Arts Opportunities Abound

St. Louis may be a mid-sized city, but it has a myriad of opportunities in the arts. Last week, i attended the annual St. Louis Arts Awards for the third time since I moved here, and each year I am more amazed than the last at the breadth of talent in this town

.  Sponsored by the St. Louis Arts and Education Council, http://keeparthappening.org, and held at the Chase Park Plaza, this year’s 23rd annual awards ceremony honored a diverse group of organizations and individuals as follows: Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Excellence in the Arts; Jim McKelvey and Doug Auer, Third Degree Glass Factory, Arts Innovators; Jill McGuire, Regional Arts Commission, Lifetime Achievement in the Arts; Warner Baxter and Tom Voss, Ameren Corporation, Corporate Leadership in the Arts; Ken and Nancy Kranzberg, Excellence in Philanthropy; and Winifred Crock, Parkway Central High School, Art Educator of the Year.

To me, what is just as amazing as the range of arts-related opportunities in St. Louis is the fact that so many of them are FREE. 

A 2015 honoree, The Shakespeare Festival, is held each summer in Forest Park, http://www.sfstl.com, and features free performances of plays you’d pay to see elsewhere. The organization will celebrate its 15th year this summer with a performances of Anthony & Cleopatra in late May and early June.

  Every third Friday, the Third Degree Glass Factory, another 2015 Arts Award recipient, located on Delmar just east of the Delmar Loop, hosts a free family-friendly event featuring glassblowing and bead-making demonstrations, music, and rotating gallery exhibits. You also have to check out the amazing glass sinks in their bathrooms! http://www.thirddegreeglassfactory.com

  The St. Louis Muny offers 1,500 free seats to each of its performances. Details here: http://www.muny.org/tickets/free-seats

One of our girls favorite free art activities is visiting the St. Louis Arts Museum for Family Sundays, when they host special activities to get children engaged in the exhibits currently on display. http://slam.org

I am sure there are many more activities I haven’t mentioned, so if you’ve got a favorite free opportunity please share it in the comments section!