A Delray event brings a bit of Wynwood to Old School Square, the Boynton Night Market lights up the night, and the Norton opens a climate change-inspired video series. Plus, Art & Jazz and more in your week ahead.
WEDNESDAY
What: Art & Jazz on the Avenue
Where: East Atlantic Avenue, downtown Delray Beach
When: 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/243-1077, downtowndelraybeach.com
This week marks the final Art & Jazz event for the next three months, with Atlantic Avenue from Swinton to Northeast Fifth a bustle of music and art making, children’s activities, pop-up vendors and street dining. Delray’s DDA is going all out for this midsummer fete, adding a fourth spot for live music. If there is a “main stage,” it’s probably Tin Roof, which welcomes jazz artist Nikki Kidd at 5:30 p.m. and veteran lock rockers Spider Cherry at 7:30. Meanwhile, Ginetta’s Vendetta plays its big band-style jazz at 5:30 p.m. at the Northeast Second and Atlantic Avenue stage, followed by the Motown hits of FM Band Miami at 7:30 p.m. Visitors can also enjoy the classic rock of SPEKTORA from 7 to 11 p.m. at Johnnie Brown’s; the fourth stage, at Avalon Gallery, features reggae artist CAPE Universal at 5:30 p.m. and the jazz-rockers Joe Freer Band at 7:30.
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
What: Delray Walls Mural Fest
Where: Amphitheatre and Park at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
When: 4 to 10 p.m.
Cost: Free, $10 or $50 VIP
Contact: 561/243-1077, downtowndelraybeach.com
This weekend marks only the second-annual Delray Walls Mural Fest, but last year’s inaugural event was so successful that Delray Walls already feels like a community staple—and a reminder of the city’s unique regional status as a haven for the arts. Beginning on Friday night, street artists from throughout the tri-county area will begin painting murals set up on large wooden panels in the park, and continue throughout Saturday; attendees can observe their progress and even contribute to certain audience-interactive murals. The evenings also feature live music, including a free concert Friday with SoFla “feel-good reggae” progenitors Spred the Dub and openers Bad Apple Brass Band and steel drummer Brian Haddis. Saturday’s show, featuring Latin reggae rocker Bachaco, costs $10, with $50 VIP options available for both days.
What: “Seeking”
Where: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $30-$50
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
It’s always great to see a homegrown project flourish. The new play “Seeking” began in 2022 as a staged reading at the Broward Center, and it returns two years later for this world-premiere production. Darius V. Daughtry, whose arts-and-culture nonprofit Art Prevails produced the play, wrote “Seeking,” which features an all-Black cast and a lead character based at least partially on Daughtry’s own experiences. This protagonist is an aspiring musician who stands to receive a financial windfall upon the death of his absent father. But can he forgive his father’s previous sins? A meditation on family relationships, pursuing one’s dreams, and the ripple effects of the past on the future, “Seeking” runs one weekend only, and is funded through the Broward Center’s Arts for Action: Black Voices program.
SATURDAY
What: Opening day of “Surroundings: Video Encounters of Nature”
Where: Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $15-$18
Contact: 561/832-5196, norton.org
Among today’s political tumult, we don’t hear enough about climate change—even as 2024 may rank as the hottest year on record. For artists that do tackle the subject, the challenge has always been to depict the immediate stakes of a slow-moving crisis. “Surroundings,” a video series divided into three parts that collectively span four months, aims to illustrate the ways human-caused climate disruption affects the fragile stability of the Earth and its embattled flora and fauna. This weekend, visit to experience the first of the three videos, Donna Conlon’s “From the Ashes,” a stirringly high-definition exploration of a hummingbird in extreme close-up. This video runs through Sept. 22, and will be followed Sept. 28 with the opening of Carolina Caycedo’s “This is Not Water.”
What: Boynton Beach Night Market
Where: Centennial Park & Amphitheater, 120 E. Ocean Ave., Boynton Beach
When: 6 to 11 p.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/327-6154, boyntonbeachcra.com
If you can’t make Friday’s Spred the Dub performance at Delray Walls, you have another chance this weekend to catch the busy party rockers as they headline another returning summer event: the Boynton Beach Night Market. This gathering, organized by the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, features upwards of 70 vendors from the CRA district, from restaurants to artisans to professional service providers, along with a wide range of activities for the whole family: a bounce house, inflatable axe throwing, yard games, arcade games, face painting, a selfie station and a DJ truck, to name a few. Live music includes the aforementioned Spred the Dub plus opening act Making Faces. The theme of the market is “Light up the Night,” and free glow-in the dark and light-up items are available at participating vendor tables, for no purchase necessary.
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