BRATTLEBORO — For the second year in a row, the Arts Council of Windham County will create a regional celebration of the arts, this year with an emphasis on performing arts.
ARTstravanza, on Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, will let the region “experience the fabulous variety of performance art our community wants to share with you,” writes Arts Council President Shanta Lee Gander.
As part of the celebration, on Sunday, May 7, artists from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts will gather in Keene, N.H. for the first Artist Congress for Creative Change-Making, a free event to explore the question “How might we - as artists, art lovers, and creatives - collaborate to make change?”
Friday
• The New England Center for Circus Arts (necenterforcircusarts.org) will be about town, presenting impromptu antics and performances such as strolling clowns, characters, stilt walkers, jugglers, and acrobats. Students are in preparation for their Professional Training Program graduation show that runs May 13–20.
• A Polynesian Dancer, Waipiolani, will perform ori tahiti - the fast-shaking hips of the Islands.
• Black Jack Crossing will play live music at Turn It Up!, and Deep Seize will do so at In The Moment Records.
• Acro-yoga takes place in the windows of Pamela Moore Bridals at 133 Main St.
• Living glass blowing presented at Josh and Marta Bernbaum of JMB Glass at the Brook.
• Live music by members of Spirit Collective will start at the Brooks House (tunnel area in the Harmony Lot) and also on the patio of the River Rock Collective (51 Main St.).
• Concert and spoken word presentations on the Whetstone Pathway (in the parking lot of the Brattleboro Food Co-op) in ARTstravaganza's Open Air and Open Mic, 4:30–9 p.m., will feature spoken word by Michelle R. White (4:30 p.m.); Al Amal, belly dancing (5-6 p.m.); and Michael McKinne and Matt Brewer of Wyld Nightz Band (6-7 p.m.)
Saturday
• Open Air and Open Mic continues, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., with performances by Ken Rokicki, guitar (noon) and Gudrun Weeks, violin (1 p.m.).
Other Saturday slots for performing are available; contact John Wilmerding at wilmerding@myfairpoint.net.
Sunday
On Sunday, May 7, the Artist Congress for Creative Change-Making takes place in Keene, N.H. at the Colonial Theater, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The event is free.
Anyone who is interested in forging new ties and efforts to take action for changing the world as a creative community is welcome.
“Study after study shows that it increases program effectiveness to integrate arts into healing, community building, and education,” said one of the event partners, Arts Alive! Executive Director Jessica Gelter.
“We want to give artists the opportunity to explore together how their work can be used for community good and change,” she added.
In addition to Arts Alive!, organizations collaborating on the event include the Arts Council of Windham County, artist and organizer Stephen Dotson of Putney, and the Asian Cultural Center of Vermont, based in Brattleboro.