Fine Arts Center

Online Workshop: Writing Theatre for Young Audiences
2021-03-18 17:45 - 19:15 (America/Denver) | Virtual
Thursdays, March 18, March 25, April 8, and April 15, from 5:45 p.m.–7:15 p.m. MST
A good story is a good story, but how we execute it can make all the difference in the world, especially when the audience is a group of third-graders on a field trip.
In this workshop, multi-award-winning playwright and active participant in the theatre for young audiences (TYA) movement Idris Goodwin will break down some of the core and fundamental opportunities and challenges to writing for children and teens.
The workshop will culminate in the completion of a first draft of a TYA script. Adult participants should come with a working understanding of the basic tenets of playwriting. This is not an introductory course to playwriting, but a topics course that builds on this form.
This is the class for you if:

You are interested in Theater for Young Audiences
You want to explore a new genre of playwriting
You want to finish that first draft of your play

Sign up for the workshop
This workshop is offered in collaboration with The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis.

INSTRUCTOR BIO
Idris Goodwin is an award winning break-beat poet, playwright, and director of The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. He was recently named a 2021 United States Artist Fellow. In addition to the recently released poetry collection Can I Kick It?, he’s had several publications from Haymarket Books including Inauguration co-written with nico wilkinson, Human Highlight: Ode To Dominique Wilkins, and the play This Is Modern Art co-written with Kevin Coval. He’s appeared on Nickelodeon, HBO Def Poetry, Sesame Street, NPR, BBC Radio, and the Discovery Channel. His plays include And In This Corner Cassius Clay, How We Got On, Hype Man, and This is Modern Art. Idris is the co-host of The Same Old New School Podcast on Vocalo Radio.

Photo: GHOST by Idris Goodwin, produced by Metro Theater Company; Photo credit: Jennifer Lin

Ceramic Plaque Making
2021-03-11 17:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
6-week adult course. This virtual course focuses on plaque tile making through a series of personalized prerecorded video demonstrations, exciting Zoom presentations, and fun class interactions to celebrate the techniques of building in clay. Texturing, slip decoration, glazing techniques, and how to work from a photo reference will be covered. This process can be done by anyone anywhere, from outside in a park to the kitchen counter. This course includes live Zoom class sessions and prerecorded content. A detailed and strict drop-off for firing procedure, complete with size, weight, and amount limits will be provided by the instructor. Please see the supply list below for details on clay and glaze kit pickup information.

Beyond Reality
2021-03-13 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Are you feeling a little tired of strict realism in your paintings, but just don’t know how to break away? How do we move beyond our training of copying our subjects toward a more expressive interpretation? In this virtual course, Dena will lead you through exercises designed to help you bring more abstraction, excitement, and passion to your work. This course includes live Zoom sessions and prerecorded content. This is a four week adult class.

Budding Thespians
2021-03-06 09:00 - 11:00 | Virtual
Virtual Spring Camp!
Saturdays, March 6–May 1 (8 weeks), 9–11 a.m. It is time to once again to raise the virtual curtain on our youngest performers! Students will explore the magical world of theatre through games, rehearsals, and collaboration. Interactive instruction will have students dancing, acting, crafting and much more! Registration for this camp includes an “Imagination Pack” that will be delivered right to your front door. The final performance of this camp will stream to the public on May 7.
Instructors: Sally Hybl (FAC’s The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins), Jessye King (FAC’s The Sound of Music, Busytown: The Musical)

Beginning Colored Pencil
2021-03-05 18:30 - 20:00 | Virtual
Adult 6 week class. Bring a whole new light to your art with various colored pencil techniques. Enhance your artistic style and express your creative voice with vibrant color. We will explore color theory, color blending, and other methods to advance your way of thinking in color. Still life studies will be investigated to understand depth, light, texture, and much more. This virtual course includes live Zoom class sessions and live Zoom studio hours.

