Arts DEVOté

Art school
Are you ready for your art, Chico? The academic year begins this week, and with that begins the overfilling of your arts trough by the Chico State arts machine, as well as constant reminders by Arts DEVOté about how much art you’re wasting as it dribbles over the edges of the goblet from which you chug it all down. Slow down, already! A.D. has scoped out the performance calendars of the different presenting organizations on campus, and he is happy to make life easier by making up your mind for you. Picks for fall (so far):

• Sept. 2: MadCat Women’s International Film Festival (Little Theatre, Ayres 106). The Humanities Center’s University Film Series (every Tuesday night) kicks off with seven touring short films from the Brooklyn-based festival.

• Sept. 11: Chico Performances presents Dya Singh at Laxson Auditorium, playing Sikh spiritual music that incorporates blues, jazz, folk, country and Australian bush music with traditional sounds of India, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

•Sept. 25: C.P. presents The Romeros, the most renowned classical guitarist group in the world. Laxson Auditorium.

• Oct. 16: AS Presents brings the hyper Irish rock of Flogging Molly to the Bell Memorial Union.

• Oct. 22-26: School of the Arts presents Ubu Roi in Harlen Adams Theatre. When Alfred Jarry’s play originally opened in France in 1896, riots broke out in the theater after the first word (“shit”) was uttered.

• Oct. 24: S.O.A. presents Past & Present at Laxson. Chico State’s irrepressible gospel choir director leads his high-energy choir in an exploration of classic and contemporary pieces.

• Oct. 24: S.O.A. presents Bernarda Alba , a musical adaptation of Garcia Lorca’s dark tale of a matriarch who bricks up the doors and windows of her home after her husband’s funeral, shutting herself and her five daughters inside. (A.D. kind of wishes it wasn’t the musical version though—the original cast recording samples on iTunes are excruciating.) Wismer Theatre.

• Winter highlights: Feb. 8: Moscow Cats Theatre at Laxson (35 cats, one dog, five clowns … seriously!); Feb. 14: The Art of Belly Dance at Laxson; Feb. 22: North State Symphony’s Imagination’s Dream at Laxson (poetry set to music—William Carlos Williams and more); Feb. 24: Afro-Cuban All Stars at Laxson; Feb. 26-28: Music & the Cutting Edge in Rowand-Taylor Hall (new music symposium).

After September comes Artober
Of course, Chico is as much town as it is gown, and the town has its own arts schedule to bust out. One of the bigger items on the list is the annual month-long Artoberfest celebration, and A.D. just received a copy of the month’s activities (plus a mini Artoberfest flag … with a stand!).

The Chico Palio kickoff this year takes place over two days, with a community dinner Sept. 26 in the City Hall parking lot, and the arts faire and Palio horse-sculpture race going down Sept. 27 in the Downtown City Plaza. A.D. will give a few of his Artoberfest picks in two weeks, when he gives you his “Top 10 Fall Arts Events That Are Not Put on by Chico State.” E-mail your events now!

Bi-weekly devotions

• Humanities Gallery: Closing reception for Dylan Tellesen’s You Are What You Eat exhibit. Thursday, Aug. 28, 5-7 p.m.

• Artist Lecture Series: Chico Art Center’s monthly speaker series. This month: writer Claire Braz-Valentine, Friday, Aug. 29, 7:30 p.m.

• Call for donations: 1078 Gallery needs donations for its benefit garage sale on Saturday, Aug. 23, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. (drop-off on Friday, Aug. 22, 9 a.m.- 6 p.m.).

• Chico Theater Company turns 5! Celebrate the community theater’s birthday at a fund-raising dinner/show. Sat., Aug. 30, 5 p.m.

• Call for artists: Enloe Medical Center is looking for artists to decorate panels on its new parking structure. Deadline is Aug. 25. Details at www.enloe.org/planetree.