Artsline || OCTOBER 3, 2022
Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them—
The summer flowers depart—
Sit still— as all transform’d to stone,
Except your musing heart.”
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Autumn
As the summer departs, the fall heats up with plenty of art and culture upon which to muse. Whether you enjoy performance or exhibit, or even if you want to practice your own art, this week has lots of opportunity. From theatre to art openings to music to writing workshops, check out what RVA has to offer!
To list your events on Artsline, go to vpm.org/artsline.
1. RICHMOND FOLK FESTIVAL
Music, Dance, Culture
Friday, October 7 – Sunday, October 9
Richmond's historic riverfront from 2nd to 7th Streets and from Byrd Street to the river, 23219
The Richmond Folk Festival is one of Virginia's largest events, drawing visitors from all over the country to downtown Richmond's historic riverfront. The Festival is a FREE three-day event that features performing groups representing a diverse array of cultural traditions on six stages. No registration required.
2. CULTURED CELL CULTURE
Theatre, Music, Visual Arts
Monday, October 3, 7:30pm
Firehouse Theatre, 1609 West Broad Street, Richmond, 23220
$10 Advance | $15 Day of
Cultured Cell Culture is a live multi-media presentation in the form of a science lecture that includes original music, artwork, and animation created by Cory McAbee. Topics include cell memory in cultured cell meats, monarch butterflies, agricultural reform, proactive approaches to further human evolution, Abraham Lincoln, cruelty-free cannibalism, space aliens, and people who are better than we are. Presented by Firehouse Theatre. Purchase tickets online.
3. AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS
History
Thursday, October 6, 7pm
Historic St. John's Church, 2401 East Broad Street, Richmond, 23223
St. John’s Church Foundation is pleased to announce its fall 2022 Walter W. Craigie Speaker Series speaker: journalist, columnist and 2021 Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Paul Williams, delivering a talk entitled, The Question Remains: Liberty or Death? Purchase tickets online.
4. 20TH ANNUAL JAMES RIVER WRITERS CONFERENCE
Literary Art
Friday, September 30, 7:30pm
Greater Richmond Convention Center, 403 North 3rd Street, Richmond, 23219
Ticket prices vary | Student pricing offered | Scholarships available
James River Writers offers both in-person and online elements for our conference this year, focused on the craft and business of writing. Look forward to lively Master Classes, panel discussions, fun and engaging plenary sessions, and agent one-one-one meetings (standard with your ticket). New this year are private consultation sessions to get personal feedback on some of the most important elements of your writing career – author websites, query letters, synopses, and first pages. Register online.
5. MELISSA ALDANA
Music
Wednesday, October 5, 7pm
Forbes Center for the Performing Arts at JMU, 147 Warsaw Avenue, Harrisonburg, 22801
$16
Chilean-born Melissa Aldana is a Grammy-nominated saxophonist and composer whose playing has “an austere beauty,” with Aldana “as persuasive with long-lined phrases as with a flurry of fast-flying notes.” (Chicago Tribune) Aldana, who released the album 12 Stars in March 2022, will perform a program of jazz standards with members of the Madison Jazz Collective. A CVPA Cultural Connections Artist-in-Residence Event. Purchase tickets online.
6. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
Theatre
Thursday, October 6 – Sunday, October 9, 7:30pm
Saturday, October 8, 2pm
Raymond Hodges Theatre at VCU, 922 Park Ave, Richmond, 23284
$5-$15
Subtitled, “A trivial comedy for serious people”, The Importance of Being Earnest is full of dazzling wordplay and hilariously unlikely situations. The story follows a group of people in high society London in the late nineteenth century. Two bachelors, John ‘Jack’ Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff both create alter egos under the name of Ernest, and each attempt to win the heart of a woman (who conveniently claim to only love men called Ernest). They struggle to keep their stories straight, and as chaos ensues, they find themselves tangled in a tale of deception, disguise, and misadventure. The audience is forced to ask - will these men ever find out the vital importance of being earnest? Presented by VCUArts Theatre. Purchase tickets online.
