Theaster Gates performance in support of Town Hall Project

* The work of Theaster Gates is the focus of a March 30th performance and lecture at the Bemis Center. Gates’ Town Hall Project, currently in development, focuses on North Omaha. Gates is approaching the project from many angles: urban planner, artist, developer and community organizer. He’s done similar projects in Chicago, St Louis and Detroit, and offered new models for public space, cooperation and ingenuity. He wants to re-envision place, he says, not just as art but as a way of life. The free Bemis event will give the public a chance to learn about and respond to the project. It begins at 7:30 p.m. * More than 30,000 viewers saw the Kent Bellows exhibition Beyond Realism at the Joslyn Art Museum. Those who missed it can obtain the catalog. Softcover books and posters can be purchased online; all proceeds from purchases support programs and operations at the Kent Bellows Studio. Shop here: kentbellows.bigcartel.com. * Lit Undressed is celebrating Women’s History Month with a special event at the RNG Gallery. The Spirit of the Female Beats celebrates the contribution of women writers of the beat generation during the 1950s and ’60s. Readings will include original work by contemporary writers including Cat Dixon, Michael Skau, Roger Gerberding, Marie Sacco Ponsot, Trilety Wade, Machell, Michael Hendrick and more; as well as classic pieces by writers including Anne Waldman and Denise Levertov. Nebraska Native and award wining poet Marilyn June Coffey will give a reading, and opening music will be provided by All Young Girls are Machine Guns. Artists Wanda Ewing and Rodney Rahl will do body painting during the readings; readers will be nude. Tickets are $15 for the general public age 19 and over, and $10 for students. Proceeds benefit VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts, a non-profit organization. The event is cash only. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and readings begin at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31. Patrons will also get a sneak peak at RNG’s accompanying art exhibition, Les Fous Femmes, featuring Leslie Diuguid, Wanda Ewing, Rebecca Herskovitz, Lauren van Wyke and Jamie Lamaster. * The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Rotunda Gallery will play host to the fifth annual UNL Staff Art Show starting April 4. The show features artists from a wide array of departments across campus and begins with a reception on April 4 from 5-7 p.m. in the Nebraska Union on the City Campus.