Handbuilding in Clay I
2021-03-04 09:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
In this virtual course for adults, we will be together from afar as we connect through the experience of ceramics. This beginner’s guide to handbuilding clay features a series of personalized prerecorded video demonstrations, exciting Zoom presentations, and fun class exercises. Traditional and not-so-traditional building, texturing, and glazing techniques will be covered, while celebrating individual style and interests. This course includes live Zoom class sessions and prerecorded content. A detailed and strict drop-off for firing procedure, complete with size, weight, and amount limits will be provided by the instructor. This is a 5-week class.

Works in Progress: Boy mother / faceless bloom
2021-03-09 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
Boy mother / faceless bloom is a multimedia performance work combining large-scale sculptural and scenic design, live and recorded music, and embodied movement to tell the story of a young boy who learns he will be a mother. Drawing upon the combined, personal mythologies of Nengudi, Kwon, Nishimura, and Kohl, Boy mother / faceless bloom explores transgender identity, parenthood and ancestral lineage in a time of planetary crisis, as well as the spiritual legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and ideologies of domination.

Youth Rep Ensemble
2021-03-03 16:00 - 18:00 | Virtual
Virtual Spring Camp!
Wednesdays & Saturdays, March 3–May 1 (8 weeks). This spring session for high school students will offer weekly workshops from esteemed faculty and guest instructors ranging from auditions technique, classical text, movement, voice work and more. Students will also devise and rehearse for the first ever Fine Arts Center Theatre School Cabaret that will be streamed on May 7. This class is a must for students looking for a continuation of their skill development as well as performance opportunities!

Emerging Artists Class
2021-03-06 09:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
Virtual Spring Camp!
Saturdays, March 6–May 1 (8 weeks), 9 a.m.–12 p.m. Rising theatre stars take note! This class is designed for students who yearn to further develop their love and skills for the theatrical art form. Daily theme exploration will allow these students to get a three-dimensional view of performing and creating. Collaboration will be key to the work that we do. Registration for this camp includes an “Imagination Pack” that will be delivered right to your front door. The final performance of this camp will stream to the public on May 7.
Instructors: Carmen Shedd (FAC’s The Sound of Music, Matilda: The Musical), Ryan Miller (FAC’s The Sound of Music)

Virtual FAC Play Club!
2020-10-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Virtual
First Thursday of the month, Oct. 1–May 6 (8 sessions) 7–8:30 p.m.
Join FAC Theatre Company’s Producing Artistic Director, Scott RC Levy, for lively conversations about plays! It’s a book club for play lovers! Each month, a new play will be dissected, discussed and celebrated.

The Arts & Social Action: The End of Their World, Welcoming in Ours
2021-02-21 17:00 - 18:30 | Virtual
This event offers a portal into the truths of six disciplined and worldly artists who often speak what is unspoken, drawing on themes of pandemics, uprisings, and survival. We will showcase the work, struggles, and lives of Trans women and Trans femmes of color who have world-ending ideas and dangerous dreams of a future that respects all gender autonomy. This work and the ensuing conversations will explore how trans feminine people incorporate art into their organizing and activism practices, through the stylings of cinema, song, music, dance and live performance portraying pandemic era trans feminist politics. Prepared video recordings and live performances of each artist’s work will be shared and then followed by a live conversation and Q&A with the artists hosted by CC Artist-in-Residence, edxi betts.

A Poetry Reading with Douglas Kearney
2021-02-26 16:00 - 17:00 | Virtual
In celebration of Black History Month, join us for an evening of poetry and discussion with Douglas Kearney.
Douglas Kearney is a poet, performer, and librettist who has published seven books that bridge thematic concerns such as politics, African-American culture, masks, the Trickster figure, and contemporary music. His most recent collection, Sho, aims to hit crooked licks with straight-seeming sticks. Kearney is also the author of Buck Studies, which was awarded the CLMP Firecracker Award for Poetry, the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Award, and the silver medal for the California Book Award in Poetry. Kearney’s collection of writing on poetics and performativity, Mess and Mess and, was a Small Press Distribution Handpicked Selection; and Patter examines miscarriage, infertility, and parenthood. He has received a Whiting Writer’s Award, was named a Notable New American Poet by the Poetry Society of America, and has been awarded fellowships from Cave Canem and The Rauschenberg Foundation. His work has appeared in Poetry, Iowa Review, Boston Review, and Indiana Review, and anthologies, including Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky, Best American Poetry, Best American Experimental Writing, and What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Poets in America. Raised in Altadena, CA, he lives with his family a little west of Minneapolis, MN and teaches creative writing at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

