We have two great shows at UICA that you simply must see to fully understand their true importance.   Our region loves to chat about curation and the art of collecting, but rarely do we get it so right as we do with this brand-spanking-new exhibition curated by UICA's exiting curator Alexander Paschka, whose vision is also on display in a collection devoted to the art of buying art.   Buying Friends is so much more than a play on words. This look at a very contemporary art collection from Ryan Kortman will feature more than 80 works by nationally and internationally renowned artists, ...

Cinema fans rejoice, since this special presentation of The Homestretch – a part of the National Homeless Teen Awareness month programming from Arbor Circle – is showcasing this timely documentary from the same production company that brought to the big screen Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters.   The Homestretch follows the lives of three homeless Chicago teenagers seasoned by rejection and life on the streets as they defy the odds to create a future, finding sympathy and support in surprising places. This very popular film showcases how filmmakers were able to follow aspiring ...

Every year many in our nation participate in a tradition where we decorate a tree in our living room. For those feeling a bit patriotic or wanting to run the risk of tree envy, you will have just one chance (shy of traveling to the District of Columbia) to see our Nation's Capitol Christmas Tree, or “The People’s Tree.” What began in 1964, when then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John W. McCormack (D-MA) placed a live Christmas tree on the Capitol lawn, has evolved to an updated reality that many who garden could have predicted. In this case, it became ...

Grand Rapids has hosted a lot of cool events, from art to making us laugh, but when they launch a festival devoted to bacon…well, it's game over, folks.   BaCon is festival that celebrates bacon and beer, and it does sell out.    What are you waiting for?   Click here and get your ticket to the most unique and tastiest event of the year. A portion of your ticket will be donated to Kids’ Food Basket. Admission: General $20: includes 4 beverage tickets and 6 food tickets; or purchase an upgrade to become a BaConMaster VIP: $40 includes 8 beverage tickets, 12 food tickets, ...

Here is to the loud mouths. The people who, when they are told no, find a way to create a yes. Here is to my friend and fellow artist Mark Rumsey, who created a series of events that still reverberates in our society back when it was just darn hard to get things organized (and often meant your committee was an army of one). I've written it before in Rapid Growth but I will say it again: before there was ArtPrize, Site:LAB or Artpeers, in 2002 we had an artist who believed that vacant storefronts could be repurposed to a higher calling, so the series where we showcased local artists while ...

There is no doubt that as some forms of media advance others will naturally decline. One area of the arts that is growing is visual presentation, and on Friday and Saturday we will have a chance to showcase that genre in one of the city's most amazing community venues, Wealthy Theatre, when Mosaic Film Experience will return to its two screens. The films in competition have been selected from more than 750 films submitted from 46 different countries. They're organized into short programs with grouping titles including Stories and Students, From the Dark(er) Side, Slice of Life, Heavy ...

If I were to say that Islam and daily secular life could exist hand in hand you would probably laugh yourself off your Herman Miller office chair. (I'll wait for you to right yourself.) But if you visit the Grand Rapids Public Library's newest exhibition, Tolerance Understanding, Coexistence: Oman's Message of Islam, then you can see it firsthand while also getting an education on the power of how it's possible in our society to live in harmony beyond the headlines of our 24/7 news programming. Not only will this traveling exhibition of Oman's Message of Islam provide ...

A sign that Grand Rapids is growing ever more diverse is the level of programming devoted to the cultures and nationalities that call this region their new home. This week I want to highlight three venues all doing a great job of promoting the international event Dia de los Muertos.   The downtown branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library (GRPL) began celebrating Dia de los Muertos just five years ago with a small gathering of guests making altars, but their event quickly expanded in size, much like those beautifully rich orange marigold blooms that decorate many of the traditional 3-D works. ...

