Calendar of Events

Across three nights, ambient pioneer Harold Budd presents a career overview featuring new arrangements of many of his classics, as well as multiple world premieres of new works, with the support of his son Terrence, the ACME String Quartet, Knoxville-based experimental collaborative Nief-Norf, and composer Tim Story.

Alvin Lucier — another legendary composer, known for his musical inquiries into the very nature of sound — delivers his work across multiple days, including performances of his seminal I Am Sitting in a Room and Bird and Person Dyning. The Ever Present Orchestra, featuring Stephen O’Malley and Oren Ambarchi, plays more of Lucier’s work, as does Joan La Barbara, the inventor of multiple extended techniques for voice. In her own concert, dubbed Voice is the Original Instrument, La Barbara will present an overview of her own astonishing compositions. Speaking of innovative singers, Theo Bleckmann performs two unique programs: Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush and Berlin: Songs of Love and War, Peace and Exile.

Source: https://bigearsfestival.org/big-ears-festival-announces-a-bold-and-inventive-lineup-for-2019/

http://www.niefnorf.org/20182019-season/

Big Ears Festival at the Pilot Light (Thu-Sun)
For the sixth consecutive year, we are honored and excited to announce four completely FREE days of music at The Pilot Light, downtown Knoxville’s local and experimental music hub since 2000. These concerts—all booked by The Pilot Light’s Boardman—put our ideals about programming cutting-edge sound at play within the context of a thriving small club that happens to be, like the festival itself, a nonprofit enterprise. Mixing regional talent with several vital players from the United States’ musical frontiers, this year’s The Pilot Light programming is a compelling component. https://bigearsfestival.org/pilot-light/

WDVX Blue Plate Special: Big Ears comes to the Blue Plate!, Visitor Center - FREE
Thu Mar 21, Noon; Fri Mar 22, noon (at Barley’s Taproom); Sat Mar 23, noon

FREE Big Ears Festival Shows, Boyd’s Jig & Reel
Fri Mar 22, 11:00 AM – 1:00 AM; Sat Mar 23, 11:00 AM – 1:00 AM; Sun Mar 24, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM

(UPDATED) Big Ears for Little Ears
Saturday morning at 10 AM in Visit Knoxville's Visit Center, featuring Leo Wadada Smith and his Trio, hosted by WDVX in collaboration with Kidstuff.
https://wdvx.com/event/big-ears-little-ears/

Art Market Gallery: On an Artistic Note reception - FREE
Sat Mar 23, 3-5 PM - The artists will be on-hand and ready to discuss their work with the public, and the gallery will provide wine and cheese. http://moretoknoxville.com/events/view/19265

Ampient Brunch
Fri, Sat, Sun 10 AM - noon
A popular Big Ears tradition since our debut in 2009 returns: During Ampient Brunch, a collective of local musicians explores their shared interest in ambient music at Old City Java, one of Knoxville’s essential coffee outposts. These musicians will share some mellow sounds as you sip your caffeine. These performances are FREE and open to the public.

Public Cinema Screenings
Big Ears and Knoxville microcinema masterminds Public Cinema are thrilled to announce the core of the film screenings at the 2019 festival, which will turn the University of Tennessee’s UT Downtown Gallery into a provocative movie house throughout the month of March. The works of four filmmakers with very different but equally compelling approaches to the screen get their own days in the Gallery, with their works shown as repeated loops or in enormous uninterrupted blocks. Like the music festival itself, the film component of Big Ears 2019 is honored to bring challenging, riveting, and rewarding work to Knoxville. http://www.publiccinema.org/bigears2019/ and https://bigearsfestival.org/public-cinemas-curated-screenings-at-big-ears-2019/

Visit https://bigearsfestival.org/about/experiences/ for more information!

Knoxville Soap, Candle and Gifts is proud to present local Music Visual Artist, Becky Chaffee, for Big Ears Festival week. Her "Folk Art with a Clever Twist to Make You Smile" will be sold as prints, cards, on t-shirts. Originals may be requested. Her guitar, piano and violin purses will also be available. Becky Chaffee: www.MusicTeacherGifts.com

Knoxville Soap, Candle and Gifts, 714 South Gay St. across from Bijou Theatre
865/689-6545

Featuring artist Alan Jones (Theophilus)

At Burlington Library, 4614 Asheville Hwy, Knoxville TN 37914

The Appalachian Arts Craft Center in Norris will hold its Spring Porch Sale starting on Friday, March 15, and continuing for about two weeks. The Porch Sale, held each spring features outdated stock, seconds, student crafts, and nonjuried work by members of the Craft Center. It’s an excellent time to get great deals on local handmade items.

