Now in its sixth year, the Glen Arbor Art Association’s popular Plein Air Art Weekend is scheduled for August 1-2. Artists from across Michigan and throughout the Midwest are registered to participate in this special two-day event, which has become one of Michigan’s largest, and most popular, Plein Air Paint Outs.
The setting overlooking Lake Michigan at The Homestead’s Bay Mountain is spectacular and the chair lift ride up is invigorating, but the star of the show is Ronald Radford, American master of the Flamenco guitar who will perform on Thursday, July 24 at 7 p.m.
The Glen Arbor Art Association will host an exhibition of acrylics by Veronica Schaden from July 18-19 at the Art Association, 6031 S. Lake Street in Glen Arbor.
The 16th annual Dune Climb concert will take place Sunday, July 13 at 7 p.m. Imagine a beautiful summer’s evening at the foot of the Dune Climb in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, hundreds of families enjoying their pre-concert picnics and then a musical program provided by artists of national stature. This is the magical mixture which has filled audiences with warm memories every year since the first Dune Climb concert in 1998. The setting is magnificent and the music is even better. The concert at the Dune Climb is presented annually by the Glen Arbor Art Association and is free to the public. Because of the unique venue and incomparable music it routinely draws an audience of several thousand.
The Glen Arbor Art Association’s Manitou Music Festival has a new director this summer. The successor to Harry Fried is Jack Conners, who has enjoyed a long career in the recording industry, and is no stranger to this popular local festival. This year’s Manitou Music Festival kicks off with patriotic music by the Northport Community Band on July 3 and crescendos with the annual Dune Climb concert on July 13. We spoke to Conners about his new role, and about this year’s lineup.
The Glen Arbor Art Association announced the cast for its June 17-19 Readers’ Theater production of the movie/radio play Casablanca. All the performers and staging assistants are locals from Leelanau County.
A drought-stricken New Mexico town is the setting for writer Edward Helfers’ novel-in-progress. Helfers, the Glen Arbor Art Association’s (GAAA) Artist in Residence from June 1-14, will discuss his work done on his tale of tourists, pilgrims and an image of Jesus Christ that appears at the base of a local church, on Thursday, June 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Art Association, 6031 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor.
The Glen Arbor Art Association’s (GAAA) Artist-In-Residence program begins its 13th season May 4. Linda Beeman, an Owosso, Mich., resident specializing in Japanese woodblock printing is this year’s first resident-artist. Beeman’s residency continues through May 17. As part of the program, artists are asked to make a public presentation at the end of their residency. These talks are open to the public at no charge. Beeman’s presentation is Thursday, May 15, at 7:30 p.m. at the Art Association, 6031 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor.
Have you been wanting to try out for a part but were worried about all the lines to memorize? Well, now is your chance because in reader’s theater, you don’t have to memorize lines. You read the script. On Monday, April 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) you can meet the Readers’ Theater group and hear about upcoming shows. There will be snacks, drinks, scripts, and fellowship. The GAAA is looking for new talent and would love to have you join us. There is room for actors as well as those who have other skills. This is your chance to meet new people and have some fun as well.
Eneliko “Liko” Smith, the enigmatic Samoan-born boxer turned hotelier who has made two ill-fated bouts for Sugar Loaf, has shifted gears and will instead acquire the Glen Arbor Art Association’s Manitou Music Festival — the popular classical and folk music concert series that takes place in the summertime at area churches, at the backyard studio stage at Lake Street Studios, and at the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb. Ann Arbor teacher and performer Harry Fried had run the Festival until stepping down last year. The Manitou Music Festival was founded about 20 years ago by world-renowned cellist Crispin Campbell, who has since gone on to found symphony orchestras in the Columbian jungle in land formerly occupied by leftist FARC-rebels.