2016 Dogwood Festival Activities
COSHOCTON – The heart of Dogwood Festival has always had a youth focus and this year it will officially become a community celebration of youth arts. The festival will be held May 1-6 and feature the following activities.
Throughout the week
A Forest of Families: 1 to 4 p.m. at the Pomerene Center for the Arts. Starting nine months ago, artist Joan Staufer, working through Job and Family Services, began meeting individually with the Napier, Wells, Faust, Darr and Clark Families. Together they made artwork, wrote and collected objects expressing their journeys as blended, adopted and foster families. For the first several sessions Staufer brought artist Michael Schmidt with her to visually record the families at work. A Forest of Families is an exhibit of the work produced as part of this exceptional collaboration.
Teen-Age Talent: noon to 5 p.m. at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum. A favorite of the community, this special exhibit features over 100 works from the area high schools. The theme this year is Lots and Lots of Dots. Pieces for the show are chosen by art teachers for their outstanding use of an artistic principle.
Music and Lunch on the Court Square at noon (lunches are $7 and the rain site is The Presbyterian Church)
- Monday, May 2: Coshocton Christian School Drama Department presents a Broadway revue – lunch by Medbery Marketplace
- Tuesday, May 3: Coshocton High School Jazz Band – lunch by Sportzone
- Wednesday, May 4: River View Jazz Band and the Caribbean Drum & Certified Gold Ensembles – lunch by Hannah Marie’s
- Thursday, May 5: Ridgewood High School Jazz Band & Chorale – lunch by English Ivy
- Friday, May 6: Hal Walker: Special performance for children – lunch by The Yard
Sunday, May 1
Dr. Ann Marie Rigler Concert: 3 p.m., Sunday, May 1, at the Coshocton Presbyterian Church. Dr. Rigler is a professor of music and college organist at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. She is a strong advocate for young organists.
Thursday, May 5
Robert Post performance for seventh and eighth graders: Noon, Thursday, May 5, at Coshocton High School. Robert Post—Emmy winning performer, Today Show star, creator of Post Comedy Theatre—discovered the joys of the stage at Ohio State University, where he studied theater and dance before hitting the road with a touring mime and improv troupe. He crafted his signature style during intensive workshops with Tony Montanaro, the legendary performer and teacher who ran Celebration Barn in South Paris, Maine. Post credits Montanaro for “flipping the switch,” helping him see how he could combine his love of character work, movement arts and improvisation. The sketches that make up Post’s one-man variety show – Post Comedy Theatre – have captivated audiences across the United States as well as in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Turkey, and Europe. Post’s Coshocton performance is sponsored in part by a Mainstage to Main Street grant from the Ohio Arts Council
Friday, May 6
Hal Walker performance: Noon, Friday, May 6, on the court square. A natural born musician, Hal Walker is truly one of a kind. His creative and passionate style engages audiences of all ages. Walker, who grew up in Kent, writes soul searching songs that celebrate community, diversity and the creative process. He has a particular talent for taking an instrument associated with a particular culture, such as the khaen or the African banakulas, and, after learning how they are traditionally used, he then makes the instrument his own by playing them in a uniquely modern way. Walker has released three albums of his songs and one CD of instrumental music. His performance is sponsored in part by a Mainstage to Main Street grant from the Ohio Arts Council. Third graders from Coshocton City will be attending the lunch performance alongside community members on the court square.
Little Social Histories Official Opening: 5 to 6 p.m., Friday, May 6, 441 Main St. In an overlap of Dogwood Festival and First Friday Celebration, the Pomerene Center for the Arts will officially open the Little Social Histories, a graphic art project that fills 34 vacant storefront windows of the old Selby Building. On hand to bring a live component to the history, Monday Night Maniacs Improv Troupe will perform two sets of scenes through improv games and sketch taking off of one of the windows. The Monday Night Maniacs improve troop is comprised of students from River View High School. Their coach is Leonard Hayhurst. The Maniacs have been together since September 2015 and have performed two shows at Emmanuel Lutheran Church along with weekly workshops. Members performing as part of Dogwood Festival are Michael Belt, Grant Cullison, Sarah Kittner, Xavier Lewis and Sami Trowbridge.
Spaces Exhibit Opening: 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, May 6, the Coshocton Yard. Artwork featured will be from Coshocton Opportunity School students.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
