Arts & Culture

Adam Gildar, who happens to be a former Westword intern, and his cohorts Sander Lindeke and Joseph Wall of Illiterate, a local magazine, website and indie social network, have been at work changing the face of the local arts publication by inviting audience participation in a new and different way…

As poet Chris Ransick comes to the end of his second (and last) term as Denver Poet Laureate, he’s looking forward to focusing on doing his own thing. But though Ransick says he’s enjoyed being the face of poetry promotion in town, he’s already taken a step in that direction…

Recession-bound? Money’s tight? Need cheering up? Dana Cain of the annual Athena Festival, a bubbling cauldron of all things mystical, metaphysical and psychic in our world and other planes, says nothing will make you feel more fantastic than a day of having your cards read, getting a Reiki massage, shopping…

It ain’t easy being a pit bull in these parts, but if you were one, at least you’d have the Colorado Pit Bull Rescue on your side. The nonprofit focuses primarily on homeless shelter pits — who are taken in, rehabilitated and placed in loving homes — and its overall…

The comedy duo of Frank Caeti and Matthew Craig have big plans for FrankenMatt, their live, sketch-based show — specifically, “domination of the entertainment industry,” says Caeti. “If we could, we’d like to have Raven Simone-type success. Not only television shows, but sell backpacks and lunchboxes to little girls, all…

The mission at Jonathan Kaplan’s Plinth Gallery is as simple and stylish as its purpose: to exhibit the sculptural vessel with an emphasis on the art form of ceramics. And to accomplish that, he’s shown works by ceramic artists from around the area and across the country. But he considers…

In a salute to the Cajun and Creole traditions, the Colorado Friends of Cajun and Zydeco Music and Dance are presenting the Louisiana Creole Celebration, a two-day festival at Swallow Hill Music Association. This year’s tribute, it should be noted, is new and improved. “We usually just have a yearly…

The womyn at Vox Feminista have legacy on the brain. No surprise there, considering 2009 marks the twentieth year that Vox has been comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable with its unique brand of activist theater. And the performers are pulling out all the stops with The Velocity of…

“What we are trying to do with this event is to get the people who don’t like to think too much about the environmental issues,” says Joe Brown of the Colorado Environmental Film Festival. “I think films are more palatable than lectures and books, and maybe people would consider coming…

“I think it sounds fun to dress up like woodsmen and march down Colfax,” says Kiki Nichols, who organized tonight’s All Jacked Up Lumberjack Colfax Crawl. And it’s hard to argue with her premise; it does sound like fun. It also sounds eminently doable: Almost everybody has a plaid flannel…

Are you one of the half-billion locals who didn’t nab a ticket to Wicked? Oh, stop crying in your witch’s brew! Here’s a chance to watch the Wicked cast work in a different light and a cozier venue than the Buell: Wicked Rocks!, a one-night-only, cast-produced Project Angel Heart benefit…

The sight outside Denver’s museums last November was as amazing as anything on display inside: lines of people. People lined up on a weekend night, eager to see and be seen at Denver’s first ArtsWeek. This year’s ArtsWeek, which kicked off on Thursday, November 6, and runs through November 14…

There’s a small group of folks in Denver who would like to see the return of the “Mizpah” arch at Union Station. The arch, a relic of Denver’s past, once served as the city’s own unique Statue of Liberty metaphor, welcoming visitors from the time it was installed in 1906…

Previously taking place every Friday, but now going down once a month on First Friday, the live-music event known as Backwards Records Night might seem at first glance to be surfing the runoff of the nearby Santa Fe Art District. But even as edgy as the Santa Fe gallery crawl…

Big Love is a big play. To begin with, Charles Mee’s modern interpretation of Aeschylus’s The Suppliants takes root in the ancient tale, in which fifty brides flee fifty grooms in a classic battle of the sexes. But Mee’s reimagined update is so jam-packed with theatrical artifice — a wild…

I first heard of the Idan Raichel Project when I saw a screener of the film Black Over White, which documents the unusual Israeli worldbeat aggregation’s trip to Ethiopia, also a homecoming and pilgrimage of sorts for the band’s Falasha Ethiopian singers. It was a somewhat strange journey peopled by…

Bill Nershi hasn’t had a shortage of talented musicians at his side over the years. As a founder of the String Cheese Incident, leader of Honkytonk Homeslice and part of the Emmitt-Nershi Band with Leftover Salmon’s Drew Emmitt, Nershi has found simpatico accompaniment for his wide range of songs, which…