Natural Histories
2020-01-17 17:00 - 2020-02-22 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Natural Histories, an exhibit celebrating western landscape in painting and photography, opens Friday, January 17th, with an artists reception from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibition will include recent paintings by Paul Roehl and photography by Claire Lerner.
Organized to explore various styles and themes in landscape painting and photography, Natural Histories investigates the relationship between abstraction and landscape painting, the effects of photography on landscapes, and the consideration of the materiality in both mediums. The exhibit reflects the complex and ambiguous relationship between humans and the environment—a relationship of particular importance here in the West.
The exhibit can be seen Wednesday through Friday from 11 to 4 p.m., Saturdays, 12 noon to 4 p.m. or by appointment through February 22nd, 2020.
Pictured above: “Carmel” – Paul Roehl

Sphere of Mortal Life Series # 7 – Claire Lerner
About the Artists:
Claire Lerner was born and raised in New York, New York. She received her MFA and BFA in Fine Art from both the State University of New York at Buffalo and the State University College at Buffalo. After graduate school Claire moved to California where she was a member of the photography faculty at Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey, California for ten years. In 2000 she began teaching black and white darkroom photography, alternative photographic processes, studio art, and digital arts at the Santa Catalina School in Monterey, California. Her work has been collected by a broad range of private and public institutions, including the Monterey Museum of Art, Visa Corporation, Redwood City, CA, Cowell College, UCSC, PMI, Corporate Headquarters, Walnut Creek, CA, Kaiser Permanente, and the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Monterey, CA.
Paul Roehl was raised in California, primarily in the South Bay Area. He received an MA in painting and an MFA in pictorial arts from San Jose State University. He has taught college level painting, printmaking and drawing as well as art history and art appreciation for over twenty years. His work has been shown at the San Jose Art Museum, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Monterey Museum of Art and the Berkeley Art Center. Though his primary interest is in contemporary non-objective or abstract imagery, he enjoys sketching plein-air and accurately recreating the techniques and style of late 19th and early 20th century landscape painters. He also turns to earlier Barbizon school painters for inspiration as well as American tonalist painters such as George Innes and William Keith. He finds the visual poetry of these artists’ subtle, fresh and inspiring

Open Auditions - Comedy Variety Showcase
2020-01-06 17:30 - 18:30 | CA
“Our mission is to inspire, create, and deliver entertaining comedy experiences in an intimate theatre setting.”

Open Auditions: 5:30-6:30pm on Monday, December 23rd, 30th, and January 6th. Carl Cherry Theatre, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel.
Comedy Variety Showcase will feature comedic acts and embrace every style of comedy performance such as stand-up, sketch, improv, storytelling, impressions and more. No experience required. Anyone ages 16 and up who can make us laugh will have the chance to perform. The live show will take place at The Cherry on Saturday, January 18, 2020.
For more information, please contact Maria Dawson at 831-646-1188, email comedyvarietyshowcase@gmail.com, or visit their website: comedyvarietyshowcase.com.

About the Director:
Maria Dawson was born and raised on the Monterey Peninsula. She started acting and directing at Monterey Peninsula College. Maria began her teaching career as an intern under the late Marcia Hovick, and Marianne Rousseau at Children’s Experimental Theatre in Carmel, and mentorship with actor/director John Farmanesh-Boca, before receiving a MAE, with an emphasis in theatre from CSUMB.
Maria has been teaching theatre arts to all ages for over 20 years. Her résumé includes the Magic Circle Theatre in Carmel Valley for the late Elsa Con and the School of Dramatic Arts in Carmel. Maria has also been performing live, improvisational theatre for the same amount of time. She was a founding member of Monterey Playback Theatre, Women of Whimsy (WOW), the Mirth O’ Matics (MOM), and is a current member of Monterey Comedy Improv. She is now setting her sights on a new adventure of bringing together different genres of local comedic performers to showcase their talents with Comedy Variety Showcase.

Minor Swing - New Year's Day with The Cherry Trio
2020-01-01 15:00 - 17:00 | CA
What do Hot Club de France violinist Stéphane Grapelli and baroque organist Dietrich Buxtehude have in common? Both knew how to write a jaunty ditty in a minor key! Please join Elizabeth Gaver (baroque violin), Penny Hanna (viola da gamba), and Michael Peterson (harpsichord) for the start of the new year as we switch our ears to the relative minor, listening to some major (and minor) composers like J.S.Bach, J.P. Krieger, and Marin Marais, performed on baroque era instruments.

One performance only: January 1, 2020, at 3:00 pm. Tickets are $25.00, purchased through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491. Be sure to reserve in advance, as this popular event sells out each year.

Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards: Read Winning Poems 2020
2020-01-01 - 2020-06-19 | CA
For twenty-six years, the Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards program has provided hundreds of students an opportunity to learn the craft of poetry. A reading and awards ceremony honoring this year’s student poets was held Saturday, May 16th, on Zoom. Thank you to all the students, teachers, family and friends who joined us on the call.
The poetry awards were made possible by grants from the Arts Council for Monterey County, Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Volunteer Services for Monterey County, Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary, and Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.
Please click the document link below to read the award winning poems for 2020. For a printed copy, contact the office via email at cherry_center@yahoo.com or send $10 to Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, P.O. Box 863, Carmel, California 93921.
2020 Award Winners (PDF)

