High school artists will show their work at juried Grove show
When New World School of the Arts graduate Enya Fontanills earned a second-place award at the 2019 Young Artists’ Gallery, her life opened up.
“Thanks to this fundraiser, I was able to afford joining the California College of the Arts community on a full-ride scholarship,” Fontanills said.
“I am now making the best out of the Californian arts education system. I am still sticking to acrylics for the most part but experimenting with all types of new medias in one of the most inspiring environments for the arts. I couldn’t be more thankful,” said Fontanills, who is a 2019 Isaiah Scholar.
The 2020 Young Artists’ Gallery will return to the Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove for the 20th year, March 14-15. This is your chance to see the works of some of Miami-Dade County’s finest high school artists. Some art will even be for sale.
The juried selection includes 119 finalists, and on the last day, scholarships of $15,000 will be awarded.
“We are excited to be celebrating the Young Artists’ Gallery program’s 20th anniversary of encouraging young local artists to pursue their creative dreams,” said Vicki Tencati, the Club’s YAG Committee Chairwoman.
The exhibition will be open to the public, 1-5 p.m., March 14, with an awards reception, 2-4 p.m., at 2985 S. Bayshore Dr., Coconut Grove. You can also visit and meet many of the artists, 12-2 p.m., March 15.
Community leaders to be honored at NCCJ
One of our most social justice-minded groups, founded on interfaith goodwill, is the modern-day MCCJ, formerly known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ).
To celebrate its 85th anniversary, members will honor several deserving South Florida leaders with the Humanitarian Silver Medallion. This important event will begin at 7:30 p.m., March 14, at Intercontinental Miami, 100 Chopin Plaza.
This year, the honorees are Imran Ali, Jaret L. Davis, Robert Josefsberg, and Cheryl Little.
The Robert H. Traurig Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Marvin Leibowitz (posthumously), and jointly to two Miami historians, Dorothy Jenkins Fields and Arva Moore Parks. The Interfaith Clergy Medallion will go to Rabbi Frederick Klein, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami.
From the beginning in 1946, the group’s mission has been “to advance understanding and respect for all faiths, races and cultures through advocacy, education, dialogue and conflict resolution.”
Starting in 1923, the Federal Council of Churches of Christ addressed “the growing power of bigotry, racism, and inter-group prejudice exemplified by organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan.” By 1928, a committee was developed and the NCCJ was created to address the growing issues and to encourage positive interfaith relations.
The 85th Anniversary Silver Medallion Celebration is co-chaired by Cristina Pereyra-Alvarez and Cesar Alvarez, with honorary chairs Marsha and Brian Bilzin, and Gail Ash and Albert E. Dotson, Jr.
Sponsorships begin at $5,000 and individual tickets for the awards dinner are $500. Call 305-755-6096, or visit www.miamiccj.org
Students present Holocaust-themed play
To honor the 75th anniversaries of the liberation of World War II concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald, students in the Holocaust Impact Theater program of Miami-Dade County have created an original script based on today’s topics of social injustice and intolerance.
This year’s production is titled “Unfiltered” and it deals with transgender intolerance and/or misunderstanding, male rape, immigration, anti-Semitism and The Holocaust.
The play will be presented at 7 p.m., March 12-14, at the Robert Russell Theater at the Alper JCC, 11155 SW 112th Ave. Tickets are $10. Purchase at the door or online at https://www.alperjcc.org/events/2020/03/12/arts-culture/holocaust-impact-theater/
The play will also be ASL signed for the hearing impaired by sign language students from Killian High School.
Ruth Gordon is the volunteer executive producer of Holocaust Impact Theater and she calls it “a unique theater program open to all local high school students who write, produce, perform and direct their own original script every year.”
“Each script deals with the current, relevant topics of social injustice and intolerance, and uses The Holocaust as a reference point to make audiences aware that if we know the dangers of hate from The Holocaust, then why do we still have hate crimes, bullying, ethnic profiling, stereotyping, racial and religious discrimination, intolerance of the LBGT community, handicaps, and the homeless?”
One of the student producers, Coral Reef High student Kevin Rubin, said, “Our mission is to leave the world a better place than we found it by opening the audiences’ eyes to problems going on in the world, and showing them how they can help.”
St. Patrick’s celebration set for March 14
Start your St. Patrick’s Day fun a few days before at this 41st annual festival hosted by the St. Patrick’s Day Festival Committee in Coral Gables.
There will be Irish food, dancers, crafts, and, of course, delightful beverages available, 12-6 p.m., March 14 at Ponce Circle Park, 2800 Ponce de Leon Blvd. in Coral Gables.
There is no admission charge to the family-fun event. Vendors will sell traditional corned beef & cabbage, shepherd’s pie, authentic Irish coffee, Irish soda bread, and whiskey cake as well as a wide array of spirits and other beverages.
Entertainment headliners include bagpipers, a U2 tribute band and the St. Andrews Pipe & Drum Band. Children can enjoy the giant slide, a bounce house, a rock-climbing wall, and the merry-go-round for free.
For more information, call 305-596-9995 or e-mail stpatrickssf@gmail.com.
Free ‘Beethoven on the Beach’
Orchestra Miami’s most popular annual event, “Beethoven on the Beach,” returns for three free outdoor concerts in Pinecrest, Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach.
“Pastorale” is this year’s program and it features Beethoven’s atmospheric Symphony N. 6 in F Major, Op. 68. Also on the program is celebrated Chilean violinist Francisca Mendoza who will perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 55. Artistic Director Elaine Rinaldi will lead the 38 musicians of Orchestra Miami.
The performances are 8 p.m., March 13, at the Pinecrest Gardens “Banyan Bowl;” 8 p.m., March 14, at the North Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave.; and 6 p.m., March 15, at Gateway Park, 151 Sunny Isles Beach Blvd. Visit www.orchestramiami.org for more.