This week’s events tend to explore the edges, the avant-garde, things created just outside the spectrum, touching on civil rights, gender and sexual identity, the environment and the war in Ukraine. We invite you to explore, investigate, experience … or just hit up Italianfest and eat your cares away! You decide.
Keep on Fringing
(Photo by Jeff Burkle and Kelsey Trusty)
Cincinnati Fringe Festival | Know Theatre and other OTR venues. DETAILS: The first full week of Fringe continues with nightly shows and plenty of extras. Check out the website for more info about shows and how to see them. If you’ve never Fringed, there’s still time to find out what all the fuss is about. Some people take the whole week off to bathe in all-things-Fringe. I know, kinda weird, right?
Thursday, June 9
The Barn / ARTFlix | 7 p.m. 6980 Cambridge Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45227. 513-272-3700. DETAILS: ‘Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre’ traces the relationship between the painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and the avant-garde culture of Montmartre, using works of art by Lautrec and his colleagues, rare archival footage and sound recordings, period photographs, and interviews with contemporary scholars. “Renoir: Revered & Reviled” is a fresh new biography of this artistic giant, but more than that it uncovers a rarely told story that places Renoir as a critical link between the old and the new.
Newport Italianfest| 5-11 p.m. Newport riverfront. DETAILS: Italian music and cuisine line the south bank of the Ohio in front of the Levee and Aquarium, along with rides, puppet shows, games and historic photos of Italian families who settled Newport. Continues Friday evening and throughout the day Saturday and Sunday.
cincinnatifestivalsandevents.com
Visionaries & Voices, “Ultraviolet” | 6-8 p.m. 3841 Spring Grove Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45223. 513-861-4333. DETAILS: Ultraviolet light exists beyond the spectrum, and this exhibition celebrates unique perspectives on the spectrum of sexual identity, gender identity and disability. Artists were selected to complement and contrast each other’s viewpoints regarding our shared human experience. Continues through July 30.
https://visionariesandvoices.com
Friday, June 10
oil on canvas, Gift of The Procter & Gamble Company, 2003.88
Cincinnati Art Museum, Henry Mosler “Behind the Scenes: In Celebration of the Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial” | 953 Eden Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-721-2787. DETAILS: Mosler is considered the most famous Jewish painter in 19th-century Cincinnati. Born in Prussia to a Jewish family who immigrated to the United States in 1849 and settled in Cincinnati soon after, the artist won success at the Salon exhibition in Paris. Mosler was also an avid and accomplished draftsman, as reflected in the more than six hundred drawings in the museum’s holdings. This is the first display of his oil paintings side-by-side with their preparatory studies. On display through Sept. 4.
Cincinnati Music Theatre, “Falsettos” | 7:30 p.m. Fifth Third Theater, Aronoff Center, 650 Walnut St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-621-2787. DETAILS: Just in time for PRIDE month, this musical is a pairing of one-act shows “March of the Falsettos” (1981) and “Falsettoland” (1990). The story revolves around the life of a charming, intelligent, neurotic gay man name Marvin, his wife, his lover, his about-to-be-Bar-Mitzvahed son, their psychiatrist, and the lesbians next door. Funny, yes, but also a poignant look at the possibilities of the modern family. Continues through Sunday and also next week, Thursday-Saturday.
Cincinnati World Cinema, “The Earth is Blue as an Orange” | 7 p.m. Garfield Theatre, 719 Race St., Cincinnati 45202. 859-957-3456. DETAILS: Writer/poet/filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk visited a small town on the front lines of the war-torn region of Eastern Ukraine, where single mother Anna, her four children and three cats manage to keep their home a safe-haven, full of life and light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, so it feels natural for them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war. The result is a unique film-within-a-film about movie making. Winner of multiple film festival awards, including Sundance. These screenings are a fundraiser for Hope4Ukraine (local) and Americares Ukraine Crisis Fund (national). Repeats Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.
Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial, Rainbow Shabbat | 7 p.m. Sample Space. DETAILS: A non-traditional Shabbat dinner held in a room devoted to testing new products and ideas. Makes sense to me. Hosted by Miz Cracker of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10, this evening includes Shabbat dinner, wine, drink tickets and a performance. Rainbow Shabbat is intended to amplify all three Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial goals – ELEVATE, INSPIRE, CONNECT – as Jews honor and celebrate Pride month and LGBTQ+ identity as “an important part of the Jewish experience.” Tickets: $18 (21-30 yrs) and $36 per person. Proceeds support Transform Cincy, an organization that provides free wardrobes to transgender and non-conforming gender young people.
https://jewishcincinnati.ticketspice.com/rainbow-shabbat
Ohio River Foundation, The Wild & Scenic Film Festival | 7:30 p.m. Woodward Theater, Over-the-Rhine. DETAILS: Billed as “one of the largest environmental film festivals in North America,” the evening consists of thirteen short films about different facets of how we, as humans, are or are not dealing well with preserving the natural world. Watch in person ($25) or virtually ($15).
Saturday, June 11
City Flea | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Washington Park, Over-the-Rhine 45202. DETAILS: One of the city’s best and most eclectic fairs returns each month to Wash Park – art, crafts, clothing, home goods, food trucks, coffee and more. Always interesting and a real treat for all you people watchers. (You know who you are.)
Concours d’Elegance | Ault Park and other venues. DETAILS: This year’s classic car show, for its 44th anniversary, pits Euro Luxe vs. American Luxury with more than 250 vehicles on display – 11 classes of classic, vintage and exotic automobiles and motorcycles. Special display classes include the 75th anniversary of Ferrari, 60th anniversary of Shelby American (both shown above), plus vintage SUVs. Proceeds benefit juvenile arthritis. Best to take a shuttle to the park; see website for details.
- Today, noon. Countryside driving tour
- This evening, 5-9 p.m. Hangar party at Lunken Airport
- Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Classic car show at Ault Park, with craft beer garden and VIP brunch
Fitton Center, “StreetSpark: ElectriCITY” | 11 a.m.-5 p.m. High and Main streets. 513-863-8873. In this city-wide outdoor public art event, 12 artist teams will be painting a variety of designs on utility boxes. The program was founded to further the creative identity in Hamilton through murals and public art projects.
https://www.hamilton-ohio.com/events/details/streetspark-electricity-6146
Taft Museum of Art, “Jane Austen: Fashion & Sensibility” | 316 Pike St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-241-0343. DETAILS: This much-anticipated exhibit, traveling from London for its North American debut at the Taft, displays costumes from eight acclaimed film adaptations of Jane Austen novels. The exhibition displays approximately forty Regency-era costumes and accessories from eight acclaimed film adaptations of Jane Austen’s classic novels. These costumes were worn by celebrities including Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. Runs through Sept. 4.
Sunday, June 12
Cincinnati Opera, Opera for All and Opera in the Park | Music Hall and Washington Park, 1241 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-241-2742. DETAILS: This is the day Cincinnati Opera opens its doors and welcomes one and all to take a peek behind the scenes. Step through the set of La Bohème. View wigs and costumes, make-up demonstrations, and even staged fight scenes. Then, at 7:30, on the Wash Park lawn, sample exceprts from the coming season, and more, featuring world-class soloists, chorus and orchestra.
Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Happy Birthday Harriet! | 1-4 p.m. 2950 Gilbert Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45206. 513-751-0651. DETAILS: Help celebrtate the 211th anniversary of her birth with live music and poetry readings, meet Harriet (who doesn’t look a day over 210), try out art and printing press activities, and more.
Second Sunday on Main, PRIDE on Main | Noon-5 p.m. Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. DETAILS: A summertime staple, this monthly street festival put on by the OTR Chamber features vendors, music, food, drink and, this week, “drag” races of the very best kind. You try running full-tilt on asphalt in 5-inch heels with people pelting you with water balloons. (Young orthopedics: Here’s your chance to hand out business cards.) Rain or shine, through October.
Monday, June 13
Urban Consulate, Juneteenth nanofestival | 6:30-10:30 p.m. Mercantile Library, 414 Walnut St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. DETAILS: Kick off this important week and celebrate Black art with with a conversation with by poet/activist Nikki Giovanni, a film screening with Gee Horton and Shay Narkter, Cincinnati Poet Laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara and music by DJ Arie, all hosted by Naimah Bilal and Tim Barr Jr.