Lxi Weber, Executive Director, and Corinne Storey, board member, with the Star Valley Arts Council called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Wednesday, July 22 to discuss upcoming events including Montana Shakespeare in the Parks this Sunday, the Alpine Art Festival in August and Star Valley Plein Air in October.

The following transcript of the above interview is AI generated. Minor spelling errors are likely to occur.

(0:00) It is the weekday wake up this morning and speaking now with Lexi Weber, the executive (0:04) director of the Star Valley Arts Council, and also board member Corinne Story with the Arts (0:09) Council as well live today. Lexi, Corinne, good morning. How are you both doing today? (0:15) I’m doing great, thank you.

(0:18) Perfect. Well, I appreciate both of you joining a number of events up and coming. Corinne, (0:21) I think we need to start with you.

You have done such a great job bringing back the Montana (0:25) Shakespeare in the Parks for this Sunday’s performance of Much Ado About Nothing. (0:30) Tell us about the performance this upcoming Sunday evening. (0:34) Well, we are so happy to be hosting them.

This is their 54th season of bringing these plays to (0:42) rural Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. This is a free community event and it requires no tickets, (0:52) so everyone is welcome. It is a great family event and Afton Tourism Board and Creative (0:59) West are generous sponsors this year.

It is a world-class troupe of 11 professional actors (1:06) and they’re so funny and talented. And this is Shakespeare’s original rom-com, (1:14) so Much Ado About Nothing, it blends, you know, dark subjects, but also it is about two (1:24) young couples that have a lot of things that it has to do with things that we deal with today. (1:34) It’s a crowd-pleaser that we can relate to.

Romance, jealousy, gossip, eavesdropping, (1:40) there’s a lot of chaos, but there’s a resolution at the end. Happy ending. (1:45) Love it, love it.

And, you know, it’s one of those things where maybe if you’re listening to this, (1:50) I don’t know anything about Shakespeare. I know nothing other than what I had to do in school (1:54) and I’ve since forgotten. This is family-friendly and it’s a fun show.

I mean, don’t let the (1:59) Shakespeare name, I guess, intimidate you by any means. Go out and watch it. (2:05) Exactly.

(2:06) Perfect. Corinne, this is free to the public, as you mentioned. It’s going to take place at (2:11) Starview Park.

The show starts at 6, the performance, but you have some pre-shows (2:15) happening early that you want to get to, right? Tell us about those. (2:19) Yes. Please arrive before 5.15 with your chairs and blankets and a picnic to enjoy.

We have a (2:27) young dancer. She’s going to be doing a couple of clogging numbers. Her name is Kendall Anderson.

(2:33) And then we also have a group called Pro Musica Amici. It means friends and favorite music. (2:41) They’re going to be doing magical singing and renaissance chamber music performances.

(2:48) Love it. So don’t miss the pre-shows, local performers, youth performers, 5.15. (2:53) This upcoming Sunday is when the pre-show begins and then much ado about nothing at 6 o’clock PM. (3:00) It is going to be in the park, but a good idea to maybe bring your own chairs and blankets, (3:05) right, Corinne? Absolutely.

Yes. It’ll be nice because we have shade at the park (3:10) and it should be a nice, relaxing, enjoyable evening for everybody. (3:15) Excellent.

That’s Corinne Story, board member with the Star Valley Arts Council (3:18) and the Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. Returns to Star Valley in Afton (3:21) this Sunday, pre-show at 5.15. Show begins at 6 o’clock at Starview Park in Afton, (3:28) free to attend Shakespeare in the Parks. Also Lexi Weber, executive director of the (3:33) Star Valley Arts Council.

Lexi, I know you have some events you want to talk about, but (3:36) as the executive director, I want to give you a chance to talk about Shakespeare as well. (3:40) This has just been a great tradition annually for the Arts Council, but it’s great to see it come (3:45) back. Yes, it’s really, really great.

