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Tinsley Ellis and Marcia Ball Tour to Stage Show at Caffe Lena April 2

Written by Saratoga TODAY on . Posted in Entertainment.

Bending strings on the tenth fret. Tinsley Ellis (pictured) and
Marcia Ball bring their “Acoustic Songs and Stories Tour”
to Caffe Lena on Sunday, April 2. Photo: Elaine Thomas Campbell.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Alligator Records artists Tinsley Ellis and Marcia Ball bring their “Acoustic Songs and Stories Tour” to Caffe Lena on Sunday, April 2.

Each artist will play a solo set, and to close the evening they will join forces and share some songs and stories together. 

Ellis plans to perform many of his most popular songs, plus Delta blues covers and classics by artists like Gregg Allman, Bob Dylan and Leo Kottke, on his 1937 National Steel and 1969 Martin D-35 guitars. 

Ball will play piano and sing her often raucous and sometimes touching original songs full of the characters and places that shaped her. They will weave the music together with stories from their years on stage and on the road.

Show time is 7 p.m., and tickets range from $35.94-$70.88. For more information, call 518-583-0022, or go to: caffelena.org.  

Family Saturday: Painted Words on April 1 at The Tang

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Family Saturdays at the Tang Museum continues April 1. 
Photo: Corita Kent, new alchemy, 1983, serigraph, 19 7/8 x 16 inches,
Tang Teaching Museum collection, gift of Harry Hambly, serigrapher, 
Hambly Studios, 2016.14.152.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A series of Family Saturday programs continues at 2 p.m. on April 1 at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. 

After viewing works in the Tang collection by legendary artist and designer Corita Kent (1918–1986), participants will be invited to create their own posters using stencils, stamps, paint, and more. See more of her work in the 2013 Tang exhibition Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent and browse her work in the Tang collection online.

Family Saturdays, which are suitable for children 5 and older accompanied by an adult, aim to foster multigenerational creative cooperation through looking at artwork, discussing it, and engaging in a hands-on art-making activity. The programs run from 2 to 3:30 pm and are free and open to the public. No registration required; supplies provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

Family Saturdays continue April 15, April 29, and May 13. For more information, visit the Tang website at tang.skidmore.edu or contact the Tang Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080.

Earth Day Celebration at SPAC with Free Event 

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SARATOGA SPRINGS  — Saratoga Performing Arts Center announces “American Wildflowers,” the next event in its WAMC@SPAC series, will be held at 5 p.m. on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22 in the Nancy DiCresce Room at The Pines@SPAC facility. 

The event will be hosted by WAMC’s Joe Donahue and feature a conversation with Susan Barba and Leanne Shapton about their new book American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide. A book signing will follow the conversation.

American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide is a curated collection of poems, essays and letters from the 1700’s through today that features a diverse array of authors and focuses on wildflowers and their place in our culture and natural world. 

Susan Barba is the author of the poetry collections Fair Sun (2017) and geode (2020). Her poems have appeared in the New York Review of Books – where she works as an editor, Poetry, the New Republic, and translated into Swedish, German, Romanian, and Armenian. 

Leanne Shapton is an artist, writer, and publisher. Her illustrations appear on multiple book covers, including Women in Clothes, a collaborative project with Sheila Heti and Heidi Julavits, and her own Swimming Studies. She is the art editor at the New York Review of Books.

 WAMC@SPAC is free to attend, however seating is limited. Visit spac.org to register in advance.

Acclaimed Artist Trenton Doyle Hancock to Deliver Lecture on Thursday

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Trenton Doyle Hancock, Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass, MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, 2019. Photo by Tony Luong. Image courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Trenton Doyle Hancock will deliver the sixth-annual Winter/Miller Lecture at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, 6 p.m. Thursday, March 30. The in-person event is free and open to the public. 