Once an event gets a solid reputation, there is no stopping the number of vendors who will seek entry. This year's Recycled Art Market, an event I have been visiting since it began, has so many opportunities to secure a few gifts for those on your holiday or birthday list that it would be a crime to list only a few. But since I am pretty sure these crimes are easily forgivable, here are a few highlights from this year's event that you'll want to know about before heading to the once-a-year market held in the Creston neighborhood. Hides + Stitches makes key chains, wallets, and ...

For most bands in our region, the launch of a new tour is typically something reserved for locals and often takes place via a big send-off concert before departing the city limits.   But local act Stepdad, who started their fall Midwest and East Coast tour this month, kicked it off outside our area, playing in Toledo and Detroit before arriving for a very special Halloween concert at Grand Rapids' Pyramid Scheme with their touring opening act, Sphynx.   Stepdad's sound has been evolving nicely as their production values soar to new heights on their latest EP, Strange Tonight. There ...

After a good run of titles that has included Marilyn’s Kennedy and In a Single Bound, local nonprofit theatre troupe The University Wits is closing out its 2014 season with another show-stopping production: The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O’Brien. Unlike the cult film favorite that packed Downtown Grand Rapids Inc's Movies in the Park, this performance plans to not just revive the stage version but to integrate the best of the filmed version's elements into the production. Richard O’Brien’s absurdist musical comedy, set in the 1950’s sexual ...

When you think of the spiritual world or the dark arts, it often comes with a built-in visual lexicon of imagery that rarely strays from black, white, grey, and a dash of red or the occasional yellow. But you most definitely do not see pink, even in the misty Northwest's doe-eyed Twilight Series. But when Cult of Cute opens at the Glitter Milk Gallery, 22 artists will use their creative powers to present an adorably sweet face of the dark side at this instant classic space on the city's West Side. The magic spell that inspired the art on the walls has been cooked down into ...

If you felt that going to a brand new musical production adaptation of Poltergeist was going to be just another night of theater complete with an accurate retelling of the 1982 cult film of the same name, then are you in for a real scare as soon as the lights fade out as the Stark Turn Players present a very twisted take on this classic horror film. "A poltergeist is the presence of an absence," says Mary Beth Quillin, trustee for the Stark Turn Players. "What is severely absent in our family is a connectedness, and the technology (smart phones, TV, etc.) [is] causing their ...

One of the area's oldest Catholic cemeteries was established in 1853 but has been placed under a lock, forever gated until a keymaster appears. One man who has a key to unlock this sacred space during a season associated with ghosts and mystical mishaps of nature's dark side will share tales of our city's earliest members interred there. See the final resting place of those big names that typically adorn our oldest buildings, street signs, and the occasional antique store discovery, including the Campau, Hake, Kortlander, and Clancy families. Tour GR guests will learn the true ...

Each year Thriller! Chiller! International Genre Film Festival, a locally organized film event, grows to heights that even the organizers cannot believe. Entering its ninth year, Thriller! Chiller! has expanded to downtown Grand Rapids with 40 independent international films in the genres of action, horror, sci-fi, and suspense spread over five venues, including UICA, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids Brewing Co., and Stella's Lounge, In 2013, the film festival was named as one of the Top 20 Horror/Sci-Fi Film Festivals by Moviemaker Magazine to attend. The ...

Good art should make us think. It should help us come together in new ways to discuss as a body. And if this author's perfectly timed stop-over in Grand Rapids, sandwiched interestingly between Berlin, Montreal, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, arrives as scheduled in a an equally perfect venue and topic, then we are in for something remarkable while he engages with our audience. For starters, Max Haiven, a writer, organizer, and an assistant professor in the division of art history and critical studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, has focused his doctoral studies on the ...

Did you know that, while ArtPrize attracts a whole lot of people to downtown Grand Rapids, just beyond the center of the city is a world class garden and arts center that attracts nearly 600,000 visitors and members annually? The Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, a gift to our city and state from Fred and Lena Meijer of the Meijer Stores, is a place where living sculpture in the form of plants, trees and other wildlife freely mingles with the contemporary artworks along an impressive 139 acres. Mum Day is actually a part of the Chrysanthemums and More! exhibition – the ...

