Upcoming Programs: Summer 2023

SUMMER ARTS & LECTURES SERIES

Our Summer Arts & Lectures Series promotes the arts and sciences as integral and necessary components of an educated and enlightened existence. The Summer Arts & Lecture Series facilitates creativity and inclusion in our local community by presenting relevant, unique, entertaining, and diverse events including performances, films, and lectures in McCarthy and Kennicott.

The Summer Arts & Lecture Series facilitates community events that inspire personal discovery, creativity, and intellectual inquiry that is both deep and wide

Three Unique Venues, Two Remote Towns

• The Old Hardware Store - Located in downtown Historic McCarthy in one of the last original old town buildings on Main Street in McCarthy, featuring a wood-walled Great Room for events at the heart of the WMC campus.

• Kennicott Recreation Hall - Located in the mill town of Kennicott, an original early 1900s Rec Hall used by the miners back in the day. This venue features lectures and events in partnership with the National Park Service.

• Porphyry Place - Located on the south end of our McCarthy campus, it is the original Meg Hunt and Ed LaChapelle log home and garden site, now housing WMC concerts, lectures, workshops, and events.

2023 Schedule

Thursday, June 1, 7pm, Kennicott Rec Hall – “Rocks, fire, and ice: Geology of the Wrangells” with Mike Loso, National Park Geologist

• Mike Loso, National Park Service Geologist, speaks to the latest on the glaciers and climate change in the Wrangells and beyond. This is a great presentation for guides! Link to https://www.nps.gov/articles/michael-loso.htm

Friday, June 16, 5pm, Old Hardware Store - Author Reading with Shauna Potocky from her new poetry collection Yosemite Dawning.

• Join us for a special author event and reading with Shauna Potocky, a friend of the WMC and 2020 Tall Tales winner. The evening will feature selections from both Shauna's debut book of poetry, Yosemite Dawning: Poems of the Sierra Nevada published by Cirque Press, along with a special preview of poems in her forthcoming book focused on Alaska, titled Sea Smoke, Spindrift and Other Spells, which features a variety of remarkable landscapes and seascapes including the Arctic, the outer coast and you guessed it--our beloved Kennecott - McCarthy. It will be a fun night filled with words, astonishment, and contemporary questions--don't miss it!

Sunday, June 25, 2023 – Artists in Residence Community Presentation

• Our resident artist present their work and art to the community through presentations and workshops.

Friday, June 30, 5-7pm – Jazz Band at the Old Hardware Store

• As part of our 4th of July Celebrations! This Anchorage 4-5 piece jazz band plays standards, Latin, blues, and a little light funk with sax, keys, bass, drums, and guitar.

Saturday, July 1, 3-5pm – Collaborative Artist Presentation with Kassandra Mirosh & Shauna Potocky

• As part of our 4th of July Celebrations!

• The Inspired Collaborative! Art & Poetry Presentation w/ Kassandra Mirosh & Shauna Potocky is an artist talk and hands-on collaborative experience. The presentation will show pieces from an art project Kassandra and Shauna are working on, that will be featured in a gallery show in August. This presentation invites attendees to participate in creating collaborative, hands-on, swallow inspired art that will reside either here in the community or will be auctioned off at a future event to benefit the WMC.

Wednesday, July 5, 12-3pm - Songwriting Workshop with Justin Farren & Wes Collins

• As part of our 4th of July Celebrations! Songwriting Workshop with Justin Farren & Wes Collins

  Justin & Wes are wonderful storytellers in song with a keen sense of humor. This will be a fun workshop. Save the date!!

  Justin Farren : https://justinfarrenmusic.square.site Wes Collins: https://www.wescollins.com/home

Saturday, July 29, 6-9pm – An Evening of Classical Music at the Kennicott Rec Hall, Composing in the Wilderness

• Local classical guitarist Jurgen Ogrodnik is paired with Katie Cox & Company for this double feature performance!! Last summer, composers came to the Wrangells to write symphonic pieces inspired by our local wilderness areas. This summer, we will hear the results in this concert paired with local classical guitarist Jurgen Ogrodnik at the Kennicott Rec Hall. Don’t miss it. Learn more about Composing in the Wilderness: composinginthewilderness.com

TBA – Glacier & Geology Lectures @ Kennicott Rec Hall

• Glacier and geology lectures from instructors that are here in McCarthy for the International Glaciology School (hosted by the Wrangell Mountains Center). This is a part of the WMC's Summer Arts & Lecture Series. Suggested Donation: $10

Email us at info@wrangells.org for the latest information on these and other Summer Arts & Lecture Series events.

Check out past SALS schedules here. 

The Wrangell Mountains Center is supported in part by the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Banner Photo: Nathaniel Wilder