Pictured above: “Essence of Life” – Jose Marquez, Carmel High School

Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards
2020-01-01 - 2020-05-16 | CA
Winners of this year’s Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards will be honored during an online ceremony and poetry reading on Saturday, May 16th at 2:00 pm. To receive access to this Zoom event, please contact our office at cherry_center@yahoo.com. For twenty-six years, our annual program provides students an opportunity to master public speaking skills and build self-confidence as they learn the craft of poetry.
The poetry awards were made possible by grants from the Arts Council for Monterey County, Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Volunteer Services for Monterey County, Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary, and Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.
Pictured above: “Essence of Life” – Jose Marquez, Carmel High School

Finding Our Way
On Saturday, March 14, I presented the last of my poetry writing workshops to the students at Wellington Smith School in Salinas. I had, since February 6, been visiting high schools throughout Monterey County, from Carmel to Gonzales, from Pacific Grove to Rancho San Juan, from Marina to North Salinas, as well as Rancho Cielo Community School and Silver Star Center, both located in Salinas.
The day before, Monterey County had made a local emergency proclamation as a precautionary measure “to help the County mobilize and coordinate resources should the [corona]virus be detected here.” That day, the Monterey County Free Libraries closed all its branches. On the 17th, the first confirmed cases of the coronavirus were reported. On the following day, the first Shelter in Place order was issued by the Monterey County Health Department. By the 20th, there were five confirmed cases.
From what we know now, the coronavirus had been spreading while I had been visiting the various high schools. I feel so grateful that neither, as far as I know, the teachers, students and staff nor I contracted the virus as the result of our contact with each other. I like to think that we were protected by the poetry that we shared, even though I know that is a romantic illusion.
What is not a romantic illusion is the power of poetry to transform, to empower, to solace, to delight. Which is why, after more than twenty years, I still visit the high schools in Monterey County to provide an introduction to the writing of poetry and to encourage students to submit their poems to the Monterey County High School Poetry Awards. This year we had over 400 students submitting more than 700 poems.
Whether telling us where they are from or how lonely it is sitting in a cell, whether avowing one’s faith in God or pleading in defense of nature, whether describing how the death of a parent has torn a home apart or sending a letter to absent fathers, whether comparing themselves to peanut butter or extolling the wonders of the sweet potato—the poems in this collection of award winners are instruments through which the young poets are finding their voices. It is an important part of their transformation from teenagers to adults.
In the process, they find empowerment—to assert one’s worth and value in the face of adversity and tragedy; they find joy in discovering and affirming who they are; they find solace in language, its ability to give expression to what they are feeling and thinking.
What better gift than poetry in these disconcerting and stressful times! Both the writing of poetry and the reading of poetry. The poems that follow were written before schools were closed, before Shelter in Place Orders put stress on all of us socially, economically and emotionally. They arrived only because the incredible teachers we are fortunate to have in the various school districts of our County either gathered and mailed the poems after the schools were closed or encouraged their students to do so. I have always valued our high school teachers for their dedication, commitment and caring; now, I value them even more. They deserve enormous recognition, gratitude and thanks.
I hope reading these poems will, in this time of the coronavirus epidemic, transform, empower, solace and delight you as well. This is the power of poetry. Poetry will serve us well as we listen to the voices of our young adults. We will find our way.
Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts, Poet-in-the-Schools, Carl Cherry Center for the Arts

Monterey County High School Poetry Awards
2020-01-01 - 2020-04-01 | CA
Over the past twenty-six years, the Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards have inspired hundreds of students to discover classic and contemporary poetry. The program provides students with an opportunity to master public speaking skills and build self-confidence as they learn the craft of poetry.
A reading and awards ceremony honoring the student poets will be held 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 2nd, at the Monterey Public Library, 625 Pacific Street, Monterey. During the ceremony, a certificate of merit, cash award, books of poetry and Cherry Center-published anthology celebrating the students’ work will be presented. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
The Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards are held each year in conjunction with Thinking Out Loud, the Carl Cherry Center’s annual high school art exhibition.

Students: Get Creative!
The world around you is a place of endless fascination and fun. Through classroom workshops, the Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards will inspire you to explore your neighborhood, parks, schoolyard, backyard and wild spaces to initiate and promote a poetic connection between place and imagination, landscape and language. For more information, please call (831) 624-7491.
Rules:
1. Submissions must be original poetry in English, Spanish, or a combination of both.
2. The author must be presently enrolled in a Monterey County high school.
3. No more than three poems allowed per author, and no poem may be more than 40 lines in length.
4. There are no restrictions as to content, style, form or metrical device.
5. All entries must be typed. Student’s name, address and phone number must be printed on each poem. Poets should also retain a copy of their poem.
Please send entries to Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, P.O. Box 863, Carmel, CA 93921 or online to cherry_center@yahoo.com. All entries must be postmarked no later than April 1, 2020.

This program is made possible, in part, through grants from the Arts Council for Monterey County and through funding from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Carmel-by-the Sea Rotary, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Hazen Family Foundation, Volunteer Services for Monterey County and the Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.

Along Came Betty - Jazz at The Cherry
2019-12-15 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
We are pleased to welcome back Along Came Betty to our theater stage for another round of rich, harmonized sax and trumpet, backed by the classic piano, bass, and drums rhythm section.
Along Came Betty (Biff Smith, piano; Brian Stock, trumpet and flugelhorn; Paul Tarantino, saxophone; Steve Uccello, bass; Patrick Tregenza, drums) has performed at many local and national jazz venues, including the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Big Sur Jazz Festival. Since 1998, they have been celebrating the spirit of hard-bop, a seminal movement of 50s and 60s jazz. Pianist and prolific composer Biff Smith’s sophisticated yet highly accessible compositions blend elements of that era with modern sensibilities.
Please join us for some great music, wine, and light fare–all included in the ticket price. Sunday, December 15th., doors open at 2:00pm; performance from 3:00-5:00pm. Tickets are $25, available online at brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.

