Arts Updates, Interviews, Calendar, Calls for Artists and Volunteers, Auditions --- It's All Here in Arts Blast, Arts Blast on the Air, and on Facebook.

Supporting The Arts & Arts Councils Everywhere

Volume 4 No. 15| April 29, 2022

Notes from the Editor:

Is there a Department of Weekend Weather we can appeal to for sunny skies when so much is planned? As of this moment, fingers are crossed for Main Street Vero Beach's Downtown Friday and the 2022 Vero Beach Air Show.


Anyone within miles has had the thrill of seeing and hearing the Blue Angels arriving in Vero Beach and practicing their maneuvers for a couple of days. I remember the excitement of watching the performance from my kayak on the Indian River Lagoon a few years ago. I can hear them now as I'm getting Arts Blast ready to send out!


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Arts Blast on the Air with Willi Miller

This week hear Sam Sherwood - Almost Heaven at Riverside Theatre; and Sean Sexton - the Laura Riding Jackson Foundation's week of poetry, BBQ, and writing. Listen to or download the podcast now or listen on the radio — 101.7FM ON THE TREASURE COAST —Sunday evening at 7.

Bookmark On the Calendar at WilliMiller.com for frequent updates. Calls for Artists, Auditions, & Volunteers are now online.Catch up with events at Willi Miller's Arts Blast on Facebook and pick up some laughs and interesting info on the Willi Miller's Arts Blast Extras page. And now there's a Facebook Arts Blast on the Air!

In This Issue

FEATURES

Jazz Appreciation-Dick Golden & Duke Ellington! 

Key West Brunch is Back at Backus

Jazzy Lady Annie Maytot

There's a New Chorale in Town

Poetry Month with Janna Schledorn

Marvin S. Cone Student Exhibit

VBMA Children's Art Festival

TIDBITS

Treasure Coast Flute Choir

Brevard Chorale Pop Concert

VB Art Club summer camp

VB Theatre Guild Studio Theatre

Brevard Youth Chorus

A.C.T. Studio Theatre

Treasure Coast Theatre

Martin Artisans Guild 

Dinosaurs Last Call

In the Archives with Michael Feinstein

JoAnn Falletta Podcast

Join us at the Vero Beach Museum of Art for our annual Children’s Art Festival event for the enjoyment of families and children of the community. The event, to be held on Saturday, April 30, 2022 from 10 am to 3 pm throughout the Museum, is inspired by the exhibition Vero Collects: Hidden Treasures Revealed. This year, creative art-making returns to the studios with MAS instructors inspiring young artists to try Easy Easel Painting, A-Door-Able designs inspired by Francis Sprout’s painting called Surrounded by Others, Express Yourself self-portraits, and Scratch Art Masterpieces with Tyler Evin and students from Indian River Charter High School.


VBMA Docents will facilitate fun activities in the galleries, including storytelling, sketching, movement with music and scarves, close-looking with spyglasses, and much more! Performances by local youth groups include Panther Performers, Imagine South Vero Tangerines, Moonshot Academy, Osceola Singers and Explorer Ensemble, Vero Classical Ballet, and Rhythm and Soul Dance. 


Additionally, the VBMA is delighted to present the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra’s popular Once Upon an Orchestra musical series! These performances begin at 12:30pm and 1:30pm in Holmes Great Hall.


Visitors will enjoy free admission to the current exhibition Vero Collects: Hidden Treasures Revealed, and Martin Puryear: Printmaker, as well as student art exhibitions, including An Artistic Discovery – 2022, Congressional Art Competition presented by U.S. Congressman Bill Posey, and SDIRC Elementary School Student Art Show. 


Lunch, snacks, and refreshments will be available for purchase from The Dignity Food Truck during the festival.

Jazz Appreciation Month with Dick Golden - Duke Ellington!

With the guest features of Dick Golden, we're celebrating National Jazz Appreciation Month in every issue of Arts Blast. The month ends with International Jazz Day April 30 but jazz appreciation never ends.

“He was born in Washington, D.C in April of 1899 and died in New York City in May of 1974. Either of those two great cities would want to claim him as theirs, but Duke Ellington was truly a citizen of the world.”


