Artown announces youngest poster artist
Artown announced that its 2023 poster artist is Nusra Juma, 15, a former refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The press release reads, in part, “The youngest Artown commissioned artist in the organization’s history, Juma was awarded $3,000 for her vivid painting depicting a woman in colorful traditional African attire dancing against the backdrop of a vibrant Reno sunset.”
Juma spent much of her childhood in a refugee camp in Burundi, often drawing with pencils, the only available art material. After arriving in the U.S. in 2019, she picked up painting and continued honing her skills at Sparks Middle School.
Artown starts July 1
Artown, Reno’s annual summer arts and culture festival, kicks off Saturday, July 1. Ranky Tanky, a Gullah quintet from Charleston, S.C., will headline the opening night celebration at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, July 1, in downtown Reno’s Wingfield Park. Next up is a full month of concerts, theater, poetry, history talks, art and music workshops for kids, and other events, all over town—most of them free. Headliners include Nickel Creek on July 11, Mexican pop sibling duo Jesse + Joy on July 16, and Storm Large on July 20. The long list of local music acts includes Colin Ross, New Wave Crave and Graham Marshall, leader of the Reno Jazz Syndicate.
For the full schedule, visit artown.org, or pick up Artown’s Little Book at all Raley’s, Washoe County Public Libraries and Nevada State Bank branches, plus dozens of stores in Reno, Tahoe, Sparks and Carson City.
Six new Nevada Arts Council fellows include two from Reno
The Nevada Arts Council announced its six Visual Arts Fellows for 2023 earlier this month, including two from Reno—Glynn Cartledge and Miya Hannan.
Cartledge is an oil painter whose portraits and other work deal with issues related to incarceration. (Learn more at www.glynnbcartledge.com.) Hannan is a University of Nevada, Reno, art professor whose previous career in the medical field in Japan has influenced her sculpture installations, which elegantly address death and funeral practices.
The fellowship, which includes a $5,000 cash award, is intended “to encourage artistic excellence by providing financial support to outstanding artists.” Awards are given to visual artists some years, and literary and performing artists other years.
The other four artists who were awarded fellowships this year—Jeffrey Burden, Gig Depio, Bobbie Ann Howell and Brent Holmes—are all from Las Vegas.
Reno museums offer free summer admission to military families
The National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families—a support organization for military families—have teamed up to offer free admission to families who have a member on active duty in the military.
The program began on Armed Forces Day in May and will last through Labor Day, Sept. 4. The participating local museums include the National Automobile Museum, Nevada Historical Society, Nevada Museum of Art, and Sparks Heritage Museum. In Carson City, the Nevada State Museum and Nevada State Railroad Museum are participating, as are the Museum of Truckee History and Truckee-Donner Historical Society/Old Truckee Jail Museum in Truckee. There are also museums participating in Carson City, Elko, Ely, Las Vegas, Henderson, Overton and Boulder City.
Learn more at www.arts.gov/initiatives/blue-star-museums.
I am confused about the 24-hour Mural Contest on the Casino Wall on N Virginia St that used to be a Big Feature of Artown each year. What happened to the event? Thank you.