Make Merry at The Cherry - pop up art sale
2019-12-13 16:00 - 2019-12-15 16:00 | CA
The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts invites you to their annual ‘pop-up’ art fundraiser and holiday celebration, Make Merry at the Cherry, on Friday, December 13th, from 4-7 pm. Catch the holiday spirit as you mix and mingle with friends old and new. The event will feature reasonably-priced art by noted local artists Tracey Adams, Ann Artz, Eleen Auvil, Richard Cannon, Jim Dultz, Jay Fitzgerald, Nancy Genn, Ken Hale, Mary Hill, Susan Hyde Greene, Robin Winfield, Jan Wurm, and many more! We will also raffle a large collection of fine wines and other seasonal goodies. Artwork will also be available for purchase on Saturday, December 14th from 12-4 pm, and Sunday, December 15th from 12 – 3 pm in the gallery on Fourth Avenue and Guadalupe Street, Carmel.

Proceeds will support The Cherry’s ongoing contribution to the arts community of Monterey County. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information about this event, please call (831) 624-7491.
Eleen Auvil
Robin Winfield
Tracey Adams

MCGives 2019
2019-11-07 08:00 - 2019-12-31 17:00 | CA
What’s this year’s ‘Big Idea?’
As an institution, the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is an enormous idea. Just the knowledge and reassurance the Cherry Center is still here is good for our spiritual health, even if we only set foot through its doors once a year.
It has been nearly thirteen years since the Cherry Hall Theater received significant renovation.Improvements will enable the center to offer more shows, more performances and more varied programs.
A contribution through the MCGives! program can increase your gift with generous matching funds. Please add to the contributions of 100% of our Board of Directors and make a contribution by visiting montereycountygives.com now through December 31, 2019.

Monterey Plays with San Francisco
2019-11-01 19:30 - 2019-11-16 19:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Monterey Plays, an Arts Council for Monterey County sponsored festival of short and one act plays written by Monterey playwrights. Tickets are $25 for Friday/Saturday performances (7:30 p.m. curtain); and $20 for Sunday matinee performance (2:00 p.m. curtain). Tickets are available on brownpapertickets.com.
Friday, Nov. 1/Saturday, Nov. 2: Euterpe by David Norum; Daylight Savings, by Erik Roycraft; Bank Street Blues, by Nina Solomita; He Fell In, But I Did Not, by Nina Solomita; Conversation, by Joe Nance; The Cats by David Norum; And Still I love This City by Nicole Henares; a monologue from My Name Is by David Norum; Blaze by Janice Blaze Rocke
Friday, Nov. 8/Saturday, Nov. 9: He Fell In, But I Did Not, by Nina Solomita; Daylight Savings, by Erik Roycraft; Euterpe, by David Norum; Brick House by Janice Blaze Rocke
Sunday, Nov. 10: La Petenera and the Flamenco Time Machine by Nicole Henares and Aideed Medina; The Story of No Existo, by Monique Rose; Conversation by Joe Nance; Euterpe, by David Norum; He Fell In, But I Did Not, by Nina Solomita
Friday, Nov 15/Saturday, Nov. 16: He Fell In, But I Did Not, by Nina Solomita; Daylight Savings, by Erik Roycraft; Euterpe, by David Norum; Brick House by Janice Blaze Rocke.
The Playwrights:
Nina Solomita, MFA, is a playwright, actor, workshop and writing instructor, and professional editor committed to writing roles for women that show them in all their humanity. She was last seen at the Cherry in 2018 as Seal in My Mother’s Keeper by Jane Press.
Erik Roycraft lives in Salinas. As a Monterey County Theatre Alliance board member, he designs the organization’s newsletter. His play “Euphoria” appeared at the Cherry earlier this year, and his literary sci-fi novel “Crooked Corners Elegiac” is on Amazon.
Joe Nance graduated from San Jose State with a degree in English and Radio and Film Arts. He is deeply interested in writing, acting, music, and visual art.
David Norum became a cop after graduating with a music degree. After retiring from the force, he became a musician, actor, and writer. He has had two full-length plays “Mozambique” and My Name Is” produced in Monterey and beyond.
Janice Blaze Rocke is the creative director of the local performance arts group, The Eclectic Collective. She has written, performed in, and produced events at Carl Cherry Theatre, Henry Miller Library, The Lab, Dali Expo, Paper Wing Theatre, The Pacific Grove Art Center, and The Lost Church in San Francisco.
Nicole Henares is a poet, writer, performer, and educator who is interested in how Lorca’s duende is a cross cultural spirit.
Aideed Medina is a poet and spoken word artist who creates and performs poetry in English or Spanish as dictated by the inspiration of each individual piece.
Monique Rose is a local musician, painter, actor, and poet. She received her MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and studies art and dance at MPC. She continuously strives to refine herself, sifting through material of everyday life for possible avenues into the sublime.
The Plays:
Euterpe by David Norum: A short musical cabaret based on an existential concept by Suzy Newman and Kitten Blankenship.
Daylight Savings, by Erik Roycraft: A woman with an alert mind comes to realize she’s unable to communicate with her husband or caretakers.
He Fell In, But I Did Not, by Nina Solomita: Sharon approaches Nadine at a restaurant with in an unconventional remark that could be interpreted as a little crazy. During their unusual interaction, however, common ground is reached.
Bank Street Blues (a monologue) by Nina Solomita: A mentally ill woman speaks to her mother on the phone about wanting to go home for Christmas.
Brick House by Janice Blaze Rocke: A young woman’s subconscious speaks to her in the form of fairy tale characters as she attempts to deflect the “big bad wolf.” A window into the future reveals how she eventually flips the script.
La Petenera and the Flamenco Time Machine by Nicole Henares and Aideed Medina: a dialogue reflective of the connection between Flamenco and historic and present political struggles.
The Cats, by David Norum: a 42 year-old jazz musician calls his mom to give her some good news but she can’t let go of the past.
And Still I Love This City by Nicole Henares: a love letter to a San Francisco seen between the cracks of gentrification.
My Name Is (monologue), by David Norum: an excerpt from a play about a woman who suffered years of abuse from her partner as it was related in court.
Blaze, by Janice Blaze Rocke: a conversation with a demon priest who haunts the main character that ends in triumph.
Conversation by Joe Nance, a conversation with self.