And I have not ever been super familiar with Shakespeare, (3:52) but because of this job and starting to attend these, (3:56) I really love it. I remember being really nervous that I would even understand it when I first (4:01) attended, but they make it so easy to follow. Even for my kids, they understand it, they laugh, (4:07) they love it.

Perfect. It really is for everyone. So stop by 5.15, pre-show, 6 o’clock for the (4:14) show starting this Sunday.

Lexi, also coming up, the Alpine Art Festival is returning next month. (4:20) Less than a month away now. Yes, the Alpine Art Festival is on August 14th and 15th.

We hold this (4:27) on the Bank of Jackson Hole lawn, and it will go from 10 to five each day. This event is in (4:33) conjunction with the Alpine Car Show and the Street Market, which is great because it boosts (4:37) attendance for all of us to have it together. We’re accepting vendor applications until August (4:43) 8th.

And then we also just really want to invite the community to attend the art festival. We have (4:48) vendors who make pottery and jewelry, furniture, photography, fine art, (4:52) and we’re getting more applications almost daily. So it’s going to be just a really fun event to (4:58) attend with your families.

We’ll also have music, live music in the afternoon, both days. And so (5:05) to learn more about what we have going on or to apply to be a vendor, we have all the information (5:10) on our website. Perfect.

Yeah. Find all the details at starbodyarts.org, August 14th through (5:15) the 15th for the Alpine Art Festival. And this has become a favorite for a lot of people, (5:21) artist or not artist, the Star Valley Plain Air event.

This has turned into a great annual (5:28) tradition that’s coming back in October. Yes. I’m glad that you say that because this one (5:33) really is my favorite and I want the community to be aware of it and hopefully grow to love it as (5:39) well.

So this is our fifth year. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say, tell us about it.

So you’re (5:43) on track there. Our fifth year holding this event, it will go from October 3rd to 10th. (5:49) And this is a valley-wide event.

In the past years, we’ve had a range of 30 to 60 artists (5:55) join us from all over the country. They come and they paint the landscapes of our valley. (5:59) They’re drawn here because of how beautiful it is.

That’s why they come. These artists get to spend (6:06) six days painting scenes from our valley, and then they submit those pieces for judging and (6:12) then for a sale. So that sale takes place on October 9th through 10th at the Western Skies (6:17) Fine Art Gallery in Afton.

A lot of times those artists are there. Doug has made it such a (6:23) welcoming environment in that gallery. He’s got some sofas and things.

So the artists hang out in (6:28) there. They get to chat with people who come to see their work. That makes it really fun.

(6:33) So if you’re an artist that wants to join us, we have our registration open on our website (6:37) through October 2nd. But our early bird registration ends on July 31st. We have a (6:46) beginner category as well as an experienced category.

So everyone really is welcome to join us. (6:52) And then the last thing is that we are also looking for purchase award sponsors for this event. (6:58) That simply means that you commit a specific amount of money to exchange for a painting of (7:03) your choice at the sale.

So it’s different than just purchasing a painting because the amount is (7:10) more than the purchase price because it’s also an award. So if any individuals or businesses (7:16) are interested in being a sponsor and they get to take home an incredible art piece, (7:20) you can reach out to me. Our email address is hello at starvalleyarts.org. (7:25) Love it.

I highly encourage sponsorships. SBI has done it the last couple of years and we have (7:29) two paintings hanging in our studio here. Love it because it’s local and done that week.

So (7:34) absolutely. It’s coming in October. Star Valley Plain Air.

All the details there also at (7:38) starvalleyarts.org. Lexi Weber, Executive Director of the Star Valley Arts Council and (7:43) Corinne Story, part of the board. Lexi, Corinne, anything we missed that you’d like to touch on (7:46) today? That’s it for me. I’ll see you on Sunday evening.

Sounds great. Thank you very much, Duke. (7:53) I appreciate your time today.

It’s all part of the weekday wake up this morning on the SBI (7:57) Radio Network.