Fine Arts Center and HFA to Host Second Annual UMass Amherst Spring Arts Festival

Fine Arts Center programming during the Spring Arts Festival includes ticketed performances - including an April 6 concert by the jazz ensemble Mingus Dynasty, presented in collaboration with the Department of Music and Dance's annual High School Jazz Festival - visual arts events and talks, and a series of free lunchtime concerts staged outside Worcester Dining Commons. The free concert series will feature performances by Lexi Weege & JJ Slater, Sona Jobarteh, Brown Rice Family and Blaque Dynamite.

"We are delighted to announce the second annual Spring Arts Festival, celebrating our lively and creative campus," says Jamilla Deria, director of the Fine Arts Center. "The festival will highlight the works and creative processes of our vibrant community, and showcase art and culture's essential roles to discovery, innovation, and shared understanding."

In addition to HFA Days and the Fine Arts Center's 2023-2024 main stage season closer featuring the acclaimed dance company Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, this year's Spring Arts Festival events will include:

• Twelfth Night, April 26-27 and May 2-4 - A multi-night performance of William Shakespeare's classic play about mistaken identity and unrequited love
• UMass Symphony Orchestra and Choirs, May 4 - Led by choir director emeritus E. Wayne Abercrombie and acting orchestra director Gonzalo Hidalgo Ardila, featuring Mozart's epic Requiem and other works
• HFA Creative Student Showcase Spring 2024, April 17 - A pop-up gallery of students' visual, written, and performance artwork
• FAINT/HIDDEN/SHROUDED: Contemplating Obscurity, on view through May 10 - The University Museum of Contemporary Art's annual student curatorial exhibition
• The Fine Arts Center's Spring Artwalk, April 19 - Featuring hands-on art activities, live performances, visual art and fun

A full list of Spring Arts Festival events can be found here. For more information, visit www.umassfineartscenter.org/springartsfest24 or www.umass.edu/humanities-arts/spring-arts-festival.