Ekphrastic Poetry: Writing Workshop with Jodie Hollander
2019-10-20 13:00 - 16:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Experience art at a new level and use it to inspire your writing. Internationally-known poet Jodie Hollander teaches this workshop in which participants respond poetically to the Cherry Center’s current exhibit. Study examples of celebrated poems that respond to, or were inspired by, art. You will then be led through a variety of writing activities inspired by the art, ultimately leading to a draft of an original poem. The afternoon will include a discussion of poetic techniques such as the use of vivid imagery, the importance of sonics, how to shape a poetic line as well as techniques for drafting and revision. No experience necessary.
The one-day workshop will be held at the Cherry Center on Sunday, October 20th, from 1:00 – 4:00 pm. Tickets are $60, available on brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.
Jodie Hollander was raised in a family of classical musicians. She studied poetry in England, and her work has been published in journals such as The Poetry Review, The Yale Review, PN Review, The Dark Horse, The Rialto, Verse Daily, The New Criterion, Australia’s Best Poems of 2011, and Australia’s Best Poems of 2015. Her debut full-length collection, My Dark Horses, is published with Liverpool University Press in the UK and Oxford University Press in the US. Hollander is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship in South Africa, a Hawthornden Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant in Italy, and a MacDowell Colony Fellowship. She currently lives in Colorado.

Literary Reading Exploring Gun Violence and its Aftermath
2019-10-18 19:30 - 21:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
A literary reading exploring gun violence and its aftermath will be held Friday, October 18th at 7:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public.
Produced in conjunction with the exhibit, Our Thoughts and Prayers Are with You, a multimedia group exhibit organized by the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, the reading examines issues related to gun violence from a range of perspectives. Celebrated novelist Jane Smiley will be joined by poets Jennifer Lagier, George Lober, Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts and Jodie Hollander.
“Our Thoughts and Prayers Are with You” explores a range of perspectives on the image and impact of guns in contemporary culture, though none endorse them as a means to an end. Works by artists and writers from throughout California address an array of issues surrounding access to, and use of, firearms across demographic groups. The programs examines the roles that guns continue to play in our national myths, suicide rates, individual and mass murder, domestic violence, and the militarization of civilian life.

"The sound of water " - The Art of Catching the Moment: A Haiku Writing Workshop
2019-10-12 10:30 - 16:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
“The sound of water”—The Art of Catching the Moment, a haiku workshop with poet Elliot Ruchowitz Roberts, will be held at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts on October 12th, 2019, from 10:30 AM – 4:00 PM. The program is open to readers and writers of all levels of experience with haiku. Price for the one-day event is $60. Scholarships are available. For more information or to reserve a ticket, please call (831) 624-7491 or (831) 920-0383.
The workshop will begin with brief accounts of the history of haiku, of its form, and of some of its practitioners (from Basho and Chiyo-ni to Richard Wright and Mitsu Suzuki). It will then focus on writing haiku using various writing exercises that provide starting points for exploring the art of catching the moment.

Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts is the author of two chapbooks of poetry, To Mary (after eight and The Sweet Taste; co-editor of the college text Bridges; co-editor/co-translator of two works from the Telugu, Sudha (Nectar) by Chalam and The Selected Verses of Vemana, both of which have been accepted into UNESCO’s Collection of Representative works: Indian Series; and co-author of Bowing to Receive the Mountain: Essays by Lin Jensen and Poetry by Elliot Roberts. His poetry has appeared in various journals and anthologies. White Fire, a collection of his poems, was published in May 2017 by The Ping-Pong Free Press of the Henry Miller Memorial Library.
Poet-in-the-Schools for the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Ruchowitz-Roberts presents poetry writing workshops in high schools throughout Monterey County and coordinates the annual Monterey County High School Poetry Awards.
Professor Emeritus at Monterey Peninsula College where he taught composition, literature, public speaking and humanities for 32 years, Ruchowitz-Roberts serves as Vice President of the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation in Carmel, California. He also coordinates the Foundation’s annual Prize for Poetry and its annual reading series, and serves as a tour docent. He coordinated the National Endowment for the Arts “The Big Read: The Poetry of Robinson Jeffers,” during which he read and performed Jeffers’s poetry at venues throughout Monterey County, including local libraries, high schools and colleges.

