The Phipps Center for the Arts

Celebrate the creative spirit with us during The Phipps’s 2007-08 season.

The Phipps is the primary center for the arts in the St. Croix Valley of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The Center offers the broadest scope of programming and the greatest involvement of volunteers among the various arts organizations in the region. As it has grown over the past two decades, The Phipps has succeeded in its efforts to make the artistic, cultural, and educational benefits it provides accessible to the widest possible spectrum of artists and audiences in its community and region.

First of all, join us as we present the Minnesota Orchestra in a free outdoor concert in Hudson’s Lakefront Park band shell, across from The Phipps Center, on Sunday, July 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Then consider the many and varied season ticket options for the following series:

• The theater series includes the charming musical I Do! I Do!, the outrageous comedy Let’s Murder Marsha, the delightful family musical Seussical, The Phipps Children’s Theater production of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and the witty theatrical comedy The Play’s the Thing.

• The music series highlights the internationally renowned pianist Teresa Walters, an evening of chamber music with members of the Minnesota Orchestra and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the outstanding soprano Maria Jette, the British-style Lake Wobegon ® Brass Band, and the acclaimed Encore Wind Ensemble.

• The organ series features a tribute to Broadway by Walt Strony; classic American popular music by Jim Riggs; the music of Gershwin and Porter by Chris Gorsuch; a varied program plus silent film comedy shorts accompanied by Dennis James; and jazz selections, music of the ‘30s and ‘40s, as well as popular classics by Charlie Balogh.

• The special events series includes Dances, Chances, Circumstances – The 5th Element, The Phipps Festival Chorus Christmas concerts, Tony Sandler interpreting The Great International Songbook, The Phipps Oratorio Society Chorus and Orchestra performing Brahms’s German Requiem, and folk/blues/jazz singer Claudia Schmidt.

And, of course, perennial favorites the Upper Mississippi Jazz Band.

Season ticket packages are only $80 for five events or $54 for three performances of your choice. I know of no other theater in the area that offers such diverse entertainment at such affordable prices.

• In 2007–08, the work of approximately 700 artists will be displayed in nine exhibitions in The Galleries, through the Gift Gallery, in the Healing Arts Program, and at the annual Afton Art in the Park. Featured shows include the Annual Members’ Art Exhibition, the Northstar Watercolor Society Exhibition, the Annual Area High School Art Exhibition, and A Gift by the Hand.

• Through the Healing Arts Program, a collaboration with Hudson Hospital, original work by over 60 area artists is shown throughout the hospital. The Phipps off-site exhibition program also includes a partnership with Croixdale Senior Housing Center in Bayport. There, work by area artists is exhibited on a rotating basis in the most public areas of the facility.

• In partnership with the St. Croix Valley Community Foundation, The Phipps developed a new program called The Bench Project. This public art project actively engages local community groups throughout the St. Croix Valley to work with area artists to design, create, locate, and care for a unique bench. During the pilot year, benches were developed and created in Bayport, St. Croix Falls, and Hudson. With proper funding, the program will continue with the addition of two benches created by different communities each year.

• Lesson, classes, and workshops in the performing and visual arts will be offered on a weekly basis during 2007-08. Subjects include many styles of dance, tai chi, yoga, acting, voice, creative dramatics, strings, flute, artists’ professional development, and visual arts in a wide variety of media for all ages and skill levels.

Thank you for your continued trust, confidence, and patronage. I look forward to seeing you at many of this season’s exciting productions, concerts, and exhibitions. Enjoy!