Christmas trees meet artistries this week in New Haven, as a couple of shiny, new (and fleeting) holiday shopping opportunities present themselves.
Monday, November 30
IMDb’s summary of The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)—as “a surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together”—makes it sound intriguing enough. But organizers of the free 6:30 screening tonight at the Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St, New Haven) are offering something extra: an introduction by UC Berkeley film professor Linda Williams, an expert on both surrealism and Bourgeoisie’s director, Luis Bunuel. Free.
Tuesday, December 1
This year’s New Haven Tree Lighting Celebration, free to attend from 4 to 8 p.m. today on the New Haven Green, seems to be going extra-big—not with the size of the tree, which is always huge, but with the surrounding activities. They seem to have a little more oomph thanks to a carousel and a ferris wheel, rounding out a menu that includes carriage rides, mobile food sellers, “visits with Santa” and sets by local performing arts groups. Other tree lightings this week: Guilford, North Branford and Westville on Friday; Hamden on Saturday; and Madison, North Haven and Orange on Sunday.
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Wednesday, December 2
On this predicted-to-be-rainy Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., Yale’s Loria Center for the History of Art (190 York St, New Haven) is offering mulled wine—as in, wine considered. The person prompting the mulling is Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre, a Trinity College professor of history whose research of late has focused on the historical relationships between England and its former colonies through the lens of the wine trade. “The Reception & Consumption of Colonial Wine in Great Britain, c. 1860-1940,” her talk is called. Free.
Thursday, December 3
San Fermin’s story is unusually charmed, having signed an enviable record deal after just one live show. Odder still, it was signed for something more than moneymaking or, relatedly, getting teenagers on board. Instead, San Fermin pursues musicianship and brain-foodies, producing records where multiple lead voices, eclectic grooves and brass and string parts change and cross paths like characters in a great novel—a metaphor made realer by literary lyrics like, “We went the two of us into / the woods behind the little school / Two went in and one went home / We didn’t go in there alone… I was a boy and I was good, but there are witches in these woods.” You can follow San Fermin into the woods tonight at the Ballroom at The Outer Space (295 Treadwell St, Hamden; 203-288-6400), where Sam Amidon—a banjo-ing, fiddling folk artist who sings with a stoicism that hints at much more—is opening a 9 p.m., $15 bill.
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Friday, December 4
Today at the New Haven Lawn Club, the Arts Council (203-772-2788; info@newhavenarts.org) holds its marquee event of the year: the 2015 Arts Awards Luncheon, this time recognizing those who’ve demonstrated “the power of individuals and groups to respond to artistic and logistical challenges through reinvention.” The winners—curator Paul Clabby, sculptor Susan Clinard, dancer Melinda Marquez, musician Steve Rodgers and the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, plus musician/educator Willie Ruff, who’s receiving a lifetime achievement award—customarily speak while accepting their prize, and thanks to a new “social hour” before the luncheon, there’s time to hear other attendees speak, too. Tickets cost $95 for Arts Council members and $110 for non-members. 193 Whitney Avenue, New Haven.
As of this writing, there are only 12 $10 tickets left for tonight’s 6-to-8-p.m. Cookies On9, which spreads 13 types of cookies (also brownies) across 18 Ninth Square stops including initial check-in spot Baobab Tree Studios (71 Orange St, New Haven). One of the other cookie stops, Artspace (50 Orange St, New Haven), is simultaneously hosting an opening reception for two new exhibits: hello, world!, a joint exhibit offering “a visual syntax of queer experiences,” and Project. Fold. Collapse., a solo effort exploring the intelligibility of 3D objects expressed two-dimensionally.
Saturday, December 5
From 2 to 9 p.m., Holiday Haven 2015 floods the Happiness Lab (756 Chapel St, New Haven) with local vendors bearing gifts for the conscientious consumers and/or hipsters on your list: vintage clothing (Vintanthromodern), woodworking (B. Meyer Studio), handmade accessories (Kate Stephen Jewelry), custom lighting (Stonehill Design), “hand-loomed” knits (Peterson Sweater Co.) and fair-trade vegan beauty products (Poor & Pretty), among other goodies. Speaking of goodies, to go with HL’s coffee and light fare, food trucks The Farm Belly and Lunch Box 23’ll be parked outside for the occasion, serving meals you might decide to finish with interior vendor Whisk + Brush’s “mini handmade doughnuts.” Free to attend.
Sunday, December 6
Also free to attend, the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven (360 Amity Rd, Woodbridge; 203-387-2522) hosts its 12th annual Craft & Gift Fair today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Promising “over 50 artisans, crafters and vendors from all over New England” selling “pottery, art work, accessories, home decor, jewelry, glass works, skin care, clothing and much more,” it might just be the most concentrated holiday pop-up shop of the season, with hungry shoppers able to refuel at the JCC’s soup- and sandwich-slinging cafe run by New Haven’s own Edge of the Woods grocery.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
