Is it too soon to think about the weekend? Arts Council Marketing Director Jennifer Gelband offers her top five arts picks for this week (there's a bonus this time around!), 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.
ARK/\HIVE Opening Reception, March 8, 6-8 p.m., The Institute Library.
The Gallery Upstairs at the Institute Library, with its mission to present contemporary art relating to words, is proud to present ARK/\HIVE, an exhibit that looks at preserving and examining nature via ark, zoo, library, archive, and collection -- in other words: enclosures for sampling the natural world, to be looked at, categorized, examined, admired, or protected. Contemporary art, historical specimens, and publications intermingle to create an exhibition that ponders ideas about diversity, life, death, and extinction.
ARK/\HIVE offers seventeen artists' reflections on containing and documenting life itself and consists of books, photography, assemblage, painting, printmaking, collage, drawing, sculptural objects, sound works, music, and specimens.
Register for the opening reception: insitutelibrary.org or (203)562-4045.
Guilford Poets Guild: Dick Allen Memorial Tribute, March 8, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Guilford Free Library.
Dick Allen, former Connecticut Poet Laureate (2010-2015) passed away on Christmas Day at the age of 78. In the spirit of gratitude and celebration of his life and his poetry. Bring your own poem to share during the open mic, open to accomplished and aspiring poets of all ages wishing to present one original composition to a live audience.
This program is free and open to all. Refreshments served.
More info: guilfordpoetsguild.org
Yale Concert Band Performs “Ask the Sky and the Earth," March 8, 7:30 p.m., Woolsey Hall.
The Yale Concert Band and the SYGQ Chorus will present “Ask the Sky and the Earth: An Oratorio Cantata for the Sent-down Youth” for wind band and chorus to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the “sent-down youth” movement of China’s Cultural Revolution. The Yale Concert Band also will present Thomas C. Duffy’s “Three Places in New Haven.”
Free admission. More info: (203) 432-4111.
The Haven String Quartet's “Pushing Boundaries: Women Who Compose,” March 10, 7:30 p.m., The Unitarian Society of New Haven, Hamden.
A full concert program of works by women in celebration of International Women’s Day. Works by men traditionally dominate concert programs in the classical music world. One study undertaken by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gathered data about the 2014-2015 season from 21 of the largest orchestras in the U.S. and found that 9 out of 10 pieces programmed were written by men. Even when selecting just by works by living composers, more than 85% of works played were written by men.
“Pushing Boundaries: Women Who Compose” will feature the Haven String Quartet along with Music Haven Resident Violinist Patrick Doane, and special guest artist, pianist Andruis Zlabys, playing works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-1847), Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), and living composers, Jennifer Higdon (USA) and Aleksandra Vrebalov (Serbia).
It will be followed by a reception with the musicians.
Tickets: $25, $10 for students and Unitarian Society of New Haven members. More information at https://www.musichavenct.org/chamberseriesevents
Madame Thalia Returns, March 10, 5:30 p.m., Lotta Studio
Madame Thalia is going for a walk about this year, so join us at our first stop with a hootenanny at Lotta Studio! Burlesque Performer Vivienne LaFlamme will be joining us for a trip back to the 1930s! Gretchen Frazier, Sarah LeMieux, and Adam Matlock will constitute this show's musical backbone, with vocalists Marvin Pittman and Zohra Rawling adding their own unique flair on this eras cultural and economic experience. Puppeteer Anatar Marmol-Gagné joins us once again, and rounding out this show are the amusing anecdotes that pepper every
Madame Thalia performance.
Join us in the 1930s where there may not be a chicken in every pot, but there are a great many delicious choices at Lotta Studio's coffee bar. As always, dress for the times if you are so inclined! Whether that be dressing to the nines full of Hollywood Glamour or trying out your
brand-new flour sack dress pattern. We want to see it all!
More information at: https://www.artful.ly/store/events/14501
The International Tour for Arts and Culture Info Meeting, March 12, 5:30 p.m., ACES ECA Arts Hall.
ACES Educational Center and ACES INTERNATIONAL in collaboration with The Arts Council of Greater New Haven are pleased to offer an exclusive transnational arts and culture tour to China for those seeking enrichment, growth and adventure. The all-inclusive tour, scheduled May 14-27, 2019.
The trip is a journey through thousands of years of history and art to destinations steeped with magical nuance. So much more than a country, China is a fascinating world unto itself. With six key destinations across China, participants will be inspired as this travel experience is comprehensive, well-maneuvered and led by ECA director Jason Hiruo.
The cost of the trip is $4,550 per participant for a double occupancy room. It is all inclusive and includes stops in Suzhou, Chengdu, Xian, Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, with an optional extended stay in Hong Kong through May 29.