Rare Bird Farm will host a theater performance, the capstone to the inaugural Rare Bird Farm Inclusive Theatre Camp, at Aldridge Hall in the Christmount Christian Assembly in Black Mountain on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2 p.m. Campers with intellectual and developmental disabilities will come together with volunteer artists and professional teaching artists to create an original musical in just two days.
The performance's theme, "This Is Me," is inspired by the empowering song of that name from the film The Greatest Showman. It will feature a variety-show format, including song, dance and theater. Campers will have taken workshops in scriptwriting, costume and set design, rehearsal and blocking, and music in preparation for the show.
"This performance is not just about showcasing talent but also about the transformative relationships that form through the collaborative creative process," says Farrah Hoffmire, founder of the camp. "The beauty of this work lies in the connections made while working toward a shared artistic goal."
Hoffmire previously founded the HEART Inclusive Arts Community in Charleston in 2014 to bridge the gap in community-engaged activities for adults with disabilities. Her vision for Rare Bird Farm's camp is to build a new regional program from the ground up, allowing it to evolve into whatever it needs to be to foster this vital community.
"In Western North Carolina, embracing all abilities in our artistic endeavors offers a unique opportunity for expression, collaboration and relationship-building," says Hoffmire. "People with disabilities bring invaluable perspectives that enrich our collective experience, teaching us resilience and creativity. The arts provide a perfect platform for showcasing these talents, allowing us to see each other in a new light and create something truly meaningful together. By building an inclusive community, we open the door to a richer, more compassionate world."
The performance will last around 45 minutes. Entry is donation-based.
Christmount Christian Assembly is at 222 Fern Way, Black Mountain. For more information, visit avl.mx/e4z.
The Ani & Wanei Culture Fest will bring two mountain cultures together at Hickory Nut Gap Farm on Sunday, Sept. 22, noon-4 p.m.
The festival will celebrate Cherokee and Appalachian cultures with music, art, food and learning for the whole family. Activities will include a participatory Cherokee friendship dance, Appalachian bluegrass by Andrew Wakefield, Native American flute-playing by Jarrett Wildcat and an educational presentation of Cherokee words and perspectives by the Igali Puppets and the Cherokee Royalty. Artists will offer pottery, baskets, beading, jewelry, woodcarving and paintings for sale. Native Nummies Food Truck will serve fry bread tacos.
The celebration coincides with the institution of a new trailhead sign to be unveiled at the event. The sign, which recognizes the intercultural connection of the region, will be placed at the Strawberry Gap trailhead in Gerton.
Hickory Nut Gap Farm is at 57 Sugar Hollow Road, Fairview. For more information, visit avl.mx/e50.
The Southern Highland Craft Guild will host its annual Heritage Day at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Folk Art Center on Saturday, Sept. 21, and Sunday, Sept. 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The free event, now in its 44th year, celebrates mountain heritage with traditional craft demonstrations and live bluegrass and gospel music. Demonstrations will include traditional tools, weaving, spinning, dyeing, broom-making, stone carving, blacksmithing, soap-making and printmaking. Visitors will have the opportunity to try out the crafts at an activity table.
A highlight of the event is the annual World Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle competition on Saturday at 2 p.m. A whimmy diddle is an Appalachian mountain toy traditionally made from two sticks of rhododendron, with notches carved in one stick and a propeller attached to the end. The notches are rubbed with the second stick to make the propeller spin. Contestants will be judged on how many rotations they can complete during a given time and may be asked to whimmy diddle with the opposite hand or behind their back. The competition is open to all ages, with a trophy given for best child, adult and professional. Winners will receive a moon pie.
The Folk Art Center is at 382 Blue Ridge Parkway. For more information, visit avl.mx/e51.
ArtsAVL has announced the 2024-25 awardees for the Arts Build Community grant, founded seven years ago to inspire civic engagement, involvement, local pride and a sense of ownership and connection.
Twenty local arts-based community projects will receive grants ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 to fulfill their missions and programming. Recipients include All Together Art, to fund a space for veterans to create art and community; Asheville Puppetry Alliance, to fund a parade with a brass band and giant puppets in celebration of the Burton Street neighborhood; Happy Chaos, to host community art events for autistic children to celebrate neurodiversity; OpenDoors Asheville, to fund after-school and summer enrichments for low-income students of color; Shiloh Community Association, to complete its ancestral mural series, Building on the Legacy Project; and the Montford Moppets Youth Shakespeare Company, to hire certified American Sign Language interpreters for four upcoming productions.
Other recipients are Art 2 People, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville Community Theatre in partnership with Different Strokes, Asheville Creative Arts, Asheville Museum of History, Black Wall Street AVL, Asheville FM, Hood Huggers Foundation, NAMI Western North Carolina, Open Hearts Art Center, RiverLink, Story Parlor, Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, and Youth Artists Empowered.
The collection "takes a bold dive into the concept of masculinity, set against the backdrop of mechanical parts, tools and the rough language of men," according to a press release from the publisher.
"I use the same tools to craft poetry, forging a language in muscle and blood, where steel and iron bend into the shape of our individuality," Robles says in the release. "In this space, tenderness unlocks the doors to new possibilities of what it means to be a man. Through our labor pains, we birth poetry, transforming masculinity into something strong yet vulnerable -- a force for both fortitude and healing. Flowers can bloom from calloused hands."
The Asheville Museum of History will host a Community Day to open an exhibition of historical images by local photographer Andrea Clark on Saturday, Sept. 21, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
The images capture African American Asheville neighborhoods in the 1960s and '70s, particularly in the East End, that were later displaced by urban renewal. Clark is the granddaughter of Asheville master brick mason James Vester Miller, who built many prominent buildings around the turn of the 20th century. She moved to Asheville after studying photography in the 1960s, in what was still the segregated Jim Crow South.
In addition to framed photographs on loan from Pack Memorial Library, the collection will include specially printed photos and essays on the history behind the images. This exhibition represents the first of two parts, with the second rotation of photographs planned for February.
The Community Day event is free to the public and will offer live music, scholarly lectures on Asheville's urban renewal history, children's activities, including photography and drumming workshops, and a panel discussion with Clark and former residents of the neighborhood.