Stanley Dance, eulogy at Duke Ellington’s May 1974 funeral service

When I moved from Cape Cod to Washington, D.C. in the spring of 2005 to join the External Relations Division of the George Washington University, I sought a condo rental that was within walking distance of the Foggy Bottom campus and was fortunate to discover such a unit in the West End neighborhood. The weekend I moved in I went for a tour of the neighborhood and thought that I would first try and locate the closest Post Office. I left my building on 21st Street, NW and just as I took a right hand turn I came upon a short one-way street named Ward Place and I could see a US Post Office logo on the side of a building, just a few feet away. As I got closer I realized that the building housed a Postal Annex not a local post office but there was a very attractive gold plaque attached to the front wall and as I read the inscription I was thrilled to know I was standing in front of the site of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington’s birth on April 29, 1899. Several years later I was part of a neighborhood group who successfully petitioned the District Council to name a nearby small park the “Duke Ellington Park” which then inspired the owners of the building to commission the beautiful mural that now graces the façade of 2021 Ward Place.


Edward Kennedy Ellington, the cool, impeccable bandleader-composer-pianist whose unique sound stirred the world’s jazz lovers for decades, had just turned 75 when in May of 1974 he died at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.   

His musical legacy includes more than 1,000 compositions include “Solitude,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “Mood Indigo” and such extended works as “Harlem Suite,” “Such Sweet Thunder” and “A Drum Is a Woman” in addition to three sacred concerts composed over the last ten years of his life. 


 Among the thousands of messages pouring in was one from President Nixon, who said, “The wit, taste, intelligence and elegance that Duke Ellington brought to his music have made him, in the eyes of millions of people both here and abroad, America’s foremost composer.” He added, “We are all poorer because the Duke is no longer with us.” Mr. Ellington, the son of a blueprint maker who sometimes worked as a butler at the White House, was there in 1969 on his 70th birthday to receive from President Nixon the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.


His funeral services were conducted Monday, May 27, 1974 at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York, site in 1968 of the second of his sacred concerts.” Man, you don’t stop believing in God if you were brought up with love,” he said then. “And I was brought up with love, make no mistake about that.” Our American Songbook tribute to Mr. Ellington will include the eloquent and moving eulogy to the Duke delivered by his friend and biographer Stanley Dance. 



Also this week the American Songbook winds down the April celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month with music from, among others, Billie Holiday with saxophonist Lester Young, Tony Bennett with pianist Bill Evans, and Carmen McRae and Quincy Jones paying tribute to NEA Jazz Master “Gentleman” Benny Carter.” 


Photos: Left - Portrait of Duke Ellington by Tony Bennett

Right - Mural at 2021 Ward Place, in Washington, D.C.

American Songbook with Dick Golden is heard Saturday evenings on NPR affiliate WQCS/WQCP.


Online: WQCS/WQCP

On the Air: 91.1FM on the Treasure Coast

Weekends Are Back at Riverside Theatre!

Jazzy Lady - Annie Maytot

This weekend, Annie Matot, an 18-year-old senior at The King’s Academy, will be at a sold-out event in Palm Beach to receive the 2022 Young Artist Award from The Society for the Preservation of the Great American Songbook. One of her fellow recipients, Bria Skonberg will be honored with the Legend Award, and, in absentia, Steve Tyrell will receive the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award. 


Matot is finishing her final courses at the academy’s Smith Family Conservatory “to achieve distinctions in performing vocal arts and theater arts.” When she finishes in May, she will have had sixteen semester courses at the conservatory. Matot considers herself blessed to study at the academy. “I am very passionate about my studies, and this school has allowed me to flourish not only academically, but vocally as well.” The curriculum gives equal weight to sports, academics, and the arts, she said. “I have been a part of ten theater main stage productions, am the lead vocalist in the Jazz Ensemble, and have been a singer in the ‘His People’ honor choir.”


The Annie Matot Jazz Quintet (often called Annie and the Tots) is a positive result of COVID-19. The academy’s big band wasn’t able to go out to perform, so Matot and a friend, senior Ethan Rapp, enlisted junior Alex Theodore, sophomore Hadiya Stewart, and freshman Ashton Horne for an ensemble, encouraged by Wes Lowe, the academy’s director of instrumental arts. With the flexibility she’ll have with classes at the University of Florida in the fall, Matot said she will be able to keep the quintet together. “I plan on coming home often to continue performing with my band.”


