Calendar of Events

Join us on Friday, March 23rd for the annual Artitude auction and celebration at Cherokee Mills. Buy your tickets here! http://www.cancersupportet.org/artitude/

What is Artitude? It's a festive silent auction where we celebrate courage and survivorship. The evening features live music, delicious hors d’oeuvres by Simon Hall, beer by Fanatic Brewing Co., and a silent auction featuring one-of-a-kind artworks for the home and garden created by local and regional artists.
Proceeds from the evening’s celebration benefit all those impacted by cancer in our East Tennessee community through Cancer Support Community’s programs of support, healing and hope.

Contact Kate Creason at (865) 637-4561 with questions.

An International Cultural Gathering - The Big Ears Festival is a dynamic, interactive experience that explores connections between musicians and artists, crossing all musical genres while interfacing with film, performance, and the visual arts.

For their seventh year, the festival includes performances by Medeski Martin & Wood, piano luminaries Jason Moran and Craig Taborn, drummer Milford Graves, free improv pioneer Evan Parker, a performance of Alice Coltrane's "ecstatic music," Nels Cline with the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, downtown icon Arto Lindsay, Scandinavian avant-jazz trio the Thing, sax quartet Rova, trumpet radical Peter Evans, violinist Jenny Scheinman and recent McArthur Genius Grant recipient Tyshawn Sorey. Legendary saxophonist-composer Roscoe Mitchell, co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, will be performing in the trio configurations heard on his recent double-disc ECM release, Bells for the South Side.

See the complete line-up and buy tickets: http://bigearsfestival.com

19 features, 66 shorts, and 1 installation at 3 venues over 4 days, all of it accessible with a festival pass or a $50 film pass. Explore the entire Big Ears film program.

Lewis Klahr: Visiting Artist
Big Ears will host Lewis Klahr and present a multi-program selection of his films, including an installation at the UT Downtown Gallery, a program of his short films, and a screening of his most recent feature, Sixty Six (2015). Named one of the greatest avant-garde filmmakers working today by Film Comment, Lewis Klahr has been making films since 1977. He is known for his uniquely idiosyncratic films, which use found images and sound to explore the intersection of memory and history.

Stereo Visions: A Survey of 3D Cinema
Stereo Visions encompasses and demonstrates the full visual and affective capacities of our favorite on-again/off-again format. From Norman McLaren to Johnny Knoxville, Werner Herzog to Jean-Luc Godard, Ken Jacobs to Alfred Hitchcock, Lillian M. Schwartz to Jodie Mack, the filmmakers showcased here have been unpacking the creative potential of 3D image-making for decades, with each representing unique incarnations, moments, and impulses. Stereo Visions was curated in collaboration with Blake Williams, whose acclaimed new 3D feature, PROTOTYPE, is the opening film of Big Ears.

A Sense of Place: A Retrospective of American Regional Cinema, 1960-1989
Collecting ten films made over a thirty-year span, this retrospective will survey groundbreaking films by artists living and working outside the commercial film production centers of Los Angeles and New York. Featured filmmakers includes major auteurs like Pittsburgh's George A. Romero, Baltimore's John Waters, Austin's Richard Linklater, and Portland's Gus Van Sant. Also included are genre films with a deep sense of place like Victor Nunez's A Flash of Green, formally adventurous works like Trent Harris's The Beaver Trilogy, and seminal films like Eagle Pennell's The Whole Shootin' Match, which inspired Robert Redford to launch the Sundance Institute. John Waters's Polyester will be screened with scratch-n-sniff Odorama! cards.

Explore the A Sense of Place program
Canyon Cinema at 50
In celebration of 50 years since Canyon Cinema's incorporation we will present three shorts programs -- 36 films running 270 minutes -- selected by noted avant-garde film programmer David Dinnell. Canyon Cinema's unique collection of artist-made films -- comprised of digital media, 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, and 35mm prints -- traces the vital history of the experimental and avant-garde filmmaking movements from 1921 to the present. Together, these three programs offer a masterclass in American experimental filmmaking, including work by Janie Geiser, Lawrence Jordan, Charlotte Pryce, David Gatten, Peter Hutton, Barbara Hammer, Phil Solomon, and Robert Breer. The individual films are nearly impossible to see outside of limited gallery and academic screenings. The Canyon Cinema programs will be presented in 16mm and will be free and open to the public at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

And more! Film pass on sale now for $50! https://bigearsfestival.org/tickets/
The Public Cinema is sponsored by Big Ears Festival

Dragon Lights, Knoxville’s first-ever Chinese lantern festival, will take place at Chilhowee Park and Exposition Center and will be open every night from 5:30pm until 10:00pm.

Featuring over 40 larger-than-life lantern displays, Dragon Lights is the largest Chinese lantern festival in the Eastern Unites States. Thousands of sculptural and light components make this event a true visual treat. Dozens of Chinese artisans travel the world to keep this century-old tradition alive, and they will be constructing the displays on site at Chilhowee as the festival draws near. Dragon Lights also will feature performances by Chinese acrobats and Chinese folk art demonstrations, as well as children's activities.

Don't miss this unique experience. Tickets ($16 per adult, or $10 for children) are on sale now. Call Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or stop by the Civic Coliseum Box Office. (Group tickets for 15 or more are only available at the Coliseum Box Office, 865-215-8999.) http://www.chilhoweepark.org/dragon-lights-festival/

McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture announces the Museum Store Spring Sale March 15 through March 31.

Shake off winter and enjoy blooming flowers with handmade garden art by local artisans, seeds, and beautiful botanical items in the Museum Store’s Spring Sale.

UT Students and Museum Members always enjoy 10% off all purchases, and all Store proceeds benefit the museum’s free educational programming.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: M-Sa 9-5, Su 1-5. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

Paintings by Max Robinson, patchwork fabric art by Melissa Everett and screen painted fabrics and embroidery by Coral Turner.

Westminister Presbyterian Church, 6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-F 9-4. Info: (865) 584-3957 or www.wpcknox.org

View the calendar of ongoing events at http://ijams.org/events/

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org