Our Thoughts and Prayers Are with You
2019-10-04 17:00 - 2019-11-16 16:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
“Stick Up” – Cate White

Our Thoughts and Prayers Are with You, a multimedia group exhibit exploring gun violence, continues through Saturday, November 16th. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Sponsored, in part, by the Monterey Bay Zen Center, the Quakers and the Arts Council for Monterey County, the exhibit includes Bren Ahearn, Adrian Burrell, Enrique Chagoya, Marc D’Estout, Al Farrow, Mildred Howard, Diana Krevsky, John Moore, Jennie Ottinger, Maria Porges, Juan Carlos Quintana, Cate White and Jan Wurm, among others.

“Gun Control” Marc D’Estout

Literary Programs at The Cherry
2019-10-01 - 2019-10-31 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts

Smart Shorts Celebration of Film
2019-09-14 12:00 - 15:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts will be screening the Smart Shorts Celebration of Film on Saturday, September 14th, from noon to 3:00 p.m. in the center’s theater in Carmel. The afternoon will feature thirteen original short films submitted from around the globe for entry in the event.
Smart Shorts was developed to encourage filmmakers ages 12 and older to create, express and share their lives and perspectives through films shot exclusively on smartphones and tablets.
Sponsored, in part, through donations from MCGives and the Arts Council for Monterey County, Smart Shorts desires to excite and promote filmmakers from Monterey County, the United States and around the world to produce a groundbreaking short film — 1 to 5 minutes in length — on this easily accessible digital medium.
The event is sold out. For more information, please call (831) 624-7491.

Celebration '69
2019-09-13 19:30 - 2019-09-15 14:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Celebration ’69, a multimedia experience featuring live music, images, video and storytelling, will play one last time this year at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel. Proceeds from the performances will go to All Things New Church in Monterey. Friday and Saturday, September 13 and 14 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, September 15th at 2 pm. Donations are $20.
The show focuses on stories about six of the year’s most iconic historical events including, among others, Woodstock, the Apollo 11 moonwalk and the Manson family murders. As transitional links, a live band plays medleys of songs released that year including hits from Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, Santana and more. All the while, historical and musical visual images and video bring the era back to life.
The show’s creator Mark Shilstone-Laurent says of the show, “Although Celebration ’69 plays right into the wheelhouse of the Boomers who lived it, it’s a show for anyone who may be curious as to why the 60’s and its music are considered such a big deal – or for history buffs that understand just how crazy unique 1969 was and want to relive it both musically and historically.”
Tickets are available on brownpapertickets.com. For more information, please call (831) 676-0148.

The Language of Walls
2019-08-23 17:00 - 2019-09-20 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
“False Awakenings” – VIktor Klinger

The Language of Walls, a photography exhibit exploring an array of approaches to walls, opens Friday, August 23rd with an artists reception from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel. The reception is free and the public is invited.
Tree and Wall, West Pinnacles, 1985 – Edna Bullock
Complex, challenging, and immersive, the exhibit is a historical look at civilization’s relationship with barriers, both real and imagined. For centuries, across diverse civilizations, walls have been central to human history. This exhibit explores the various aspects of walls – artistic, social, political, and historical. These categories overlap and change meaning according to context, much like the walls themselves: erected for one reason, their appearance and use is then altered and modified over centuries, reflecting the civilizations that have grown and changed around them. Featuring over 15 photographers from the Monterey Bay Area, The Language of Walls invites the viewer to contemplate how these structures – from the decorative to the divine – affect the human psyche and why we keep building them.
Wedding Wall, Naoli, Madhya Pradesh, India 2008 – Jeffrey Becom
The work will include a range of methods and attitudes to walls, including exterior walls, interior walls, social walls, walls that heal, walls that divide, graffiti walls, walls as art and psychological walls. In other words, all the innumerable ways walls are imagined, photographed and understood.

Photography will include work by Jeffrey Becom, Edna Bullock, Susan Hyde Green, Viktor Klinger, Dixie Dixon, William Giles, Bert Ihlenfeld, Juan Mancheno, Kenneth Parker, Jacqui Turner, Robin Winfield, and Steve Zmak, among others.

The exhibit will run through September 20th, 2019.

Lucky Lindy: A Conversation With Charles Lindbergh
2019-08-02 - 2019-08-11 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
It’s 1974 and Charles Lindbergh is in the spotlight after 35 years of silence. From the world’s flying hero to a hero’s welcome in an evil dictatorship, to a leader of American isolationists and, finally, to a committed naturalist and environmentalist, he is always controversial. Now Lindbergh is read to talk…about everything.
Lucky Lindy: A Conversation with Charles Lindbergh is an original play written and directed by Tom Parks, with Keith Decker as Charles Lindbergh and Lynette Winter. The play opens its extended run on Friday, August 2nd, through Sunday, August 11th, 2019. Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel.
Tickets are $25. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30pm; and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit ticketguys.com or call (831) 717-7373.

