Winter is hardly the cultural doldrums in Southern Nevada. The September-to-May calendars of many local arts and educational institutions mean capital-C culture happenings abound, even though seasonal offerings have waned.
The portraits of Las Vegas-born artist Q’Shaundra James are largely influenced by W.E.B. Du Bois’ motif of “the veil” that obscures how Black Americans see themselves, largely because of racist white narratives and predominant stereotypes. But James and her subjects’ attempt to cast aside the veil — as well as the legacy of slavery and the canonization of European art — through the sitters’ expressions and the painter’s interpretations of those sitters. James’ portraits will be on display through both Black and women’s history months, until April 5, at Left of Center Gallery.
Local film buffs usually are busy cramming award-bait titles ahead of the Oscars, but they’ll want to escape the cineplexes and head to Boulder City for the 21st Dam Short Film Festival, which draws an international gaggle of filmmakers and their shorts. Choose from more than 30 multi-short programs covering several categories — including the most important one of all: Nevada.
Theater thrives in the winter with quantity, quality … and variety. A Public Fit takes aim at Sam Shepard’s True West at SST Studio Theater, transforming it into a suburban kitchen to stage just what every Southern Nevadan wants to see: two Californians arguing. Jokes aside, this sibling-rivalry chestnut is one of Shepard’s best.
Meanwhile, more of a family-appropriate than a family-centered play, Rainbow Company’s interpretation of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical — itself an adaptation of the beloved YA novel The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan — turns kid actors into gods … sorta.
The Smith Center’s side room, Myron’s, favors Broadway crooners, smooth-jazz headliners, and lounge/cover acts. But in March, its calendar lands some big gets for fans of less commercial music.
We can’t find any evidence that two of the month’s performers — the uncategorizeable jazz quartet The Bad Plus and singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright — have ever played Las Vegas.
And more traditional music fans won’t be grumbling that jazz impresario Branford Marsalis and his quartet, and Irish folk/roots favorite Runa are due back in the intimate venue.
We’re rechristening our highest-profile orchestra the Nas Vegas Philharmonic. Its well-received 2024 live collaboration with rapper Nas, focusing on his classic album Illmatic, gets a second engagement in February at Encore Theater.
For lovers wanting to extend the Valentine’s Day revelry, the Las Vegas Philharmonic returns to Reynolds Hall for a post-holiday program that will climax fittingly with Prokofiev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet, and feature guest conductor Joseph Young and pianist Joyce Yang.
Finally, UNLV has announced its spring-semester exhibits for the Barrick Museum. Brightening up the West Gallery is Color Made, a group show featuring older works from the Barrick collection alongside those from guest artists Yoko Kondo Konopik, Naes Pierott, and Beck+Col (whose contribution is their playful horror film Red Night).
Konopik also has her own show at the Barrick called On Canvas, a five-decade review of the internationally renowned, Vegas-based artist’s abstract explorations of shape, line, and color. The Window Gallery will feature local artist Gabriella Rodriguez’s fabric-kissed painting “Al Amanecer."
And over in the WorkShop Gallery is Women’s Rights Are Human Rights: International Posters on Gender-Based Inequality, Violence, and Discrimination. It offers a wide spectrum of design styles — and sociopolitical topics — through posters curated by Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s Elizabeth Resnick.
