Lexington Arts and Culture News – February 2021
ART
IMAGINE NATION
A new mural that spells out the words “IMAGINE NATION” was installed near UK’s downtown campus and Bolivar Street. Students in the University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies’ Guerilla Art class were tasked with creating individual components of the mural in the form of “personal character designs” which integrate with the chrome balloons.
New leadership for LexArts
Ame Sweetall has been named President & CEO of LexArts. Sweetall joined LexArts in February 2020 in an interim role and transitioned into President and CEO in October.
LexArts also announced the election of eight new members to its Board of Directors: Jessica Berry, YMCA of Central Kentucky; Lauren Case, Fayette County Public Schools; Michelle Deans, MCM CPA; Bill Farmer, Jr., Farmer’s Jewelry; Maeve Goodman, Mt. Brilliant Farm; Stefan Hendrickson, Dean Dorton; Kathy Plomin, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council; and Rachel Ray, Lexington Children’s Theatre.
BOOKS
2021 Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame
The ninth class of the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame was inducted in January. The 2021 inductees John Egerton, Robert K. Massie, John Jacob Niles, Caroline Gordon, and Albert Stewart, who join living inductee Nikky Finney.New BioThe University Press of Kentucky has published the biography Harry Dean Stanton: Hollywood’s Zen Rebel by Joe Atkins.
“Love from Scratch”
Transylvania graduate Kaitlyn Hill releases her first novel in spring of 2022 with Delacorte Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Based loosely on YouTube’s “Bon Appétit Test Kitchen,” the book focuses on two interns of a popular online cooking channel who compete for the same job and end up falling for each other. Hill, who graduated in 2016, credits a fiction workshop she took with professor and author Richard Taylor for helping her develop as a writer.
EVENTS
Harry Dean Stanton Festival Update
Since February 2011, the city of Lexington has hosted a festival in honor of Kentucky born actor Harry Dean Stanton. In lieu of an in-person event this year, Friends of the Kentucky is partnering with the University Press of Kentucky and the Harry Dean Stanton Fest to offer an online event, in honor of the annual festival and the first-ever biography of Harry Dean Stanton.
Harry Dean Stanton Fest founder Lucy Jones chats with Joe Atkins, filmmaker Tom Thurman and musician Jamie James about the life and work of Harry Dean via Zoom on Thursday, February 4 at 8 pm. Friends of the Kentucky co-chairs Lisa Meek and Hayward Wilkirson will host.
Lexington’s Annual Arts Awards
Arts Connects is accepting community nominations for its 2021 Arts Awards. Deadline to submit is Monday, March 1. Lexington’s Annual Arts Awards Luncheon for 2021 is planned for April 22, 2021 at The Lyric Theatre.
MUSIC
New at the Philharmonic
Lexington Philharmonic has announced the appointment of Kelly Corcoran as Interim Artistic Advisor. The Interim Artistic Advisor is a new position, created to provide the organization with artistic guidance duringthe2020-2021 season, until LexPhil is able to safely resume the search for a new Music Director and Conductor.
NOW STREAMING
The Harmon Room at 21c
It took more than 30 years for producer Allan Scott to get The Queen’s Gambit to television, and ten days for the city of Lexington to turn the hit Netflix series into a boutique hotel room. With help from VisitLex, Cornett, and a group of Lexington collaborators, 21c Museum Hotel Lexington transformed one of their hotel rooms into a Queen’s Gambit inspired getaway.
The room features mid-century modern design and vintage accessories along with period furniture. Meet the collaborators who made the hotel room a reality.
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This article also appears on page 18 of the February 2021 print edition of ace magazine.
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