City Center Art is Space One Eleven’s afterschool studio art program for students of all skill levels and is designed to build visual communication skills and foster creative thinking. Through individually conceived projects and collaborations, young artists learn the elements of art and principles of design, strengthen foundation skills, and further their understanding of art criticism, art theory, and art history.

Grades 2-3: Tuesday, 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Grades 4-5: Monday, 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Grades 6-8: Wednesday, 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Grades 9-12: Saturday, 10:00am - 1:00pm

Sidewalk’s Book + Film Club unites movie and book lovers for a monthly film screening and discussion about famous films and the people who make them. At the end of the month, we host a screening of a film related to the book and host a round-table discussion. Each session is $35 and the includes book, film screening, and discussion. Buy 3 or more months at once with the book included and get 10% off your registration by using code ‘3ormore' at checkout! Already have the book? Select the $15 option for access to the film screening and post film discussion.

Registration Deadline to have books mailed: Friday, April 4th. Books will be mailed within 72 hours of this date.

Registration Deadline to have books picked up: Monday, April 21st. Books can be picked up from our Box Office during our regular operating hours Thursday & Friday from 2pm til Close and on Saturday & Sunday from 10:30am until close. You will receive an email when your book is ready to be picked up.

Book: Bill Traylor by Valérie Rousseau, Debra Purden

Born into slavery around 1853-4 on a cotton plantation in Benton, Alabama, Traylor has become one of the most important self-taught artists of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the most celebrated African-American artists. The story of Bill Traylor’s life and work is a remarkable one and is a story that deserves attention both nationally and internationally. This publication, generously illustrated with full-page high-quality reproductions, provides a close examination of Traylor’s recurrent themes, composition schemes, favored iconography, and contextual information related to the artist’s biography, creative process and tools, visual environment, and artistic mindset.

Film: Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts (2019) dir Jeffery Wolf

An inventive feature documentary capturing the vivid life of Bill Traylor, who in his late 80s, living homeless on the street in the thriving segregated black neighborhood of Montgomery, produced a body of extraordinary art. Born into slavery in 1853 on a cotton plantation in rural Alabama, Traylor witnessed profound social and political change during his life spanning slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, and the Great Migration. In his later years, Traylor poured out those memories from within, drawing and painting over 1,000 pieces of art from 1939-42. Using historic and cultural context, the film is designed to bring the spirit and mystery of Traylor’s incomparable art to life. Tap dance, evocative period and original music, and dramatic readings are used in surprising ways in the film, balanced with insightful perspectives from Traylor family members and expert interviews. Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts explores the life of a unique American artist, a man with a remarkable and unlikely biography. The film is a compelling human narrative that gives voice to a man who endures a long life of extreme hardships during an era of legalized racial indignities, to become one of America’s most prominent artists, exhibited in museums and collections worldwide.

Private screening and discussion will take place at Sidewalk Cinema April 30th at 7:00pm.

In an eerie, deceptively placid near-future, a techno-entrepreneur named Karsh (Vincent Cassel) has developed a new software that will allow the bereaved to bear witness to the gradual decay of loved ones dead and buried in the earth. While Karsh is still reeling from the loss of his wife (Diane Kruger) from cancer—and falling into a peculiar sexual relationship with his wife’s sister (also Kruger)—a spate of vandalized graves utilizing his “shroud” technology begins to put his enterprise at risk, leading him to uncover a potentially vast conspiracy.

Written following the death of the director’s wife, the new film from David Cronenberg is both a profoundly personal reckoning with grief and a descent into noir-tinged dystopia, set in an ominous world of self-driving cars, data theft, and A.I. personal assistants. Offering Cronenberg’s customary balance of malevolence and wit, The Shrouds is a sly and thought-provoking consideration of the corporeal and the digital, the mortal and the infinite.

Set in the shadow of the most magical place on Earth, 6-year-old Moonee and her two best friends forge their own adventures, while Moonee's struggling mom and a kindhearted motel manager protect the kids from the harsh reality that surrounds them.

Part of our Filmmaker Focus on Sean Baker.

Mikey Saber -- charismatic con man and washed-up porn star -- plots his return to the big time from small-town Texas in this story of an American hustler and a hometown that barely tolerates him.

Part of our Filmmaker Focus on Sean Baker.

RESISTANCE OF VISION is a touring festival comprising of four programs of social justice themed short films debuting this month in Boston, San Francisco, Wichita and Birmingham.