Matot has more than several favorite memories from this year. One is Let’s Fall in Love, a two-act show the quintet put together for Valentine’s Day weekend, selling out the house both nights. “The audience was seated on the stage (black box style) with us as we performed. It was so much fun to be able to walk out into the audience and get people up to dance during certain numbers.” Matot had a double shot of large-audience experience with Michael Feinstein — once when he appeared at the Kravis Center and again when she visited New York City.

"Having the opportunity to perform with Michael Feinstein was such an honor. I saw that he was performing at the Kravis, so I reached out and asked to meet with him after the show! I was shocked when he invited me to perform on stage instead! The trumpet player within my band, Ethan Rapp, also accompanied me that night, and he was also asked to play with Michael Feinstein. It was a little intimidating to perform in front of such a large crowd, but it was such a wonderful learning experience at the same time. Getting to watch Mr. Feinstein and his skills as a performer firsthand is something I will never forget. Overall, it was an incredible experience that I will always hold close in my heart."

Feinstein remembered Matot from her time at his Songbook Academy. “I first met Annie when she was selected to participate in the 2021 Songbook Academy. The Songbook Academy is the signature educational program of my nonprofit, the Great American Songbook Foundation." The academy is “performance intensive for high school singers where we provide a week of masterclasses and workshops with music industry and Broadway professionals,”Feinstein explained. “Beyond the intensive week in the summer, we continue to work with the students throughout the year and provide performance opportunities when we can. When I heard that Annie was visiting New York City during my run at Feinstein’s/54 Below, I invited her to join me. She recently joined me when I was in her hometown for a performance at the Kravis Center as well.” He described her as “innately musical and works hard at her craft. It’s exciting to see that in a performer so young. … Annie is a great example of a singer who is learning her craft and finding every opportunity she can to perform. She will go far!”

Brunch Key West-Style with Backus Gallery

From Backus Museum:


This year’s “Sunday in Key West” will recognize the 40th anniversary of the Conch Republic. That historic “sovereign state of mind” arose to counter the folly of unintended consequences in 1982, when Key West and the Florida Keys proclaimed their secession from the U.S. in response to an unprecedented Border Patrol roadblock action. Four decades after the Conch Republic’s immediate surrender, their playful defiance is remembered in their former national motto, “We secede where others fail.” The lively, relaxed spirit of the Conch Republic infuses this year’s special event at the Pelican Yacht Club.

The doors open for “Sunday in Key West” at 11:00 am for champagne and auction item viewing, with the official Welcome and start at 11:30 am. This year, with careful coordination, the event’s activities have been honed and focused to enhance the excitement and conclude by 2:00 pm. The exciting live auction will feature many exclusive, one-of-a-kind items and sought-after experiences to bid on and to enjoy. The stealthy silent auction also returns, a select cache of door prizes, and participating attendees will have a chance to win their own treasure, a certified 1715 Spanish shipwreck 8 reales silver coin, valued at $1,300! And many of the signature delights of the feast are courtesy of Nelson Family Farms, our generous sponsor.

 

Get your Conch on and reserve today! Call (772) 465-0630 or purchase online at BackusMuseum.org. Space is limited; all reservations should have been made by April 27, but the deadline has been extended a few days for Arts Blast readers. “Sunday in Key West” is an event benefitting the A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery.

On view at the A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery through May 8 is Tuned to the Spirit: Photographs from the Sacred Steel Community. The special exhibition presents more than 35 soulful images and spirited music by photographer and scholar Robert L. Stone, drawn from 30 years of research to reveal a fascinating story. In the late 1930s, two related African American Holiness-Pentecostal churches began incorporating a novel, modern instrument into worship services – the electric steel guitar. Today, Florida is a stronghold for the House of God and Church of the Living God, where the unique "sacred steel" musical tradition has been passed down for generations. For more information, please visit www.BackusMuseum.org.

Marvin S. Cone 36th Annual High School Juried Art Show

April 26 – May 26, 2022

Opening and Awards Reception

Thursday, May 5th 5:30 – 7 p.m.


