New City Arts Initiative • Charlottesville, Virginia

THE LEATHERS-SNYDER B&B (in support of the New City Arts Initiative*) is auctioning: A Night of Murder, Mayhem and Mystery!

 

It was a cold March evening, in 1892—a party was about to begin in the stately home of Captain and Madame Ne’erdowell, when a murder was discovered! All guests attending the event were implicated. Was it Professor Poindexter in the Parlor, Scarlet O’Hara in the Hothouse or Chef Clementine in the Kitchen?

OR maybe it was YOU?!

Bid to win a spirit-filled evening at the Leathers B&B and discover who among your friends is the true culprit!

- Participants receive clues in advance and attend in character.

- Guests will enjoy champagne, hors d'oeuvres, and dessert during the evening, while roaming through the Victorian Inn!

- Game scripts for 6-8 participants (... costumes are up to you!)

 

Bidding begins at $400—approx. donation of $50-66 per person. Bids accepted through Feb 25th. Murder by appointment only, subject to availability of Inn. Send letter of intent to Susan or call 434-974-7285.

 

*Auction to benefit Arts Forum April 20-22, 2012. This event is a collaborative effort among Charlottesville arts organizations, local businesses, and the University community. A few of the many presenters include Dean Dass (UVa McIntire Department of Art), Maggie Guggenheimer (Piedmont Council for the Arts), Steve Taylor (Second Street Gallery), Jamie Bennett (National Endowment for the Arts, Chief of Staff), Howard Singerman (UVa McIntire Department of Art), Nicholas Wolterstorff (Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture) and Greg Kelly (The Bridge PAI). --- You can find a full presenter list and description of the event here.

 

Ever wished that there was some kind of cupid cyclist to deliver delicious baked goods to your crush's door?  Ever lamented at the lack of adults willing to dress up as cherubs and--using some eco-friendly mode of transportation--spread love and scones?

Well, then get ready for the 8th annual Bake 'N Bike fundraiser to benefit Books Behind Bars and Community Bikes. Every year Bake 'N Bike raises well over $1000 for these organizations, and with your help, they can raise even more this year!

This fundraiser will be held on Valentine's Day, Tuesday, February 14th, all day, but orders should be placed in advance. For a $15-20 donation, cherubic bicycle-riding cupids will deliver a half dozen freshly baked, heart shaped, fairly traded chocolate chip scones - complete with a homemade card - to your door (or your honey's/friend's/co-worker's door) in town. If you want to get scones but you live outside town, the scones will be available for pick up at the Quest Book Shop.

Place your orders soon! To do so, please call Patrick Costello at (703) 785-2186 or email him!

If you are interested in volunteering the day of, or helping with publicity in the weeks before, please let Bake 'N Bike know here.

Many of you have been hearing about this forum recently, and we couldn't be more excited to announce it formally in the coming weeks. Pending some additional funding*, we are about ready to open the website for registration and invite you to Charlottesville in April for an event we're calling a forum because a conference sounds, so, well, conferenc-y.

Some of your favorite people will be presenting in pairs. Dean Dass and Adam Wolpa. Maggie Guggenheimer and Steve Taylor. Greg Kelly and Kate Daughdrill. Russell Willis Taylor and Jamie Bennett. Howard Singerman and Nicholas Wolterstorff.

Ben Wardell is going to be dancing alongside a performance arranged by Isaac Wardell.

And we're going to feed you well (thanks to A Pimento).

It will be at The Haven, Christ Church, and Random Row Books on April 20-22, 2012. Registration will be open soon. We're anticipating that we'll keep it around $99/person, and we'll have a handful of scholarships available. That price gets you admission to 6 sessions, a secret dinner, a lovely performance, and a Sunday brunch. You're practically saving money by hanging out with us in late April.

If you're in town, we're excited to organize a weekend of awesomeness for you. If you're out of town, we're excited to finally bring you here!

 

*If you are interested in sponsoring this event, we'd love to have you on board. Email Maureen with inquiries.

Last Friday, New City Arts gathered for the fourth edition of Round Table, a lecture series purposefully staged in people's homes around town.

Although the word "hobby" is often scrutinized, the word does describe the series' thread: what people care about. The premise of Round Table is that specialization in our work has led us to new forms of isolation (says Harry Frankfurt), and while we might be really good at what we do, many of us are also experts on something else-- something that we care about... like chairs.

Round Table IV was, in fact, on chairs. Much of the lecture was actually about the history of art and craft. Though, that was all just a set up to talk about chairs.

Nicholas Wolterstorff, a brilliant philosopher most known for his work on peace and justice, has written a handful of essays on the topic of craft and has spent much of his married life collecting chairs with his wife, Claire. He brought one of these chairs to the Lanterman's living room, where he presented and we discussed-- while eating carrot cake, scones, and truffles made by Erin Sheets, and sipping wine, graciously provided by the Taggart's.

Near the end of the discussion, someone asked Nick, "Why chairs? Why do you care about good chair design?"

Nick paused and replied, "Ennobling the ordinary. Good chair design ennobles the ordinary."

We'll just leave you with that, a few photos of the evening, and some anticipation for February's event on fashion.

Round Table was initiated by Philip Lorish, the brains and facilitator behind the event. If you have questions about participating, we'd love to hear from you. Just email Maureen.

We recently updated our Resources tab to point you to this amazing resource over at Piedmont Council for the Arts.

PCA has compiled a comprehensive listing of arts volunteer opportunities, available tickets, calls for entry, arts classes, free and low-cost arts events, among other artsy things that might peak your interest.

One of the most valuable resources is this listing of arts scholarships, grants, fellowships, and internships. The Bridge wants an intern. ArtCorps is looking for artists to live and work in Guatemala or Belize this June. The Naomi Winston Scholarship will provide up to $5,000 for young artists to pursue advanced training in art. And there's more!

Look around-- you might find an opportunity that you didn't know you were looking for!