Family Day at OZ will feature work like this by Beth Reitmeyer.
This day of family fun, arts and learning has become one of the biggest events of the year for OZ Arts, the nonprofit contemporary arts center of Nashville. OZ Arts kicks off Season 6 with the ever-popular Family Day at OZ, an annual indoor-outdoor extravaganza for young people and their families. The event will take place on Saturday, August 18, 2018.
Cano Ozgener (1937-2018) was the driving force behind the OZ Arts Nashville.
This year’s edition of Family Day at OZ focuses on the stars above and the water below, and will be helmed by Nashville-based visual artist Beth Reitmeyer. Also participating this year is the Adventure Science Center and ELEL, an Indie pop music group based in Nashville that will bring soul and good vibes to this family fun event.
“Family Day at OZ is about families coming together for a fun day of arts and learning,” said CEO of OZ Arts Tim Ozgener. “The activities and skill levels allow for all attendees be able to contribute and be part of the overall experience – which is great for learning AND a good time.”
In previous years, Family Day at OZ has included a DJ party with a blend of Latin salsa, urban hip-hop and jazz-funk; “art-in-sports” interactive installations with a pop-up skate park and BMX stunt show; and an environmental emphasis that encouraged participants to create sculpture with discarded materials.
This season’s Family Day at OZ merges science and art, including music, artist-led activities and insight throughout the OZ Arts campus. Reitmeyer, whose work has been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Houston, Berlin and Cincinnati, aims to bring joy through her installations.
This year’s event is held in collaboration with Adventure Science Center, extending the balance of earthly and ethereal and offering hands-on experiments led by their educators. These four activities include (1) Fluid Dynamics: Ooblek — Study non-Newtonian Fluids with Ooblek, a suspension of starch in water that responds in unusual ways due to its unique shear thickening properties. (2) Sound & Electricity : Makey-Makey Instruments — Explore conductivity and principles of electricity using interactive sound with the Makey-Makey. Learn how simple circuits connect while composing music through some very unusual instruments. (3) Aeronautics: Stomp Rockets — Consider trajectory, wind, and payload just like aerospace engineers and pilots while aiming and firing stomp rockets. And (4) The Electromagnetic Spectrum/Vision Receptors: Filtered Light Drawing Activity — Red and blue filters make certain colored drawings seem to “disappear” or “enhance” when shown on white or black paper. Participants can create their own drawings, or view changes in exhibited artwork while learning about how we perceive wavelengths of light, and how scientists use filters to analyze and study distant stars.
Tickets are FREE for children ages 12 and under. Tickets are $25 for adults and are on sale now at the official OZ Arts website. The event starts at 11:00 a.m. and lasts until 2:00 p.m. and will take place at the OZ Arts Nashville campus located at 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle, Nashville, TN 37209.
CigArt: An Evening of Dinner, Drink & Art Among Friends is an annual fundraiser for OZ Arts Nashville. This year’s Cig Art event is at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2018. Attend by contributing $300 for individuals and $500 for couples (age 21 and up only) to this fundraiser benefitting OZ Arts’ mission to support contemporary arts in Nashville.
2018-19 Season at OZ Arts Nashville Highlights
Partnerships and alliances continue to grow the Nashville artist net, including ongoing initiatives with Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, boutique hotel/contemporary art museum 21c Museum Hotel Nashville, Nashville Fashion Week and Nashville Repertory Theatre, as well as new collaborations with Adventure Science Center, downtown event space The Cordelle and independent writing center The Porch.
Programming Highlights Include:
● Family Day at OZ (August 18, 2018) merges science and art with visual artist Beth Reitmeyer’s sculptural investigation of the stars above and water below alongside a variety of make-and-take art experiments created in collaboration with Adventure Science Center.
● Phantom Limb Company presents the world premiere of Falling Out (October 12 & 13, 2018), incorporating puppetry, video, original music, Butoh and flex dance in the third and final installation of a trilogy about climate change.
● Nashville-based dancer and jewelry designer Tony Perrin curates Ghosted (November 15. 2018), merging photography, movement, music and jewelry.
● Camille A. Brown & Dancers present ink (December 14 & 15, 2018), the third in a trilogy about identity, weaving together movement styles, storytelling, traditional African and handmade instruments and a variety of musical genres.
● The Longest Night, curated by Portara Ensemble artistic director Jason Shelton, offers a multidisciplinary, multicultural celebration of the Winter Solstice (December 19, 2018).
● Renowned contemporary dance collective New Dialect presents Banning Bouldin’s The Triangle, in addition to the U.S. Premiere of Israeli choreographer Roy Assaf’s Girls (February 22, 23 & 24, 2019).
● A Thousand Thoughts: A Live Documentary by Sam Green and Kronos Quartet (March 22 & 23, 2019) tells the story of one of the most influential music groups of our times—while that group performs live.
● Choreographer Windship Boyd, theatre artist Jon Royal and students of Glencliff High School collaborate for Papalagui (May 8, 2019), a moving performing piece that delves into modern society’s views on nature, time and money.
● Jakob Lewis of Nashville Public Radio’s Neighbors gathers some indie podcast friends for The HEARD Live! (June 13, 2019).
About OZ Arts Nashville
Since opening in 2014, OZ Arts Nashville, a 501(c)(3) contemporary arts center, has changed the cultural landscape of the city. Housed in the former C.A.O. cigar warehouse owned by Nashville’s Ozgener family, OZ Arts, brings world-class performances and art installations to the city, and gives ambitious local artists opportunities to work on a grand scale. The flexible 10,000 square-foot, column-free venue, nestled amidst five acres of artfully landscaped grounds, is continually reconfigured to serve artists’ imaginations and to challenge and inspire a diverse range of curious audiences. OZ Arts is supported in part by Metro Arts – Nashville Office of Arts + Culture.
For more information, please visit www.ozartsnashville.org.