Featuring Students From:

Clark Advanced Learning Center

Jensen Beach High School

Martin County High School

South Fork High School

The Pine School


Photo courtesy of MartinArts.

Best of Show – 2021 – Cassidy Bean “Marine Imitation” 

Kasten and Craig Team Up for Paradise Women's Chorale

A year ago, Ryan Kasten sent out word that he was forming a new choral ensemble specializing in choral works arranged for female/treble voices. The Paradise Women's Chorale is now a 25-voice resident ensemble of the St. John's Fine Art Series at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church in Vero Beach.


Kasten, artistic director at the church, welcomes old friend and colleague Jacob Craig as collaborator in this new group. Craig is director of music and arts at First Presbyterian Church, Vero Beach.

They'll be celebrating Mother's Day in song May 8, 4:30 p.m., with The Mother and the Sea, a program that features music about the experiences of life and the sea. Music includes work by composer/arranger Andre Thomas, Eric Whitacre, Franz Schubert, Sam Pottle, and more. This is the second concert in the group's inaugural season. The concert is free, but free-will offerings are gratefully accepted. The concert will last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. 


The Chorale is currently looking to expand its membership and invites any woman interested in singing great choral literature for female/ treble voices to join. There are no auditions or fees to sing with this ensemble. All are welcome. The ensemble membership is made up of women from all over the Treasure Coast including Sebastian, Vero Beach, Hutchinson Island, and Port Saint Lucie.


Rehearsals are Thursday evenings at 7:00PM, and all are welcome to join the chorale.  St. John of the Cross Catholic Church, 7550 26th St., Vero Beach.

For more information contact: Ryan Kasten, Artistic Director

ParadiseMasterChorale@yahoo.com  772-584.9744 

Craig and his many music-community affiliations have appeared frequently in Arts Blast and on Arts Blast on the Air, but for newcomers who might be less familiar with Ryan Kasten, read on:


Ryan Kasten, Artistic Director, is originally from Jackson, Missouri. Ryan holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from Southeast Missouri State University, the Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Master of Music Degree in Conducting from the Florida State University, and he is a Candidate for the Doctoral Degree in Organ Performance at the Florida State University. Ryan is truly an accomplished musician, not only as an organist and conductor, but also is a sought-after accompanist and accomplished baritone soloist. Ryan is a member of the Knights of Columbus and is a Fourth Degree Knight. Currently, he is serving as the Program Director for the Knights of Columbus Council at St. John of the Cross. He is also the Artistic Director of the St John's Brass, the Paradise Master Chorale and Paradise Women's Chorale which all are resident ensembles of the St John's Fine Art Series. Ryan is also the Director of Public Affairs and Internal Relations for the Honorable Carole Jean Jordan at the Indian River County Tax Collector’s Office and is the Executive Director of the 501c3 non-profit organization Kid’s Tag Art of Indian River, Inc. (a program of the Indian River County Tax Collector).

THROUGH THE EYE OF THE CAMERA​​

May 20 – June 24, 2022


Seeing is believing every year in this highly anticipated competitive review of photography as fine art. The popular annual competition is open to amateur and professional artists in both traditional film and digital photography, featuring cash awards. The unparalleled collection of varied perspectives closes the season. Support the arts by supporting artists. 


Entries accepted by advance appointment Apr 13 – May 13; see Prospectus for details

The Laura Riding Jackson Foundation

Extends National Poetry Month

Brevard County Poet Janna Schledorn

Janna Schledorn is an associate professor of communications at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne, with a bachelor's degree in journalism from University of Florida and a master's degree in English education from Florida State University.


Schlerdorn teaches composition and creative writing and is an award-winning poet. Her Mother Mary Comes to Me poetry anthology is reviewed here in Amethyst Magazine. She received the Thomas Burnett Swann Poetry Prize in 2016, given by the Gwendoly Brooks Writers Assoiciation of Florida.


Schledorn took time in this final week of National Poetry Month for an Arts Blast Q&A.

Why did creating poetry attract you and when did you write your first poem?


