Ashland Oregon Chamber of Commerce / Your Visit / ARTS
ARTS
Photo by Christopher Briscoe
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Ashland, voted #2 in the “Best Small Art Towns in America”, has over twenty galleries, four local theaters in addition to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a thriving music scene.
First Friday Art Walks
Sponsored by the Ashland Gallery Association, Ashland invites you to walk the town, have some wine and appreciate the truly amazing talent of many different art forms the 1st Friday of every month.
Cinema
Photo by Christopher Briscoe
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Ashland's Varsity Theatre, located downtown in a 1937 Art Deco-style building, houses five wall-to-wall screens. The Varsity Theatre is an art house, which features first run foreign and art films. Ashland Street Cinema, located in the Ashland Shopping Center, is your family entertainment center featuring: Dolby Digital Surround Sound, 6 wall-to-wall screens, first-run films, and a Super Snack Bar.
Once a year, the ashland independent film festival is held at the Varsity Theatre. The 7th annual ashland independent film festival will take place April 3-7, 2008. Every spring, filmmakers and film lovers, from all over the world, gather at the Varsity Theatre to celebrate independent film and the filmmakers who create it. Over 90 documentaries, features, shorts and student films are shown on the five screens of this intimate theatre, with special events at the Historic Ashland Armory. Memberships to the ashland independent film festival are available now online, and general public tickets go on sale in mid-March.
For more information, please visit our website at www.ashlandfilm.org, or call 541.488.3823.
Galleries & Museums
Photo by Christopher Briscoe
| | Ashland is home to dozens of art galleries and shops, but also to a recently expanded art museum of growing reputation. In the galleries, the emphasis is on Northwest artists, some of whom are nationally known. At the Schneider Museum on the Southern Oregon University campus, visitors can see major contemporary exhibits from around the country. The student-run Gallery at Stevenson Union has first-rate invitational exhibitions, too.
Photo by Christopher Briscoe
| | Ashland’s galleries and shops offer a remarkably diverse range of fine arts and crafts. You can find representational as well as contemporary paintings and fine art prints, sculpture, glass, Native American and visionary art, pottery and ceramics, jewelry and fabric art, and fine hand-crafted furniture. There is a First Friday Art Walk each month sponsored by the Ashland Gallery Association, which in the spring also puts on the Taste of Ashland — a fantastic way to walk through town, viewing art while sipping wine and sampling locally created delicacies. Another attraction is the Ashland Historic Railroad District‘s Walking Tour. Southern Oregon Historical Society is a complex interactive group of 16 exhibits including Children’s Museum, historic homes and grounds tours, including the History Center in Jacksonville, the museums in Jacksonville, and the historic Hanley Farm in Central Point.
Click below for a list of our Gallery & Museum members:
Music
Photo by Ray Broomall Digital Images
| | Ashland abounds with music. Whether it is folk singing or opera, bluegrass or chamber music, the town has it. Facilities include the Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall where the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers and the Chamber Music Concerts are held, the Lithia Park Bandshell, and many other spots around town, where you can hear national, regional and local talent. Several recent additions to the music scene are the Smooth Jazz and Blues Festival, held in September at beautiful Eden Farm, and the Blues Festival in January at the historic Ashland Armory.
If you perform, the area has a number of classical, folk, opera and a cappella groups you can join. The Rogue Valley Symphony offers outstanding performances in Ashland as well as many other venues in the Rogue Valley. Another prominent complement to the Ashland music scene is the Britt Festival, located in nearby Jacksonville. From June through early September, Britt offers classical, bluegrass, ethnic, and a good deal more, including nationally known artists, all in beautifully landscaped Britt Gardens.
Visit our musical members by clicking below:
Theater
Ashland has an active and varied theatrical community. Home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland also boasts other theatre groups, which perform a wide variety of productions, including musicals, comedies and experimental theatre, all year long: The Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Stagework's Theatre, Camelot Theatre (located in Talent), and the Southern Oregon University Theatre Arts Dept.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is known worldwide for the quality of its productions. In its 67th year, the Tony Award-winning OSF presents 11 plays in repertory, five by Shakespeare, and seven by other classic or contemporary playwrights. Its three theatres provide three very different experiences: the 1,200-seat outdoor Elizabethan Theatre, whose performance stage was inspired by the Fortune Theatre of Shakespeare's time; the modern 600-seat Angus Bowmer Theatre; and the state-of-the-art New Theater, a perfect setting for intimate performances. The Festival was recently acclaimed in the New York Times by theatre critic Ben Brantley, “Ashland is a reminder of the virtues of something Manhattan has long lacked: a full-fledged repertory company that trains and cultivates performers.” There are numerous volunteer opportunities at the Festival including ticket-taking, providing hospitality, administrative tasks, selling souvenirs for the Tudor Guild - (the Festival gift shop) - and more. Volunteering offers a way for residents to participate in the theatre activities and, if ticket-taking, see friends and neighbors. Early in each season is a time of excitement for resident theater-goers, as they compare notes on the new productions. The Festival often offers residents half-price tickets to selected performances during the spring and fall.
Photo by Christopher Briscoe
| | The Oregon Cabaret Theatre (OCT), is Ashland's "other" professional theater, and musical theater is its particular niche. Since 1986, OCT has earned a reputation for presenting top-notch musicals, revues and comedies in an elegant and inviting ambience. The theater is a former Baptist church that has been beautifully renovated into a nightclub-style theater with table seating on tiered levels and balcony, stained glass windows and a crystal chandelier from an old movie palace. The shows are fresh and lively, the performers are talented professionals from all over the country, and production values are high. In addition to the performance, patrons also have the option of gourmet dinners and Sunday brunch or just appetizers, desserts or beverages. It all makes for a festive night out where one can socialize with friends and family while enjoying food and drinks and an entertaining show.
Click here for a full list of our Theatre members:
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