Christina Cultural Arts Center Opens Concert Season with World Music

Photo by Shervin Lainez.

Live @ Christina, Christina Cultural Arts Center’s (CCAC’s) annual concert series held in its intimate Clifford Brown Performance Space, will kick off this season on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. with noted world music ensemble Ajoyo. 

Each season, CCAC has been fortunate to welcome performances by noted artists like Gregory Porter, Delfeayo Marsalis, Snarky Puppy and Christian Sands.

Headed by French-Tunisian saxophonist, clarinetist and composer, Yacine Boularès, Ajoyo blends sounds of African tradition, jazz and soul with the silken vocals of Sarah Elizabeth Charles. Tickets for the performance are $23 and are available at ccacde.org.

“Our music stems from West and North African rhythmic traditions — Fela Kuti, Salif Keita, Oum Kalthoum and many more,” says Boularès. “But we also bring a lot of our individual experience as musicians. The sum of it all is an upbeat, eclectic brew of jazz, soul, African rhythms and indie rock.”

Last appearing at CCAC in May 2018, Ajoyo happily returns to downtown Wilmington for a repeat performance. “On tour, we tend to develop special relationships with certain audiences, and CCAC was definitely one of them,” Boularès says.

Ultimately, he says, Ajoyo is about creating music for the mind, for the heart, and for the body. “You’ll definitely want to stand up and dance,” he says.

This engagement is made possible through the Special Presenters Initiative program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts.

ABOUT CHRISTINA CULTURAL ARTS CENTER
The mission of Christina Cultural Arts Center Inc. (CCAC) is to make affordable arts, education, career training, exhibitions and live performances accessible to youth and adults in a welcoming learning environment. For more than 70 years, CCAC has been an anchor in the Delaware arts community and Wilmington's Creative District, focusing on the tenets of Hope, Knowledge, Inspiration & Passion by providing instruction and performance/exhibition opportunities in music, dance, drama, visual arts and poetry. Christina offers one of the only integrated arts and academic programs in Delaware, utilizing the power of arts to promote school success, career training, and positive social behavior. We collaborate with local and national partners — business, educators, and artists — to promote the creative industry and advocate for the socio-economic impact of the arts in our community. Christina Cultural Arts Center is a member of the Mid Atlantic Foundation Jazz Touring Network. 

For more information visit ccacde.org.

National Portrait Gallery to Feature Selected Works from Pre-Raphaelite Collection

The content of this post comes from a previous press release from the Delaware Art Museum...

Found by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
File courtesy of Delaware Art Museum. 

A major new exhibition in London showcasing the women who shaped the Pre-Raphaelite movement will include four pieces from the Delaware Art Museum. 

In the 1880s, American textile mill owner Samuel Bancroft, Jr. was “shocked with delight” upon viewing a painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The Wilmington industrialist purchased his first Rossetti oil painting, Water Willow, around 10 years later. By the time of his death in 1915, Bancroft had amassed what is now the largest and most significant Pre-Raphaelite collection outside the United Kingdom.

In 1935, Bancroft’s family donated his entire collection to what is now the Delaware Art Museum, along with 11 acres of land on Kentmere Parkway to construct a museum.

See www.delart.org. 

Announcing 2019 Governor's Awards for the Arts Recipients

Content of this post comes from a release from the Delaware Division of the Arts...

The Delaware Division of the Arts is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2019 Governor’s Awards for the Arts, which pay tribute to distinguished individuals and organizations that have had a profound and lasting impact on the state’s artistic and cultural life. The 2019 Governor’s Awards for the Arts were coordinated by the Delaware Division of the Arts in conjunction with the Delaware State Arts Council and the Office of Governor John C. Carney.

To celebrate the recipients' achievements, an award ceremony will be held on Monday, October 28, at 4:00pm at the Rollins Center at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino. As part of the celebration, The Music School of Delaware’s Suzuki Academy Honors Program Student String Quartet will perform. A reception with light fare will be held prior to the ceremony from 3:00-4:00pm. The reception and award ceremony are free and open to the public.

2019 GOVERNOR’S AWARDS FOR THE ARTS RECIPIENTS

• ARTS ADMINISTRATION - Raye Jones Avery
• ARTS EDUCATION - Charles J. Conway
• ARTS PATRON, CORPORATE - M&T Bank
• ARTS PATRON, INDIVIDUAL - Carla Markell
• COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT - Art Therapy Express
• PEGGY AMSTERDAM AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT - Debora Hansen

For more information about the Governor’s Awards for the Arts and the 2019 Award Recipients, click here to visit the Governor’s Awards for the Arts webpage.

The Governor’s Awards for the Arts reception and ceremony will immediately follow the 2019 Delaware Arts Summit.