Fine art is alive and well in Galveston, or is it? In the first weekend in October, a year after Hurricane Ike’s devastation, I went to three different artistic presentations in Galveston. They were all excellent.
One night of that weekend was the provocative film series at the Unitarian Fellowship of Galveston. For years, the fellowship has been selecting and presenting films of a quality that is unusual for Galveston, those that are thought provoking or artistically challenging. The film series is free and open to the public, and snacks and drinks are provided by volunteers. Donations are accepted.
Always on a first Friday night of the month at 7 p.m., the film in October was “The Singing Revolution,” a documentary of the use of folk song festivals in Estonia, which succeeded in supporting the bloodless revolutionary breakaway from the Soviet Union. Eight people were there to view this outstanding film, not otherwise seen in Galveston.
The next night, I went to see the Island East End Theater Company’s production of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe” performed at The Strand Theatre. After the destruction of Hurricane Ike, the ETC joined with The Strand Theatre to resume productions of locally produced live theater in Galveston. The house, that is the size of the audience, was barely one third of the capacity of the smallish auditorium.
That Sunday evening, I attended the opening of the serious concerts of the Galveston Symphony (following their earlier pops concert in September). The Grand Opera House had a sprinkling of patrons who were obviously less than a full house with perhaps fewer than a quarter of the seats occupied.
Galveston still is rebuilding after the destruction of 2008’s Hurricane Ike. This is one islander by choice whose point of view is that a significant measure of that rebuilding is the support of the arts, especially the performing arts, locally produced in the city.
The recent Art-to-ber-fest in The Strand area is a good sign, as it was well attended, aided by the simultaneous pub crawl of the Clean Galveston event. Yet, the arts in Galveston are of a more diverse quality than just those two events, and deserving of much more support and attendance from not just the stalwart Galveston community but also the larger area as well. Who cares about the resurgence of the arts in Galveston? I do.
