This Week’s Missoula Arts & Culture Scene | August 4

Paul McCartney performs Tuesday evening at 8:00 p.m. at the Washington-Grizzly Stadium.  If there are any tickets left, they are at Griztix.com.

The Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre has been in performing in Salzburg and Vienna this summer. This past weekend Missoulian Ashley Hagler won the contemporary dance category with her solo variation titled ” Cliff Notes”, and she and Patric Palkens from Lewistown took third place behind China and Russia  in the classical pas de deux category at the International Ballet and Contemporary Dance Competition in Vienna.

Current exhibits at the Missoula Art Museum  include Blessingway: Prints by Melanie Yazzie through September 6; Bill Ohrmann: Tainted Revelations through October 11; Crossing the River: Hmong Story Cloths through October 25; The Art of Human Conflict through December 24. Pictured above, the newly refurbished Edgar Paxson Murals will be exhibited through September 6, before returning to the Missoula County Courthouse.

The Montana Museum of Art & Culture at the University of Montana presents Sandra Dal Poggetto: Meditations on the Field, in the Paxson and Meloy Galleries.  Throughout the summer and early fall of 2014, Helena-based artist Sandra Dal Poggetto will be featured in a solo exhibition of new and recent works at the Montana Museum of Art & Culture at The University of Montana. Dal Poggetto uses an abstract language and fragments of the western landscape-hide, feathers, wood and wire-to create evocative paintings and drawings. She draws on and deconstructs both Euro-American pictorial language and American Indian visual traditions.

BrazilWorldCup_MainStoryThe Missoula Downtown Association’s Out to Lunch and Downtown Tonight are now in full swing and continue throughout the summer.  This week features the Solomon Love Band Wednesday and Western Union Thursday evening. 

Missoula City Band continues the summer season this Wednesday at Bonner Park. This week’s program is titled Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight with Stampede Pete!

Shakespeare and Co. presents Carol Bradley and Jamie Ford reading from their latest books Last Chain on Billie: How One Extraordinary Elephant Escaped the Big Top and Songs of Willow Frost, 7:00 p.m. on August 4.

Fact & FictionDowntown presents a Luncheon for
Carrie LaSeur, author of Home Place, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. August 12 in the new Radius Gallery, 114 East Main.  Tickets are $1

Living Art of Montana presents Saturday Workshops through the summer.  August 9 and 16 features Ceramics with Tracy Pohndorf.

Missoula Outdoor Cinema presents  Sabrina (1954) NR 8:56 pm August 9 at 1001 Worden Street on the North Side.

The Wilma Theatre presents Nickel Creek Thursday, August 7 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets available at Rockin Rudy’s and online at TicketWeb.

The Missoula Children’s Theatre Performing Arts Camp began August 2 when more than 160 high-energy, talented teenagers converged on the shores of Flathead Lake to create a live musical revue of Broadway material, inspired by the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.  The show – The Bard on Broadway – will be presented  Thursday, August 14 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, August 15 at 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, August 16 at 1:00 and 4:00 p.m.  Tickets available on teh website.

Summer Camps and Classes are offered at Missoula Writing CollaborativeThe Clay Studio of Missoula, Zootown Arts Community Center , The Missoula Art Museum , Downtown Dance Collective, Montana Natural History Center, MCAT, and  Tangled Tones Music Studio.

The Missoula Symphony Orchestra returns to Caras Park on Sunday, August 10 at 7 p.m. for its tenth annual “Symphony in the Park” concert, featuring a special appearance by country music star, Tyler Barham.   Music Director Darko Butorac will also lead the orchestra through a lively program of movie scores, dance numbers and light classics. Food and beverage may be purchased from on-site vendors and lawn chairs are encouraged. The event is free and fun for the whole family.

The second Zootown Fringe Festival is August 13-17 throughout Missoula. Visit the website to learn more.

Auditions for UM Theatre & Dance production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol are August 27 at 6:15 p.m. in the PAR TV Building on UM Campus.

Registration is open for the Flamenco Montana Festival, featuring Teo Morca, Carlos Lomas, Vicente Griego, and occurs  September 18, 19, 20 and 21. Early Registration discount through August 15

For more information about arts events in the Missoula area, visit the Missoula Cultural Council’s website.

****************

Tom BensenTom Bensen has lived in Missoula since 1986, and has been the executive director of the Missoula Cultural Council since June 2004. He has directed First Night Missoula each New Year’s Eve since 1997.   He is a member of Missoula’s choral ensemble Dolce Canto, and enjoys being outdoors, whether it is hiking, biking, skiing, walking the dogs, or mowing the lawn.  His wife Susan works for Montana Public Radio, and their son Peter attends Hellgate High School.