CRESTVIEW — The Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s Arts and Culture Committee hopes to add a cultural component to the spring’s annual Triple-B festival.

Following its mission of “linking arts and culture with the community,” the committee, formed several months ago, is exploring ways to include local artists and cultural performance groups in the city’s largest street festival. Next year’s Triple-B will be April 6.

“People can come to the Triple-B and enjoy great food as well as admire local arts and crafts,” committee chairperson Rae Schwartz said.

The chamber’s young professionals committee annually produces The Triple-B — barbecue, bluegrass and Blackwater. While it has often included out-of-town vendors selling crafts, jewelry, candles and other items, this marks the committee’s first concerted effort to encourage local artists’ participation.

Gathered at its monthly meeting at the Java Journey coffee shop, committee members discussed inviting area folkloric or heritage performers to sing or dance at the Triple-B south stage near the railroad tracks. Artists would be located in the same area.

In other matters, the Arts and Culture Committee:

• Reviewed the recent CALA: Crestview Area Loves the Arts Christmas festival and discussed adding a local restaurants component next year.

• Discussed plans to use portable gallery displays for featuring local artists’ exhibits at the monthly chamber of commerce breakfasts.

“If a business wants local art to hang in their office, this is a way to see what local artists are doing and get to talk to the artist,” Schwartz said.

Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Triple-B to include arts and culture

LAUREL HILL — Two busloads of Laurel Hill School students paid $16 per ticket to see The Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s “A Christmas Carol” Nov. 29 in Montgomery, Ala.

But asking them to pay $35 per ticket for a 2013 production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is just too much, English teacher Mildred Strickland said.

Strickland is pricing tickets for either of two productions of the dramatic play, based on Alabama author Harper Lee’s acclaimed novel.

“We might go to Monroeville (Ala., Lee’s hometown) to see ‘Mockingbird,’” Strickland said. She won’t receive confirmation of her ticket reservation request until after January 2013.

“If we can’t get to see it in Monroeville, the Shakespeare Festival is doing it in May,” Strickland said.

However, she hopes a business could help underwrite some of the expense, given the lower income of some Laurel Hill families.

“I hate to ask these kids for that kind of money,” she said, referencing the $35 tickets. “It’s so expensive.”

Subsidizing students’ attendance would mean continued exposure to fine arts, which a number of students reportedly lack.

For many who attended last month’s production, it was their first experience with live theater, teachers said.

“Most of the kids had never seen a stage play,” Strickland said. “Some have been to the shows at O.W. (Northwest Florida State College), but it’s been several years since we took a group to a show. This is the first time we’ve taken them to Montgomery in six years because we could never get reservations.”

This attempt was successful, Strickland said, because she started working on getting reservations in June.

Among those meeting for early breakfast at the school and then piling on buses at 6:30 a.m. was 10th-grader Hope Standridge, whose acquaintance with the stage arts had been confined to dance performances.

Strickland’s students read the classic Charles Dickens novel and watched an old film version of “A Christmas Carol” to prepare for the trip, Hope said. She enjoyed contrasting the movie with the stage production.

The Geoffrey Sherman adaptation that students attended was “more technical” than a production the Hoboes attended six years ago, Strickland said. Stagecraft included a turntable that expedited scenery changes, sound effects and flashy costuming. A question-and-answer period with production staff enhanced students’ experience, Strickland said.

Afterward, the Hoboes had another treat: pizza at a restaurant before returning to Laurel Hill.

“They really enjoyed eating out,” Strickland said. “A lot of them don’t get that opportunity.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: An afternoon of theater: Support sought for 2013 field trip

CRESTVIEW — Nearly 90 members of the 130-voice Crestview High School chorus will travel to Orlando after Christmas and perform at the Disney Epcot resort and at Universal Studios, but they’ll need some cash to get there.

To help, the Crestview High School chorus presents its annual Christmas concert 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at the school’s Pearl Tyner Auditorium. A $5 admission benefits the chorus’ travel fund.

Adding a little spice — notably, “Cinnamon, cinnamon, don’t forget the cinnamon” — to the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce December breakfast, the Crestview High School Chanticleer, Destiny and Chorale choirs performed a mini concert previewing the Dec. 13 concert.

Among the songs performed was the humorous “Fruitcake.” With its mock-serious trolling of ingredients and preparation methods, and choruses that devolved into near-slapstick, the piece was a crowd-pleaser.

Crestview High’s choral music director Kevin Lusk thanked the business community for its continued support over the years. Because of local supporters, the program’s students have performed and received educational experiences in New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., London and Toronto, he said.

“We couldn’t give these kids these opportunities if it wasn’t for your support,” Lusk said to business owners. “For many of them, it is their first time out of Florida, and for some, it’s their first time outside of Crestview.”

First National Bank of Crestview, which turns its presentation time over to students who display their vocal talents, sponsors the chorus’s annual performance at the December breakfast.

“We are so excited to do this every year to show off the Crestview High School chorus,” bank President Dale Rice said. “We like to give back to our community.”

“Every year it just gets better,” bank Vice President Pennie Hartzog said after sustained applause died off following the last number, a spirited version of the 18th-century French Christmas carol “Patapan.”

At the December 2013 chamber of commerce breakfast, the singing students will likely be in Renaissance garb for a preview of the chorus’ Madrigal Dinner, an evening of musical performance and theatre accompanied by a multi-course dinner the culinary arts student prepare, Lusk said.