A Deep Dive into the Work of Floyd Tunson
2021-02-04 13:00 - 14:00 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
Focusing on a recent acquisition and other works by Floyd Tunson, Collections and Education staff at the FAC Museum will be leading in-depth experiences for students with Tunson’s work throughout the month of February. These engagements will focus on preservation, care, and representations of cultural identity and social histories within Tunson’s work. In pursuit of building community with higher education students, this experience is offered to all students currently enrolled in college or university. (Must present valid school ID at check-in.)
As an artist from Colorado and a previous exhibiter at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, Tunson explores concepts of cultural identity, American social history, pop culture, and the human condition. Tunson says that from one direction he sees “the terror of chaos, man’s inhumanity to man, mortality, and the unknown. From another direction, the human condition seems like a magnificent, orderly evolution of extraordinary beauty” stating that the totality of his work reflects his “quest to comprehend and express these forces and their interconnectedness.”
Students, space is limited — reserve your spot now!

Artivism CO — Why We Need This Now: A conversation with Lisa Villanueva
2021-02-23 14:00 - 15:30 | Virtual
When you wake up in the morning and look in the eyes of your children, grandchildren, and those you love the most, do you contemplate their future? Pause and reflect on our country’s state of environmental destruction, violation of rights and the blatant silencing of voices in our marginalized communities?
If so, please join us in a candid conversation about:

How and why Lisa created Artivism CO
Why partnering with community organizations like the Fine Arts Center’s Bemis School of Art at Colorado College is so important for connecting with local youth
Why children are (truly) the solution for a better future

Join Lisa Villanueva, the creator and author of Artivism CO, as she speaks through her own history, and the history of Artivism CO, an organization that facilitates and encourages young people to use art to evoke emotions while also exploring the human, civil, and environmental rights that lead to change.

Intimate Apparel – A Reunion/Reading
2021-02-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Virtual
In 2018, the FAC Theatre Company produced Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage. In celebration of Black History Month, the entire cast of the 2018 production will re-unite to present a reading of the play via zoom. The reading will be streamed live on Feb. 19 and then remain available as a watchable stream through Sunday, Feb. 28.

To Bind or to Burn: Conversation with the Artist
2021-02-12 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
The FAC will be celebrating virtually the opening of a new exhibition, Anna Tsouhlarakis: To Bind or to Burn, February 12-August 21, 2021. Join Polly Nordstrand, curator of Southwest Art, in conversation with the artist as they discuss her strategies to indigenize contemporary art. The exhibition presents various bodies of work, including the projects she created while an artist-in-residence at the FAC. A major sculpture, Edges of the Ephemeral, was installed in doors for the first time. Learn about the exhibition
Join the virtual opening!

Anna Tsouhlarakis works in sculpture, installation, video, and performance.
Her work has been part of national and international exhibitions at venues such as Rush Arts in New York, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Crystal Bridges Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, the Heard Museum, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Tsouhlarakis was the Andrew W. Mellon Artist-in-Residence at Colorado College for the 2019-2020 academic year and has participated in various art residencies including the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs, NY. She received her BA from Dartmouth College with degrees in Native American Studies and Studio Art. She went on to receive her MFA from Yale University in Sculpture.
Tsouhlarakis (Navajo + Creek + Greek) lives and works in Colorado.
Learn more about the artist

