Arts and Culture in Kentucky

Mention Kentucky and the vast majority will picture thoroughbreds racing around the tracks at Churchill Downs, the smooth, brown pour of bourbon whiskey, or the swish of the basketball as it drops through the bottom of a net in Rupp Arena. But the Bluegrass state has so much more to offer than horses, hooch, and hoops—though the University of Kentucky's men's basketball program, the Wildcats, reigns supreme starting in January and running through the NCAA's March Madness tournament. Step off UK's campus, though, and you'll find a wealth of opportunities to explore in the state's quaint towns and bustling metropolises. HIGH ARTS   Many of Kentucky's high-art options can be found in the capital city of Louisville. Founded in 1937, theLouisville Orchestra calls Whitney Hall home. The ensemble, currently 71 members strong, plays symphonic classics as well as pop standards alongside such national acts as Arturo Sandoval, Bernadette Peters, film composer Randy Newman, and Mary Wilson of the Supremes. Staying in Louisville, the Kentucky Ballet Theatre (KBT) has provided the Bluegrass State with quality dance productions for the better part of a decade. In addition to a full season of performances, the KBT also offers an academy for up-and-coming dancers to train under the tutelage of artistic director Norbe Risco and Academy Director Rafaela Cento-Munoz. Also in Louisville is the Kentucky Opera, which has been performing since 1952 and was designated the State Opera of Kentucky in 1982. The opera performs in Whitney Hall in the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. But Louisville hasn't cornered the market of all of Kentucky's high art. The Lexington Philharmonic, under the leadership of conductor Scott Terrell, brings classics, pops, and a family series to Singletary Center on the campus of the University of Kentucky. Newport is home to the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, while Bowling Green in the western half of the state boasts a chamber orchestra, as well as the century-old Western Symphony Orchestra. Owensboro has both a renowned dance theater as well as a symphony orchestra. Since 2002, the London Community Orchestra has entertained the citizens of London, Kentucky. And you won't find a more cleverly named dance company in the state than Art! Art! Barking Dog Dance Company of Louisville. MUSEUMS Kentucky's rich history is captured in the state's multiple museums and memorials, which honor everything from the state's involvement in the Civil War to the annual horse races run at Churchill Downs at the end of April or early in May. To learn more about the Kentucky Derby, start at theKentucky Derby Museum, which opened to the public in 1985 and welcomes more than 200,000 guests a year. Visitors have marveled at the recent renovations, completed in 2000, which expanded the facility by 10,000 square feet, and cost approximately $10 million. Sponsored by the Kentucky Historical Society, the Kentucky Military History Museum in Frankfort offers a one-stop shop for lessons and tributes to the state's involvement in military conflicts over the years. The museum is part of a larger Kentucky Historical Society campus in downtown Frankfort, which also houses the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History and the Old State Capitol. Because of his years of political service in Illinois and Washington, D.C., people forget that our nation's 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, was born in Kentucky's Hardin County. Several Lincoln tributes lure history buffs to the Bluegrass State each year. The Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park and the Lincoln Museum in Hodgenville is located three miles from Lincoln's birthplace at Sinking Spring Farm. Tours and exhibits are offered year round, and it's recommended you watch the audiovisual presentation in the museum's visitor center to learn more than you thought possible about "Honest Abe." MUSIC Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State for two reasons. Thanks to a specifically fertile soil, there's an abundance of native bluegrass in the lush pastures that litter Kentucky's countryside. And, thanks to the contributions of music legend Bill Monroe, Kentucky is known for its bluegrass music. Born on a farm near Rosine, Monroe earned the nickname "Father of Bluegrass Music" for performing throughout the South in the 1930s and 1940s as a member of the Monroe Brothers, the Blue Grass Boys (with banjo master Earl Scruggs), and later as a solo artist. He rode a folk revival through the 1960s and early 1970s, and was introduced into the Country Music Hall of Fame (in 1970), the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (in 1971), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in 1997). Kentucky's proximity to Tennessee places it in country music territory, and multiple musical acts were born and raised there before moving to Nashville and points beyond. Billy Ray Cyrus, perhaps best known now as father to pop sensation Miley Cyrus, hails from Flatwoods. Judd sisters Naomi and Wynonna come from Ashland, as does sister Ashley, a Hollywood actor (and fervent supporter of Kentucky basketball). Pikeville has produced Dwight Yoakam and Patty Loveless, while Loretta Lynn was born and raised in Butcher Holler.   Kentucky's geographic location allows it to draw cultural inspirations from both the American South and the Midwest. That's reflected once a year when Louisville opens the doors of Freedom Hall to Southern Gospel's annual National Quarter Convention. The six-day event draws musicians, industry representatives, and fans to the area where they participate in seminars, recording sessions and—of course—concerts.  