7. STORIED STRINGS: THE GUITAR IN AMERICAN ART
Visual Art, Music
Saturday, October 8, 2022 – Sunday, March 19, 2023
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, 23220
$16 Adults | $12 Seniors | $10 Youth 7-17 & College Students
Free for members, children under 6, and active-duty military & their families
Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art is the first exhibition to explore the instrument’s symbolism in American art from the early 19th century to the present day. Featuring 125 works of art, as well as 35 musical instruments, the exhibition will demonstrate that guitars figure prominently in the visual stories Americans tell themselves about themselves—their histories, identities, and aspirations. Purchase tickets online.
8. LA COMPARSA DE KADENCIA (KADENCIA SMALL ENSEMBLE)
Music
Saturday, October 8, 7:30pm
Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education 11810 Centre Street, Chester, 23831
$10-$20
The Perkinson Center is excited to present La comparsa de Kadencia to the Jimmy Dean Theater! Get up and dance to the amazing sounds of the smaller edition of Kadencia, the resident orchestra of the Perk! Kadencia has a smaller ensemble known as a “comparsa” that plays original and classic Bomba and Plena in its traditional percussive format. The band delivers heavy-hitting original music and uses Bomba, Plena, and Salsa to promulgate Puerto Rican culture, educate audiences on the Island’s native musical expressions, and make audiences move in ways they never knew possible. Purchase tickets online.
9. NOAH SIMBLIST: WHAT DO WE HOLD IN COMMON? EXPLORATIONS OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL NOTIONS OF COMMUNITY
Visual Art
Tuesday, October 4, 5:30pm
Online and at the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU, 601 West Broad Street, Richmond, 23220
The ICA at VCU brings a presentation examining projects that address different definitions of community, including Tania Bruguera: The Francis Effect. This book is about the noted Cuban artist/activist’s project in which Bruguera requests that the pope grants Vatican City citizenship to all immigrants and refugees. The icon of Bruguera’s project was the Pangea, a symbol of the world that becomes one land mass where the borders between nation states are blurred. Registration required for virtual access. No registration required for the in-person event.
10. HIGHLIGHTS OF HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY WALKING TOUR
History
Sunday, October 9, 2pm
Hollywood Cemetery, 412 South Cherry Street, Richmond, 23220
$20 Adult | $10 Members | Under 18 Free
On a spectacular bluff overlooking the James River, Hollywood Cemetery has been the final resting place of some of Virginia’s most prominent citizens since 1847. Join the experienced guides from The Valentine as they explore the graves of rebels and rockers, politicians and Pulitzer Prize winners, and, of course, two U.S. presidents: James Monroe and John Tyler. Also, learn about the 18,000 Civil War dead buried in Hollywood and the cemetery’s complicated legacy as a shrine to the Confederacy. Purchase tickets online.
11. FIRST FRIDAYS EXHIBIT AT THE RICHMOND PUBLIC LIBRARY
Visual Arts
Reception Friday, October 7, 6:30pm
Main Branch, Richmond Public Library, 101 East Franklin St., Richmond, 23219
The Richmond Public Library’s Main Branch offers three new exhibits for First Fridays RVA: "Richmond's nature as Sanctuary" by Richmond artist and international award-winning documentary photographer Pedro Ledesma III; "Retrospective" with works of the last two years from Elizabeth Evans; "Flower Fantasy" featuring dreamy and iridescent acrylics by Richmond-based Ukrainian-American Olga Rokhmanyuk. No registration required for this free event.
12. LITERARY AWARDS PANEL DISCUSSION | POETRY
Poetry, Literary Art
Thursday, October 6, 6pm
Online
Join the Library of Virginia live on Facebook or YouTube as Virginia author and executive director of James Madison University's Furious Flower Poetry Center Lauren Alleyne moderates a discussion with poetry award finalists Sandra Beasley, author of Made to Explode; Rita Dove, author of Playlist for the Apocalypse; and Tina Parker, author of Lock Her Up. The panel discussions continue on Oct. 12 with the Nonfiction Discussion Panel. The winners will be announced during the Literary Awards Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022.
If you are an arts or cultural organization with lectures, exhibitions, performances, or even book readings, submit your events to Artsline here.
If you are an artist or an arts or cultural organization in need of resources and tools, check out the list of local and national resources from Richmond CultureWorks.
The Forbes Center for the Performing Arts at JMU, the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU, the Library of Virginia, VCU School of the Arts, The Valentine and Venture Richmond are sponsors of VPM.
