The Norman Arts Council and Fowler Volkswagen of Norman have partnered to establish an annual award honoring extraordinary efforts in arts education.

The Fowler Arts Education Award will be presented to an individual who has given back to the Norman community through educating children about the arts—music, theatre, art or other creative disciplines. The NAC will announce the award winner at their annual ONE Event on March 31, 2012.

“The Norman Arts Council is very thankful to Fowler Volkswagen for their sponsorship of this award. The NAC firmly believes in the importance of arts education and we are thrilled to be able to recognize those in our community who go above and beyond in this area,” NAC Executive Director Erinn Gavaghan said.

The award winner’s portrait will be included on a mural painted by artist Scott Charles Henderson on the Fowler Volkswagen building. The mural, located on Interstate 35, will showcase Norman’s ever-growing commitment to children’s arts education.

Jonathan Fowler, general manager for Fowler Volkswagen, said new winners will be added to the mural each year.

“This mural will be a continuous thumbs up to educators who are making a tremendous impact on our community and an advertisement to the thousands of people who drive by every day that Norman is an incredible place to work, live, raise a family and enjoy the arts,” Fowler said.

Nominations are due by January 31, 2012. To nominate someone who has gone above and beyond in children’s arts education, please complete the form here or by visiting http://www.tinyurl.com/FowlerArtsEducationAward.

For more information on the Fowler Arts Education Award, the Norman Arts Council, or the ONE Event, call 405-360-1162.

Cinematic Artists of Norman Executive Elections

Every year we look for the best to be the next leaders of the filmmaking group the Cinematic Artists of Norman. Be the next!

Nominations: Jan. 10, 6:30pm
@ Blu Fine Wine and Foods

Nominations for candidates will be taken at the January 10 at the CAN Connect meeting. Members can contact canchair@gmail.com before January 11 if they would like advertisement for their position to appear on the CAN website. You must be present at the January 10 meeting, or have someone present to speak on your behalf. The election will take place on January 11-13. Election results will be officially announced on January 15.

RUN FOR:

Chair:

The chair is responsible for overseeing the group and upholding the group’s mission and goals. The chair also is responsible for meeting agendas, maintaining canchair@gmail.com, updating and monitoring the CAN website, booking meeting locations and updating and maintaining the social media sites (which currently is Facebook). The Chair is also responsible for being accessible to questions and should be prepared to do interviews for local news sources and publications to help spread the word about CAN.

Co-Chair:

The co-chair assumes the responsibilities of the chair in their absence. They are responsible for scheduling and contacting workshop speakers. ­­­­They are also responsible for monitoring and updating the CAN website, and other social media accounts.

Public Relations Chair:

The public relations chair oversees all aspects related to the promotion of CAN. This person writes press releases for workshops and disseminates to appropriate sources. They also send important dates to calendars such as the Norman Arts Council, Wimgo, KGOU etc. They are also responsible for monitoring and updating the CAN website, and other social media accounts.

Secretary:

The secretary is responsible for taking notes at CAN exec meetings and sending them out to the exec group. The secretary is also responsible for taking general notes at workshop meetings and CAN Connect meetings to send out to paid CAN members and publish on the CAN website. Also, this role entails contacting the next featured profile member for the website and coordinating the shoot, and/or photo, and questionnaire. The secretary is also responsible for updating emails and membership information in the necessary documents. They are also responsible for monitoring and updating the CAN website, and other social media accounts.

Treasurer:

The treasurer is a new position for CAN, and will oversee the budget for the fiscal year of the group. This person will maintain a close relationship with the Norman Arts Council and will handle all reimbursements or transactions on behalf of the group, including ordering business cards.

Photographer:

The photographer is responsible for photos during workshops, productions, and special events . The photographer may also be called upon to shoot bio pics for the website and other marketing areas involving CAN.

Educational Outreach Chair:

The educational outreach chair is a new position for CAN, and will work closely with Norman Public Schools to build and maintain relationships with their video production courses. This position should explore options involved mentor/mentee art programs with the Norman Arts Council and other ways to get involved with the 18 and under crowd.

