Arte / Art

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST FINE ARTS CENTER Announces Line-Up for 2021/22 Performing and Visual Arts Season

KRONOS QUARTET, ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER, JENNIFER KOH, AMOS LEE, BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE DANCE COMPANY, CHRISTIAN SANDS, ANAT COHEN QUARTETINHO, MARTHA REDBONE, KENNY ENDO CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE and many more Season Begins on September 28 In-Person Events Start on October 14 Tickets On Sale Now

Hampden Gallery Opens September 7 Augusta Savage Gallery Opens September 10 University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) Opens September 23

After nearly a year and a half of in-person programming lost to the pandemic, UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center is proud to announce the return of its performing arts season for 2021/22 and to share the roster for the reopening of the Augusta Savage Gallery, Hampden Gallery and the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA). In concert with new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, UMass Amherst’s 2021-22 policy requires all faculty, staff, and students to be vaccinated. Until further notice, all patrons, and visitors to Fine Arts Center in-person performances, the University Museum of Contemporary Art, Augusta Savage Gallery and Hampden Gallery must wear a face mask. The 2021 Fine Arts Center season will feature a mix of virtual and on-site programming, beginning with online performances by the famed classicalcrossover collective Kronos Quartet (9/28); a conversation with violinist Jennifer Koh, opera singer Davóne Tines, composer Ken Ueno, and dramaturg KeeYoon Nahm on their anti-racist artistic collaboration (9/30); and the familyfriendly musical theater piece Sugar Skull, celebrating the tradition and spirit of Día de los Muertos (10/17). In-person shows are currently scheduled to begin in late October with the Massachusetts premiere of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s new work on the nature of recovery, Afterwardsness (10/24 and 10/25). Additional in-person performers taking the stage at the Fine Arts Center in 2021 will include violinist Jennifer Koh (10/28), singer/songwriter Martha Redbone (11/9), classical guitarist Christopher Ladd (11/13), pianist and Billy Taylor Jazz Artist-in-Residence Christian Sands (11/18) and circus troupe Acrobuffos (12/4). The Fine Arts Center’s 2022 lineup includes dance, jazz, rock, folk, and traditional sounds from around the globe with ticketed shows from Nobuntu, the female a cappella quintet from Zimbabwe (2/8); Canadian circus troupe Cirque FLIP Fabrique (2/16); classical guitarist and multiple Latin Grammy nominee Berta Rojas (3/5); a Saint Patrick’s Day celebration with Irish ensemble Danú (3/11); a family-friendly Pacific and Indian Ocean islander production of music, film and dance from Small Island Big Song (3/27); cross-genre taiko drumming from the Kenny Endo Contemporary Ensemble (4/7); innovative jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen Quartetinho (4/9); Philly folk-rock star Amos Lee (4/16); a confluence of wide ranging jazz, classical and Indian traditional sounds from Adam Rudolph/Go Organic Orchestra and Brooklyn Raga Massive (4/21); and ending with a set from the unparalleled masters of modern dance, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (4/26). Additionally, on February 28, the Fine Arts Center will set the stage for the free, ticketed performance of the acclaimed Yup’ik Nation dancer and choreographer Emily Johnson’s new work-in-progress Being Future Being, developed on campus in a residency made possible by the Five College Native American and Indigenous Studies Program with funding from the Mellon Foundation, hosted in partnership with Five College Dance and the Amherst College American Studies Department. July 2022 (from the 11 to the 22) will also see the in-person return of our nationally-respected Jazz in July music education program, founded in 1980 by Dr. Frederick Tillis, Dr. Billy Taylor, and Max Roach. Jazz in July just celebrated its 40th Anniversary with our first in-person concert, co-presented in Downtown Amherst with the Amherst Business Improvement District. Following a nearly eighteen-month hiatus, UMass Amherst’s Augusta Savage Gallery, Hampden Gallery and University Museum of Contemporary Art galleries will all reopen their doors for in-person shows in September, each with major new exhibitions. The Augusta Savage Gallery’s opening exhibit, Rising Waters/ Blazing Earth with works from Zea Mays Printmaking, highlights issues related to natural resource exploitation and environmental sustainability. The exhibition runs from 9/10 to 10/20 and, beginning 10/4, will feature work by UMass HFA students. In her first solo exhibition, painter Eesha Suntai reflects on her perspective as a person of color growing up in American in this evocative series of portraits, opening 10/27 and running through 12/10. At the Hampden Gallery, beginning on 9/7, sculptor and mixed media artist Peter Dellert will exhibit in the gallery’s Sculpture Garden and Incubator Space, alongside a new site-specific work by poet and visual artist Christopher Janke entitled “The Thing Itself.” The Hampden Gallery also expands beyond the UMass campus into digital space with online exhibitions by Daniel Zeller, whose work is included in the collections of MoMA and the Whitney in New York, as well as MacDowell Fellow Joyce Conlon; and, a Zoom Curator Talk with international exhibiting glass artist and current UMass Amherst instructor (formerly at Pilchuck Glass School, Niijima Glass Art Center, and more) Sally Prasch, all timed to premiere online as of September 7. Following a free-to-attend Grand Re-Opening Party on September 23, The University Museum of Contemporary Art will launch a first-of-its-kind exhibition focused on the printmaking work of Carnegie Prize-winning artist Nicole Eisenman, an exhibition in partnership with the artist-led civic engagement organization For Freedoms, and a deep dive exploration of the 1981 collaborative cultural masterwork, Artifacts at the End of a Decade. Over the next several months, all three visual art venues will present regular in-person artist talks and special events, including a free-to-attend interdepartmental celebration at Bowker Auditorium of the late, legendary western Massachusetts choreographer-dancer Pearl Primus on October 14, featuring a panel conversation with Primus’ contemporaries and a screening of the new documentary, Pearl Primus, Omowale, Child Returned Home. For 46 years, the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center has been a nationally recognized presenter of inclusive programming and a leading platform for jazz and multicultural arts. The University’s commitment to diversity and access is reflected through its world-class performances and exhibitions, its consistent and ongoing support of renowned and emerging artists of color, and its efforts to present, preserve and advance both Western and non-Western art forms through its performances, education programs and permanent collections. Over the past 18 months, the Fine Arts Center team worked nearly around the clock to deliver a broad array of world-class arts experiences through 75 virtual programs that engaged over 25,000 people. Notable highlights included performances by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Septet, led by Wynton Marsalis; Silkroad, led by Rhiannon Giddens; Black Violin; Kristina Wong; and a performance by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The Center also presented many powerful and timely visual arts programs, including Breathing While Black, a juried exhibition created in response to the George Floyd murder, which featured 72 artists from 17 countries. UMass Amherst returns after the pandemic with a noticeable change: the Arts Center has a new name, the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts. Dr. Bromery rose from being one of seven faculty members of color at the college to become the campus’ first African American chancellor. The Fine Arts Center is honored to have our building selected to memorialize the impact of this transformative leader. Under his tenure, the Fine Arts Center building opened

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