Volume 3 No. 39 |December 17, 2021
Sharing our wealth of arts and culture. We're having an ARTS BLAST!

Promoting The Arts & Arts Councils Everywhere

ARTS NEWS
& PROFILES
FROM
FLORIDA'S
TREASURE COAST & BEYOND
Notes from the editor:
🌲❄️⛄️ It's ArtWalk Friday in downtown Fort Pierce⛄️❄️🌲

We're down to the wire, so I'll say it one last time: Wherever you are, 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 present to support them! Tickets, memberships, the gift of a class or workshop -- Let me count the ways for easy giving while supporting the arts. And how many of them would be welcome in my stocking, hung by chimney with care!
🎨 As 2021 and the third year of Arts Blast come to a close, I hope to carve out time to get back to my own art studio. To make it work, I will be liquidating tools, supplies, and books for a variety of arts interests I've enjoyed over the years. I'm picking out a few favorites to keep but it's someone else's turn on others. A few categories: Lapidary equipment and tons of slabs and rough; lamp work; stained glass; gourds galore; metalwork; clay; enameling; wood carving; painting; tons of books and magazines. Maybe not the enameling or wood carving. Or painting. 🤔 And I'll keep a few gourds.🙄 Oh, this is tough!
Arts Blast on the Air
Have you discovered Arts Blast on the Air yet?
It isn't a spoken version of Willi Miller's Arts Blast. 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.

THIS WEEK:
James Judd - The Symphonia
Adam Schnell - Ballet Vero Beach (A matinee performance of Nutcracker on the Indian River has been added December 23!)
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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Plan your season with Arts Blast's calendar
In This Issue
A Jazzin' Christmas

Indian River County Historical Society's Call for Artists

After Dark at Vero Beach Museum of Art

The Academy Orchestra at the Lyric

Faces of Eve at Raw Space

Christmas with St. Lucie Cultural Alliance and Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens

Mike Block Went to School

Christ by the Sea Cantata

Surfside Playhouse in Cocoa Beach
12/20 at 5:30 and 12/21 at 5:30
SOLD OUT

BEST AVAILABILITY
12/23 at 11:30

Limited availability
12/21 at 2:30, 12/22 at 2:30, and 12/22 at 5:30
☞ ☞ This is the final weekend for Live in the Loop and the Comedy Zone Experience until April!
Annual A.E. Backus Ornament
Dec. 18, 4:30 & 7 p.m. - Christmas Cantata - a full musical production with mixed choir, 38-piece orchestra, more -at Christ by the Sea United Methodist Church Vero Beach
VBMA's Art After Dark

The Vero Beach Museum of Art is hosting the inaugural Art After Dark, the Treasure Coast's first outdoor digital art exhibition, representing more than eight global artists from five different countries. The exhibition will be free to visitors and on view during the evenings of December 17th and 18th from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm.

VBMA Senior Curator Anke Van Wagenberg and Brett Phares, lead curator of Art After Dark, together viewed dozens of works to arrive at the selection of international artists, whose creations represent the combination of ingenuity in new immersive media arts and artistic vision for a unique showcase of works at play on VBMA's neoclassical structure.
Outdoor projection art or digital art celebrates the possibilities found at the convergence of art and architecture. During the two-night event, digital artists from around the world will showcase original work utilizing the latest technologies projected onto the iconic white walls of the VBMA. Artworks will include illustrations, experimental film, motion graphics, and large-scale digital video projections with sound. 
A Jazzin' Christmas Saturday

"Have Piano will Duel” presents the holiday concert, 'A Jazzin' Christmas' on Saturday, December 18th, 2021 @ 3 PM. Select students attend an intensive jazz workshop in the morning led by Dr. Jacob Craig and that evening showcase their efforts with a live performance. Our concert will feature Christmas standards and infuse them with a hint of jazz. Last year, ‘A Jazzin' Christmas' was extremely well received and sold out a week before its scheduled date. 
The concert features Dr. Jacob Craig as the conductor and pianist, Warren Williams on drums, Gavin Martellotti on sax, Ryan Dillahay on guitar, Joshua Evers on bass and David Israel on keyboards. The concert is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 2:30 PM. First Presbyterian Church is located at 520 Royal Palm Blvd.
    For more information, check unityevents.org. You may also email us at havepianowillduel@gmail.com to be placed on our mailing list.
Little Wonders at Environmental Learning Center

