Building on our arts and culture successes

What do genies, pirates and musicians have in common? All will be featured on separate stages in three different locations this weekend in McCook.

The McCook Concert Association is hosting Copper Street Brass on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Fox Theater in downtown McCook. Additionally, every music student and their parents are able to attend this final concert of the season at no charge. This is a great way to pack the historic theater and hear great live music.

The Southwest Nebraska Community Theatre Association is once again hosting the Missoula Children’s Theater, which is performing Aladdin at the McCook High School Auditorium at both 3 and 7 p.m. on Saturday. This will feature some of the area’s best young performers, many taking to the stage for the first time.

And McCook Community College Theater Department is presenting “Swashbuckling Scallywaggs at the Bildgewater Inn and Groggery” (try to say that three times fast) on Saturday at 7 p.m. and again Sunday at both 2 and 6 p.m. at the Weeth Theater on the MCC Campus

This is the second play in the series written by Director Mark Hardiman. The first play was performed in Norris Alley last year with most of the cast returning for this follow-up performance.

Now, some might say, “Why are they all scheduled at the same time?”

But let’s flip that and say, “This is a great problem to have.”

It shows that things are happening in our community. It shows that people want to do things. It shows that arts and culture are indeed alive and thriving.

We have creative, inventive, talented artists as well as innovative organizers who want to share their passion for art in all forms with others. Now it is up to us to show up.

And it isn’t just the scheduled, one-time events going on right now.

The McCook Art Guild on Norris Avenue currently has a showing of local artists with a forest theme, perfect as our trees are beautifully in bloom.

The High Plains Museum has its regular displays but is currently featuring prom dresses spanning a century. The art of textiles is on full display on a dozen mannequins.

And next month, a new community mural will come to life on the side of a building on West First and C Street, across from Ace Hardware. The public is invited to participate in the “Community Painting Days” on May 20-21. And if you don’t have an artistic bone in your body but want to be part of this project, don’t worry. The concept will be drawn on the wall so it will be like the “paint-by-numbers” we did as kids.

The Nebraska Arts Council visited McCook this past week as part of an effort to become an official Creative Arts District, a status backed not only in name but also funding by the Unicameral. They visited the Sixth Floor at the Keystone, another rare find in Southwest Nebraska featuring a personal collection of artwork from McCook, from Nebraska and from the entire country.

During the visit, they heard about all the artistic endeavors that McCook already has in place from the productions at the Fox Theater to locally-published authors to kids' summer art classes.

But it was also a great opportunity to dream about the possibilities for arts and culture in our communities. Everyone should be thinking about what they would like to see happen in our community and perhaps, more importantly, how they can be involved.

Get out this weekend to see and support these local performances. Follow all these organizations, including the McCook Arts Council, on social media so you have a heads-up on upcoming projects. And then take a moment to consider how we can build upon this success of arts and culture in McCook and Southwest Nebraska.

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