The Appalachian Arts Craft Center is a nonprofit center with a mission to support arts and crafts in Appalachia through education, sales, and community involvement. The center is located at 2716 Andersonville Highway 61, Clinton, TN, one mile east of I-75 north at Exit 122. For more information, stop by the center, call 865-494-9854, or visit www.appalachianarts.net or Facebook.

Don't miss this month's stunning nature photography exhibit by Griffey's Sunshine Photography! https://www.griffeysunshinephoto.com/

More events at http://ijams.org/events/. Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

26th Annual Sevier County Student Art Show in the Drawing Studio. There will be a reception on Tuesday March 19, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 pm. This show is organized by the Gatlinburg Arts Council.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

Reception: Friday, April 12, from 6-8 pm, free and open to the public

Featuring the works of 2018-2019 Artists-in-Residence Sasha Baskin, Alyssa Coffin, Everett Hoffman, Stephanie Wilhelm and Kari Woolsey

These 5 artists working in divergent materials and ideas find common connections pulling this work together for the exhibition. From the installations by Kari Woolsey referencing items found in the home on a daily basis, to Everett Hoffman’s queer forms of altered found objects alluding to domestic space. Pattern and repetition seen as a connecting line between Sasha Baskin and Stephanie Wilhelm through ideas of utilizing the rose from “The Bachelor” to an exploration of ornamentation and form based off the history of decorative ceramics. While Alyssa Coffin questions the realities of what it means to be human through responding to the story of the landscape. All artists connect through their shared experience at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

In the Sandra J. Blain Gallery
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

This Pulitzer Prize winning play chronicles a reunion of the three Magrath sisters, who are back together in their Mississippi hometown for the first time in a decade. Lenny, the eldest, never left home...she is the caretaker of the sisters’ cantankerous Old Granddaddy. Meg, the middle sister, left home to pursue stardom in Hollywood, but only found solace at the bottom of a bottle. And Babe, the youngest, has just been arrested for shooting her abusive husband. Under the scorching heat of the Mississippi sun, past resentments bubble to the surface and each sister must come to terms with the consequences of her own “crimes of the heart".
*The show is rated PG for some mature language.

"Southern Gothic humor at its sublime best…" - NY Times

“Henley weaves a tale of utter poignancy amid heavy doses of black comedy...These endearing yet wacky sisters endure a day that goes from bad to worse, but we laugh with them, not at them." - Chicago Tribune

"It has heart, wit and a surprisingly zany passion that must carry all before it…it would certainly be a crime for anyone interested in the theatre not to see this play." - NY Post.

March 8 through 24 - Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm.
One pay-what-you-can preview on March 7 at 7:30 pm.
TICKET PRICES: Thu & Sun $22 ($16 for students with ID); Fri & Sat $24 ($16 for students with ID)

https://www.ticketpeak.com/res/FlyingAnvil or 865-357-1309

CELEBRATE KNOXVILLE’S NEXT GENERATION OF ARTISTS & EDUCATORS
Clayton Center for the Arts

The Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony will be held at the Clayton Center for the Arts on March 15th from 5:30-9:00pm. All artists, their families, and friends are encouraged to attend this wonderful celebration!

Synergy showcases East Tennessee’s most gifted K-12 art students alongside their teachers, diverse artists will participate in this special exhibition at the Clayton Center for the Arts. See the results of the artistic student-teacher synergy that happens every day in East Tennessee schools. The East Tennessee Art Educator Exhibition is a newer exhibition designed to promote the work of East Tennessee’s finest teaching artists. K-12 art teachers and current art interns/student teachers from public schools, private schools and academies are invited to apply to the exhibition which will be alongside an exhibit featuring the creative works by East Tennessee’s most gifted art students.

https://www.dogwoodarts.com/student-art-exhibition/
https://www.dogwoodarts.com/art-educator/

Dogwood Arts information: 865-637-4561, https://www.dogwoodarts.com

Get Ready to Take Action! Join Ijams for "Take Action! Big and Small Ways to Save the Planet," a new initiative focused on environmental conservation. Free or low-cost classes, workshops and volunteer workdays will show you how to reduce your carbon footprint and protect natural resources. There's something for everyone in this series, so spread the word, bring your family and friends, and get ready to save the world. Attend two activities and you'll get to celebrate your accomplishments at an Action Heroes Conservation Celebration sponsored by Cherokee Distributing and Sierra Nevada Brewery. http://ijams.org/take-action-big-and-small-ways-to-save-the-planet/

Knoxville's got talented teen artists and we want to celebrate your work! Artists (ages 12-17) were invited to display their art at Farragut, Powell and Burlington branch libraries.

Works include oil, watercolor, acrylic, drawing, ceramic, pottery, sculpture, and photography. All works of sculpture will be displayed at the Burlington Library.

865-777-1750, https://www.knoxlib.org/teen-central/