Production Chair:

The production chair is a new position for CAN, and will oversee any production CAN is currently involved with. They will act as a guiding force and the go-to person for these projects. They will be in charge of updating the CAN Vimeo with the CAN Production projects and keeping CAN crew informed and updated.

Special Initiatives Chair:

The special initiative chair is a new position for CAN. They will develop partnerships with other arts organizations in Norman.

2nd Friday Chair:

The 2nd Friday chair is a new position for CAN, and will oversee CAN’s involvement with 2nd Friday.

Once every four years the University of Oklahoma presents this magical holiday spectacular with a cast of over 100 dancers, including children from across Oklahoma. Each performance will be complete with lavish sets and beautifully designed costumes and an accomplished cast of dancers.

The Rupel J. Jones Theatre is located in the OU Fine Arts Center, 563 Elm Ave. in Norman. Tickets prices are $14 for students, $22 for adults and $18 for seniors, OU faculty and staff, and military. Tickets may be purchased with the OU Fine Arts Box Office (405) 325-4101.  The box office is located in the Catlett Music Center, 500 W. Boyd Street, Norman, OK.

Originally choreographed by Marius Petipa, The Nutcracker, set to the melodic score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, has become a beloved holiday ballet performed worldwide. The libretto for the ballet was originally based on the story The Nutcracker and the King of Mice written by E.T.A Hoffman. After attending a festive Christmas party, a young girl named Clara dreams an enchanted holiday adventure through the Kingdom of Snow and the Land of Enchantment. In her dream, she watches a battle between a Mouse King and a life sized version of her Nutcracker, visits a wonderland of dancing snowflakes, meets the Sugar Plum Fairy, and is treated to a celebration of dances from around the world.

Petipa’s Nutcracker came to creation after the director of the Imperial Theatres, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose a double-bill program featuring an opera and a ballet. Spurred by the success of The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, an earlier collaboration between Petipa and Tchaikovsky, the pair came together to create the new ballet. The Nutcracker had its premiere at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, in December of 1892, along with Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolanta. The composer and choreographer later collaborated in the creation of yet another successful ballet, Swan Lake, which had given the original premiere with a different choreographer in 1877.

Tchaikovsky, who studied music at the Imperial Conservatory in St. Petersburg, is hailed as one of the most popular and influential romantic composers to date. His expressive and melodic Nutcracker Suite became an instant success among audiences and is now one of the composer’s most popular compositions. From “Waltz of the Flowers” to “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” Tchaikovsky’s work has become iconic during the holiday season.

A great deal of popularity came to Tchaikovsky’s score in 1954 with George Balanchine’s adaptation of The Nutcracker for the New York City Ballet. Balanchine actually created many contemporary works to scores by Tchaikovsky including Serenade, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 [Ballet Imperial] and Theme and Variations, all of which have experienced vast success, making the composer a master of twentieth century ballet as well.

The University of Oklahoma’s program in dance was founded in 1963 by Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov, former principal dancers with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. What had been a department became the School of Dance in 1998, with Mary Margaret Holt as Director. Undergraduate and graduate dance majors, along with general education students, total approximately 1000 enrollees in dance classes per semester. The School of Dance’s state-of-the-art facility in the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center was completed in 2005.

The Norman Ballet Company will help kick off the 2011 Holiday Season by presenting The Oklahoma Nutcracker on Sunday, November 27, 2011 at 3:00 PM at the Nancy O’Brian Center for the Performing Arts Center, 1809 Stubbeman, in Norman.  All seats are reserved and cost $20 per ticket. www.ticketstorm.com

In addition to the performance, the popular Sand Plum Fairy Tea Party will be held for children and families in the Studio Theater at 1:00 PM preceding the performance and will feature the Sand Plum Fairy and Santa Claus as special guests, as well as the Nutcracker himself; crafts for children, and delicious tea party refreshments provided by Althea’s Vault Café & Bakery!  Seating is limited for the Sand Plum Fairy Tea Party and costs $18 per guest.

Tickets for both events are now on sale at Ticketstorm.com (1-866-966-1777).

Performed by young dancers from central Oklahoma, local actors and performers, and professional guest artists, The Oklahoma Nutcracker has earned its place as “Norman’s favorite holiday tradition”.  Special guest artists in 2011 are Stephanie Foraker Pitts and her partner, Anton Iakovlev, both from the Oklahoma City Ballet.  Ms. Pitts is a former Norman Ballet Company member and returns to the company to perform as the Sand Plum Fairy, partnered by Mr. Iakovlev as her Cavalier.

