Chain of Parks Art Festival Presenting Artist Dean Mitchell - Opening Nights

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

CHAIN OF PARKS ART FESTIVAL PRESENTING ARTIST DEAN MITCHELL

APRIL 18, 2024

CHANGING THE LIVES THAT CHANGE THE WORLD

Carlos Rodriguez, B.S. Management Information Systems and B.S. Marketing, 2021 Shanquell Dixon, Doctor of Medicine, 2022

DIAMOND LEVEL

PLATINUM LEVEL

HERB & MARY JERVIS

GOLD LEVEL

ERIC & ANDREA FRIALL

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LEE HINKLE KEN KATO & NAN NAGY

RON SACHS & GAY WEBSTER-SACHS DR. ADANNA AMANZE JONATHAN BRANTLEY PERINATAL

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IN-KIND SPONSORS & ENDOWMENTS

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BETH & LAWTON LANGFORD ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

PHIPPS FARM

LARRY & JO DEEB

CHRIS & BETH CORUM

MARJORIE TURNBULL JANET R. THORNTON

KELLY & LAURIE DOZIER ENDOWMENT FUND

WELCOME FROM THE INTERIM DIRECTOR

Greetings and welcome to the continuation of the 2023–24 Opening Nights at Florida State University Season Offerings. I’m pleased to have the opportunity to monitor the remaining programs for this season while wrapping up the curation of those events that will welcome you in 2024–25.

The Opening Nights staff is solid and working diligently to make certain that your expectations from our performances are met with the highest quality of deliverance.

Recently, Opening Nights sponsored Pink Martini with China Forbes. To say that it was a high energy evening would be a gross understatement. Gus Corbella, the former Chair of the Opening Nights Development Council received a hand-written note from an audience member lauding the concert from the opening notes to the finale which led to a conga line through the aisles of Ruby Diamond Concert Hall. In fact, the line was so long that once it had made its initial loop, it met the end of the line coming towards it. A “head-on conga collision” if you will. The

note indicated that the gentleman had been waiting years to see Pink Martini live, to the point that he drove from Central Florida for the evening. Gus, appropriately sent the note to the entirety of the Development Council with the header “Why We Do What We Do!”

The above couldn’t be better summarized. In essence, why we do what we do is that it’s part of both our personal and professional DNA.

My hope is that why we’re doing what we’re doing is satisfying your value in the live performing arts as a means of communicating cultural riches and offerings in a world that so desperately needs them now.

From my heart, it’s an honor to be back with you.

Warmly,

Michael Blachly Interim Director, Opening Nights

THEATRE TCC! 2023-24 SEASON

COME JOURNEY WITH US!

Something Wicked This Way Comes

By Ray Bradbury

When the carnival comes to town, two boys unearth the terrifying and horrible secrets that lurk within Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show and learn the consequences of wishes, as a sinister and evil force is at work in Green Town, Illinois.

October 12-14 at 8 p.m.

October 20 & 21 at 8 p.m.

October 22 at 2 p.m.

The Shape of Things

By Neil Labute

A young student drifts into an ever-changing relationship with an art major while his best friend’s engagement crumbles, unleashing a drama that peels back the skin of two modern-day relationships.

November 16-18 at 8 p.m.

December 1 & 2 at 8 p.m.

December 3 at 2 p.m.

Legally Blonde

Book by Heather Hach

Music and Lyrics

By Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin

The ultimate tribute to girl power, Legally Blonde will take you from the UCLA sorority house to the Harvard halls of justice with the timely coming-of-age story of Broadway’s brightest heroine.

April 4-6 at 8 p.m.

April 12 & 13 at 8 p.m.

April 14 at 2 p.m.

