EVENT
Saddle up, cowboys
Chuck wagon and Dutch oven cooking contests, a Western art exhibit by R. Tom Gilleon, concerts by Marty Stewart, Cowboy Church … it must be time for the 9th Annual Southeastern Cowboy Gathering at Cartersville’s Booth Western Museum. The events began today but the main part of the gathering comes with day-long slates Saturday and Sunday ($10; ages 65 and over, $8; students, $7). Stewart’s 7 p.m. Saturday concert is sold out but an additional one has been added at 4 p.m ($30). 770-387-1300, www.boothmuseum.org. HOWARD POUSNER

FILM
Jane Powell to appear
TCM king Robert Osborne will be joined by legendary film actress Jane Powell for an Atlanta showing of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” The March 22 screening takes place at 7:30 p.m. at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Rich Theatre, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Tickets are free, but required for entry (visit www.tcm.com/roadtohollywood to sign up). The event is part of TCM’s third annual Road to Hollywood …

Continue reading Culture notes: Cowboys this weekend at Booth Museum; Jane Powell to attend March 22 screening; Bulloch Hall’s 30th quilt show opens Saturday »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

The 12th annual Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, which concluded Wednesday, drew 30,000 moviegoers, a 15 percent increase over last year’s screening extravaganza and a new attendance record.

The festival also has announced winners of the 2012 AJFF Audience Awards, each of which will be given an encore screening at a date to be announced …

• Best narrative feature:  “Wunderkinder,” a tale of musical prodigies whose friendship overcomes barriers of religion and nationality.

• Best documentary feature: “Nicky’s Family,” a chronicle of “Britain’s Schindler” who saved Czech and Slovak children just before World War II.

• Best short film:  “Not Your Time: A Musical,” a darkly comic musical about a long-suffering screenwriter who threatens suicide,  featuring Jason Alexander and a slew of Hollywood insiders making cameos.

Continue reading Atlanta Jewish Film Festival drew 30,000, breaking attendance record »

VISUAL ART
Exhibit blossoms at Hudgens
Spring seems to be springing up early around metro Atlanta, and the Hudgens Center for the Arts gets in on the act with the exhibit “Bloom.” Highly collected Steve Penley is the featured artist in a show featuring 17 flower-inspired artists working in a range of media. A free reception for “Bloom” and three other new exhibits is at 2-4 p.m. Saturday. 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Bldg 300, Duluth. 770-623-6002, www.thehudgens.org. HOWARD POUSNER

MUSIC
Quintet of jazz premieres
What started as a Jazz Orchestra of Atlanta program to be built around a world premiere of jazz composer Ted Howe’s “Suite No. 1 for Jazz Orchestra” has blossomed into a March 9 concert at Oglethorpe University featuring five new compositions by the former Atlantan.

“When he realized we would have the best jazz pros on this program, he started to write new works,” orchestra director Brent Runnels said. “Very cool, just the way Duke Ellington used to write for the …

Continue reading Culture notes: Exhibit blossoms at Hudgens (free reception Sat.); Jazz Orchestra of Atlanta premieres 5 works »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

First as deputy director and then as director of Fulton County Arts & Culture, Michael Simanga had his hands on the wheel of the biggest public arts funding organization in Georgia for three years starting in 2008.

Now, Simanga has switched from funds provider to seeker as the new executive director of the National Black Arts Festival, whose summer extravaganza has been scaled back in recent years due to recession-spurred cutbacks in corporate, foundation and governmental support.

The 32-year Atlanta resident said he’s happy for the change and ready to sell the NBAF, which typically has operated with an annual budget of more than $2 million, to supporters familiar and new. As he discussed the organization’s “very rich 23-year history” and the intention for it to be “relevant going way in the future” with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the 57-year-old arts leader sounded as if he was polishing his boardroom pitch.

Simanga’s main charge is …

Continue reading Q&A with new NBAF leader Michael Simanga: ‘We want to have a much bigger impact’ »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

The Trey McIntyre Project has made a big impression in the contemporary dance world since being founded in 2008. And the Boise, Idaho-based troupe aims to make its presence known in Atlanta next week, and not just when it performs at the Rialto Center for the Arts on  March 10.

The company is in residence from Tuesday through March 11 via a partnership between the Georgia State University performing arts center and Atlanta Ballet. While its Rialto performance is a ticketed event, Trey McIntyre Project will opens its rehearsals at Atlanta Ballet’s Michael C. Carlos Dance Centre to the public from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

It’s free to attend, but reservation are required via rialtomarketing@gsu.edu no later than Monday. The ballet’s headquarters is at 1695 Marietta Blvd. N.W., Atlanta.

Additionally as part of the residency, McIntyre Project executive director John Michael Schert will conduct a free marketing …

Continue reading Beyond Rialto show, several chances to see Trey McIntyre Project for free »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

With the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival having just concluded, the younger-skewing Atlanta Film Festival is grabbing the spotlight, today announcing a slate of 125 films for the 10-day screening extravaganza running March 23 through April 1.

Snagging the prestigious opening night slot is “Life Happens,” an indie comedy about Los Angeles girlfriends/roommates (Kate Bosworth, Rachel Bilson and Krysten Ritter) whose lives go in different directions when one has a baby.

The fest’s closing night feature will be “The Cabin in the Woods,” a much-buzzed-about horror flick starring Chris Hemsworth (”Thor”) about five friends for whom things go terribly wrong at a remote cabin in the, well, you know. It’s directed by Drew Goddard (the “Lost” and “Alias” writer-producer), who penned the script with Joss Whedon.

More than 50 features and shorts this year have ties to Georgia, suggesting the growth in film production here as well as the state’s growing role …

Continue reading Array of indies give Atlanta Film Festival lineup its edge »