Thursday, September 2 at 6:30pm
- 6:30pm Imagine! Public Art in the Plaza Official Ribbon Cutting: Show your heart for the arts! Come cheer with us as we officially kick off Imagine! See the Community of Kites installation revealed and the mural artists begin their designs and more!
- 7pm Everyone is welcome! Enjoy The Joy Collective’s opening performance created by Mark Schmidt and Remi Harris followed by a community dance party! Come celebrate and learn The Market Street Slide! Presented by American Dance Asylum with support from the NYS DanceForce, and sponsored by Corning Pride. Masks required to join in the dance. View the program here.
Friday, September 3 from 1pm – 8pm
- 1pm – 2:30pm Community Haiku Workshop: Bring a chair or blanket, pencil and notebook and drop in to learn the art of writing Haiku with local writer and poet Michael Czarnecki.
- 3:30pm – 4:30pm Poetry Reading and Open Mic: Come enjoy an afternoon of local prose! Poet and Publisher, Michael Czarnecki, will do a poetry reading and open up the floor to other poets to read, as well. Bring a chair or blanket to relax and enjoy the reading under the cover of the ice rink. Rain or shine!
- 4pm – 8pm Corning Museum of Glass Hands On Activity: A drop in hands-on activity making an iridescent bookmark! Learn about iridescence and glass!
- 4:30pm – 7pm Circus Culture Pop Up Performance: Performance by Kevin Flanagan.
- 5pm – 7pm Can’t Count Trio, Jazz in the Plaza: Stroll the plaza to view the installations, groove in the LINK MOVEMENT LOUNGE and participate in the community art activities while enjoying jazz standards by Can’t Count Trio.
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5pm -7pm Southeast Steuben County Library Birdhouse Craft with the Crows Nest Artists: Create fun, funky bird houses and feeders out of recycled, found and natural materials with the expertise of Gwen Quigley and Tony Moretti. Decorate the Civic Center Plaza for the Imagine, Public Art in the Plaza event during Labor Day weekend. Take your project home after the workshop, or leave it installed until September 6. This is a multi-generational workshop, fun for families or simply for kids of all ages, plus the results are great for the birds and world. Use this opportunity to be creative, use tools, build and decorate. This activity is made possible with donated funds received in memory of E. Jacqueline Welles.
- 5:45pm – 6:30pm LINK Movement Lounge: with Choreographer Amy Bush, Link Movement Arts Center. Drop in and explore instructor led and improvised dance fun – join in and get groovin! You will be so glad you did! No experience necessary and accessible to all levels of mobility.
- 6pm – 8pm Zentangle Community Art Activity: Learn the ABC’s of Zentangle! with artist Gail Lewis. All tools and take home materials will be provided.
- 7pm – 8pm Shakespeare Without Walls: A fun and family friendly romp performed by a band of Shakespearian fools highlighting some of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes. Bring your takeout or picnic, blanket or chair and immerse yourself in the Bard in open air! Rain or Shine!
Saturday, September 4 from 1pm – 8pm
- 1pm – 2pm Community Ebb & Flow Yoga with Zen Phoenix Yoga: Dance inspired flowy, rhythmic sequences energize and prime the body, the mind, and the soul leading into yin and restorative postures to help provide a blissful, restful journey into deep reflection and release. Bring your mat and join the flow!
- 1pm – 3:30pm Pop Up Dance Inspirations: Performance by Sharing Space Dance Collective with artistic director Amy Bush.
- 1pm – 4pm Corning Public Theatre’s Theatrical Mask Making Station: Join the Masquerade! Come have fun creating a personal theatrical mask!
- 1pm – 5pm Spinning & Textile Demonstrations with The Heritage Village: The Heritage Village will have interactive and passive demonstrations representing life in the 1800s.
- 2pm – 3pm Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes: Conducted by Toshiyuki Shimada, a chamber ensemble from the OSFL will perform a concert of classical and film music. Bring your own chair or blanket to enjoy this family friendly performance in the covered ice rink. Picnics welcome.
- 3pm – 6pm Circus Culture Pop Up Performance: Performance by Kevin Flanagan.
- 3:30pm – 4:30pm Elmira Little Theatre Quick Fixes One Act Play Competition Winner Performance: Bring your own chair or blanket to experience this locally written show!
- 2pm – 6pm 171 Cedar Arts Mixed Media Family Fun! Get creative and make a mixed media art piece together! All supplies provided by 171 Cedar Arts Center.
- 5pm – 6pm Harpist: Harp performance featuring Rossana Moore.