Hancock, who lives and works in Houston, Texas, is widely praised for melding comic book aesthetics, religion, race, and storytelling in exuberant paintings, drawings, and installations. In a fantastical narrative he’s developed for almost two decades, the character Torpedo Boy functions as the artists’ alter ego who protects the benevolent Mounds from the wrath of the Vegans of the underworld. 

Previous Winter/Miller Lectures were delivered by Nicole Eisenman, 2018; Chris Ware, 2019; Wangechi Mutu, 2020; Nick Cave, 2021; and Juliana Huxtable, 2022.

Hancock, who was born in 1974 in Oklahoma City, first achieved national prominence when, in 2000, he was one of the youngest artists included in the Whitney Biennial Exhibition. Since then, he has had numerous solo exhibitions around the world. 

More information at tang.skidmore.edu

“Cauldron of Crones” Poetry Troupe StageNational Poetry Month Event in Saratoga County

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Waterford — Four hosts of poetry events across the Capital Region have formed the Cauldron of Crones poetry troupe and will celebrate National Poetry Month with an April 2 event at the Golden Leaf Bookshop in Waterford, and a workshop, and reading/open mic later in April in Colonie.    

Troupe members include: Carol Graser (host of monthly Poetry Nights at Caffè Lena); Nancy Klepsch (co-host with Dan Wilcox of “2nd Sunday @ 2” at Collar City Mushrooms in Troy), and Judith Prest and Rhonda Rosenheck, co-host the monthly Poetry Circle at Moon & River Café in Schenectady’s Stockade District. 

On April 2, the Cauldron of Crones will read and host “Spirit in Nature” at the Golden Leaf Bookshop, 30 Saratoga Avenue, in Waterford, from 4-6 p.m. The event includes a poetry reading, exhibit opening for Prest’s artwork, book sale, and open mic. 

Later in April, Rosenheck and Prest will lead “Free your Inner Poet,” a poetry workshop (1-2:30 p.m. April 17) and reading/open mic (1-2:20 p.m. April 24), both at the Colonie Senior Services Center, 6 Winners Cir, Albany. Information, call: 518-459-2857 ext. 340.

“Our purpose as the Cauldron of Crones is to reach out,” said Rhonda Rosenheck in a statement.  “Our events are invitations for timid or inexperienced poets to become part of this extraordinary literary community. We’ll keep showing up in unexpected places to entice every creative soul to join us.”

For more information about live and online literary events/workshops in the Hudson Valley, Capital Region and Adirondacks, visit: hvwg.org/events.

Noah Kahan Adds SPAC Date to Summer 2023 “Stick Season Tour”

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — With concert dates already set to stage at Albany’s Palace Theatre (May 30), and Radio City Music Hall (June 7 and Aug. 31), Vermont singer and songwriter Noah Kahan this week announced an added series of shows for his “Stick Season Tour,” will include a concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Sept. 2.

Kahan has released three full-length albums (Busyhead, 2019; I Was / I Am, 2021; Stick Season, 2022) and a mid-pandemic EP (Cape Elizabeth, 2020). 

Local Comic to film  Comedy Special March 29

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ALBANY – Local comedian Erin Harkes has announced the live recording of her upcoming comedy album and live special for YouTube. 

The special will take place Wednesday, March 29 at Albany Funny Bone. Doors open at 6 and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. Also on the bill are Jaye McBride (who recently wrapped up a tour with Amy Schumer) and local favorite Jennifer McMullen as the host and emcee for the evening. 

Harkes has been a top comic in the Capital Region for nearly a decade and performs/produces shows across the country year-round. 

The recording marks a follow-up to her debut album in 2021 “Zoloft + Probation,” released on Toronto based label Howl and Roar Records. 

In addition to the recording – also to be released on Howl and Roar – the special will be taped to be released on YouTube later this year. 

 Tickets are available at erinharkes.com. Questions regarding tickets/reservations can be directed to the Albany Funny Bone https://albany.funnybone.com/ or 518-313-7484.

