I'm Into This Place is Clark County and Vancouver, Washington's arts, culture, and heritage podcast. We take you behind the scenes with the artists, makers, and organizations shaping our local culture - from art and music to food, history, and heritage. Listen in as we bring you interviews, event previews, and tips on where to explore. Let’s get into the stories, sounds, and spirit of Vancouver, Camas, Ridgefield, and beyond!
Hello, everybody. My name is Adriana Baer. I am your host of I'm Into This Place, your friendly local podcast about arts and culture in Southwest Washington. And today, I am giving you my top picks for what to do today, day one of the Vancouver Arts & Music Festival. It's Friday, August 7th, and let's get into it. So today, all day long and all weekend, you can check out the Juried Art Show at the Hilton Hotel. That's curated by friend of the pod, Sharon Svec, and there's over 100 different art pieces being shown there, and you can vote for your favorites. Give a vote to whichever piece really speaks to you as part of the Audience Choice Awards. Then check out the Clark College Student Exhibition at the Esther Short Building. That's just to the west of the park. There's so many mediums represented there, and these are really our professional artists of the future, so you can see them at the beginning of their careers. Both of those shows and a few others will be up all throughout the weekend, so you can check them out any time that you have a little break from performances. Speaking of performances, the first one I wanna shout out is Pegasus Puppet Theater, who is performing East of the Sun and West of the Moon. This is a play based on a Norwegian fairy tale, and they'll be there
at 11:
00 AM on the Dance Stage. At noon, while you're off looking for some lunch, be sure to check out the folks from Clown Garage. They're gonna be all over the park, sometimes up high, sometimes hiding behind trees. They are a Seattle-based clown troupe. They were here last year. They're really funny, and like I said, you can really find them everywhere, but definitely check them out kind of in the middle of the day, right in the center of the park.
At 1:
00 PM, head over to the Music Stage to see Fox Walker Jazz. This is a large R&B neo-soul band, and they bring the message of community, authenticity, and self-confidence through music At 2:00 PM on the Dance Stage is Dawn States Dance. Dawn States is a disabled dance scholar, artist, and choreographer, and her work focuses on the intersection of dance and disability.
Then at 3:
00 PM, head over to the Acoustic Stage, where you'll find Brenna Larsen. She is a local favorite singer-songwriter, whose work I just absolutely love. She is a wonderful, wonderful singer and composer. So go say hi to her and support a local artist.
At 3:
00, at the Kiggins, All Classical Radio is hosting a panel discussion exploring the role of the arts in the health and vitality of a community. The folks who are gonna be there are Rachel Smolkin, the President and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting; the President and CEO of All Classical, Fred Child; composer Karen Lefrak; neuroscientist Derry, Dr. Larry Sherman; Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle; and leading conductor Maestro Gerard Schwarz.
At 7:
00 PM on the Main Stage right in the center of Esther Short Park, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra brings Maestro Salvador Brotons to conduct a whole bunch of beautiful pieces from Bach to Mussorgsky, even to Williams' Star Wars suite. At intermission, you can find All Classical's Warren Black and Maestro Brotons talking about John Williams' Fantasia, and new audiences for orchestral music. And speaking of Fantasia, at the end of the night at 9:00 PM, there will be a movie in the park, which will be Fantasia. Community organization Artstra will be on site before the movie, providing free art activities. And all you have to do is just turn your chair around from looking at the main stage to looking at the dance stage, I will be at my booth just to the west of the main stage in the very center of Esther Short Park all weekend. You can't miss us. We have a bright orange tablecloth and a little sound recording studio that's hosted by my friend and colleague Jessica Geffen from The Sound Stage, the Northwest's premier voiceover and recording studio. We are encouraging all of you to come and give your shout-outs for your favorite places in arts, culture, and heritage right here in Clark County, and then listen for your voice on an upcoming episode. At the end of all of our episodes, we have a Community Voices segment where you shout out your favorite places, and we give our cultural community even more love. So I hope to see you around the festival today. Come back tomorrow and Sunday for the rest of my daily coverage on what not to miss. It's gonna be a great year, and I can't wait to see you.
