In Concert With The Arts will present its Spring Showcase on Sunday, April 14, beginning at 1 p.m. at Little Theatre, Wilkes-Barre.
The theme of the event is “emerging local artists” and will include many local emerging artists displaying and performing on stage.
The production will include painting, drawing, photography, film, music, singing, dancing, comedy, poetry, and theater. Attendees will also be able to sample international foods created by local culinary artists.
Mountain Top resident Marty Wentz, a member of the In Concert With The Arts committee, said it is important that the showcase include artists from multiple genre.
Wentz pointed out the Wyoming Valley has a vibrant art scene, but for too long each genre was isolated.
His wife, Michele Millington, chairperson of the In Concert With The Arts board, agreed. “Each genre has been isolated,” said Millington, a well-known music teacher from Mountain Top.
Wentz and Millington said In Touch With The Arts had its beginnings back in 2017 when the National Endowment for the Arts experienced funding cuts and schools were dropping art and music programs.
The group put on its first event in 2017 at Little Theatre which donated the space. The show, a sellout, featured musicians. artists, poets, art displays in lobby and live painting on stage.
“Our goal was to spread the arts, not raise money. That was secondary,” Millington related. The event did raise some money and the organization subsequently awarded scholarships to students entering the arts.
Doors to the Little Theatre will open at 1 p.m. on Sunday when works of a number of artists will be on display in the lobby. Exhibitors include Jane Klesh Butkovsky, Hemlock, Marcy Oldham, Curtis Salonick and Kyle Stratton. There also will be body painting by Stratton and life drawing by Quinn.
Stage performances begin at 2 p.m. with master of ceremonies local drag artist Trixy Valentine. The first half of the show will include comedian Angelina Petrillo, singers, poets, and musicians, including Polka Bandski. Following a 30-40 minute intermission, the Emarald Isle Step Dancers will open the second act which will include more singers, a video presentation by Hollywood casting director Eileen Kennedy, a Wyoming Valley native, and the Mt. Zion Baptist Church Mass Choir.
Millington noted Little Theatre again donated its space for the event. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children under 12 and are available at ltwb.org.