Most of you are probably exhausted after ArtPrize but if you are up for listening to art rather than looking at it, then the live album release from one of Grand Rapids Magazine's hunkiest man (and father) hip-hop artist AB (Adrian Butler) will hit The 'Scheme on Saturday night with a very special release party. When asked if this is another EP release party, AB was quick to point out his view on my question with a laugh. "No way. It's a FULL length album with cameos from some great friends and artists," says AB. "I know that my last EP was super thin, but no ...

Fans of the small and beautiful have plenty of places in this city to set out on an adventure. One of my abso-fricken-lutely favorite spots to casually browse for a new magazine, a book, or 'zine is Have Company.   On Saturday night the South Division store that is equal parts newsstand, maker space, artist residency program, and ArtPrize venue will be converted into a book release party for two local authors. The event is hosted by another local treasure, publishing house Issue Press, who is taking over the space for this special event centered around these two special books.   Ever Your ...

It's hard to believe that the man who today is considered to be one of the strongest voices in the conservation movement is more than a hundred years old. But for those who love Aldo Leopold, the subject of a new film, Green Fire, playing at Wealthy Theatre, his age is no shock once you begin to familiarize yourself with his views, projects, and life. Dig in deep, and you discover that his vision of humans being a part of a larger system – not just living within that system – is the kind of contemporary notion that resonates with our contemporary environmental organizations ...

Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School of Grand Rapids, which celebrated its five-year anniversary this summer, is showing no signs of slowing down or becoming irrelevant. This weekend, headmistress Vivacious Miss Audacious with her faithful (and quite loud) sidekick Sarah Jean Anderson present their October art monkey session: She Wolf with a sci-fi otherworldly spin. This month's model is Lana Death Ray, a raven-haired knockout who spends her free time in the company of wolves. No, seriously, she works with wild wolves at animal sanctuaries. While this will be Lana Death Ray's first ...

One of the best signs of an organization's open and inclusive leadership style is not just who gets invited to the table but who is empowered to take the mission further in new and exciting ways. The Spoke Folks is one of those local groups that figured out how to empower its leadership to imagine new ways of engaging their audience – Grand Rapids' bike culture. Keean Mansour, a co-founder and board member at the Spoke Folks, and Lauren Salinas, Spoke Folks' volunteer event coordinator, have teamed up with Do-It-Together Grand Rapids, a group of individuals created to ...

As we learned last year, the fall is probably the one time of the year that Joey Basch, entertainment coordinator at Founders Brewing Company, has a little more spring in his step. Why exactly is he so lithe in autumn? Simply put, Basch truly enjoys our local celebration of the American hop harvest, and Founders has once again created a unique event brewed up around the first new brew of the season, the Harvest Ale. The Harvest Ale is a wet-hopped ale and is the hoppiest of all the beers on tap at their spacious taproom. Even the deli gets in on the fun, offering their famed Dirty Bastard ...

If I were to summarize the long value statement of the newly formed Michigan BBQ Guild it would go something like this: We really love great cuts of meat smoked in a way that is unique to you, your culture, or your state, and believe they should be presented by and for all people at a price point that won't eliminate any folks' access to its goodness. This new guild seeks to place Michigan on the food map of vital places to visit for those who want to experience some of the U.S.'s best BBQ. (The entire statement is here.) Now I realize that the vegan might have an issue, but I am ...

I find in my time in Grand Rapids that there are three distinct categories that all artists must endure: like it, hate it, eh [shrug – neutral face]. The same is often said about artist Ashley Lieber who, over the years, has really begun to grow on me. (No pun intended.) For starters, it does not hurt that at the core of her latest round of works is a commitment to sustainability. Her philosophy is backed up on our her website with a quote by Rachel Carson: “If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are ...