A select program of 8 shorts will play at the Sidewalk Film Center Thursday May 1:
Feeling the Apocalypse - Resist: The Resistance Revival Chorus - When We Arrive as Flowers - Black Tide - Roll Down The Window - Ancestral Call - Nomads in the City - Local One

Feeling the Apocalypse 7 minutes - (THIS IS AN EMERGENCY)

A psychotherapist struggling with climate anxiety explores what it means to live in a dying world.

Resist: The Resistance Revival Chorus 19 minutes (OUR BODIES, OUR CHOICE)

In the midst of a country divided, a diverse group of women and non-binary individuals unite through the historic power of music to create a movement ignited by song.

When We Arrive as Flowers 5 minutes (OUR BODIES, OUR CHOICE)

When We Arrive as Flowers, follows Diovanna, a New York-based trans Afro-Latinx dancer as she realizes her transfemme identity through a choreographic journey of self-discovery, celebration, and the poetic metaphor of a flower coming into bloom.

Black Tide 14 minutes (THIS IS AN EMERGENCY)

On July 25, 2020, the bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on the reef on the east coast of Mauritius. Twelve days later, oil began to spill, causing the worst ecological disaster ever to occur in the region.

Roll Down The Window 10 minutes- (FIGHT THE POWER)

Filmmaker Lipa Hussain interrogates a neurological condition she has experienced since childhood and the parallels it represents with her own religious and racial struggles. Alice In Wonderland syndrome causes the sensation of shrinking and losing bodily control. The film explores the idea of utilizing AIW to confront an enemy from Lipa’s past.

Ancestral Call 16 minutes (FIGHT THE POWER)

Danielle Scott, a legally blind Black, Polish-Jewish, and Asian mixed-media artist at the cusp of international fame, risks her own well-being by exposing herself to the intergenerational trauma of the Atlantic Slave Trade. She traces her ancestors' lives for a greater purpose: creating art that reveals the wretched pain and intense beauty of the era while guiding her audience through an experiential journey toward healing and hope.

Nomads in the City 14 minutes- (WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?)

Nomads in the City is a short documentary film that gives insight into the Squatter community of modern London. From the perspective of females and queers, we explore how routine movement and evictions affect their day-to-day life, navigating the growing housing crisis and exploring alternative forms of living.

Local One 10 minutes-(WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?)

The Amazon Labor Union made history in 2022 by becoming the first group to successfully unionize an Amazon warehouse in the U.S. Two and a half years later, the company has refused to recognize the union and bargain a contract. To pressure the company to start negotiating, the Amazon Labor Union, now affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, launches a nationwide strike during peak holiday shopping season. From the filmmakers of the Award-winning film Union, Local One takes us into the first days of the strike at two Amazon warehouses in New York City, this time in solidarity with hundreds more workers across the country.

Virtual Ticket Option available here: https://resistanceofvision.eventive.org/schedule/67ef2125989d4cb1267e55e1

Soprano Jasmine Habersham will join the Orchestra from Atlanta as our soloist for the Barber. Ms. Habersham’s soprano has been called “radiant in voice” (Arts ATL), and Earrelevant called her Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto “…vocally luminous (as Gilda).” She will be making her Alabama Symphony debut with May’s performances.
ASO kicks off May 2025 with Entr’acte by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning North Carolinian composer Caroline Shaw. Following the Shaw, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 will transport listeners to a world of childhood wonder and familial warmth, where memories are cherished and time seems to stand still. With its gentle rhythms and tender harmonies, Knoxvillecaptures the essence of a fleeting moment in time.
After Intermission, the ASO will perform Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 “Romantic.” Composed in the late 19th century, it captures the essence of the Romantic era with its expansive melodies, lush harmonies, and majestic orchestration.
Free benefit with every ticket:

Conductor’s Comments with Maestro Carlos Izcaray!

Conductor’s Comments is a unique opportunity to hear Carlos Izcaray provide insights to better understand and appreciate the selections you will hear and learn about the journey of the Symphony and artists working to make the performance come together. Join us at 6:15pm before the concert in the Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall (upper level, next to main doors) of the Alys Stephens Center.

Artists
Carlos Izcaray, conductor
Jasmine Habersham, soprano

Program to Include
SHAW Entr’acte
BARBER Knoxville: Summer of 1915
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4, “Romantic”

Desi Banks