Kenny Stahl Trio - Jazz At The Cherry
2019-07-20 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Jazz At The Cherry is proud to present an exciting afternoon of music with The Kenny Stahl Trio on Saturday, July 20th, at 3:00 p.m.
One of the hottest jazz flute performers today, Kenny Stahl has worked with Stevie Wonder, Jaco Pastorius, Ira Sullivan, Cal Tjader, Richie Cole, Herb Jeffries, Paul Horn, and many others. He has received the “Best Jazz Soloist” award from the International Flute Association and has opened for Diana Krall. Jazz Now magazine describes Kenny as “a masterful soloist producing a whole range of timbers, tones, colors and moods.” Joining Kenny will be bassist, Zach Westfall and drummer, Leon Joyce, Jr.
Bass guitarist, Zach Westfall, was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas and has combined his southern roots with the rich artistic tradition of the Monterey Peninsula jazz scene. Upon graduation from high school, Zach went to Berklee School of Music where he majored in jazz bass.
Drummer, Leon Joyce Jr., has worked with a wide variety of top artists including Ramsey Lewis, Nancy Wilson, Smokey Robinson, James Carter, Clark Terry, Larry Coryell, Patti LaBelle and Mary Wilson. The San Jose Mercury News describes Leon as “an antidote to power drummers and the hybrid-genre bands with their brainy arrangements.”
This special engagement at The Cherry is an opportunity to enjoy this outstanding jazz trio prior to their scheduled performance at this year’s Monterey Jazz Festival! Tickets are $25.00, available on brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491. Wine and light fare are included in the ticket price. Doors open at 2:00 p.m., and the performance begins at 3:00 p.m.

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Bohemian Summer: The Artwork and Life of Jeanne d'Orge
2019-07-19 - 2019-08-03 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Photograph: Picnic in Robinson Canyon, circa 1923. L to R: Alfred Burton, painter William Silva, Jeanne d’Orge, Robinson Jeffers, twins Donnan and Garth Jeffers.

Bohemian Summer: The Artwork and Life of Jeanne d’Orge, an exhibition featuring historical photographs, letters, poems, and artwork by the founder of the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, opens Friday, July 19th, and will run through August 3rd, 2019. The exhibit will also include works by Jo Mora and Ephraim Doner.

About Jeanne d’Orge (Mrs. Carl Cherry)
Born in 1887 in England, Jeanne d’Orge spent her childhood in Edinburgh, London, and Paris. Her book of verse, Voice in the Circle, published in 1955, focuses on her childhood in Europe.
After moving to New York in 1906, d’Orge became associated with “The Others,” a group of iconoclastic poets that included Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, and Wallace Stevens. Her poetry was included in the anthology The Others and The Poetry Journal. In 1923 Scribner’s Magazine published her award-winning “Lobos” poems.
Jeanne d’Orge died on May 1, 1964, at the age of 87. Although her painting was recognized in her lifetime for its forcefulness and spirit with exhibits at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Park Avenue Galley in New York City, and the De Young Museum in San Francisco, d’Orge insisted that her paintings never be sold, saying only, “I’m just a paintbrush for God.”

Roger Book - "Life is Love" Concert
2019-07-14 14:00 - 16:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Roger Book returns to the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts following his sold-out “Journey Through Love” concert this past February. Hearts were softened and lives were changed.
This “Life is Love” event will feature another collection of his original songs and enlightening life stories. If you wake up in the morning and see light you should be thankful. That is life and life is love. Come experience how this love can help you overcome whatever life throws at you and make your personal journey a rewarding experience.
One performance only: Sunday, July 14th, at 2PM. Tickets are $25, available on brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491, Light appetizers and beverages are included in the ticket price. All concert proceeds and related donations will go to the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts.

Feleboga
2019-07-12 19:00 - 21:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Feleboga will perform a concert of Norwegian and old-time music and dance on Friday, July 12th, at 7:00 pm, Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel.
Feleboga (fiddle bows) is a band from Norway, composed of family members Mattias Thedens (fiddle, banjo, vocals), Elizabeth Gaver (fiddle, vocals), and Hans-Hinrich Thedens (guitar, banjo, vocals). Tickets are $15.00, available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.
.For more information about Feleboga, please follow us in Facebook and see our website, feleboga.com.

Celebrating the Cherry - Annual Summer Fundraiser
2019-06-22 16:00 - 19:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Celebrating the Cherry, our annual summer fundraiser, will be held at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts on June 22nd, 2019, from 4:00 to 7:00pm. This year we are honoring Katie Clare Mazzeo and Brian Taylor for their ongoing contributions to the arts.
The evening will feature wine and lite fare, music and entertainment, plus an exhibit in the gallery highlighting the Cherry Center’s history in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Along with reasonable priced art for sale by local artists, a silent auction, and a raffle showcasing a collection of fine wines. Monies raised will help provide quality artistic, educational and cultural programs for the residents of Monterey County. Tickets for the event are $45, available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491. To make a donation to The Cherry, please use this link.
Meet our Honorees:
Katie Clare Mazzeo has performed in solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and the U.S., including a tour of Iceland in a series of concerts with members of the Boston symphony. She has performed and lectured at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, and at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester as part of an international symposium on the Biology of Music, and has taught piano at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Longy School of Music. Katie Clare was a featured performer on fortepiano at the Schubert Festival at San Francisco State University and has given numerous concerts on both fortepiano and harpsichord with the ensemble Zeitgeist 1800, as well as performances at MusicSources in Berkeley, the Old First Church in San Francisco, and the Colton Hall Candlelight Series in Monterey.
Brian Taylor is known for his innovative explorations of alternative photographic processes including historic 19th Century printing techniques, mixed media, and handmade books. His work has been exhibited nationally and abroad in numerous solo and group shows. Taylor is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California. He received his B.A. Degree in Visual Arts from the University of California at San Diego, an M.A. from Stanford University, and his M.F.A. from the University of New Mexico and served as a professor of Photography for over 30 years, and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at San Jose State University.