Saratoga Clay Arts Center Duo Exhibition Opening Reception March 25

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Saratoga Clay Arts Center new exhibition Architectonic: Wesley Brown & Bryan Hopkins, opens March 25. Photo provided.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – New York City Ballet will virtually audition area children to perform in the company’s production of Firebird by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins during its summer residency at SPAC from July 18 – 22. 

Casting for Firebird includes roles for 14 girls from 9-12 years old who are between 4 feet 7 inches and 5 feet tall. Understudies will also be cast. Applicants should have some ballet training; however, there is no dancing involved in these roles.

The children who are selected will rehearse on Wednesday, July 19 and Thursday, July 20 from 4-6pm at the SPAC School of the Arts studios located behind the National Museum of Dance. The final rehearsal will take place on the afternoon of Friday, July 21 in the SPAC Amphitheater. Performances will be held at 7:30pm on July 21 and at 2pm on July 22.  

Selected children and accompanying adults must adhere to protocols imposed by Saratoga Performing Arts Center and New York City Ballet related to COVID-19.

Scheduled for two performances on July 21 at 7:30 p.m. and July 22 at 2 p.m., Firebird will be featured as part of a program that also includes Balanchine’s Swan Lake and Robbins’ Fancy Free. Firebird illustrates an enchanting Russian fairytale and the fantastical creatures of its strange world with stunning sets and costumes designed by Marc Chagall. The children appear in the last wedding tableau.

Video submissions must be included as part of the virtual audition form found at: https://spaceducation.wufoo.com/forms/z12gui1x0ytvhxs/. All audition submissions are due by March 31. Visit spac.org for more details.

Casting Call: NYCB Auditions for Local Children in Firebird SPAC Season

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SCHUYLERVILLE – Saratoga Clay Arts Center’s Schacht Gallery presents Architectonic: Wesley Brown & Bryan Hopkins, a duo exhibition showcasing two artists who are pushing the material to its limits – exerting force, pushing the clay as far is it will go – all to achieve pieces that are refined and expressive, with sculptural and functional vessels being the result

Architectonic: Wesley Brown & Bryan Hopkins will run March 25 – April 29, with an opening reception on Saturday, March 25, from 5-7 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is free. Both artists will be presenting workshops during the exhibition. 

Founded in 2010 by clay artist and educator Jill Kovachick, Saratoga Clay Arts Center is a ceramic art center located in Schuylerville, offering wheel throwing and handbuilding clay classes for youth and adults, studio space and residencies for artists, and exhibitions featuring emerging, mid-career and established clay artists. The Schacht Gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and by appointment, and is located at 167 Hayes Road, Schuylerville. Visit www.saratogaclayarts.org  call 518-581-2529 or email info@saratogaclayarts.org for more information. 

Thursday Deadline for Apply for Not-for-Profit Arts Grants 

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CAPITAL REGION – Fairgame Arts Grants – a funding opportunity for non-profit arts and cultural organizations will accept applications through Thursday, March 23 at 5 p.m.

Not-for-profit organizations based in 27 counties – including the Capital Region – are eligible to apply for grants from $1,000–$5,000, as announced by the Upstate Theater Coalition for a Fairgame.

Since 2019, the Arts Grant has been awarded to nearly 100 non-profit arts and cultural organizations and distributed more than $300,000 in funding. 

The Upstate Theater Coalition for a Fairgame was created in partnership with the State of New York and the casinos in the three gaming regions: Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady, Resorts World Catskills, del Lago Resort & Casino and Tioga Downs Casino Resort. Coalition members are: Bardavon Presents (Poughkeepsie), Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (Bethel), Clemens Center (Elmira), Forum Theatre (Binghamton), Palace Performing Arts Center (Albany), Proctors (Schenectady), Rochester Broadway Theatre League’s Auditorium Theatre (Rochester), Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs City Center, State Theatre of Ithaca, Times Union Center (Albany) and Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. 

Grant guidelines and application forms can be found at afairgame.net. For more information, contact info@afairgame.net