It is not very often these days that an act comes through and you suddenly find yourself doing the unthinkable as you get down on the dance floor in what results in a hot mess. No worries, because if you are at the upcoming Fly Moon Royalty show, you will certainly not be the only person racing to the bathroom between sets to dry your face. Fly Moon Royalty defies labels as they chalk up soulful funk influences of Gnarls Barkley but deliver it in a hybrid of hip hop meets electronica soundscape. It is the perfect storm for dancing. Another bonus is that this show is a bit of a homecoming ...

When I sat down with Rick DeVos a few days before the world would learn of ArtPrize for the first time, I asked him if he imagined more from this event. I was happy to learn that, beyond the economic activity (which no one could have predicted would be so big), he hoped ArtPrize would encourage other kinds of growth as well, especially collaborations that go beyond the art installations. One area that was still lacking until recently was the creative third-party, "the other," who could take advantage of the festival's shadow over our region. During the first years, many were ...

The best line I read about this event on social media is, "I cannot believe they are coming to my town." (Me neither, Kiri Salazar, but as event promoter Michael Packer reminds us, they have been here often.) No worries about fan base drift – a very real thing if you talk to anyone who lived through the Glen Bulthuis and the Tonedeafs years at Calvin College. Instead, the Red Elvises still continue to wow our locals with shows that are energetic and darn good fun. This L.A.-formed act from the 1990s has stuck true to their musical heritage as a Russian-American band that ...

Over the years Rapid Growth's G-Sync has devoted coverage to a host of film-themed festival events that touch on a wide degree of topics, from design, faith, and environmental stewardship to genre filmmaking like Thriller! Chiller! One area that has lacking has been the topic of food. That is, until now. Maybe it's a form of dipping one's toe into the mix, but the popular, locally organized website guide and event group Vegan Grand Rapids has partnered with Glendale, California's VegFund – a vegan-focused nonprofit that seeks to inspire people to choose and maintain a ...

There are moments every weekend when weary parents look for a place to relax their feet as the kids settle in to watch a show. I am telling you right now, you cannot bring the kids here so don't even try it. This weekend, when ArtPrize hits full swing downtown, plenty of families will be taking it in together. But this satirical, just-for-grown-ups ArtPrize event is by none other than our globe-traveling theatrical troupe, the Super Happy Funtime Burlesque. They return to the Pyramid Scheme stage again this year to perform their hilarious poke at the city's largest art event held ...

Does the thought of milling about in a crowd of folks obviously having a good time and bumping into one another with dazed looks on their faces bother you? No, I am not talking about the herds of folks crowding the streets of downtown Grand Rapids for ArtPrize, but those German and German-for-a-day individuals who will travel to the deep West side to participate in the annual Oktoberfest held at John Ball Park. This is an event where folks who like to live life to its fullest while supporting a good cause, Kids' Food Basket, could literally bump into one another after a game of barrel ...

Love it or hate it, but the state's largest art event is coming to town, ironically on the same week as the circus is coming to Van Andel Arena. Crowds are crowds, and it's possible you won't be able to tell the difference, except for the timely protest of the Ringling Bros. event on September 20th from 12:30 to 3:00 p.m. as organizers of Stop Animal Cruelty will attempt to set a record for the world's largest protest against the use of animals in a circus. All this festive fun (and even the protest) is a good thing since, as ArtPrize enters a new era of its existence, it has ...

The last few times that Alexis has hit the stage at Founders, it has been such a festive occasion that the heat from the ever-growing fans has risen to such incredible heights that band mate Dan Hurst's shirt seems to evaporate like water. This steamy performance has come to be expected as fans often place bets in advance of when they think it will happen. (Not that we need a gimmick to see Alexis; it's just that when you least expect it, the unrespectable happens as well.)This is the case for the band on Saturday night. Not only will the band be welcoming an all-star night with ...