Oceans, Flamenco en Vivo Carmel
2019-06-19 20:00 - 21:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Join us for an evening of Spanish Flamenco music and dance featuring dancer Savannah Fuentes, guitarist Pedro Cortes, and singer/percussionist Jose Moreno on Wednesday, June 19th, at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets are $25.00 general admission, $15 for students, available on brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.
About Savannah Fuentes
Savannah Fuentes, born in Seattle to parents of Puerto Rican and Irish ancestry, is one of the only touring artists in the Pacific Northwest region with strong links to Flamenco culture. She studies both baile (flamenco dance) and cante (flamenco singing) and has toured throughout the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Montana, Idaho and Arizona. She has independently produced over 250 performances and workshops featuring internationally recognized Spanish Flamenco Artists such as Jose Anillo, Saray Munoz, Jesus Montoya, and Juanarito. She has studied with artists such as Guadiana, Joaquin Grilo, Eva Yerbabuena, El Farru, and Isabel Bayon. She attributes her formation as an artist to her most significant mentor, Maestra Sara de Luis. She continues to evolve as an innovator and performance artist. www.savannahf.com
About Pedro Cortes
Pedro Cortes, Comes from a family of Spanish Gypsy guitarists and began his studies with his father and the esteemed Flamenco guitarist Sabicas. Having toured professionally since the age of 17, he is gaining international recognition as a soloist and composer. He has premiered his work En la oscuridad de las minas at the Teatro Albeniz in Madrid, he had works premiered by the Carlota Santana Spanish Dance Company at the Joyce Theater in New York. He has two books on Flamenco, El Dron del Faraon and Cruzando el Charco, published by the American Institute of Guitar. Mr. Cortes, was commissioned by the Cohen Brothers to compose music for the film Paris Je TAime .He also wrote music for a childrens program on H B O called Fairy tale for Every Child. He has toured with Jose Greco and Maria Benitez, La Conja and has performed with such artists as Farrucita, La Tati, Merche Esmeralda, Manolete and the late Lola Flores. He has been guest artist with the St. Louis Opera and the New York Grand Opera, and has been commissioned by and performed as Musical Director with the Guthrie Theater In Garcia Lorcas BODAS DE SANGRE. Mr. Cortes is artistic director of his own Flamenco group, and also Musical Director of Palo Seco. Cortes is a third generation Flamenco guitarists and uses the experience passed down to him by his family to maintain the purity of Flamenco while creating new compositions. www.pedrocortes.com
About Jose Moreno
Born into a family of famous flamenco artists Estrella Morena (dancer) and Pepe de Málaga (singer), Jose began his flamenco career during his childhood years. His debut was at the famous Tablao flamenco Costa Vasca. Jose continued his studies with the Great Manolete, Farruquito, and Andres Marin and Cajon Percussion with Manuel Soler. Jose has been invited to perform in various companies around the world, and with distinguished artists such as: The Great Manolete, Joaquin Ruiz, Pastora Galvan, Jose Cortes Pansequito, Jose de Luna, Jose Luis Rodriquez, Roberto Castellon, Pedro Cortes, Jose Valle Chuscales, Basilio Garcia, Paco Heredia, Elena Andujar, Carmen Ledesma, Jesus Montoya, Zorongo Flamenco Dance, La Tania, Miguel Vargas, Nelida Tirado, Antonio Hidalgo, Curro Cueto, Gonzalo Grau, Edwin Aparicio, Amparo Heredia, Antonio Granjero, Angel Muñoz, Charo Espino, Omayra Amaya and many other outstanding performers
In 2001, Jose choreographed and performed a collaborative work with his mother Estrella Morena, and with renowned flamenco singer Carmen Linares with the New World Symphony Orquestra at Lincoln Theater. In 2004 choreographed works and performed with the Boston Flamenco Ballet, In 2007, Jose performed with the internationally known Isabel Pantoja, and with David Bisbal in Premios lo Nuestro. In 2010 performed in the 7th annual Panama Jazz Festival, also that same year at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City, in 2013 in Zorro The Musical at the Alliance Theatre, the BAM theatre in New York City with Flamenco Vivo Dance Company , and most recently in the 2014-2015 season of Carmen at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the 2015-2016 season of Carmen at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for the Washington National Opera. www.josemorenoflamenco.com

The Way We Fell Out of Touch
2019-05-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
An Invitation to see a New Play in Development!
Award-winning screenwriter and author Toni Ann Johnson will perform her new play THE WAY WE FELL OUT OF TOUCH, based on the true story of the relationship between Johnson’s African-American mother and their family’s white maid during the 1970s in Upstate New York. The play is an adaptation of her award-winning short story (Lodestone Fiction Award ~ 2017). This play reading is developed in collaboration with Director, Robin McKee. This is a unique opportunity to enjoy the birthing of a new play. Please come and enjoy and give us feedback in an informal after performance discussion.
Thursday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m. The performance is FREE but seating is limited, so please be sure to RSVP to (831) 236-7825 to be on our guest list. We hope you will stay and give feedback after the reading.

About the Playwright/Actor:
This is Johnson and McKee’s second collaboration Ms. McKee directed and served as dramaturg on Johnson’s play Gramercy Park is Closed to the Public, which went on to receive productions in Los Angeles by the Fountainhead Theatre Company and in New York, by The New York Stage and Film Company. The play also earned Johnson a fellowship to the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab.
Johnson has won two Humanitas Prizes and a Christopher Award for her TV Movies which include Ruby Bridges (ABC), Crown Heights (Showtime) and The Courage to Love (Lifetime.) Johnson has written numerous YA dance related television and film projects including Step Up 2: The Streets, the second installment in the internationally popular Step Up Franchise. Johnson’s novel Remedy For A Broken Angel earned her an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author in 2015. She won an International Latino Book Award for the novel, as well as a Beverly Hills Book Award, and she was a finalist for the 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year. Johnson’s short fiction and essays have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Emerson Review, Hunger Mountain, Xavier Review and elsewhere. She teaches screenwriting at The University of Southern California.