Wednesday, December 22nd
10:00 - 11:30 AM | 12:00 - 1:30 PM

A free nature enrichment and early literacy program for children 18 months to 4 years old and their caretakers featuring interactive story time, nature, arts, crafts, and so much more!
The Academy Orchestra - Liverpool
Liverpool Live and Academy Orchestra team up for a symphonic rock extravaganza, bringing the music of the Beatles to new heights. This concert chronicles the greatest hits of the Beatles through the years. Based out of Orlando, Liverpool Live has developed an incredible reputation of creating the true Beatles experience. Trained through Disney, they’ve become Florida’s premier Beatles cover band.
The Academy Orchestra incorporates pro musicians, as well as advanced students of the Treasure Coast Youth Symphony, giving the students professional performance experiences. Under the direction of Thomas Servinsky, the orchestra’s accomplishments range from the Grammy nominated recording with famed tenor Gabriel Silva, traditional classical concerts, Viennese New Year’s celebration concerts, and the symphonic rock collaborations. Thomas Servinsky has created all the orchestrations and arrangements for this performance, and to date, has completed over 100 Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Queen orchestral scores designed for touring groups using the full orchestra/band platform with their productions.

Proceeds from the concert support the programs of the Treasure Coast Youth Symphony

Mike Block Went to School

Cellist Mike Block was in town (VB) for a solo concert last week and while he was here, he paid a visit to a couple of local schools to meet with the students. "I love going into schools to share my art and educate young musicians on new styles and cultures. It's a special opportunity for them to ask questions, often surprisingly personal, as they begin to understand more about the world of music and the life of a musician. Coming to Vero every year is particularly satisfying because I get to see the same kids over the years and develop a long-term relationship with the students."

- Mike


David Heroux, visual & performing arts coordinator and orchestra director at Indian River Charter High School said, "We are so pleased to have Mike Block visiting our campus. He is a world-class musician and cellist who is equally skilled at traditional classical repertoire and modern music of the world. Mike has visited our campus several times in the past, and likewise many of our students have participated in his summer string camp here in Vero Beach. A colleague of Yo-Yo Ma and a faculty member at Berklee College of Music, we are thrilled to have Mike share his talents with our students and hopefully inspire them along their own artistic journey."
SURFSIDE PLAYHOUSE
A Little History 

From the website:

In April of 1959, a dynamic and excited group of erstwhile Thespians presented its plans for a live theatre in Brevard County. They called themselves The Surfside Players of Cocoa Beach. The Players began implementing its plans, approved by city officials, civic groups and local residents. 

In May, 1959, their first production, The Moon is Blue was presented at the Cocoa Beach Fire House. In following years, the Players staged their shows at the fire house, in churches & motels, and even on the beach! 

On January 6, 1963, ground was broken for Surfside Playhouse at the corner of Fifth Street South and Brevard Avenue in Cocoa Beach. In April of 1963, the dream came true with the official opening of Surfside Playhouse. 

The theatre seats an audience of 250, is fully air-conditioned. 

The annual programs feature a variety of high quality performances ranging from light-hearted comedy to lilting musicals to riveting dramas.

Several weekends during the year are available for special theatrical performances, which may be proposed to the Board of Governors. Usually these require very minimal tech and scenery, and rehearsals are conducted at a different location than the playhouse.

A children's theatre group was officially formed in 1979 and has continued with the current class, known as the Surfside Youth Players. .

The annual Playwriting Contest was founded in 2001 to offer local Brevard County playwrights an opportunity to present original full-length plays on Surfside's stage with talented actors and staff.

Our playhouse currently hosts three productions per season by the Playwrights Workshop of Brevard, a troupe dedicated to helping new and established local playwrights improve their craft through feedback with Workshop members as well as a live audience. Each production normally debuts three new one-act plays.

Our newest performing venture is the Fearless Improv Brigade, with classes in improvisational comedy taught semesterly by Mario Busacca since 2013. The thrill of brand-new theatrical stories, devised on the spot, is yours to experience from a seat in the house, OR standing on stage...

A snack bar in the brightly decorated lobby serves as a source of revenue for the non-profit, 501(c)3 organization. The Players have also sponsored Jazz Festivals, Golf Tournaments, Barber Shop Quartets, special by-invitation performances for charity, surfing movies, celebrity auctions and yard sales as fund raisers. Additional support comes from matching grants and corporate & personal donations, assuring the facility of continued maintenance and upgrades. 

