Kentucky Arts and Culture

Bardstown-based Heaven Hill Distilleries will create 14 full-time jobs and invest $9.5 million in Louisville’s historic district, opening a multi-million dollar artisanal distillery, tourism and retail attraction called The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience along what historically is known as “Whiskey Row” on West Main Street. Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson joined company and local officials Thursday to announce The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, which is set to open in September 2013 at the Heaven Hill building, a 5-story facility that is more than a century old.

The Bluegrass Boardwalk group has been granted preliminary approval for state tax incentives this week, bringing the amusement park one step closer to opening. The group is owned by Indiana’s Koch family, which also operates Holiday World in Indiana. The Kentucky State Fair Board agreed to lease the former Kentucky Kingdom property to the Koch’s earlier this year.

Kentucky native Wendell Barry delivered a prestigious lecture in the nation's capital last evening.  He used the address to rail against corporate greed and to call people back to the land.   The government says the Jefferson lecture is the nation's most prestigious honor it bestows on academics. Berry - a farmer, conservationist and writer - now joins the ranks of John Updike and Toni Morrison who have delivered the annual address in the past. In the hour long talk Berry exhorted the more than two thousand people in attendance to resist greed by connecting themselves to the earth as he's attempted to do on his Kentucky farm.

A modern arts “corner” is evolving in Lexington.  Besides plans to locate a 21-C Museum-Hotel at the intersection of Main and Upper Streets, the Lexington Arts League has its eye on the same corner.  Rich Copley of the Lexington Herald Leader talks move about what those developments may mean for the community.  He also previews a celebration this weekend of vinyl records and the machines that translate them into music.

Workers at the Louisville Slugger Factory are making special bats this week to mark the anniversary of Major League Baseball’s oldest ballpark. The bats being turned out at the company’s downtown factory will be used by some members of the Boston Red Sox this Friday. That’s when they’ll take on the New York Yankees and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox.

Mammoth Cave is celebrating National Park Week April 21-29 by offering a week of free tours and activities. Mammoth Cave Public Information Officer Vickie Carson says Mammoth Cave wasn’t required to offer free tours during the week—unlike parks that charge admission fees. But officials decided to offer two of the park’s cave tours—the Discovery and Mammoth Passage tours—free of charge on certain days.

A new documentary on Kentucky farming will debut on the state’s public TV stations next weekend.  Coming to Ground is a 90 minute production of a Kentucky-based media production and education organization called Media Working Group. 

The struggles of Australia’s first residents mirror the experience of Native Americans.  A leading aboriginal artist brings his work this weekend to the Art Museum at the University of Kentucky.  Another set of Australians are also in town, interpreting music written about the American Midwest.  And, “Portugal, The Man” make a stop in Lexington that’s a pleasant surprise to Rich Copley.  The arts-culture reporter for the Lexington Herald Leader previews all three shows.

The third installment in a nationally-acclaimed series of musicals inspired by Appalachia is performed tonight at Eastern Kentucky University.  

Gov. Steve Beshear and first lady Jane Beshear Wednesday announced that the 76th annual Governor’s Derby Celebration will be held in downtown Frankfort for the second year in a row. The celebration will be held on Kentucky Derby Day, Saturday, May 5 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. EDT and is free and open to the public. “Jane and I are thrilled to once again host visitors to our historic capitol city for this family-friendly Derby Celebration,” Beshear said in a press release from his office.

A new arts venue opens tomorrow in Lexington.  The Central Library on Main Street has renovated its Farish Theater.  In its first month, Library Director Ann Hammond said the 139-seat theater hosts free events on 28 straight days. 

Louisville Orchestra management is meeting today to discuss the latest contract offer from the musicians union, but management officials already say the offer is too vague. The orchestra has not performed in over a year and the players and management have been unable to agree to terms of a new contract. A letter sent to orchestra management this week says musicians are willing to enter into binding arbitration with the management, under several conditions that orchestra CEO Robert Birman called vague.

This is one of those weekends when Kentucky culture displaces, at least in part, Kentucky arts.  Most of the state is distracted by the Kentucky teams who face off in college basketball’s Final Four.  Rich Copley of the Lexington Herald Leader has a summary of watering holes where fans can watch the semi-final.  He also has praise for a production of Three Musketeers at Woodford Theater and we look inside a new venue in central Kentucky for the performing, musical and cinematic arts.

The set of blockbuster books known as “The Hunger Games” promises to be a blockbuster film.  Kentucky has strong ties to the movie.  Two natives are in lead roles and they battle in a futuristic Appalachia.  With a preview of “The Games,” a special performance of the Lexington Philharmonic and an art show that revives the daguerreotype is Rich Copley of the Lexington Herald Leader.

Some 700 pieces of Coca-Cola memorabilia will be auctioned this weekend in Elizabethtown. The items are part of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia, which closed last year. The Schmidt family was among the first in the country to bottle the soft drink, opening a plant in 1901. Coca-Cola memorabilia expert Gary Metz estimates the auction of signs, rare posters, antique serving trays and other items could fetch more than $2 million.

“The Bad Seed” is a 60 year old story of the original "creepy, little kid."  But a revival in Lexington of the drama focuses not on the little sociopath, but on the adults who surround her.  Arts and Culture Reporter Rich Copley of the Lexington Herald Leader previews productions of “The Bad Seed,” “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” and the premiere of an Easter Cantata based on the life of Christ.

The Kentucky Headhunters and Exile are among the new class of Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and Museum inductees announced today in Lexington. Seven native Kentucky artists will be inducted next year. The Kentucky Headhunters (top right), with roots in the western Kentucky community of Edmonton, shot to fame in the 1980s with hits like “Dumas Walker” and are still recording and performing.

Joining the Kentucky Commission on Women, Gov. Steve Beshear honored three distinguished women on Tuesday for their illustrious careers and significant contributions to the commonwealth. The governor announced that Willa Beatrice Brown, Joan Riehm and Crit Luallen were inducted into the “Kentucky Women Remembered” exhibit to mark Women’s History Month. As part of the honor, their portraits will be displayed alongside past inductees in the state Capitol.