Arty-Gras! comes to Milledgeville
Georgia College & State University and the Milledgeville community welcome Arty-Gras!, the Milledgeville Community Arts Festival, to town.
This event, which began Thursday evening, will continue through Sunday, March 21. This is the first year of the festival, and a variety of events are scheduled for the weekend.
The festival commenced Thursday with a community mural inauguration involving Habitat for Humanity, a poetry reading by Guillermo G?mez-Pe?a, performances by the GC&SU concert band in Russell Auditorium and Melodious Ground, an Athens- based band, at Amici’s.
“If you feel feisty by all of the singing, you just might want to catch a presentation by the Georgia Independent Wrestling Alliance featuring Emperor Oko Nono,” said Lou on the info page. “Bring your children to see Harambee, the African Dance Troupe, or maybe they are interested in some experimental video shown at some of our local restaurants.”
Friday, the festival continues with a wide range of activities, including an art exhibit reception and art talk with Robert Sanchez in Blackbridge Hall, a performance by the Max Noah Singers in Max Noah Hall and “Directions of the Heart,” two one-act plays combined with sassy love songs performed by The Milledgeville Players at Allen’s Market. “Directions of the Heart” contains adult content and is not recommended for children. Admission is $5 for this event.
On Saturday, the fun begins with “Artyscovery Center,” where children and others who are interested will have a chance to make their own art. These art activities include a progressive mural, hand painting, splatter painting, potato prints, screen-printing and a chance to make a video. Choral performances, one-act plays, poetry readings, dance performances and more fill the afternoon and evening.
On Sunday, the festival will come to a close with a performance in Russell Auditorium by the Double-Edge Dance and Music Company, Dayenu Dance and Blake Dalton. The performance will feature the collaborative work of composer/musician Ross Feller and choreographer/dancer Kora Radella. The concert will begin at 2 p.m. and admission is free.
The idea for Arty-Gras! originated in the fall of 2002 at a meeting where a proposal to begin a community-based arts festival to be situated somewhere in downtown Milledgeville was discussed. The premise for the festival was to intermingle popular culture and contemporary art. Also proposed was the idea to place art events at non-traditional venues so that places of business might become galleries, streets might become stages, and parking decks might become concert halls. The purpose was to gather the cultural programmers of Baldwin County to create a sense of community. This collection of programmers used their respective resources and support systems to tie together a series of events for the festival weekend and to have the events centrally located in and around the downtown area.
“The festival could not have occurred without the dedication and hard work from the organizing committee,” said Lou on the info page.
For more information about Arty-Gras! and for specific times and locations for all of the festival events, please visit the Arty-Gras! website at http://artygras.info. If you have any questions, please contact Richard Lou, chair of the art department at 478-445-4572.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Mar 19 2004. Filed under Other.
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