Still Time to Sign Up for Explore the Arts!

Greenville County Schools is offering Explore the Arts, a half-day summer program from Monday, June 18, to Friday, June 22, at the Fine Arts Center. 

Rising kindergarten through rising eighth grade students may take two arts classes from 8:30 a.m. to noon each day. Classes in Painting, Sculpture, Guitar, Drama, Drums, Modern Dance, Photoshop, Ballet and Japanese Art will be offered.

High school, college and adult Explore the Arts workshops will also be held June 18 to 22, and participants may select one workshop that will take place from 1-4 p.m. each day. Workshops in Printmaking, Alternative Photography, Metals, Painting, Photoshop and Ballet will be offered.

Students may pick up a registration form from their arts teachers or guidance counselors, or parents may print a registration form by going to www.fineartscenter.net and clicking on the Explore the Arts link. The cost to attend this exciting arts program is $125 for the kindergarten to eighth grade program and $150 for the high school, college and adult workshops.  Some partial scholarships are available.

To find out more about the classes offered or for more information, call the program coordinator, Donna Shank-Major, at 864-355-2574 or email her here.

FAC Instructor Wins Award/Book to Be Published

Fine Arts Center Creative Writing Instructor Sarah Blackman is the 2011 winner of the Ronald Sukenick American Book Review Innovative Fiction Prize for her short story collection Mother Box. The book, a collection of 11 stories and one novella, will be published by independent press Fiction Collective 2, an imprint of the University of Alabama Press, in August 2013. FC2 was founded in 1974 with the specific mission to find, publish and keep in print ficton that defines itself as innovative or experimental in form, that bends the rules of the genre and doesn't bind itself by considerations of the publisher's bottom line. An author run and managed collective, FC2 has grown from six founding members to over 100 today, including such leading figures in American innovative fiction as Kate Bernheimer, Michael Martone, Diane Williams, Noy Holland and Lance Olson. 

FAC Students to Perform at Artisphere 2012

Fine Arts Center Theatre and Dance students will be appearing Saturday, May 12, 2012, on the Broad Street Culinary Arts Cafe Stage at downtown Greenville's annual weekend-long arts extravaganza, Artisphere. Come out to see them at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday!

Congressional Institute Art Awards

Sierra Snipes

 Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. The competition provides an opportunity for members of Congress to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents.
Students submit entries to their representative’s office, and panels of local artists in each district select the winning entries, which are then displayed for one year at the Capitol.
Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual Awards Ceremony in Washington, DC. Since it began in 1982, more than 650,000 high school students have participated.
This year's show was held at the TD Bank Gallery at the CU-ICAR campus on Friday, May 4.  Sierra Snipes, a ninth-grade FAC student in Donna Shank-Major's 2D/3D Design class, won third place for her piece entitled "Racoon's Journey."

2011-2012 Dance Concert

The Fine Arts Center Dance Concert will be performed Friday, April 27, from 7-8:30 pm in the theatre at Wade Hampton High School, adjacent to the Fine Arts Center.  The repertory will include choreography by Brian McGinnis (Juilliard graduate and professional dancer with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in NYC), Gerri Houlihan (Professor of Dance at Florida State University and Co-Dean of the American Dance Festival at Duke University), Joan Wadopian (professional dancer with Shen Wei Dance Arts in NYC), Andrew Kuharsky (Director of the Greenville Ballet) and Rebecca Lee (MFA from Florida State University and alumna of the Fine Arts Center).

This is going to be an extraordinary performance with a number of varied, intriguing pieces. Don't miss this final dance performance of the school year!

Spring Juried Student Exhibition Reception

The Visual Arts Department at the Fine Arts Center invites you to the annual Spring Juried Student Exhibition Reception on Thursday, April 19, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the beautiful Sheffield Wood Gallery at the Fine Arts Center.  Awards will be presented at 7 p.m.

This year's exhibition was juried by Denise Woodward-Detrich, a ceramicist who specializes in functional pottery and is the director of the Lee Gallery in Clemson University's Department of Art.  Said Ms. Woodward-Detrich, "It was a pleasure to spend my day reviewing the artwork and feeling the creative energy pulsing out from the various studios.  The Fine Arts Center is ripe with creativity, energy, imagination, talent and excellence and is a wonderful environment for creative minds.  The jury process was made difficult given the quality of the works submitted and enjoyable for the same reason.  I enjoyed taking a close look at each of the submissions and found it challenging at the end of the day to limit my selections. "

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

The Greenville Drive may be away this weekend, but you can get ready for their return next weekend! Let these talented FAC strings students put you in the mood with this entertaining performance of a ballpark classic, arranged by FAC instructor and Composer-in Residence Jon Grier.

FAC Theatre: Blood Wedding

The FAC Advanced Theatre Ensemble will present Federico Garcia Lorca's "Blood Wedding" on April 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 7 p.m. There is a $5 suggested donation. This 1930s Spanish tragedy uses poetry, music, gypsy and flamenco influences to tell the story of forbidden love in rural Andalusian Spain. Original music and movement created by the Ensemble. Directed by Teri Parker Lewis.

FAC Alumna Alexis Aime at TEDx Nashville

Alexis Aimé graduated from the Fine Arts Center in 2010, having studied in the voice and the theatre departments. She is now a sophomore at Oberlin Conservatory pursuing a BM in vocal performance. This past weekend she performed at TEDx Nashville singing Gretchen am Spinnrade by Schubert as part of a presentation on Classical Music. On April 16, she will perform (for the third time) at Carnegie Hall, singing Gretchen am Spinnrade and also Quando m'en vo from La Bohème. This summer she has been accepted into two summer opera programs: LA Operaworks and Atlantic Music Festival in Maine.

Concert for Michael Rice

See the video of the March 15 concert in honor of former FAC voice instructor Michael Rice.