Special Events at the WAC
Ben Cosgrove
Friday / May 31, 2024 / 7:00pm
Tickets are free and can be picked up at Music Mart (formerly Hardt’s Music) until May 31 at 5:00pm or Eventbrite until May 31 at 3:00pm
Coffeehouse & gallery open at 6:00pm
Get Tickets Online
Ben Cosgrove will perform a FREE ticketed concert at 7 p.m. Friday, May 31 at Winona Arts Center, 228 E. 5th St. Although this is a free performance, a ticket will be required for this event. See below for information on how to acquire a ticket. Doors open at 6:00pm.
The Winona Art Center is a small venue so Please pick up your free ticket at Music Mart (formerly Hardt’s Music) or reserve a ticket on https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ben-cosgrove-concert-tickets-902017728307 If we are full to capacity and you do not have a ticket, you will not be able to attend this amazing concert.
Ben is currently Artist-in-Residence helping to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Ben’s music and storytelling will transport you throughout landscapes near and far in a way few performers can. Ben has travelled throughout the 261 miles of the Refuge along the Mississippi and will share his inspiration and reflections in this performance.
Join us for a live performance from composer-performer Ben Cosgrove who is currently Artist-in-Residence helping to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Ben’s music and storytelling will transport you throughout landscapes near and far in a way few performers can. Ben has travelled throughout the 261 miles of the Refuge along the Mississippi and will share his inspiration and reflections in this performance.Ben Cosgrove is a traveling composer-performer whose music explores themes of landscape, place, and environment. Described by the Boston Globe as “a sonic plein-air painter… [using] his piano as a paintbrush,” Ben has performed in every U.S. state except for Delaware, collaborated with groups ranging from rock bands to research scientists, contributed music to several radio and film projects (including the recent Ken Burns documentary The American Buffalo), and held residencies and fellowships with institutions including NASA, the National Park Service, the National Forest Service, Harvard University, Middlebury College, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, and the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology. Recently he has been engaged by the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge to compose music inspired by the region in advance of the refuge’s 100th anniversary.
Ben’s music has been called “beautiful and fascinating” (The Maine Edge), “deeply impressive” (Independent Clauses), and “immediately evocative and fully arresting… brim[ming] with technical mastery and emotional capital” (Seven Days). His newest record, Bearings, a collection of improvisation-based music that reflects upon the relationship between movement and place, was released in 2023. You can read more about Bearings https://www.bencosgrove.com/bearings, stream it on all platforms http://songwhip.com/ben-cosgrove/bearings, and order the album in CD, vinyl, or digital formats at https://www.bencosgrove.com/store
For more about Ben and his work, please visit bencosgrove.com.
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![Meryl Murman Photo Credit: Craig Mulcahy](https://i0.wp.com/winonaarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Meryl-Murman-2-by-Craig-Mulcahy-cropped-2.jpg?resize=300%2C173&ssl=1)
Meryl Murman / Photo Credit: Craig Mulcahy
WAYFINDING : A Short Film Sharing & Creative Conversation with Meryl Zaytoun Murman and Sharon Mansur
Tuesday / June 18 / 7:00pm
Join us for Wayfinding, a creative conversation and informaldance film sharing featuring short films by 2024 McKnight International Choreographer Meryl Zaytoun Murman and Winona artist Sharon Mansur. The films will explore their shared Arab/SWANA heritage, gender and sexuality, and diasporic bodies, and a guided discussion will center these themes.
This free event will be co-sponsored by Art of the Rural and will take place at the Winona Arts Center. Reservations are strongly encouraged, register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17m5b3Y--rYnhEcshqkkrPIZ7J27LYfK1hCtj-sZvEOo/viewform
![storytelling logo Logo of the Sandbar Storytelling Festival.](https://i0.wp.com/winonaarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/storytelling-logo.png?resize=400%2C400&ssl=1)
Tell Us Your Story
Offered by the Sandbar Storytelling Festival and held at the WAC on the 2nd Saturday of the month. The classes are led by Terry Visger and will help you enhance your storytelling techniques. Dates and times are:
January 13 - 10:00am to noon
February 10 - 9:00am to 11:00am
March 9 - 10:00am to noon
April 13 - 10:00am to noon
May 11 - 10:00am to noon
Cost is $50 for the five sessions. To register, go to sandbarstorytellingfestival.org/schedule or call 507-703-6001.
Estro-Jam Sessions at the Winona Arts Center
2nd and 4th Sundays / 4:00pm-6:00pm
Starting April 23, 2023
Women of all ages are invited to join in the Estro-Jam sessions on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month from 4 pm to 6 pm in the gallery of the Winona Arts Center. Bring your instrument and gather with other musicians for some spontaneous musical collaboration. For more information, contact Kristen Young at [email protected].
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeast Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
![ESTR0-JAM Poster (2) copy Poster for Estro-Jam sessions.](https://i0.wp.com/winonaarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ESTR0-JAM-Poster-2-copy.png?resize=500%2C666&ssl=1)