On the weekend of April 19-21, the University of Montevallo campus will host a multitude of workshops, lectures and performances as part of the annual Forte Festival of Creativity.
The interdisciplinary collaboration is co-hosted by the UM College of Fine Arts, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Montevallo Arts Council. Media sponsors include the Shelby County Reporter, Pitts Media and iHeartRadio.
On Thursday, the festival will begin with a native plant walk led by local herbalist Cameron Strouss, a reading by Birmingham author Gin Phillips and an artist talk with UM Professor of Music Jody Landers, who will perform selections of his bicentennial opera adaptation, “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” along with other UM music faculty members.
The day will conclude with the groundbreaking ceremony of UM’s upcoming Center for the Arts followed by the official Forte Kickoff Bash.
Friday will see theater performances, yoga, virtual reality demonstrations and a showcase of work by UM mass communication students. L.A. filmmaker Neal Thibedeau, fiction writer Joe Scapellato and University of New Hampshire theater professor David Kaye will also offer expert talks.
Finally, Saturday will conclude the festival with an unloading of UM’s famed anagama kiln, an Earth Week event hosted by Alabama Water Watch and Arts Fest in the city of Montevallo’s Orr Park.
On Friday and Saturday, the UM theatre department’s performance of “Urinetown: The Musical” will close out each evening.
For a full schedule, including event locations and times, visit montevallo.edu/fortefestival.