The Alliance for the Arts April exhibition The Future of Art will exhibit from April 4 – April 29. This is the 25th year the Alliance has partnered with Lee Arts Educators Association (LAEA) to display student work in a formal exhibit. The show features more than 40 schools and hundreds of works in a variety of mediums.

The elementary and middle school students opening reception will be on April 4 from 5-7 p.m. and the show will remain on display until April 14. High school works will be exhibited with a second opening reception on April 20 from 5 – 7 p.m. and will remain on display until April 29. Winners will be selected in several categories and Best in Show will be rewarded. Pizza for the high school reception will be provided by Downtown House of Pizza in Fort Myers.

LAEA is a group of art teachers who recognize and promote students who show interest and aptitude in visual arts. The exhibit is sponsored by Pediatric Dentistry of Fort Myers.

“This is an important opportunity for school age students,” says exhibition coordinator Krista Johnson. “Showing student art can engage and energize families, schools and communities.”

Theatre Conspiracy presents the world premiere of The Cave by Jeff Lindsay and directed by Bill Taylor at the Alliance for the Arts.  The Cave is set during the Civil War in a hidden cavern, where an escaped slave, a blind Confederate soldier and a Union deserter hide out to seek freedom and survival. The production is a drama with themes of race, belief and mortality.

Jeff Lindsay is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling Dexter novels upon which the international hit TV show Dexter is based. Although a full-time writer now, he has worked as an actor, comic, director, bounder, singer, songwriter, voice-over artist, teacher and sailing instructor.

Lindsay has written twenty-two plays which have been produced in New York, New Haven, Key West, Pittsburgh, London and California. For 5 years, Lindsay wrote “Fatherhood,” a semi-syndicated weekly column on parenting from the male perspective. He hosted several local PBS-TV shows and a documentary. Hemingway In Cuba, which was seen nationally on PBS.

“We’re fortunate to have a powerful cast who embrace and embody each character’s unique disposition,” says Bill Taylor, Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Theatre Conspiracy.

The cast for The Cave includes a host of local actors including:

  • Marie Baptiste as Cassie
  • Jordon Wilson as Brandon
  • Michael Pineda as Timothy

Performances are March 24 – April 8 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays at 8 p.m. with one Sunday matinee on April 2 at 2 p.m.

PURCHASE TICKETS

If you’re an artist within the 65,000 square miles that make up Florida, we’re calling on you to submit your work to the Annual All Florida Juried Exhibit. As the name suggests, this exhibition features pieces created by artists working in a wide variety of media from all over the state of Florida. The juried entries come together for an exciting exhibition representing today’s contemporary Florida artists!

Categories for entry are sculpture, painting (including oil, acrylic, collage, water color and mixed media), photography, prints and drawing. An entry may consist of 1 to 3 artworks. All entries must be submitted online no later than April 29, 2017. Artists can download the prospectus at www.ArtInLee.org/AllFlorida.

This year’s juror is Kimberly Riner. Riner is the visual arts director at the Averitt Center for the Arts. She received her Master of Fine Art from Georgia Southern University in 3D art with an emphasis in ceramics. Riner has held faculty positions at Georgia Southern University and Ogeechee Technical College.

Riner is actively involved in growing the art scene in the Statesboro area where she has worked with ArtsFest, Summer Studios and Creative Art Studio. Most recently Riner opened the Averitt Center’s new visual arts facility, The Roxie Remley Center for Fine Arts. Her artwork has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and is held in private collections. Exhibition venues include: Mason City, IA; Atlanta, GA; North Charleston, SC; Lake City, SC; Cochran, GA; Sheffield, England, UK. Reiner previously exhibited at the Alliance for the Arts in January’s Changing States exhibition.

The opening celebration will be June 2 from 5 – 7 p.m. Riner will be on hand to present awards including $1,000 cash for Best In Show, a 2nd Place $250 gift certificate for Golden Paints, $100 cash for 3rd place and Jurors Choice Award(s) of Alliance for the Arts membership(s). There will be a conversational gallery walk and talk with the juror Saturday, June 3 at 10 a.m.