The Oklahoma Nutcracker is originally choreographed by Norman Ballet Company Artistic Director, Marjorie Kovich, and is based on historical Oklahoma characters and themes of nature. Set in 1907 at the Overholser Mansion in Oklahoma City, the ballet replaces traditional characters with historical figures of the Oversholser family (Henry, Anna and their children, Henry Ione and Samuel).  Mr. Sam Shubert, the opera impresario, is the magical uncle who gives the gift of the Nutcracker. The sets and props of Act I were copied, with permission, from the drawing room of the Overholser Mansion.  In Act II, the Sand Plum Fairy presides over dances and variations that directly portray Oklahoma nature (Eastern cardinal, Tall Prairie Grass, Scissortail Flycatcher, Indian Paintbrushes, a King Snake, and Mama Armadillo and her babies).  These are danced to the Tchaikovsky score in honor of Henry Ione, seated on the Rose Rock Throne.

This season includes the following:

October 2:  Horseshoe Road, 2011 International Acoustic Music Awards winner led by world renowned fiddle sensation Kyle Dillingham, opens the season.   This uplifting, high energy Oklahoma group blends styles ranging from Blues to Bluegrass, Gypsy Jazz to Western Swing, Country, Rock and Gospel. ($20)

October 16: Tulsa native and current Austin recording artist Steve Weichert draws from folk, rock blues and jazz to create his distinctive, upbeat sound.  An engaging performer, Weichert can effortlessly fill a room with tapping toes and smiles. ($15)

October 23:  Five time Blues Music Award winner Rory Block is heralded as “a national treasure” (Guitar Extra), and “one of the greatest living acoustic blues artists” (Blues Revue).  Block has committed her life to preserving the Delta blues tradition and bringing it to life for 21st century audiences.  ($20)

November 6:  Award winning songwriter, entertainer, poet and teacher Tom Kimmel brings a lean, acoustic-centered approach to his music and a poignant and humorous spirit to his poetry and storytelling.   ($15)

November 20: Ari Hest, whose music Performing Songwriter calls “high-caliber and heartfelt,” has built his career the old fashioned way, touring 150 dates each year.  “An urbane folk-rocker with a sonorous baritone, Ari Hest sounds like a man out of time.” (The Washington Post)   ($15)

December 4:  Darden Smith, has long transcended traditional singer-songwriter boundaries.  His dozen critically acclaimed albums weave together rock, pop, country, folk and Americana influences.    ($15)

January 15,  Girlyman is “really good, really unexpected, and really different.” (The Village Voice)  Informed by 60s vocal groups like Simon & Garfunkel, and infused with years of classical and jazz training, Girlyman’s songs are a dance of melody and suspensions – an irresistible blend of acoustic, Americana, and rock.  ($20)

January 29:  There are few singer/songwriters that are better at captivating an audience with well written music and charming stories than Chris Trapper.  Trapper’s on–stage persona is warm and inclusive, his organic understanding of classic pop melody infectious.    ($15)

February 19:  Shawnee native Samantha Crain has already achieved a good deal of national acclaim centered on her powerful and accessible voice which Rolling Stone described as “… gorgeously odd — all fulsome, shape-shifting vowels that do indeed billow like fog.”   ($15)

March 4:  Big Wide Grin, the bi-coastal trio of Elaine Dempsey, Lawrence Lambert & Karl Werne, bring diverse backgrounds of experience, music and theater together to form a rich, soulful blend of character and deep harmony which will move you to an understanding of their name.  ($20)

Call 405-307-9320 or visit pasnorman.org for ticket and other information.

Winter Wind Concerts are made possible in part by grants from the Norman Arts Council, Oklahoma Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, together with generous support from individuals and businesses.