I have to admit that getting yet again another invite to an event that touts anything with the shape of a mitten, which at this point is code for hand-to-cheek slap, almost made me eye roll Middle West. But then I read Middle West's tag line of "hard-earned style." Now I sat up and took notice -- and so should you -- of this very unique pop-up shop happening the weekend before ArtPrizers invade the sidewalks with their camera phones at the ready. For starters, Ted Velie of Globe Vise and Truck offers a few key points to encourage you to add a stop at the Division Avenue ...

What if there was an opportunity to explore (in a pretty visual way) an amazing journey of our history, from the Big Bang to the point where many of us find ourselves today connected to machines? First, this is something that I have no doubt you would expect from a series like Nova. But what if this adventure in our history could be delivered in just 80 minutes?   Would you go?   My guess, after watching the trailer for the autobiography/documentary Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence directed by Tiffany Shlain and discovering this film will debut at Wealthy Theatre as a part of the ...

Each year that the Odd Ball has been around, I have often scratched my head as to what I would even consider wearing. On the occasion of the alien-themed event a few years ago, I was obviously clueless as I arrived in a slate jacket with then-Rapid Growth Managing Editor Juliet Bennett Rylah. Lucky for her, I saw the aliens, got inspired, and with the quick turn of my jacket 180 degrees and a hand through my tussled hair, shazam, I was in a freshly-probed-by-an-alien look, ready for the photo wall that greeted us upon entry. I'm not sure what your event anxiety level is with such ...

Eastown is one of those neighborhoods that, for better or worse, has resisted being tamed as others have been. This is why it remains a much-desired place to venture when the lure of clean and pristine just won't touch that itch you want to scratch. Each year for more than 40 years, the residents and small businesses of this community have taken to the streets to host one of the wildest party events the city has ever produced. And lest you think this is a place ready for a mid-life crisis at 41, think again. This year, there are plenty of stages to enjoy any one of the 16 acts that ...

How does one break through the clutter of messages that has appeared around the topic of AIDS for so many decades now to say, "AIDS Is Not Over"? Would it help to gain your attention if I lessened your fears by saying that AIDS is not the mysterious threat it once was with new drugs flooding the market to trick the virus into greater submission? But in reality, while it is managed, it is far from over and it is still a matter that needs to be discussed because of what it removes from our city: life. For those folks most vulnerable to this disease (and it touches all of us now, ...

Theatre, like painting, is declared dead every few years only to be reborn in a new form shortly after the ink dries. Lucky for us, artists choose to ignore these proclamations, seeking to connect with audiences who still yearn for new, exciting ways to experience the arts. And we are lucky to have both local and national organizations committed to delivering on this challenge. When we're especially lucky, local leaders, like the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre (GRCT), band together with national organizations to produce amazing opportunities here for our community as these volunteers step ...

One of the best parts about the end of summer is all the art-themed events that begin to appear on the calendar from now until Christmas. On Saturday, September 6, Dinderbeck Studios will present the Grande Dinderhaüs, a creative-focused open house event for the public. Located in the heart of the emerging westside warehouse district that is also home to the Tanglefoot Building Artists and The Goei Center, Dinderbeck Studios has transformed itself over the years into an artist resource center with an emphasis on printmaking. For this special one-day-only event, they will feature all ...

There is a modern trend to remake something that was once a film into a Broadway musical. Sometimes it flops horribly (Spiderman, anyone?), chugs along with a shrug (Bullets Over Broadway), or is such a smash that it goes from the silver screen to the Great White Way and then back to the screen again in a new form (Hairspray).   For those adventurous folks looking for the next work of art to dive into this trend, here comes Carrie the Musical – a new musical whose story was created by Stephen King and made for the big screen (with Sissy Spacek) before decades later becoming one of the ...

Have you ever fantasized about what it would be like to go up against a Grand Rapids Roller Girl? Not that kind of match-up, but the kind where you are sincerely curious if you have the stuff to keep moving as they roll towards you with one thing in mind: to club you or stop you from getting to that next bar. In what is probably the biggest under-rated beer-themed event in the city comes the return of El Toro! – the Grand Rapids-only Running of the Bulls featuring the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls. Registration is once again free and can be done on site between 10 and 11 a.m. on ...

