseum.org/night-of-artists
More than 300 new works by 80 prominent Western artists will be available to view and purchase. “The wide range of artworks and art genres included in Night of the Artists reflects the vastness of the great American West,” notes the press release, and indeed, the themes, styles and range of media cover a lot of territory. Many of the featured artists participated in this showcase in previous years but quite a few are new contributors, including Bruce Cheever, William Haskell, Marl McKenna, Jason Rich, Mian Situ and others. The event is a fundraiser for the museum that helps support exhibitions and educational programs throughout the year – and the prices reflect that. But even if you are not ready to buy art, the online gallery is a wonderful opportunity to see the story of the legendary American West reinterpreted through both traditional and quite novel artistic points of view. The exhibit will be on view through July 26.
Music, too, is moving online. Last week we told you about the Agarita Chamber Players, a quartet of enterprising young musicians, who put their first concert online for everyone to enjoy. Well, they are doing it again, this time it’s their recent concert “Stanzas of Sound,” a collaboration with poet Laura Van Prooyen. It’s beautiful music by talented artists. To listen go to www.agarita.org/media
The Cactus Pear Music Festival folks are doing something similar. To “let the healing balm of music soothe your spirit” they are offering selections from last summer’s festival performances on their website. The current one: “I’ll Bid My Heart Be Still” by Rebecca Clarke, performed by violist Bruce Williams and pianist Jeffrey Sykes.
And Musical Bridges Around the World is following suit with a big plan to broadcast Musical Evenings at the San Fernando Cathedral on their originally planned dates, allowing audiences to watch and listen from “the comfort and safety of their own homes.” Right now, you can go on MBAW site and enjoy the great piano performances recorded recently during the Gurwitz 2020 International Piano Competition. It’s definitely worth your time. These performers are stellar pianists.
Though known for the great music and musicians they bring to town, MBAW also has a visual arts gallery on the premises, and they will soon be offering virtual tours of their exhibitions.
The downtown-based visual arts nonprofit, Artpace, has virtual programs in the making, too. As they put it, their “team is working endlessly to bring Artpace to you.” To help you stay connected and creative, Artpace is offering a series of online workshops inspired by former Artpace artists. The first will teach you how to create your own “zine,” short for magazine, which they describe as a “self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images.” Themes and content are up to you.(www.artpace.org/education/zine-making-with-artpace) Artpace also invites you to explore their education archives for fun activities to do with the kids, www.artpace.org/home/archives
San Antonio theaters have all closed their doors for the foreseeable future, but there will be at least one Zoom presentation this Saturday, March 28, sponsored by the Public Theater as the first offering of its reading series of new works called The Public Potentials.
The play, “Bufflehead Bay” by San Antonio’s best-known playwright, Sheila Rinear, is about a woman who returns to her hometown after a disastrous storm and “discovers that what needs the most restoration is her own life.” (Saturday at 7:30 p.m. You do need to register at https://bit.ly/33Lryj6