Looking for something to do this weekend? Our editor, Alice Thorson, has assembled her top 6 picks from the KC Studio Arts Calendar for First Friday and beyond. For more ideas, visit the Kansas City’s most comprehensive arts calendar at kcstudio.org/events.
Day of the Dead Street Festival
October 2 – November 15
Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery
The Mattie Rhodes Art Gallery is excited to announce the seventeenth annual Día de Los Muertos exhibition! This show celebrates the rich color and history of the Mexican holiday and as always artists and community members are encouraged to create traditional, contemporary, experimental, and personal altars or Day of the Dead inspired artwork for installation at the Mattie Rhodes Art Gallery.
17th Annual Día de Los Muertos Celebration – Closing Reception
November 6 @ 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery
Don’t miss Mattie Rhodes’ 3rd Annual Calaca Light Up Parade led by Stone Lion Puppet Theater’s giant lit-up puppet, Dead Betty. The parade begins at 7 p.m. – please arrive early if you plan on joining the procession!
Dress up in your Day of the Dead best & join in on the fun. Live music, good food, amazing altars & art work will be on display!
Society of Contemporary Photography – Current Works 2015
November 6 – December 31
Haw Contemporary
The founding board members of KCSCP, in collaboration with Haw Contemporary, are pleased to announce the return of a Kansas City photographic tradition. For more than 20 years, “Current Works” has provided a window into the local photography community. Now KCSCP proudly presents 36 works selected by Juror Jan Schall, the Sanders Sosland Curator of Modern Art at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
“What does it mean to stop time in an expanding, whirling universe? The thirty-three photographers represented here have answered that question in as many ways. In color and black-and-white and in straight and manipulated images, they have captured exquisite moments of mystery and revelation, irony and dignity, wit and tenderness, action and calm – all within spaces that are both vast and intimate. In the process, they have engaged us in what Marcel Proust called ‘la recherche du temps perdu’.” – From ‘Current Works 2015’ Juror Jan Schall
Opening reception Friday, November 6, from 5 to 9pm. Jan Schall will speak at 7pm.
Kansas City Symphony First Friday Open House
November 6 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Crossroads Arts District
The Kansas City Symphony is hosting it’s first-ever First Friday event with FREE music, treats and special deals at 1703 Wyandotte in the Crossroads Arts District in downtown Kansas City, MO.
The theme of the evening, A Musical Kaleidoscope, highlights the colorful variety of music selections performed by a string quartet made up of Kansas City Symphony musicians.
The free, casual event runs 6-9 p.m. Fifteen-minute performances by the quartet will occur at 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m.
Mini Performance 1: A NIGHT at the OPERA – 7pm
Featuring quartet arrangements of music from famous operas, such as Mozart’s Magic Flute, Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini’s La Boheme.
Mini Performance 2: DVOŘÁK and BORODIN – 7:30pm
Featuring the First Movement from Dvořák’s American Quartet and the Nocturne from Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2.
Mini Performance 3: MUSIC of LEROY ANDERSON – 8pm
Featuring hits from Leroy Anderson such as Blue Tango, The Waltzing Cat and more!
In addition, watch master artist Warren Ludwig sketch the musicians while he is inspired by the music as it is performed. Unbelievable Symphony ticket discounts offered during this free performance, too.
JCCC Performing Arts Series – Urban Bush Women
November 7 @ 8:00 pm
Carlsen Center – Yardley Hall
Since Urban Bush Women burst onto the dance scene in 1984, the company has woven together contemporary dance, music and text with the history, culture and spiritual traditions of African-Americans and the African Diaspora, exploring the transformation of struggle and suffering into the bittersweet joy of survival.
These women continue to make an indelible mark on the field with bold, innovative, demanding and exciting works that challenge long-held assumptions about women, people of color, body types, styles of movement, society and history.
This performance includes Hep Hep Sweet Sweet, choreographed by artistic director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. In it, she tells her own family’s story during The Great Migration from the rural South seeking a better life in cities of the North and Midwest, including her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri.
Friends Hospitality at 6:45 p.m.
Rusalka
November 7 @ 7:30 pm
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
LOVE, LOSS AND LONGING.
Although Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Dvorák’s Rusalka are based on the same Hans Christian Andersen fable, this isn’t your daughter’s Ariel. A hauntingly poetic libretto matched with a lush score, Rusalka tells the story of a lovely yet lovelorn mermaid who yearns to become human. The searing aria, “Song to the Moon,” is filled with longing as she prays for the prince to return her love. Her wish is granted, but she discovers that what we desire can also destroy and redemption is seldom granted.
