Sneak a Peek

If you’re the type of person who ransacks your parents’ closet in search of Christmas presents or looks at the end of a book before you’re through the first chapter, then you’ll be overjoyed to know that the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center’s Extremely Grand Opening is throwing a little sneak peek of its own.

Tonight at 5 p.m. and again at noon tomorrow, the museum is offering early looks at its new expansion. “It really had quite a facelift,” says marketing director Pam Gentile. Tonight at 7, enjoy a lecture by Thomas Hoving — former director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art — and tomorrow at 1, catch a screening of Cecil B. Demented, followed by a Q&A with director John Waters.

The official ribbon gets cut at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and festivities continue with the unveiling of The Eclectic Eye: Pop and Illusion, a collection of modern art from the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, and open-studio demonstrations from the Bemis Art studio, featuring everything from printmaking to black-and-white photography. At 7 p.m. a third special guest, Academy Award winner Joel Grey, talks about his performances in Cabaret and Wicked.

According to Gentile, “With these three guests, we wanted to appeal to a broad audience. Hoving should bring in the art-history buffs, Grey the theater buffs, and Waters, well, we wanted someone who would ruffle some feathers.”

The museum is at 30 West Dale Street in Colorado Springs; for ticket prices and information, go to www.csfineartscenter.org.