JANUARY 15, 2020

Roanoke Arts & Culture News is a service of the City of Roanoke's Office of Arts and Culture to advance our collective work and provide updates on opportunities for artists and creative changemakers throughout our community. Click here for more information. Submit potential content to Arts and Culture Coordinator Douglas Jackson.

See you at Melrose Library - Friday, January 17, 1 PM

Please join the City of Roanoke and the Roanoke Arts Commission for the dedication of Napoleon Jones-Henderson's three-part sculpture series, "Rhapsody in Knowledge". This exterior art was developed by the Boston, MA, artist through a neighborhood and schools engagement process, working with the Melrose-Orange Target Area participants and students from Roanoke City Schools, and is funded through Roanoke's Percent for Art program. 

If you haven't been yet to the beautiful new Melrose branch of the Roanoke Public Libraries, this is a great time to come out. The sculpture was commissioned to celebrate this important neighborhood investment and the vibrant neighborhoods surrounding it.

Apply to be the 2020 Writer by Bus

The City of Roanoke Arts Commission, Ride Solutions and the Greater Roanoke Transit Authority are partnering to once again to present a unique literary opportunity in summer 2020. Application packets will be accepted until 5 PM on Wednesday, March 18.

A writer (or writers) will be provided a bus pass and paid an honorarium of $1,000 to create a unique work of literature while riding different bus routes. The work may be in any genre including short stories, poetry, essays, plays, etc. and may also include art, music or photography. The work will be published in the form of a chapbook as well as on the participating organizations’ websites and other venues as available.

• Get more information in the 2020 project description.
• Download the 2020 application.
• Download chapbooks by the past Writers by Bus.

Vote for Roanoke's Endangered Artifact

CLICK HERE to learn about the cookbook of the wife of Roanoke's first Commonwealth Attorney. The Historical Society of Western Virginia is steward to regional treasures lis “Eliza Breckinridge Watts Receipt Book” - 1818-1857. They're in a voting contest through the Virginia Association of Museums to win preservation dollars. Vote now through January 22. Then stop off at the museum to see some treasures.

ARTS in the NEWS 

• Salem Museum Centers Sports, by Mike Allen in The Roanoke Times
• More public art coming to Melrose Avenue, by Gene Marrano, WFIR
• Art to Rescue the River, by Roanoke Cultural Endowment

AROUND TOWN
Sculptor Lawrence Reid Bechtel visits Melrose Library

Blacksburg based sculptor and author Lawrence Reid Bechtel discussed Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved Isaac Granger at the Melrose Branch of Roanoke Public Libraries this week. As part of the Stamped from the Beginning Book Club, a group discussed the history of racism in the United States and pondered a starter question. "What work of art has changed your worldview?" Bechtel has written A Partial Sun, a novel about Isaac Granger.

Submit AROUND TOWN art pics. 

EXHIBITS

• Reed Dillon continues at Alexander/Heath Contemporary Art Gallery 
• Riverrun: New Works by Ray Kass at the Taubman (through Apr. 11)
• Huntopia at the Taubman (through Mar. 29)
• Pop Power at the Taubman (through Mar. 8) 
• Gerry Hubert and Rebecca Talbot at Brandon Oaks (through March 15)

• Potter Gabriele King at Left of Center in February, opening reception Feb 7.
• On the Origin of Dragons at Roanoke College's Olin Hall Galleries, Jan. 24.
• Andy Frazier, Dreigiau O Gymru at Roanoke Colleg's Smoyer Gallery, Jan. 24
• Jimmy Deck at O. Winston Link, opening reception Jan 23

OPPORTUNITIES

• Get listed on the Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge Artist Directory. Free for local artists. Sign up here.
• Apply to serve on one of the City's appointed boards and commissions.
• High School Seniors! Apply for one of EventZone's 2020 $1000 Scholarships for the Arts.

VISUAL ARTISTS

• Howard County, MD ARTsites Call: Due February 28
• Curator Off Duty: Olin Hall Galleries' open exhibition for VA artists at Roanoke College- open now.
• 2020 slots available for Brandon Oaks Exhibiting Artists: Contact Katherine Devine
• Plein Air Roanoke (The Little Gallery): Save the Date - 5/11 - 5/16, 2020, registration and rules.
• Walmart Mural Project
• Have you considered joining the League of Roanoke Artists? 

WRITERS

• Apply by March 18 to be the 2020 Writer by Bus.
• Get ready to apply...coming soon: the Writer By Bus Application.
• Roanoke Regional Writers Conference: January 24 & 25 at Hollins.
• Get listed on the writers inventory.

PERFORMING ARTISTS

• Try your spoken word at Soul Sessions.
• Tell a story at Hoot & Holler.
• Join the Roanoke Valley Community Band.
• Try out for a production at Showtimers, Attic Productions, Off the Rails or another of our local theater groups.  
• Performing groups: Send your audition calls.
• Not ready yet to put yourself out there? There's no better way to gear up than by attending local events and performances!

ARTS LEADERS

• The neighborhood development grant program funds arts and cultural activities. Consider how you might help a neighborhood organization meet their goals. Applications will be due January 24 - deadline extended. 
• FY 2021 City of Roanoke Arts & Cultural funding applications due NOON, January 22.
• The 2020 Artworks for Virginia conference will take place on January 29. Roanoke will be featured in a session on creative placemaking and community planning.
• NEA grant opportunities
• Conversation Starters: Public Art Resources from Americans for the Arts.
• Economic data on arts and culture in Roanoke from Americans for the Arts and the Roanoke Cultural Endowment.
• Apply for to serve on one of the City's appointed boards and commissions.