Sharing our wealth of arts and culture. We're having an ARTS BLAST!

Create Your Own Constant Contact Newsletter!

It's that time of year when I remind readers, wherever you are, to shop local, shop the arts, and shop with love. For Arts Blasters up north, out west, across the pond, or maybe even in space -- Lots of local arts groups, non-profits, and small businesses have online shops, so you don't have to be physically on the Treasure or Space Coast to support them!

I had what I thought was a brilliant, ah-ha idea while online buying my ticket for Ballet Vero Beach's Nutcracker on the Indian River. One of the options was a ticket to watch the video performance online days after the live event at Tree House Vero Beach. Since many winter residents and visitors won't arrive until after Christmas, wouldn't a ticket to watch the taped performance be a great gift? Maybe it wasn't an original idea but I think it's a terrific one! If you had it first, good you!

With five weeks until the big day, I'm up for sharing some original gift giving ideas in Arts Blast.

Arts Blast on the Air is more than an audible version of Willi Miller's Arts Blast, as you'll discover when you click on a show link. The weekly podcast and radio show offers interviews with people active in the arts locally, regionally, and nationally. The addition of an early-release downloadable podcast is an exciting step for Willi Miller's Arts Blast and it would not be possible without our great sponsors, Riverside Theatre and Ballet Vero Beach, collaborator Donna Roberts Mitchell, and tech guy, Jesse Kriske. Thanks for listening! CATCH THE PODCAST ONLINE. For information on advertising in Arts Blast on the Air, contact Donna.

Bookmark On the Calendar at WilliMiller.com for frequent updates. Calls for Artists, Auditions, & Volunteers are now online.

Can't read this email? Click here to View as Webpage

If you have an arts-related event coming up, scroll down for information on submitting it for a free basic listing. Limited advertising is available. PLEASE use that format!

Arts Blast wants information about arts-related scholarships for the Scholarships page on our website. Send me what you have, making sure to include a deadline for applying and a link to detailed information.

Plan your season with Arts Blast's calendar

The Arts Blast Really Huge On the Calendar is online with new entries almost every day!

Check willimiller.com for Auditions, Volunteer Needs, Calls for Artists

Unity Artist Series presents its 'Thanksgiving Inspirational Concert' featuring vocalist and pianist Dolores Mark on November 21, 4 p.m., at Unity Spiritual Center. This will be a fundraising event; all proceeds will be donated to the Gifford Youth Orchestra to benefit their fabulous learning curriculum.

Mark, music director at St. Helen Catholic Church, has been singing since her first school production in 2nd grade. She now has three CDs to her credit, 'Joy to the World,' 'The Gift of Love,' and her most recent, 'For Sentimental Reasons.” Local audiences have heard her performing with Jerry and the Dolls, a golden-oldies group that got hit hard by the pandemic, as venues were forced to cancel events for more than a year. Mark also sings with the Vero Beach choral Society and the Treasure Coast Chorale, and will participate in the Messiah event at First Baptist Church Vero Beach in December.

Unity Spiritual Center, 950 43rd Avenue in Vero Beach. 'Thanksgiving Inspirational Concert' is free and open to the public with a suggested donation of $10. Limited Seating. Reservations are available at unityevents.org.

From First Baptist Church of Vero Beach:

Participating will be First Baptist's church choirs and people from choirs all over the area including the Treasure Coast Chorale.

First Baptist Church of Vero Beach * 2206 16^th Avenue * Vero Beach, FL 32960

Last year, the pandemic took away many of our seasonal traditions, including the concert series at Christ by the Sea United Methodist Church in Vero Beach. But that was last season. Director of Worship Arts Marcos Flores has brought it back with a series that begins with a piano and guitar concert. He will be joined by classical guitarist Miguel Bonachea November 21 at 3 p.m.

The program includes "exciting and flavored music by giants of different music genres ... Scott Joplin, Albéniz, Piazzolla, Granados, Tárrega, Fernando Sor, and Gottschalk." The two musicians collaborated on the program, but "Miguel had the priority to propose the Solo Guitar and the Guitar/Piano duet works. As the Artistic Director of our Christ By The Sea Concert Series, I like to welcome the input of our guest featured artists."

Flores described the effect of Covid: "We stopped our entire concert season and indoor worship services at Christ By The Sea on early Spring 2020. Instead, we continued streaming our worship services, then holding services outdoors in our parking lot, and by Mother’s Day 2021 we finally resumed our indoor worship services continually."

