ART ifacts Creative Community for All Community arts organizations unite a vibrant Dublin

By Janet Cooper

Art draws people together and promotes individual and community well-being. Dublin’s public art and the Dublin Arts Council (DAC) Sundays at Scioto concert series are well-known, but a plethora of additional community arts opportunities exist for hobbyists and professionals of diverse ages and interests.

The Council’s annual Community Arts Grants program ensures the vibrancy of a number of nonprofit arts organizations by investing more than $125,000 in the community in the last five years.

“The arts matter because they help us see the world from different perspectives,” says National Endowment for the Arts staff member Jennie Terman. “They give us empathy and help us understand people, places, periods of history and issues with which we may otherwise be unfamiliar. They comfort us in grief and energize us in celebration. They are important because they can act as a catalyst for change. … The arts ignite something in our brains that I can’t explain, but I know it’s essential for life.”

Dublin’s community arts organizations provide year-round inspiration with a number of exciting programs and performances coming this summer and fall.

Global Water Dances Dublin

Dublin-based Columbus Modern (CoMo) Dance Company will facilitate Global Water Dances in Dublin’s Riverside

Crossing Park Plaza on Riverside Drive, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 17. This initiative to promote water preservation takes place in 180 locations worldwide.

The performance will be a restaging of modern dance pioneer Doris Humphrey’s 1928 Water Study, a groundbreaking piece for its time. The choreography is performed with breath and silence as the ensemble brings visuals of the ocean’s rolling or crashing waves to life. CoMo Company dancers Faith Smith and Laura Puscas, joined by guest choreographer Francine Butler, will work with members of the community to facilitate the presentation of this historic work.

“We look forward to sharing movement with Dublin, from exploring your own creativity to watching CoMo dancers tell the story of water,” Puscas says. “I hope you’ll join us and take away a new appreciation for this valuable resourceand some actions you’ll take to make a difference for water in our community.”

Local organizations, such as the Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District will be on hand to connect audience members to water sustainability ideas. It is free to participate and attend the performance. It is not necessary to register.

Local playwrights premiere two plays

One Show / Two Plays open July 20 through July 29 in Dublin’s Abbey Theater, on Post Road, is presented by central Ohio’s only professional LGBTQ+ theater company, Evolution Theatre Company. This theater provides a supportive, encouraging environment for celebrating the artistic vision of LGBTQ+ individuals, advancing the understanding of gender issues and fostering the expression of creative performance arts by and about the LGBTQ+ community.

The first selected play, The $5000 Challenge, was written by Douglas Whaley and directed by his husband, David Allen Vargo, who are both Dublin residents. During a nationally televised talk show, a professor offers to pay $5,000 to the charity of a Reverend’s choice if he can produce five formerly gay men who went through his church’s conversion therapy program and are now completely heterosexual in orientation. Let the debate begin as this story, based on true events, unfolds.

The additional play, The Body Politic, is written by Columbus resident Cory Skurdal. A very conservative right-wing politician up for re-election dies under circumstances very contrary to his party’s stance on gay rights. His expert media and campaign team gather to “spin” and “clean up” the situation. Can they succeed before the news is leaked?

“Since making our home at the Abbey Theater in 2021, we’ve enjoyed tremendous support from the Dublin Arts Council, the City of Dublin and the en- tire community,” says Mark Phillips Schwamberger, executive and artistic director of Evolution Theatre Company. “We owe much of our success to the warm reception we have received. As we continue with our third season at the Abbey Theater, we plan to be part of the community for many years to come. Thank you, Dublin!”

More art to enjoy

Other grantee activities include the Japan America Society of Central Ohio’s (JASCO) Obon Festival on Saturday, Aug. 12 from 4 to 6 p.m. in Riverside Crossing Park, featuring Japanese games, food and performances.

Dublin Area Art League will host its 20th annual fall Paint Out in Historic Dublin on Saturday, Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and a fall exhibition at the Dublin Community Recreation Center.

Dublin Community Bands, Eversole Run Middle School Drama Program and Dublin Singers have already completed their 2023 Community Arts Grants performances.

Dublin Arts Council will open the application cycle for 2024 projects later this summer, with a deadline of Nov. 17. To learn more, visit www.dublinarts.org/community/grants/.

Learn more

Columbus Modern Dance Company (CoMo) www.comodance.org

Dublin Area Art League www.dublinartleague.org

Dublin Arts Council www.dublinarts.org

Dublin Community Bands www.dublinbands.com

Dublin Singers www.dublinsingers.org

Evolution Theatre www.evolutiontheatre.org

Global Water Dances Columbus www.globalwaterdancescolumbus.org

Japan America Society of Central Ohio (JASCO) www.jascentralohio.org

by Cassie Dietrich