- 6:30 – 8pm Music by Pat Kane and West O’Clare: Pat Kane, beloved local Irish Singer and Musician, with his talented band West O’Clare, will entertain us all! While Pat’s Irish heritage is the primary focus of the band, all the members contribute their individual qualities to create a truly regional style. Bring a take-out or a picnic supper, blanket or chair, and enjoy an evening of music in the open air! Rain or Shine!
Sunday, September 5 from 1pm – 6pm
- 1pm – 2pm: Elmira Little Theatre Quick Fixes One Act Play Competition Winner Performance: Bring your own chair or blanket to experience this locally written show! Picnics/Take Out welcome. Please no glass.
- 1pm – 3:30pm Feather Painting with Doves Ascending:
Meet the birds of Doves Ascending, and decorate their molted feathers with paint! Then, watch as we release the doves at 3 PM. Enter a Raffle to participate in the release!
- 1pm – 4pm Corning Public Theatre’s Theatrical Mask Making Station: Join the Masquerade! Come have fun creating a personal theatrical mask!
- 1pm – 5pm Spinning & Textile Demonstrations with The Heritage Village: The Heritage Village will have interactive and passive demonstrations representing life in the 1800s.
- 2pm – 3pm Shakespeare Without Walls: A fun and family friendly romp performed by a band of Shakespearian fools highlighting some of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes. Bring your takeout or picnic, blanket or chair and immerse yourself in the Bard in open air! Rain or Shine!
- 3pm Drag Storytime with Vanessa le Diva: Bring a blanket or chair to enjoy storytelling, music and a fabulous and educational program that is fun for the whole family. Attendees are introduced to inclusive literature, fun songs, and ASL basics.
- 4pm – 4:45pm Cantata Singers, Requiem for the Living: Beautiful, life affirming music by Chemung County native Dan Forrest. Music that honors those lost to Covid and will comfort and inspire all who survive. Bring your blanket or chair and picnic to experience this moving choral concert.
- 5pm – 6pm Closing Performance by John Walton and Family: Final performance for our community at Imagine! Public Art in the Plaza featuring the Walton family and their joyful gospel music.
IMAGINE! ART INSTALLATIONS & Artist Demonstrations
(on view for the entire event)
The Rockwell Museum: Mural Demonstration, Silver Linings by Guest Artist, Tori Burdick & Jess Smith. Watch this stunning mural come to life over the course of our Imagine! Public Art celebration all weekend long.
Community Arts of Elmira/Elmira Infinite Canvas with Somostrada Arts: Artist Sam “SOMO” Somostrada Muraling Visions of Elmira, Thursday, September 2, 2021, 5:00-8:00pm and Saturday, September 4, Noon – 3:00pm during Imagine! Public Art in the Plaza. Somostrada will begin the portable mural Visions of Elmira at the Corning Civic Center Plaza, Corning, New York, and finish the mural on the Elmira Creative Corridor, Elmira, New York, at a date to be announced. Read the full description here.
Southeast Steuben County Library: Sculpture Garden Demonstration: Sunflower Sculpture by artist, Tony Moretti.
CareFirst: Grief Tree Sculpture by Artists Tony Moretti & Gwen Quigley. Like the roots of a tree, we have all been connected through the losses experienced during COVID. Take a moment to acknowledge that grief by writing or drawing on a strip of fabric and add it to the tree. By expressing these losses together, we emerge lighter and stronger.
Installation of Community Created Weaving by Artist, Erica Unterman. This Community Created Weaving has been under-construction since 2013 when the Giant Tube Loom used to create it was first built. Over 300 sets of community members have learned the technique of round weaving and helped to create this piece of art. This installation has taken history and popped it into a larger dimension fit for garden seating or aerial installation. Read the full description here.
The Earth Pushes Back: An Interactive Installation by Artist, Shannah Warwick. Based on the process of sewing shaped tulle fabric pieces onto a dyed background fabric this installation aligns with the large kite Shannah created for Art Lifts Us Up!
Art Lifts Us Up! A Community of Kites installation concept by Imagine! Creative Director, Meghan O’Toole. Look up to the ice rink ceiling and see messages of hope on handmade kites to encourage us through Covid times. Kites were created by commissioned Finger Lakes artists, individual community members, and local businesses and organizations.
Southeast Steuben County Library Community Mural Window: Grab a marker and create your art or leave words of inspiration and hope on the outside of the Library’s windows facing the Civic Center Plaza.
Spontaneous Art Inspirations and Street Performers
Throughout IMAGINE! SPONTANEOUS ART INSPIRATIONS AND STREET PERFORMERS will pop up in the plaza for your entertainment all weekend long.
Thank you to our sponsors
