The arts will be plentiful next week as Reinhardt University’s main campus will be home to the second annual Reinhardt Contemporary Arts Festival.
“We are honored to have such talent grace our campus and share their gifts for the second year of the festival,” said Reinhardt University Provost Dr. Mark Roberts. “You don’t have to fly to London or New York to experience the edge of art. It’s right here in Waleska.”
The Reinhardt Contemporary Arts Festival will feature well-known names including Marc Mellits (Chicago), William Susman (San Francisco) and Douwe Eisenga (The Netherlands).
The festival kicks off Wednesday, March 15 at 1 p.m. in the Bannister Glasshouse, Hasty Student Center with a Composers’ Roundtable featuring Mellits, Eisenga and Susman. The roundtable will include discussion of style and compositional approaches followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
The official launch of the “James Dickey Review” at 3 p.m., also in the Bannister Glasshouse on Wednesday, will include poetry readings and will feature William Wright, Ann Hite and Lisa Russell. The three authors also will be selling and autographing books. Roberts, editor of the Review, will introduce the launch.
Absurdist Theater will take over the Glasshouse Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. with readings from “Waiting for Godot,” the absurdist play by Samuel Beckett. There also will be a discussion about all things related to absurdist theater.
The Reinhardt Contemporary Arts Festival will continue on Thursday, March 16 at noon in the Ken White Atrium of Falany Performing Arts Center (FPAC) with an avant-garde/avant-pop concert featuring various works and followed by a performance of Terry Riley’s seminal composition, “In C.”
Join Jason Mitcham at 3:30 p.m. in Flint Hall at the FPAC as he hosts a discussion on animated painting. Mitcham, who produced The Avett Brothers’ music video, “Head Full of Doubt,” will talk about his technique and its use in filmmaking.
“A Scanner Darkly” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in Flint Hall Thursday. Roberts will provide an introduction to the film and guide a group discussion after viewing.
The RCA will wrap up Friday, March 17 with three exciting events, including a concert featuring the compositions of Reinhardt students and faculty at noon in Flint Hall. At 3 p.m., Mellits will work with Reinhardt composition students in a composition masterclass. He also will provide further insight into his own compositional/creative process.
To cap off the three-day festival, the compositions of Mellits, Eisenga and Susman will perform by Reinhardt music faculty and students in the Guest Composers Concert Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. in Flint Hall.
For more information, please contact Olivia Kieffer at OLK@Reinhardt.edu.