THEATER AND PERFORMING ARTS What does Kentucky have in common with New York City? Both offer theatergoers live Shakespeare in Central Park. Granted, Kentucky's outdoor landscape, located in Old Louisville, is significantly smaller than Manhattan's island oasis. But it plays host to the Bard nonetheless. The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival is the oldest free professional Shakespeare fest in the U.S. It takes place every summer, and attracts anywhere from 12,000 and 15,000 visitors a season. On a smaller level, Kentucky features several local performance troupes that cater to a wide range of theatrical tastes. These include the Ragged Edge Community Theatre in Harrodsburg, the Rose Barn Theatre in Richmond, the avant garde Shadowbox Cabaret in Newport, Lexington'sChildren's Theatre and Louisville's Stage One (which cater to young performers and young audience members), and the female-centered Pleiades Theatre Company in Louisville. Springfield’s The Opera House is home to several performing-arts events, though opera likely isn’t included. Instead, the venue houses a welcome center, crafter's market, and business offices for the Springfield Main Street Program and the Chamber of Commerce, among others. It also welcomes comedians, musicians, and theater productions to its 3,000-square-foot auditorium. Musical theater fans will want to investigate Music Theatre Louisville, the resident troupe of the Iroquois Amphitheatre in Kentucky's capital city. Off-Broadway fare often fills the schedule at the award-winning Actors Theatre of Louisville. For high-quality student performances, be sure to check out the Performing Arts Center (PAC) in Elizabethtown, which recently performed The Magical Music of Walt Disney to critical acclaim. Major touring productions coming through Kentucky—from Wicked and Chicago to Cats—stop by either the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in Louisville or the Singletary Center for the Arts, located on the University of Kentucky's campus in Lexington. Everyone from folkies the Indigo Girls to the Prague Symphony Orchestra has graced the Singletary stage. Other acts pass through the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland, which routinely stages concerts, Broadway shows, and the "Second Sunday Film Series." And of course, there is UK's Department of Theater, which stages plays and musicals at Singletary and in the school's Fine Arts Building. FILM It seems unfair. Robert Altman directs Nashville, a veritable masterpiece about Kentucky's neighbor to the south, and what does the Bluegrass State get? Cameron Crowe's disappointing love letter toElizabethtown. Not to worry. Plenty of major Hollywood talents hail from Kentucky, including George Clooney (and his aunt, Rosemary Clooney), Johnny Depp, Ned Beatty, Ashley Judd, and film director John Carpenter. Another iconic director, D.W. Griffith, grew up in Kentucky's Oldham Country. He is buried at Mt. Tabor Cemetery in Centerfield. The Kentucky Film Office also has worked hard over the years to ensure the state can serve as a scenic backdrop for movies both small and large. Sports films like Seabiscuit, Eight Men Out, and A League of Their Own shot scenes in the state. Sean Connery's James Bond traveled to Kentucky to battle evil in Goldfinger. Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones told the story of a Coal Miner's Daughter in Kentucky. And Wesley Snipes has shown an affinity for the state, filming both U.S. Marshals andDemolition Man here. And while you might have known Tom Cruise was in Kentucky for filming parts of Rain Man, did you know the mega-star also called Louisville home for part of his childhood? Kentucky film buffs have plenty of places to enjoy cinema as well. Hollywood's history is honored during the "Second Sunday Film Series" at Ashland's Paramount Arts Center, which replays cinematic classics on the big screen. The Kentucky Theatre programs classic, modern, and foreign films in Lexington for the college crowds. And retrospective series are common at Leeds Center for the Artsin Winchester. LITERARY ARTS Two names stand out when one discusses Kentucky's vast, distinguished literary history. First, there is Guthrie native Robert Penn Warren (All The King's Men), a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction and poetry who bears the distinction of being the first American named poet laureate. And then there is Lexington native James Lane Allen, who wrote around the same time as Warren and is considered to be Kentucky's first "important" novelist. Though he moved to New York to write about the Civil War and the country's Reconstruction era, Allen was buried back home in Lexington Cemetery. The Fountain of Youth memorial in Lexington's Grantz Park is dedicated to the memory of Allen. A more adventurous sort might be drawn to the musings of another Kentucky native, Hunter S. Thompson. Born in Louisville, Thompson is credited with inventing the "Gonzo" form of journalism, where reporters work their way into the story they're telling, using first-person narration to connect with a reader and regularly conflating facts and fantasy in order to make a political point. These are but a sample of the authors, journalists and poets who've sprung from the Bluegrass state. A thorough resource for tracking all things literate would be the "Kentucky Literary Newsletter," which was founded in 2002 and currently boasts more than 2,000 subscribers. VISUAL ARTS The Louisville Visual Art Association (LVAA) exists to promote local artists through cultural programs, exhibitions, classes, and community outreach exercises. The LVAA works with all age and skill levels, hosting children's fine arts classes and the popular "Open Door" program for fledgling artists with special needs or from low-income communities. In the northern part of the state, you'll find the Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center, a resource for artists and art students in and around the Covington area. Founded in 1972, the Carnegie offers events, exhibitions, and educational programs utilizing its Carnegie Galleries, a newly renovated Otto M. Budig Theatre, and the Eva G. Farris Education center. This is the largest arts venue in Northern Kentucky.  HANDICRAFT AND FOLK ART A popular practice in Kentucky when it comes to blending art with history is the construction of murals along the Ohio River, the largest tributary (by volume) of the Mississippi River. There are 10 floodwall murals in Maysville alone, honoring everything from the Underground Railroad to the musical contributions of native daughter Rosemary Clooney. These free exhibits are open year-round, and can be found along McDonald Parkway in downtown Maysville. Not to be outdone, Paducah also boasts a series of floodwall murals, which are featured in the 2009 commemorative book Paducah Wall to Wall: Portraits of Our Past. The book is available at a few spots around Paducha, including the town's National Quilt Museum and the River Heritage Museum. Proceeds benefit the maintenance of Paducah's murals. -World Trade Press