Hamilton, OH - The weekend weather forecast calls for rain and heavy winds. Don't tell your friendly neighborhood meteorologist, but that breeze actually might be a giant sigh of relief.
For an organization that prides itself on being connected to the communities it serves, the Fitton Center had an extraordinary week from Friday March 7 to Friday March 14. Even by its own lofty standards.
Friday, March 7 - Early visit to Local 12 studios in Cincinnati to promote Singin' & Swingin' performance and Women's Art Club of Hamilton exhibition opening the next evening. - Fitton Family Fridays. Sold-out performance of "A Pirate-y Peter Pan."
Saturday, March 8 - Community engagement event with YWCA at Spooky Nook for HERStory/International Women's Day. - Gallery opening celebration for Women's Art Club of Hamilton annual dual-venue exhibition - Into the Light - attended by more than 350 guests. - Packed Jazz & Cabaret performance - Singin' & Swingin' - in the ballroom with the Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra featuring a trio of powerhouse women vocalists. Sunday, March 9 - Rest up, run some laundry.
Monday, March 10 - Miami University chamber music concert. Tuesday, March 11 - First two (of four) performances of "A Pirate-y Peter Pan" in front of about 400 Hamilton City Schools third graders Wednesday, March 12 - Final two performances of "A Pirate-y Peter Pan" in front of another 400 Hamilton City Schools third graders. Every third grader in the district had a chance to see live theater connected to their assigned reading. - ArtsWave Annual Campaign event in Cincinnati.
Thursday, March 13 - Shift focus slightly east; transport materials and begin staging for installation of the Lakota Colors of Creativity art exhibition at Liberty Center. Friday, March 14 - Up an at 'em early - like 5 a.m. early - to go on air live with Local 12 for half a dozen morning news segments from the Fitton at the Foundry studio space. (Fitton Center, Lakota and Liberty Center representatives also appear in recorded segments for WLWT Channel 5 later in the day.) - Installation of more than 300 pieces of student art at Liberty Center. - Collapse. (Just kidding. But more coffee? Yes, please.)
If you're counting, that's more than 1,100 students - kindergarten through grad school - who performed, enjoyed and/or created art under the Fitton Ceneter banner.
All of which occurred over and above the usual array of classes, workshops, tours, field trips, community outreach programs, weekly Rotary Club luncheons, a membership drive and the regular day-to-day business of the Fitton Center. The exhale is real.
And if we make through the Opening Celebration for Colors of Creativity tomorrow afternoon (March 15) at Liberty Center and the sold-out theatrical debut of The Crimson Sisters tomorrow night back in the Fitton Family Theater, we promise ... we'll really take it easy on Sunday.
Meantime, check out a few images from the week that was in the photo gallery below.
