Family Arts Festival
by Julie Glaser, Tucson Pima Arts Council
hat do reptiles, puppets, Irish step dancers, and painted furniture have in common? They all will be on display at the Family Arts Festival, Tucson’s premier, free, annual celebration of arts and culture, on January 16, 2005. Coordinated by the Tucson Pima Arts Council, the festival features over 100 artists and art groups performing and exhibiting their work in the heart of downtown, from the Tucson Convention Center through La Placita Village to El Presidio Park.
The mission of the Family Arts Festival is to “provide interactive, multicultural and multidisciplinary arts experiences for all ages and to showcase a diversity of artists in an accessible setting in the heart of Downtown Tucson.” As Pima County is home to many of the world’s cultures, the festival is an excellent opportunity to experience music, dance, and visual art from around the globe.
What can you expect to see at the festival? Ongoing live performances of groups from Poland, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, Brazil, Greece, Spain and more. Artists, craft demonstrations and food from around the world. Special activities for children – storytellers, face painting, and an arts and science exploration where kids can make nature prints, pottery and see live bird and reptile demonstrations.
A highlight this year will be the new “Lights, Camera, Action! Showcase,” featuring eight hours of short films oriented to family audiences, most by local filmmakers or presented by local media nonprofits. Participating groups include the Jewish Film Festival, Reel Inspiration, and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) Tucson Chapter.
Last year’s festival drew over 15,000 residents and visitors and the organizers expect an even bigger crowd this year. Bring your friends and kids and enjoy eight hours of non-stop entertainment and hands-on activities for the whole family!
Bravo!
by Gene Armstrong
ow about a little NEW ART to kick off the new year?
The 7-year-old professional modern dance company NEW ARTiculations starts 2005 with a typically ambitious concert, titled Works of Art, to be presented at 8 p.m. Jan. 28 and 29 in the Proscenium Theatre at the Pima Community Center for Arts, 2202 Anklam Road. It’s only a few minutes from Downtown.
And if you think you have a lot of distractions at work, just be glad you aren’t NEW ART co-director Tammy Rosen. She will dance a solo – an excerpt from company member April Greengaard’s “Origin” – while six months pregnant.
“It’s been really interesting,” Rosen said recently, about five months into the pregnancy. “Things change weekly with me. Sometimes I’m a little surprised, some things get harder to do and some things get easier. For instance, the bigger belly adds some centrifugal force to the turns and I have to catch myself sooner. It’s a new discovery process every day until the days I perform it.”
Rosen will also perform a piece with movement and text about the process of being pregnant when she appears as a guest artist at the ZUZI! Dance Company’s No Frills concert in February.
But back to the NEW ART performance: Rosen said the concert will feature several other pieces of varying lengths and themes. There will be Rosen’s “Caged,” in which dancers will perform aggressively, as if trapped animals trying to protect themselves. A cargo net at the back of the stage will provide different planes on which dancers can climb and swing.
Rangel’s contribution to the show will be “Jilted,” for which the choreographer will draw on an ongoing fascination. Rangel is “very fascinating with the tragedy of jilted brides in the 19th century and the ghost stories about them haunting places where they lived,” Rosen said.
Also on the bill will be works choreographed by NEW ART regulars Nathan Dryden, Heather Haeger and Jamie Jennette and Amy Barr. NEW ART often has played host to guest artists, among them dancer-choreographers from the troupes of Merce Cunningham and Bill T. Jones.
This time around, Randy James, who directs his own company in New York City, has set one of his pieces, “With Waves at My Back,” on the NEW ART dancers.
Tickets to Works of Art cost $10 or $12 to students, senior citizens or when purchased in advance. They’ll be $12 and $14 for general admission at the door. Call 882-0318 for more information.
NEW ARTiculations also is one of many performing arts groups that will perform during the Tucson-Pima Arts Council’s free, annual Family Arts Festival, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 16. The eight-hour event will celebrate Tucson’s rich arts and cultural heritage with performances throughout the public spaces in the heart of Downtown – from the Tucson Convention Center through La Placita Village and across the Congress Street footbridge into El Presidio Park.
Six stages will boast more than 100 performers ranging from Middle-Eastern to folkloric dance, local bands to Hungarian folk music. Naturally, the event will include a multitude of arts and crafts vendors and food booths. Call 624-0595, ext. 19, for details, or to volunteer.
Not enough for you, eh?
A contemporary master of physical comedy, Geoff Hoyle, meets classic French farce in Arizona Theatre Company’s For Better or Worse, which runs Jan. 15 through Feb. 15 at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. This adaptation of two Georges Feydeau one-act plays will be helmed by ATC’s artistic director, David Ira Goldstein. Tickets range in price from $26 to $44. Call 622-2823 for the lowdown.
Also, don’t forget the Old Pueblo Playwrights’ 12th Annual New Play Festival, which will inhabit the Cabaret Theatre at the Temple of Music and Art Jan. 30 through Feb. 1. Details are still being formulated at press time, but the event will include staged readings of fresh works by local playwrights Brett Primack, Adrienne Perry, Joan Van Dyke, Ry Herman and Gavin Kayner. Need more info? Write OPP president Hal Melfi at hal.lostriver@juno.com.
Arts
Because embroidery is a labor-intensive medium, being able to use digital techniques has made a big difference for Ellegood. As he says, “It’s something that I’ve done the old-fashioned way with pen and pencil, but computers have freed me up to do a lot more. It’s a really great tool, and every little bit of time I can save on the artistic process, I can put more of that same time into production.”