July is already over, which means so is Artown, Reno’s annual arts festival during the entire month of July. This year, Artown took the performances to a virtual platform rather than canceling the event, allowing them to still celebrate their 25th anniversary.
Similar to the festival’s opening night, Artown’s Oliver X and Beth Macmillan hosted the closing night live stream on Facebook. The evening was loaded with musical performances, interviews with artists, and an art auction.
Some artists performed live in the studio, while others appeared in the live stream through pre-recorded videos. For those who performed in-house, they were able to sit down with the hosts afterward and discuss the details of their performance as well as how it had to be adapted for the online format.
The virtual show was especially a challenge for Keely Cobb, a choreographer working with “Adriana and the Wildflowers,” who said the dancers not only lost two months of rehearsal time, but also had to modify their approach to the performance due to the revised closing night format. The crew decided to create a video of their performance in the Nevada desert. Cobb also gave hints of what next year’s performance could look like.
Despite the challenges we all have faced, these artists were still able to express themselves and partake in the Artown annual festival. Witnessing the creativity shown in the live-stream was truly inspirational.
The community expressed this inspiration through their contributions to the “Heartown” gallery. Artown added this new “Heartown” gallery this year to welcome anyone in the community to share their art. Check out https://artown.org/heartown/ to see all the Heartown submissions; some may just surprise you.
Those who stayed till the end of the closing night live-stream were able to hear a sneak peek of a song made just for Reno called “Heart to Heart, Eye to Eye.” The song will officially be out on August 18, so make sure to mark your calendars to hear this special tune.
The livestream is still available on Artown’s Facebook page for anyone who missed it on July 31. Most of the performances from this previous year are also available for viewing on their Facebook and YouTube. Take advantage of the free art shows and show support for local non-profits.
