If it’s almost fall, and that means it’s almost time for lotsa art
Even with our recent 72-page “State of the Arts” issue, we couldn’t include everything that’s happening or about to happen in the pulsating local arts community. So this week, we’re going to update you on several other be-there events and things you need to know. As in:
On Sept. 1 at 10 a.m., “Anchors,” the 65-foot monumental sculpture by Peter Lundberg will be tilted up from the ground at the Sculpture Fields on the Southside. Created to honor the five service members who died in the July 16 attacks, the sculpture will be pulled into place by a 300-foot crane.
The public is invited to the event, which will also give you a first glimpse of the evolving Sculpture Fields project, is located along Polk Street between E. 23rd and Main Sts. The 33-acre park will be open to the public beginning weekends in November, with a grand opening scheduled for spring 2016. Stay tuned.
Fans of the Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga (ETC) have likely missed its presence in the theater scene, as the company was re-locating from its former Eastgate Town Center digs to its new home in the Highland Center in Brainerd (which also houses Shakespeare Chattanooga).
But fear not! ETC ramps up again when it opens its production of the musical “VIOLET” on Sept. 10, running through Sept. 27. Written by Jeanine Tesori with lyrics and book by Brian Crawley, the musical is based on the short story “The Ugliest Pilgrim,” and deals with a young woman who suffers a disfiguring accident when she’s young. She travels via Greyhound bus to find a televangelist she believes can heal her.
For more information, contact ETC at (423) 987-5141 or garryposey@gmail.com.
Meanwhile, those busy literate bees at the Southern Lit Alliance have announced the Young Readers Book Festival, taking place on June 4, 2106. It’s never too early to save the day for the all-day celebration of reading, writing, and authors at the Public Library downtown on Broad Street.
But there are a couple of much earlier dates that the young creatives in your house will want to know about. A citywide poster art contest to select the graphics and name of the brand-new venture is open to students K-12 with a submission deadline of Thursday, Oct. 1.
Even before that deadline, the SLA is developing an “intern team” of grade 9-12 students to develop a marketing strategy for the event, which is accepting applications through Friday, Sept. 11.
For more information on the event, the poster contest, and the intern team, contact So Lit Program Director Rhett Reeves at rhett@solitalliance.org.
You didn’t think we’d forgotten the Patten Performances Series, did you? Never! Get your blood moving with the stirring Nagata Shachu Japanese drum ensemble, heating up UTC’s Fine Arts Center on Sept. 15. If you do not respond to taiko, you don’t have a pulse, is what I say. (Pun or no pun.) The ensemble will perform on the huge O-Daiko drums, as well as wooden clappers, gongs and bells.
Tickets and more info at utc.edu/fine-arts-center/pattenperformances
There’s been a passing of the torch at Ballet Tennessee. In June, Anna Baker-VanCura gifted the Ballet Conservancy to Ballet Tennessee.
Along with this, two full-time staff positions were created: Brittany Johnson-Mills is now both a full-time artist with the company and the new program administrator, and Hannah Locke continues as dancer/instructor but also has taken over as ballet administrator.
In addition, Victoria VanCura has been promoted to associate director of Ballet Tennessee. Support the company by attending the Sept. 17 6 p.m. screening of the WTCI documentary “From the Streets to the Stage,” featuring the story of BT alumnus Fredrick Davis, at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center.
For more information, visit ballettennessee.org