Music and glass: two of T-town’s most well-known attributes, will be celebrated this year in a series of events running through October. For the first time, The Arts Commission and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra come together to deliver performances and showcase works of fine glass art.
Keeping With Tradition
The Hot Glass Gala and Auction, an event ongoing since the early ’90s, is one of the Arts Commission’s biggest fundraisers. “From 2000 to 2005 or so we took a break, but aside from that we’ve had one nearly every other year for about the last 25 years,” explained Jennifer Jarrett, deputy director of the Arts Commission.
Collaborating with the Toledo Symphony is a new twist for this year’s event. “They have a lot of new ideas to integrate glass and music, so there’s definitely an interesting collaboration,” says Jarrett.
The Toledo Symphony will give three performances– the first of which was opening night, September 9. At 7pm October 13, Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 4, Heroes, will be performed at the Valentine Theatre.
Opening days
The Hot Glass Exhibition takes place at 300 Madison Avenue. The gallery, with more than 100 works of glass by artists from all around the country, will be on display until October 20.
Also on view, HUSH-ex from River House Arts, located at 425 Jefferson Avenue, runs through October 22, featuring mixed media and glass art from Megan Biddle, Amber Cowan, Jessica Jane Julius and Sharyn O’Mara.
On Saturday, September 24, Leonard Marty and colleagues will host an open house at Studio Eleven-Eleven on 1111 Adams Street.
With a little help from our friends
The expansion of the Hot Glass series to include the Toledo Symphony is an outgrowth of a partnership between The Arts Commission and the Toledo Children’s Hospital Foundation at ProMedica, Jarrett explains. “Last year they brought the symphony on board for the Chefs for Children event. And this year, we partnered with them to expand the scope [of Hot Glass] to include the symphony.”
With construction well underway to convert the Steam Plant on the river into an executive office spaces for ProMedica, “the plan is to start activating spaces on the riverfront and along Summit Street,” says Jarrett.
For more information visit theartscommission.org/events