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Is it too soon to think about the weekend? Arts Council Marketing Director Jennifer Gelband offers her top five arts picks for this week, going into next. These come from our member organizations and are also featured in The Arts Council's weekly newsletter. To subscribe to that, click here.
The Commons | Feb. 22, 5-9 p.m. | Bregamos Community Theater
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven (that's us!) is hosting a new event series in partnership with creative firm Breakfast Lunch & Dinner. The series, FREE and open to the public, will be a monthly collision of arts, culture, and community at rotating venues throughout Greater New Haven. Each event will bring Greater New Haven’s various creative communities together to create new friendships, bonds and spark future creative collaborations.
All events in the series will feature various forms of local music, artistic demonstrations, and the chance to share a fantastic evening of drink and food with other members of the New Haven community.
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/163361827722841/
The Gift of Frederick Douglass, Feb. 22, 3 p.m. Quinnipiac University
A discussion featuring two descendants of the famed abolitionist leader, hosted by Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute and the Center for Religion, is part of a series of events celebrating the 200th anniversary of Fredrick Douglass’ birth and his many achievements. Kenneth Morris and Nettie Douglass, descendants of Frederick Douglass, will discuss how they are preserving his legacy. Morris is the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass and the great-great grandson of Booker T. Washington. His mother, Nettie Washington Douglass, is the daughter of Nettie Hancock Washington (granddaughter of Booker T. Washington) and Dr. Frederick Douglass III (great-grandson of Frederick Douglass).
A smaller exhibition, which features a statue of Douglass at age 27 when he visited Ireland, is on display in the School of Law lobby on Quinnipiac’s North Haven Campus. The statue is on loan from acclaimed sculptor Andrew Edwards. Both exhibits are free and open to the public 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Sat, 12-5 p.m. Sundays.
More info: QU.edu
Sunset Baby | Thursday-Sundays Feb. 22-Mar. 11 | Collective Consciousness Theatre
Kenyatta Shakur is alone. His wife has died, and this former Black Revolutionary and political prisoner is desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Nina. If Kenyatta truly wants to reconcile his past, he must first conquer his most challenging revolution of all – fatherhood. Sunset Baby is an energized, vibrant, and witty look at the point where the personal and political collide.
More info: socialchangetheatre.ticketleap.com/sunsetbaby. Thursday night is pay-what-you-can at the door.
Whimsical Art Works by John Fleming | Feb. 23-Mar. 11 | Guilford Art Center | Opening reception Feb. 23, 5-7 p.m.
Check out this special show. Works by the late John Fleming, a prolific artist who studied for many years at Guilford Art Center, will be featured in an exhibition that focuses on Fleming’s watercolors, many created in classes at the GAC with instructor Joan Downey. It will also include a selection of Fleming’s found-object sculptures. Both communicate unique stories of the artist’s life in colorful and creative ways.
Fleming’s works have been donated to benefit the mission of GAC and will be available for purchase during the Exhibition. The reception and the exhibition are free and open to the public. More info: www.guilfordartcenter.org or (203) 453-5947.
ArtSpeaks: Women, Workplaces, and The Arts | Feb. 27, 6:30-8:30 p.m. | Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (ConnCAT)
Keep the conversation going. The Arts Council hosts a free panel discussion In the wake of #MeToo—both as it hits New Haven and more broadly—we are digging in and exploring what workplace harassment, discrimination, and bias look like locally, across arts fields. This is the first ArtSpeaks, a series of discussions on community and the arts.
The Arts Paper editor Lucy Gellman in conversation with actor Malia West, chef Nadine Nelson, classical musician Annalisa Boerner and photographer Luciana Q. McClure.