WANT TO GO? The Crestview High School chorus presents its annual Christmas concert 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at the school’s Pearl Tyner Auditorium. A $5 admission benefits the chorus’ travel fund.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHS chorus presents concert preview during business breakfast

NICEVILLE — The Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra will ring in the holiday season in festive style 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 with a Holiday Pops concert featuring light classics and carol sing-a-longs. The Northwest Florida Symphony Chorale and the Belle Voci women's vocal ensemble will join the orchestra for this annual in the Mattie Kelly Arts Center's Mainstage theater on the Niceville campus of Northwest Florida State College.

The concert continues the orchestra's 25th season celebration and includes works such as "Deck the Halls," "Let it Snow," "Sleigh Ride," "Sweet Little Jesus Boy,""God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Veni Veni" and George Frederic Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus."

Tickets are available by phone or web for $22.50 each for adults or $16 for youths age 18 and younger and active duty military. Current NWFSC students may request one free ticket per student ID in person from the box office. Ticket sales are available through www.mattiekellyartscenter.org. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Holiday Pops concert Dec. 7 at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center

The Okaloosa Chamber Singers’ “Carols and Candlelight” concerts last weekend proved one of the season’s loveliest Christmas gifts. A sumptuous buffet of classical and popular seasonal tunes, the performances let audiences feast on a bounty for the ear and soul, and participate in several beloved and familiar selections.

Several attendees at both concerts praised director Marilyn Overturf afterward for what they felt was the chamber singers’ best concert ever, and I concur.

A seven-piece orchestra, accompanied by an organ, piano and even congas on several pieces of the evening’s program, joined the 21-voice ensemble, enhancing the performances’ beauty and depth.

“I’ve been real proud of this little group,” Overturf said after the Friday and Sunday concerts in Fort Walton Beach and DeFuniak Springs.

The concert’s first half featured selections from the Renaissance, Romantic and Classical periods highlighted by Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata No. 140, “Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Stimme” (Awaken, the Voice Calls). The piece, first performed more than 280 years ago in Leipzig, displayed the choir’s talents and featured several of its soloists as well as the small orchestra.

The concert’s second half exercised the ensemble’s versatility, and offered opportunities for the audience to join in, including singing along to one of two Mark Hayes arrangements. His interpretation of the solemn “Silent Night, Holy Night” featured glorious vocals and instrumentals, and nearly the full house’s voices.

The Chamber Singers even got a little jiggy, interjecting a bit of Caribbean riddum into “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy.” The jazzy Hayes arrangement of “Let it Snow!” and Sammy Cahn and Jules Styne’s classic “The Christmas Waltz” were fresh interpretations of popular favorites. All too soon, the audience rose to troll the ancient Yuletide carol as we joined the Chamber Singers in “Deck the Hall,” the program’s last number.

There’s no denying the Okaloosa Chamber Singers’ technical expertise. Under Overturf’s direction, they could have easily tackled an evening of purely classical choral music and still been delightful. But the inclusion of familiar, popular holiday standards and the opportunity to share the vocal duties endeared the ensemble to its audiences and left us hungry for more.

Overturf said she has not had the chance to contemplate a Chamber Singers spring concert, but that hasn’t stopped her from mulling over some ideas.

“We’re talking about doing a festival of hymns, which is a nice program. But we don’t have anything in concrete. One of my singers is also thinking it would be fun to do an a capella program. I always get suggestions from my singers.”

Until then, here’s a heartfelt “thank you” for this special Christmas gift from the Okaloosa Chamber Singers.

And I have at least two more presents to unwrap: Christmas concerts from the Crestview High School on Dec. 13 and Schola Cantorum on Dec. 17.

Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: REVIEW: ‘Carols and Candlelight’ was a feast for the ears

CRESTVIEW — Okaloosa Arts Alliance-North members pronounced the first CALA: Crestview Area Loves the Arts Christmas festival a success. The Saturday event at the Crestview Public Library drew a steady stream of visitors who admired local artists’ works and did a bit of Christmas shopping.

Arts alliance President Rae Schwartz said the event’s reception means it likely will be repeated at the beginning of December 2013, perhaps with some tweaks.

“This was our first holiday season CALA,” Schwartz said. “We didn’t get as much publicity out as we would’ve liked, but we still had a good turnout. People like supporting this type of quality artwork and these gifts are unique. They aren’t things you’re going to find in a chain store.”

Live entertainment was provided by Paulette Loomis, matron of the Loomis Brothers, whose circus recently visited Crestview, and Jenna Lewis, the latest generation of a singing family whose grandmother, Saundra Daggs, recently sang with the DownBeat Jazz Orchestra.

However, next year, organizers may add tables in the center of the room to provide for more artists, and reserve entertainment to background, pre-recorded seasonal music, Schwartz said.

“The vocalists were lovely, but I think for this event it will be better to just concentrate on the artists and their work,” she said.

Works on exhibit at Saturday’s event included a variety of pieces in multiple dimensions including Keith Gutshall’s turned woodworking, Trace Connelly’s jewelry and painted ceramic ware, Mary Richardson’s hand-bound books, and fabric art by the mother-daughter team of Christie and Jasmine Maughon. Attendees also browsed photography, painted phonograph records, needlework and crocheted works.

Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CALA blossoms for the holidays