The Christmas Cantata at Christ by the Sea is scheduled for Dec. 18, at 4:30 and 7 p.m. "... a full musical production with a mixed choir, a full orchestra, liturgical dancers, a living children’s manger, and uplifting narration!" Free admission but a free-will offering will be appreciated.

For tickets: online, at the church office, and at the door.

Space Coast Symphony Orchestra's Aaron Collins brings back "Ireland's most exciting young tenor," Emmet Cahill, to local audiences November 27 and 28. Cahill took time while on tour for a quick Q&A for Arts Blast.

Tickets at SpaceCoastSymphony.org 

If you missed the FREE virtual program Land of the Gnomes, you didn't really miss it! Find a link on the Space Coast Symphony's website. The program features an original story by

Michele W. Campanelli. Land of Gnomes, with music from Aladdin, How to Train Your Dragon, Up, Rise of the Guardians, and more, tells the story of Mr. Maelzel and the discovery of a spectacular rhythm machine called the Metronome. Conductor Aaron Collins presents a conducting lesson to the viewers as well! The online production was produced by Great Scott Productions with artwork by Angela Moretti and narration from Eric Pinder.

For the fifth consecutive year, more than 1,650 museum stores representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 24 countries, and five continents will offer inspired shopping at museums and cultural institutions during Museum Store Sunday. The Museum Store at the Vero Beach Museum of Art is thrilled to participate in this signature annual initiative and join museum stores worldwide by offering unique gifts for the holiday season—with all purchases supporting its parent institution. 

Shoppers can look forward to Museum Store Sunday as the global annual day to Be a Patron – and shop conscientiously and support museum stores and their missions worldwide. While there is only one Museum Store Sunday each year, everyone is encouraged to Be a Patron of museums and museum stores all year round. 

For more information about the Vero Beach Museum of Art, please check the website www.vbmuseum.org. The VBMA Museum Store is open Tuesday – Saturday 10 am – 4:30 pm, and Sunday 1 pm – 4 pm.

Find a participating museum store online.

Brevard Symphony Orchestra brings the Brevard Community Chorus and soprano Amy Cofield to the King Center Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. for Sounds of the Season.

Okay, it isn't Christmasy but these guys are too big to ignore and a great activity for visiting kids.

McKee Botanical Garden presents Dinosaurs Around the World: The Great Outdoors from Saturday, November 20, 2021 through Sunday, May 1, 2022. In this specially constructed outdoor version of the popular Dinosaurs Around the World exhibition, visitors will be whisked back in time on a dinosaur adventure and a tour of an Earth that’s very different from the one we inhabit today. Travel back to the time before the continents as we know them existed, when arid deserts covered Brazil and polar darkness was the norm in Australia! With advanced animatronics, a multi-layered narrative, cutting-edge research, in an outdoor environment surrounded by nature, you’ll experience the Age of Reptiles brought back to life! 

Dance tickets are $15 (includes processing fee) and are available only online at the band’s web site: www.MelbourneMunicipalBand.org or at the door. For more information, contact the Dance Hotline at 321-339-7705. 

The dance is BYOB. Snacks and mixers will be available for purchase. Those who would like to brush up on dancing skills can do so from 6 to 7 p.m., when Chris Marcelle offers lessons (www.spacecoastdance.net). The fee for lessons is $5, payable to the instructor. 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is at Titusville Playhouse through December 19.

How do you know someone loves you (in this case, Vero Beach is the object of his affection)? When a guy is booked for a concert in Miami and decides on his own to add a side gig in Vero Beach. Hey, as long as you're in Florida ....

For more than a decade, cellist Mike Block has been spending part of every year (not counting having to sit out a pandemic) in Vero Beach, developing a camp for string players and an international music festival.

The venue has changed several times but First Presbyterian Church in Vero has now become home. Block will be there in concert Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. As usual, it's free to the public but donations are gratefully accepted for the scholarship fund of the Mike Block String Camp. Local young musicians have benefited from the program, including students in the Gifford Youth Orchestra. Block will also visit several classrooms in Indian River County schools while he's here.

First Presbyterian Church - 520 Royal Palm Blvd. More information is on Block's website.

FYI, Block's wife, Hanneke Cassel, is just about to drop a new CD for the holidaysl. His newest, Planispheres, has a December 3 release date.

Links to:

Miami Book Fair is online and in person!

Information is to be received in an email at least one week before publication.