Lucky Lindy: A Conversation With Charles Lindbergh
2019-05-17 19:30 - 2019-06-02 14:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
It’s 1974 and Charles Lindbergh is in the spotlight after 35 years of silence. From the world’s flying hero to a hero’s welcome in an evil dictatorship, to a leader of American isolationists and, finally, to a committed naturalist and environmentalist, he is always controversial. Now Lindbergh is read to talk…about everything.
Lucky Lindy: A Conversation with Charles Lindbergh is an original play written and directed by Tom Parks, with Keith Decker as Charles Lindbergh and Lynette Winter. The play opens Friday, May 17th, and runs through Sunday, June 2nd, 2019. Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel.
Tickets are $25. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30pm; and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit ticketguys.com or call (831) 717-7373.

Color Theory: The Art of Color at the Cherry Center
2019-05-17 16:00 - 2019-06-15 16:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Color Theory, an exhibit exploring the application of color in paintings by Lucas Blok and Mel Prest, opens Friday, May 17th at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. A reception for the artists will be held at the center from 4 to 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The exhibition examines the use of color from two separate, but related, perspectives: the large vibrant color fields of Monterey’s Lucas Blok and Mel Prest, a non-objective San Francisco painter whose work focuses on color and perceptual visual relationships.
Color Theory can be seen Wednesday through Friday from 11 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays noon to 4 p.m. or by appointment through June 15th, 2019.
Pictured, top: “Untitled” – Lucas Blok

Lucas Blok has an established interest in color. His paintings are absorbing experiments in visual perception as he works with vibrant and intensely saturated hues that become a uniquely involved experience for each individual spectator. Mr. Blok was awarded the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for 2011-2012, which recognizes and generously supports his artistic merit as a professional artist over a significant period of time.

“17 Seconds” – Mel Prest
Mel Prest is an artist, curator and educator living in San Francisco. She received her BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design and MFA from Mills College in Oakland.
Her work is focused on color and perceptual visual relationships and synaesthetic response. Her work is held in collections at Apple; The Crocker Museum of Art; Kaiser Permanente; The Mills College Art Museum, among others.

Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards
2019-05-04 14:00 - 16:00 | CA
A reading and awards ceremony honoring the student poets will be held 2:00PM on Saturday, May 4th, 2019 at the Monterey Public Library, 625 Pacific Street, Monterey. During the event, student poets will receive an anthology featuring their award-winning works; certificate of merit; cash prize; and book of poetry. Family members, teachers, fellow students, and the public are welcome to attend.

The Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards are held each year in conjunction with the Carl Cherry Center’s high school art exhibition, Thinking Out Loud.

Dick Whittington and Friends
2019-04-27 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Celebrated jazz pianist Dick Whittington will be performing on Saturday, April 27th, from 3:00-5:00 p.m. as part of our ongoing Jazz At The Cherry series. Dick will be joined by Jim Payne on drums and Kenoa Mendenhall on bass.
Tickets are $25, available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491. Savory fare, champagne and wine are included in the ticket price. Doors open at 2:00pm.

About Dick Whittington:
Whittington, a long-time Big Sur resident, began his career in Los Angeles in the 1950s, playing with such jazz notables as Dexter Gordon, Bobby Hutcherson, and Sonny Criss. After relocating to Berkeley in the 1960s, he performed with Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Art Pepper, James Moody, Anita O’Day, Mel Torme, Bobby McFerrin and many others. He was co-founder of the Berkeley School District Jazz Program which fostered the careers of Joshua Redman, Benny Green and dozens of others.
Over the last five decades, DIck has performed with many jazz greats, including Stan Getz, James Moody, Lee Konitz, Art Pepper, Eddie Harris, and Chet Baker. In 1987, Dick and his wife Marilyn Ross founded the Maybeck Recital Hall, where, for ten years, they lived and produced over five hundred jazz and classical concerts, including the internationally-acclaimed “Live at Maybeck” solo piano series on Concord Records, which features over forty-five of the top pianists in jazz. Since moving to Big Sur, Dick played four years at Bernardus Lodge and has been at Carmel’s Cypress Inn since 2005.

About Kanoa Mendenhall:
Born in Yokohama to a Japanese mother and American father, Kanoa was raised in Monterey, California and grew up listening to jazz, enka, classical, and the music of Brazil. She started playing the cello at age 10 after being introduced to Oscar Pettiford’s music by her father, a jazz pianist. At the age of 12, Kanoa began playing the upright bass, and by age 13 she was regularly performing in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas

Kanoa has worked on the faculty of Jazz Camp West and Stanford Jazz Workshop for the past three years. She has performed at venues throughout the United States and Japan, such as the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Davies Symphony Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Akasaka B Flat, the Jazz Gallery, and the Monterey Jazz Festival.

About Jim Payne:

Labeled the “Buddy Rich or Billy Cobham of funk drumming” by Jazz Times Magazine, Jim Payne has a long career as a drummer, educator, producer, and collaborator with the best musicians in jazz and funk.
Jim has performed with Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Slickaphonics, the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and The Jim Payne Band, among many others. His performance venues have included major European and U.S. jazz and blues festivals, including Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and Paris Jazz Festival.