Invigorate Your Art in 2021
2021-01-21 19:00 - 20:30 | Virtual
Whether you are a total beginner or a seasoned professional, there is much to learn in this virtual course that will improve your art. We will cover the artist’s mindset, composition, color, experimentation, process, adding texture, taking risks, and keeping your art practice fun. If you are uninspired or in a slump, this course will invigorate your art making practice. The principles and practices taught in this virtual course can be applied to any style of art. This course includes live Zoom class sessions and live Zoom studio hours.
Ages 16-Adult

Libation Creations: Valentine Edition
2021-02-11 17:00 - 18:00 | Virtual
Artmaking Happy Hour Series
Celebrate love! Back by popular demand, artist Linda Sagastume and mixologist Angelina Rice bring you romance-inspired creations to liven up this year’s Valentine’s Day. Whether you typically revel in or avoid the holiday, this event will hit you in the right spot — just like Cupid’s bow!
Here’s what to expect-
Step 1: Angelina will guide you through mixing a delicious Valentine-inspired Pomegranate Rose Champagne cocktail in a step-by-step demonstration, live from her winery, Mesa Winds, in Hotchkiss, Colorado.
Step 2: Drink in hand, follow along with Linda as you create a beautiful Valentine heart garland. You can add your own unique touches using scrapbook paper, vintage book pages, sheet music and more.
Step 3: Sit back, sip, and admire your artwork.
This is a live event and participants are encouraged to ask questions along the way. List of drink ingredients and art supplies are provided upon registration.
FAC Members: $5; Non-members: $10
Register for the Libation Lecture

Celebrating Fifty Years of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance
2021-02-09 18:00 - 19:30 | Virtual
Join us for this conversation with the celebrated, Denver-based choreographer Cleo Parker Robinson as the FAC celebrates fifty years of her esteemed dance ensemble. Using the universal language of dance to honor the African Diaspora, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance explores the human condition, champions social justice, unites people of all ages and races, and ultimately celebrates the complexity of life through movement. Moderated by FAC Director, Idris Goodwin, this discussion with Robinson and her team of creatives will shed light on their recently released video of “The MOVE/ment” as well as their longer history of black arts production both in Colorado and beyond.

Belle Epoque Virtual Class
2021-01-11 11:00 - 13:00 | Virtual
Repurpose a children’s board book and create an art journal inspired by La Belle Epoque, the beautiful era. Layers of gesso, acrylic paints, turn of the century ephemera, tea-stained paper, and stencils will be used to explore the patterns and nature-inspired motifs of this period. The art of Louis Tiffany and Gustav Klimt, prominent artists of this era, will also provide inspiration for creating expressive pages. This virtual course includes live Zoom class sessions and live Zoom studio hours. Ages 16-Adult

Let’s Keep Going with Oil Painting
2021-01-09 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
This virtual course will pick up where Let’s Get Started with Oil Painting left off. We will explore more advanced brushwork, painting edges, how to paint specific subjects in the landscape, and floral subjects. You will also have the chance to get personalized feedback on your paintings. Take your basic knowledge of oil painting and go even further! Let’s Get Started with Oil Painting is a prerequisite for this class. This virtual course includes live Zoom sessions and prerecorded content.
Ages 16-Adult

First Friday with FAC Director/DJ Idris Goodwin
2021-02-05 21:00 - 22:30 | Virtual
Join us for a virtual DJ set brought to you by the FAC, CC Mutual Aid, and the Chinook Center of Colorado Springs. Sponsored by CC’s Alumni and Family Relations.
FAC Director Idris Goodwin will host as DJ for a lively night of dancing! The event is FREE for all participants, with a suggested pay-what-you-can donation to Colorado College Mutual Aid and/or the Chinook Center.
The Chinook Center is a Colorado Springs grassroots community that supports people and organizations working for social, economic, and environmental justice in the Pikes Peak Region. Please note that a donation to the Chinook Center is processed separately from your event registration. Make a donation to the Chinook Center.
Please RSVP by Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021