This last week the city's population numbers began to swell a bit as students are beginning to return from a summer spent off campus. And for students and townies alike, what better place to catch up this Thursday night than at Harmony Brewing Company's Back-2-School edition of their popular Vinyl Night. For this special night, Austin Kane will be manning the turntable and dropping everything you would expect from him, like cuts by Mac DeFartco, Thee Oh Sees, Real Estate, Beach Fossils and more. "I'm going for a dreamy surf rock feel. Mostly modern artists from the Bay ...

Fans of the handmade and the written word are in luck this weekend as the 2^nd annual Grand Rapids Zine Fest arrives this year -- bigger and better than ever at downtown's West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology.   For the uninitiated, a zine is, in the simplest terms, a very limited run of an often-handmade publication that uses the principles of DIY and DIT culture in its production.   These are not items that will hit the best-seller list of the New York Times, but the attraction is their beautiful ability to remain small and to give voices to folks who might not otherwise have one ...

Who could have predicted that the best new local event launched in 2010 would have been Yassou! - our city's premier Greek festival on Grand Rapids' east side. And when the food, music, and dancing is this good, it is easy for a cultural attaché to get really emotional at such a wonderful display of a culture that seems to always find more room for … well, more. And more is what you get when you attend Yassou!, where traditionally outfitted folks offer to those who visit a hearty taste of their culture in this heritage celebration. The food reflects the handmade ...

In East Hills' Cherry Hill business district a new Revolution/Evolution is about to begin, and you might be surprised at what you discover. OK, so Revolution/Evolution is not an in-the-streets event but an art exhibition of the photographic works of Cuban artist Roberto Salas (son of photographer Osvaldo Salas) and Ann Arbor-based photographer Jack Kenny. This show contains many instantly recognizable iconic photos from the 1950s and '60s by Salas of Havana and the outlying regions. Salas' photos act as a documentary of the revolutionary time in Cuba where change was coming, ...

This weekend is the exciting West Michigan debut of The Motherf**ker With The Hat, a play that garnered critical acclaim, including a Tony Award nomination. This dramedy by playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis is a production from the Mixed Roots Collective – another visionary and locally focused collective of DIT artists who seek to come together and host music, comedy and spoken word events in our region. The story centers around Jackie, a petty drug dealer who is just out of prison and trying to stay clean while still in love with his coke-addicted childhood sweetheart, Veronica. And ...

Modern life is full of career restarts, and the Tip Top Deluxe has a whopper of a star that embodies this reality. Once destined to be an opera star, Candye Kane – appearing next week at this intimate westside bar – dropped out of college after she fell out of love with the constraints of her musical form in 1976. Her musical journey since then has taken her down the path of punk, as she created a punk country act before taking another turn into adult modeling and stripping. She eventually went back to college and earned a degree in women's studies at Palomar Community ...

If you have ever wondered what a community garden could be, or what it would entail to begin one, then the Eastown Food Garden Walking Tour is your ultimate insider event.   Starting at the Eastown Neighborhood Associations office at 6 p.m., attendees will begin this 6^th annual walking tour and visit 6-8 gardens on this just over a mile walk. This walking tour will include gardening examples from the first timer to a final stop, where the host will share a taste from their local garden that has been farmed in the city over generations. On this tour the guide will be pointing out key ...

The word jazz means many things to many people because it is so diverse. But when you say it in the summer in Grand Rapids, you are probably referring to the growing scene that was born out of the city's first outdoor jazz event started in 2012, the GRandJazzFest. What started as a one-day event has quickly grown in popularity, becoming a two-day festival committed to inviting musicians from all over the state to perform. On Saturday night, the festival welcomes Rick Braun – a star trumpeter and vocalist who has performed with Tina Turner, Sade, and Rod Stewart. Sunday's ...