Hot enough for ya? Cool arts events on the way
Sure it’s hot and steamy – welcome to the dog days of Florida summer – but that doesn’t mean St. Petersburg’s arts community is taking a seasonal siesta. Art, like rust, never sleeps.
Look no further than July 14, when the St. Pete Arts Alliance rolls out its monthly Second Saturday Art Walk. From 5 to 9 p.m., 40 studios and galleries join hands with an open-door policy. It’s a walking, talking self-guided tour of the Waterfront Arts District, Central Arts District, EDGE District, Grand Central District and Warehouse Arts District.
If you’ve ever wanted to peek behind the curtain and see just what our city’s many artists, sculptors and other creative types are up to, this is your chance.
A free trolley runs throughout; parking is available on 1st Ave N and 1st Ave S from 15th St. to 30th St., and at the Clay Center of St. Petersburg, MGA Studios, Brick Street Studios, Morean Center for Clay and the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum.
View a map and a list of participants here.
Just down the road
“Bad Jews” at American Stage (photo: Joey Clay)
- Amy Resnick directs the comedy Bad Jews, opening Friday, July 13 at American Stage. Playwright Joshua Harmon tells the story of three argumentative cousins gathered together after the funeral of a relative. When it premiered in 2013, the New York Times said Bad Jews was “the comedy of the season.” Preview nights are July 11 and 12; details here.
- The Museum of Fine Arts’ annual Beer Project takes place July 19 and 20 (we wrote about it here); on July 26, the MFA is hosting a reception for renowned jazz and civil rights photographer Herb Snitzer, whose exhibit Can I Get a Witness stays up until Aug. 5. The 6-8 p.m. event, “Bourbon, Jazz and Herb” features live jazz from the James Suggs Trio. And bourbon. And Snitzer himself. More info here.
- The Arts Alliance has announced the appointment of Jenee Priebe to the SHINE Mural Festival team, as Festival Coordinator. Priebe’s been a SHINE volunteer since 2018. This year’s mural-palooza is scheduled for Oct. 5-14.
- Congressman Charlie Crist’s office is sponsoring a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Workshop Saturday, July 21 at the City of Pinellas Park Auditorium, 7690 59th St. N. The 90-minute session starts at 11 a.m. The workshop will feature presentations by Congressman Crist’s staff, an NEA representative and leaders of the local arts community. There will also be a panel discussion including a Q&A session with the attendees. RSVPs are required to to Kendrick Lewis at Lewis2@mail.house.gov
- Tombolo Books presents Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King (Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America) Sunday, Aug. 5 at 5 p.m. at thestudio@620. The free event will be presented as an onstage discussion with King, the venue’s co-founder and artistic director Bob Devin Jones and Colette Bancroft, book editor for the Tampa Bay Times.
- Journalist and author Jeff Klinkenberg, who gave a hilarious and revealing interview to the Catalyst not so long ago, will speak Aug. 9 at the Dali Museum. The 6-7 p.m. event is called Real Florida, Clyde Butcher and Me – a reference to the astonishing landscape photographer Clyde Butcher, whose Dali-inspired photographs are currently on display at the museum (see the Catalyst’s Butcher story here).