Florida State University

Richard McCullough President

Opening Nights Staff

Michael Blachly Interim Director

Allison Jordan Development Director

Grace Atkins Program & Operations Manager

Brad Lister Business & Patron Services Manager

Calla MacNamara Education & Engagement Manager

Noelle Enright Marketing & Communications Associate

Amanda Cole Senior Marketing Designer, University Marketing

Rodney H. Johnson Director of Digital Design & UX, University Marketing

Opening Nights Development Council

Eric Friall, Chair

Ron Sachs, Vice Chair

Gus Corbella, Immediate-Past Chair

Susan Stratton, Secretary

Kathleen Daly

Brooke Hallock

Heather Mitchell

Nan Nagy

Tom Nelson

Florida State University Partners

Office of the President College of Fine Arts College of Music

English Department

Challenger Learning Center

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

University Relations

University Communications

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

APRIL

18 Chain of Parks Art Festival

Presenting Artist Dean Mitchell

Visual Art

27 Rising Appalachia Rock, Blues

MAY

1 Indigo Girls Rock

Cover photo by Jacob Blickenstaff

Akerman LLP is a proud sponsor of Opening Nights at Florida State University, inspiring diverse audiences through extraordinary artistry.

Bruce I. Wiener

Office Managing Partner, Tallahassee 850 224 9634 bruce.wiener@akerman.com

700+ Lawyers, 24 Offices akerman.com

©2023 Akerman LLP. All rights reserved.

Opening Nights, Opening Doors is a partner program of Prime Meridian Bank, FSU Opening Nights, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Big Bend. Now in its third year, the program provides on-campus experiences for Club members to inspire a vision of future opportunities in the areas of engineering, nursing, hospitality, and (coming soon) media and the arts.

Herb & Mary Jervis

Congratulations Opening Nights for fostering the Arts in Tallahassee for the past 26 years.

The students, faculty, and staff of FSU and the citizens of north Florida have been enriched by your efforts.

We eagerly await what the next 26 years will bring.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 18

Jim Moran Building • 6:30 PM

Chain of Parks Art Festival Presenting Artist

Dean Mitchell

Navigating the Art World: Building Success Against the Odds

Dean L. Mitchell was born 1957, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and reared in Quincy, Florida. He is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio. Mitchell is well known for his figurative works, landscapes and still lifes. In addition to watercolors, he is accomplished in other mediums, including egg temperas, oils, and pastels.

Continued on pg. 19

Sponsor

KELLY & LAURIE DOZIER ENDOWMENT FUND

In collaboration with

COMMUNITIES

the Arts since 1895. Capital City Bank proudly supports the 2023-24 Season of Opening Nights. 402.7500

Dean Mitchell

Continued from pg. 17

Mitchell has been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, American Artist, Artist Magazine, Fine Art International, and Art News

His art can be found in corporate and museum collections across the country, including Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Alabama; The Rockwell Museum, Corning, New York; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Mississippi; Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, Kansas; The Autry National Center, Los Angeles; The Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas; Gadsden Art Center, Quincy, Florida; Canton

“A virtual modern-day Vermeer of ordinary Black people given dignity through the eloquence of his concentration and touch”

The New York Times

Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio and the Library of Congress.

He has received the American Watercolor Society Gold Medal, Allied Artists of America Gold Medal in Watercolor and Oil, Thomas Moran Award from the Salmagundi Club in New York, Remington Professional League, and for three years in a row the Best in Show Award from the Mississippi Watercolor Society Grand National Competition. In 2004 and 2007, he received the Autry National Center Award for Watercolor at the Masters of the American West Fine Art Exhibition and sale. Mitchell is a member of several professional societies, including the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.

Janet R. Thornton

Dr. Adanna Amanze

Jonathan Brantley

Proud Sponsors of Opening Nights and champions of arts & education in our vibrant community.

Ron

Sac h sMe d ia .co m Public Relations | Public Affairs

Sachs & Gay Webster-Sachs

Proudly Supports 2023-2024 Opening Nights at Florida State University

The Coulter Family

Law Office of Linda P. Bailey, P.A.

Berger Singerman proudly supports Florida State University's Opening Nights and its efforts in bolstering arts education within the Tallahassee community

Jim & Betty Ann Rodgers

Delighted to be experiencing the magic of live performance with you this season.

Debby Kearney

Rising Appalachia

Indigo Girls