BLACKSBURG, Va., March 6, 2008 – Virginia Tech School of the Arts announces ArtsFusion 2008, a weeklong celebration of the arts throughout the New River Valley scheduled for April 12 through April 19. ArtsFusion 2008 is seeking participation by arts organizations and artists both on campus and throughout the New River Valley working in music, film, theatre, dance, creative writing, and the visual arts.
Sponsored by the Virginia Tech School of the Arts in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, ArtsFusion aims to provide an opportunity for the campus and the New River Valley community to come together through a celebration of the arts. This year’s theme, “A Celebration of the Arts as Human Spirit,” reflects the wide range of artistic genre and expression that ArtsFusion wishes to embrace.
Events can include; chamber music, jazz, street theatre, fully staged performances, student film festivals, Sundance-nominated films, step performances, tap dance, children's art workshops, gallery exhibitions, and new creative technologies.
Currently, participating organizations include the Progeny Film Festival, WUVT 90.7 FM, Juxtaposition, Virginia Tech Department of English, Virginia Tech Department of Communication, Festival of the Arts at Southwest Virginia Community College, Montgomery Museum and Lewis Miller Regional Art Center, Perspective Art Gallery, and HERE: Honoring Experiences, Reflections and Expressions.
The ArtsFusion 2008 kick off event will be the New River Valley Symphony performing Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutches Requiem on Saturday, April 12, in Burruss Hall Auditorium on the Virginia Tech campus. The performance includes the combined university choirs and the Blacksburg Master Chorale. The first half of the program features the Marching Virginians performing a concert band composition written especially for them. The New River Valley Symphony is a community orchestra made up of 80 community residents and Virginia Tech faculty and students and is sponsored by the Virginia Tech Department of Music in the School of the Arts.
Other School of the Arts participants include the Department of Theatre Arts and the Department of Art and Art History. The Department of Theatre Arts’ multi-media, main stage production Lightning at Our Feet directed by faculty member Bob McGrath, will run from April 17 through April 25 in the Squires Studio Theatre located in the Squires Student Center.
The Department of Art and Art History’s participation includes XYZ Gallery and Art Armory Gallery exhibits and creative technologies events. “IMAGES, OBJECTS AND SYMBOLS, a collaborative exhibit of painting and tapestries by Joanna and Donald Sunshine” at the Art Armory Gallery, runs from April 2 through April 26. Creative technologies will be featured with a Collaborative for Creative Technologies open house and a Digital Interactive Sound and Intermedia Studio multi-media performance event.