Three additional public events will engage audiences in discussions of contemporary literature in Oklahoma and around the globe. The festivities begin on Tuesday, September 27 at 7:30pm with an opening night gala featuring readings by a panel of well-known, award-winning Oklahoma poets, including Dorothy Alexander, Joey Brown, Nathan Brown, Ken Hada, Carol Hamilton, and Ben Myers. Then on Wednesday, September 28 at 11:30am, a group of local celebrities, including Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal and singer-songwriter Mike Hosty, will treat an audience (including 200 public school 4^th and 5^th graders) to readings from NSK Neustadt Prize winning children’s books at the festival’s first annual Celebrity Read. Rounding out the week’s events is a morning of panel discussions featuring the 2012 Neustadt Prize jury: Rabih Alameddine (Lebanon), Gabeba Baderoon (South Africa), Norman Cantú (Mexico/US), Andrea De Carlo (Italy), Nathalie Handal (France/US), Ilya Kaminsky (Russia/US), Yahia Lababidi (Egypt/Lebanon), Miguel Syjuco (Phillippines), and Samrat Upadhyay (Nepal).

More information, including detailed descriptions of each event, can be found online at www.neustadtfestival.com.

The University of Oklahoma Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts teams up with Oklahoma Blood Institute for a Blood Drive from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., on Tuesday, Sept. 13 in the Grayce B. Kerr Gothic Hall located inside the Catlett Music Center.

Donors will be entered in to win “Dracula” T-shirts and pairs of tickets to the 11 p.m., Sept. 24 production of William McNulty’s acclaimed adaption of Bram Stoker’s famous novel “Dracula.”

College of Fine Arts Teams up with Oklahoma Blood Institute for a Blood Drive

Donors will also receive an OU Bedlam blood donor T-shirt, a free health screening and donor reward points.

OU’s Catlett Music Center is located at 500 W. Boyd, in your OU Arts District!

For more information about the donation process, please visit http://obi.org/blood-donation/.

Please visit http://www.ou.edu/finearts/events for a full calendar of events and performances at the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts.

Orphaned in India, 11 year-old Mary Lennox returns to Yorkshire to live with her embittered, reclusive uncle Archibald and his invalid son Colin. The estate’s many wonders include a magic garden which beckons the children with haunting melodies and the “Dreamers”, spirits from Mary’s past who guide her through her new life.

The Secret Garden will be directed by Lyn Cramer, with musical direction by Jason Grife.

Mary Lennox will be played by Addison Baker, a 10 year-old Norman resident, who just wowed audiences in Music Theatre Wichita’s Disney’s The Little Mermaid, appearing as the first female FLOUNDER in the show’s history.

Archibald Craven will be played by Thomas E. Cunningham, appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association. Tommy has performed the roles of The Phantom and Che in The Broadway National Tours of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera and Evita; and most recently Father in Lyric Theatre’sRagtime and Judge Turpin in Lyric Theatre’s Sweeney Todd.

Local favorites Mandy Jiran, Vince Leseney, Cory Lingner, Dalycia Rich Phipps, Ava Maag, Alex Irwin and Michael Hardwick are also featured in this production.

Performances will begin at 8:00 p.m., September 16, 17, 23 and 24, 2011. Matinee performances will begin at 2:00 p.m., September 18 & 25, 2011.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online, by phone or at The Sooner Theatre. A service charge of $2 per ticket will be applied to all phone and online orders. Box office hours are Tues-Fri, 10am- Noon and 2-5pm and one hour prior to show time.

Sooner Stage Presents discounts: Seniors (65+), children (12 & under) and groups of 10 or more receive $5 off the regular ticket price. Discounts cannot be combined.

Student Rush: College and high school students who show their valid school ID at the box office within one hours of showtime can purchase tickets at 50% of the regular price for that evening’s performance. Student Rush tickets cannot be purchase in advance.

The Sooner Theatre of Norman is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Sooner Theatre offers year-round events including in-house musical theatre productions, concerts by nationally touring groups, special events, youth productions and dozens of performing arts classes at The Studio of The Sooner Theatre.

The Sooner Stage Presents series is made possible in part by the support of the Oklahoma Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Norman Arts Council. Additional support for the Main Event Concert Series is provided by Republic Bank & Trust. This production is underwritten in part by The Hyden Fund, a charitable donor advised fund of the Norman Community Foundation.

For more information contact The Sooner Theatre, (405) 321-9600 or visit www.soonertheatre.com.