UMass Fine Arts Center Continues Virtual Programming This Fall

Based on current state and university restrictions, the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center venues including the Augusta Savage Gallery, Hampden Gallery and the University Museum of Contemporary Art, will remain closed this fall. Despite being closed, the programming staff at the Fine Arts Center continue to reimagine the arts online, presenting over 30 engagements and exhibitions online at no cost throughout the fall semester, all with the purpose of continuing important dialogue around politics, race, equity and humanity.

“We understand that it’s not enough to celebrate and be moved by great artistic achievements,” said Fine Arts Center director Jamilla Deria. “Our virtual performances and exhibitions put a spotlight on urgent societal issues, creating a safe space for honest dialogue, and building community.”

This fall begins with the digital opening of Augusta Savage Gallery’s “Breathing While Black” on Sept. 1. Featuring work by over 50 artists from 17 countries who responded to the Gallery’s call for entries earlier this summer, “Breathing While Black” represents an international response to the recent and ongoing killing of Black Americans. The exhibition is part of the gallery’s 2020-21 and 50^th Anniversary theme, “Healing Bodies,” inviting visual and performance works that raise questions, offer solutions and present new ways of viewing the vigor and wellness of bodies, defined in any number of ways. As part of its anniversary year, the Gallery has invited old friends and new to contribute to an online performance series titled REVIVAL/50, launching Friday, Sept. 11 with New Haven’s Phat A$tronaut and running regularly throughout the year. For the complete schedule, visit fineartscenter.com/asg.

Severalnationally-recognized artists who are dedicated to addressing contemporary social issues through performance, education, and outreach activities have been invited to participate in the new “Reimagine Residency Series.” Launching this series is the New England and virtual premiere of “Kristina Wong for Public Office” on Sept. 10.This comedic performance tells the story of what it means to run for local office, the history of voting, and the impact artists can have on democracy. Kristina's residency includes educational outreach to UMass students in theater, Asian American studies and history.

On Sunday, Nov. 15, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, America’s most renowned big band, led by Wynton Marsalis, present an online concert featuring the JLCO Septet with Marsalis featuring newly composed works and arrangements. As part of the residency, University Without Walls will administer a six-session public course around the theme, Jazz as a Tool of Liberation – class dates and registration to be announced.

Premiering Nov. 22 is a show for families by Putney, Vermont’s Sandglass Theater titled “Rock the Boat.” Exploring themes of refugees, inclusion and respectful curiosity, “Rock the Boat” aims to get young audiences thinking about relocation and displacement by addressing attitudes about acceptance of those who come from other countries and cultures. Sandglass Theater has a long history of working with rural and underserved communities and will be conducting poetry, music and puppetry workshops in select K-12 schools.

Another new series titled “Bodies at Risk” is comprised of creative conversations between BIPOC performing artists, educators, activists and other experts working to shift American society’s understanding of the racialized body and social justice. These conversations will feature Black Violin, led by violinist Kev Marcus and violist Wil B, Oct. 2; Urban Bush Women’s Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Ananya Dance Theatre’s Ananya Chatterjea, Oct. 14; and neuroscientist Erich Jarvis and playwright Larissa FastHorse, Oct. 19. Also on Nov. 10, FastHorse will return for a student-focused conversation co-presented by the UMass theater department and WAM Theater Company, which presents a digitally reimagined version of FastHorse’s “The Thanksgiving Play” later that month.

Magic Triangle has been hard at work on an online tribute and celebration of the centenary of Yusef Lateef’s birth, including a live virtual concert on Oct. 9, an exhibit of his visual art, a photo gallery, readings, film excerpts, and 100 responses to Lateef by a cross-section of musicians, writers, former students, friends, colleagues and family. Lateef is a GRAMMY-award winning artist and NEA Jazz Master who earned his EdD from UMass Amherst in 1975, and taught at UMass and Hampshire College for many years after until his death in 2013. The series continues with two online concerts of Dreamstruck on Oct. 29 featuring Marilyn Crispel, Joe Fonda, and Harvey Sorgen and closes with on Nov. 12 with the James Brandon Lewis Quartet, both to be broadcast live from Amherst Media.

Hampden Gallery has a demonstrated 20 plus year history of providing support for emerging and well established artists. The fall semester puts the spotlight on three diverse artists, two of which are UMass alums. Collectively these artists touch on issues of identity, cultural assimilation, and ways that representational or abstract art can help us contemplate and navigate our complex world. Trish Crapo’s virtual exhibition of her work “The Presence of Absence” debuts on Sept. 15. For the complete schedule, visit fineartscenter.com/hampden.

The University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) continues to engage online with its collection and past exhibitions, and will release more content from the exhibitions that were up last spring: Roni Horn’s photographs taken along the Arctic Circle and Procheta Mukherjee Olson’s “Palimpsest.” Later in the fall at a date to be determined, UMCA hosts “We Are For Freedoms Virtual Town Hall.” Designed by the For Freedoms Student Organizing Committee and hosted a week before the upcoming presidential election, this virtual gathering brings together students, artists, and creative thinkers to discuss ideas around democracy, civic engagement, activism, and protest. It will include an introduction to the UMCA’s spring exhibition of the same name. For more information, visit umass.edu/umca.

For all of these programs, please visit fineartscenter.com for a complete schedule, reservation instructions and various digital platforms for viewing. For more questions, the box office can be reached at facbox@umass.edu or starting Monday, Aug. 24, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by phone at 413-545-2511 or 800-999-UMAS, hours subject to change.