I’ve always kept a journal and aspired to be a writer. I like poetry for the opportunity to express powerful emotions – even to the point of being melodramatic and adopting a persona. I started taking poetry workshops in graduate school when I also experienced poetry as a place where I could perform something a little bit like stand-up comedy. I don’t know about when I wrote my first poem, but my first published poem came out of one of those FSU workshops.


The poem is “Surfer Blues” published in Revelry in Spring 1989:


You had a suitcase

packed for the moon

when you were eleven


But Neil got there first


and your dreams were stolen

by a man with a crewcut.


So you grew your hair long

and moved to the ocean

trading your telescope


For a swallow-tail surfboard


and your dreams became waves

that crashed over your head.

As a teacher of creative writing, you know an author has plots and sub-plots, intrigue, characters, tension, and action to work with. What does a poet have that might compare?


A poet might use all those narrative elements, but the tension and action and character are all revealed through image and metaphor. The focus on imagery allows for both landscape and portraiture as well as dreamscape. The poet also has the sound and musicality of words, syllables, vowels and consonants.


Can you comment on a form of poetry I particularly like, Haiku? 


Haiku is so beautifully concentrated on images – each line like a little film clip. 


What is a poem? What makes a poem great?


These are great questions. We often talk about this in creative writing and literature classes – particularly with poems like Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Gate A-4” and Layli Long Soldier’s “38” – both more like prose than say, a sonnet. Again, I think it has to do with imagery and sound. But I’ll leave you with the quote from Emily Dickinson: “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”


Do you have a favorite poem or poet?


Langston Hughes always rises to the top as a poet I can read over and over and love to share with others. I have so many new and old favorites, but I would like to acknowledge our fine Florida poets as vital voices in my collection. As a native Floridian, I so appreciate Sean Sexton’s poems from his experience not only as a Florida rancher but as a human experiencing life deeply. I also cherish Lola Haskins and her love of Florida wildlife that shines through her poems. And I am indebted to David Kirby for his humorous and life-affirming expansive body of work.

My recent book, Those Nine Days, looks at the nine recorded days in the seventy-year life of the ancient prophet and exile, Daniel . . . from a 21st century perspective. Daniel talks with a psychologist about his terrifying visions and complains about politics to the angel Gabriel. Other poems in the collection explore failed gardening, unanswered prayer, and the chaos of caring for both young and adult children.

The book is available at BarnesandNoble.com 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/those-nine-days-janna-schledorn/1140947104

American Songbook

with

Dick Golden


Saturdays

8 p.m. - midnight

on NPR affiliate WQCS/WQCP

TIDBITS

LAST CALL!

The Martin Artisans Guild invites you to its current bimonthly exhibit, which runs through April 30 at The Palm Room & Artisans Boutique in Harbour Bay Plaza.

The Importance of Being Earnest at A.C.T. Studio Theatre, Stuart runs through May 1.

Extend National Jazz Appreciation Month by going Into the Archives with Michael Feinstein on YouTube!

The Savannah Sipping Society is at Treasure Coast Theatre, PSL, May 6-15.

For fans of JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and frequent visitor to Vero Beach:


There's a new interview with Jamie Shrock on her Facebook page.

LAST CALL!

Dinosaurs Around the World: The Great Outdoors is open daily to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm for a limited engagement through May 1, 2022. The last admission ticket is sold at 4:00 pm and the Children’s Garden closes at 4:30 pm. Tickets are available to purchase at McKee Botanical Garden and https://mckeegarden.org.

The Brevard Youth Chorus will celebrate the season with song Sunday, May 1, At the Central Baptist Church in Melbourne at 3 p.m., and at Advent Lutheran Church, Suntree, at 5 p.m.

Summer Art Camp begins June 6 at the Vero Beach Art Club Annex and Gallery.

James Boyles and the 50 mixed voices of the Brevard Chorale welcome spring with a Classic Pop Concert: April 30, 7:30 p.m., at the Simpkins Fine Arts Auditorium at Eastern Florida State College, Cocoa; May 4, 7 p.m. in Titusville, at The Great Outdoors RV-Nature & Golf Resort's Community Church.

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


Catch up with events at Willi Miller's Arts Blast on Facebook and pick up some laughs and interesting info on the Willi Miller's Arts Blast Extras page. And now there's a Facebook Arts Blast on the Air!

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