Surfside Players extends a warm welcome to aspiring thespians, seasoned performers, and to anyone with a love for the Theatre.

Surfside's Holiday Vaudeville Show
Hosted by Santa Jaws
Dec 10 - 19
Friday & Saturdays at 8pm
Sundays at 2pm
Special Saturday Matinee Dec 18th at 2pm
Faces of Eve
From the Faces of Eve Collaborative:

We are so excited to announce plans for the celebration of the third anniversary of the Women by Women Art Exhibition at Raw Space and the re-installation of the Faces of Eve Mural by Cuban artist Niurka Barroso. Additionally, and even more exciting is the completion of the much awaited art book, Faces of Eve - a Tribute to the Power of Women in Community!!
 
 
The mural, in which many of our faces appear, rendering one monumental, unified and powerful image, also gathered women artists from around the world, featuring a wide range of contemporary art, including paintings, photography, sculpture, drawings, mixed media, performance installations and ceramics. In this anniversary exhibit we feature the local women artists on the mural to constitute the show in December. 

Faces of Eve was formed as a collaborative with an “Action Driven” focus. The exhibit runs at Raw Space through December with an After Dinner Black Tie Holiday Party December 28.
MARTIN COUNTY
Indian River Pops Orchestra presents Holiday Joy

Dec 18, 3 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, Jensen Beach
Dec 19, 7 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church Ross Hall, Stuart
BREVARD COUNTY

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
The Indian River County Historical Society extends an open invitation to Indian River County artists age 14 and older to participate in their January 2022 Art in History event.

The Art in History exhibit and sale provides local artists an opportunity to participate and present his or her creative interpretation of an object, place or event of Indian River County’s historical significance. The focus is on our history, but all other artworks are welcome. A limited number of students will also be accepted. 

A People’s Choice award will be given to one artist selected by attendees the day of the exhibit. The exhibit and sale will take place at the Heritage Center in historic downtown Vero Beach from Noon until 6:00 p.m. on January 23, 2022. The event will be open and free of charge to the public.

Deadline to apply is January 10, 2022. An application form may be found on the Historical Society website www.irchistorical.org, click on the events tab. Or, call Patricia Kroger at 772-559-3669 for additional information and an application.
ST. LUCIE COUNTY
St. Lucie Cultural Alliance Members are bringing the holiday cheer to the #PSLinLights party, taking place at the MidFlorida Event Center Friday, December 17th, 6 - 9 PM. Alliance artists will be featured with crafts and performers will treat guests to Christmas Carols in a variety of forms. Photo: Treasure coast Community Singers
 
The night will feature live video segments of the city’s best lighting displays accompanied by performances from Alliance Music Guild Members Will Vaughn of Southern Soul Society, The Somerset Academy Chamber Choir led by Choir Director Eileen Walentin, Preston Contemporary Dance Theatre, and Christmas Carols “Caribbean Style” by Adrian Stoney, a steel drum player, singer and member of the Caribbean American Cultural Group. The Treasure Coast Community singers will also lead a Holiday Carol Sing-A-Long, inviting attendees to sing along to their favorite tunes. 
The Alliance’s craft zone will feature art and children’s activities from Alliance Art Guild Members Debra Marler Mannhalter and Debra Terrio, and a special giant festive piece of spray paint street art created with group participation from Alliance Artist Robin Marshall. Families and residents of all ages can enjoy face painting and create a commemorative Christmas ornament to take home as a part of the night’s events.

Photo: Adrian Stoney of the Caribbean American Cultural Group on pan.
In partnership with the City of Port St. Lucie and The St. Lucie County Humane Society, the #PSLinLights events will feature a night of magnificent lighting displays and a Festive Pet Costume Contest, with registration for participating animals starting at 5:30 PM culminating in a contest on stage at 7:30 PM. Residents will enjoy cookies, candy canes & cocoa while supplies last, and be treated to a special visit from Santa Claus! Guests can also take in the Alliance’s Clyde Butcher Photography Exhibition in the MidFlorida Event Center’s Gallery, along with the Smithsonian Water/Ways Exhibition, a partnership with the City of PSL on display through December 23rd.
Before you ask: This was on Facebook and I couldn't resist sharing. I have no idea if or where the shirts might be available or who the original poster was.
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