Spotlight on the Arts, the City of Fairfax’s annual three-week festival celebrating the arts, is set to open this Friday. This is the 20th annual festival.
Events are scheduled at venues throughout the City of Fairfax and the surrounding area. Events run almost every day through May 8. While some events do carry a charge, many are free.
This year, the festival's 20th, will feature some traditional favorites, such as the International Jewish Film Festival, and will also continue the International Festival, which began last year.
Fairfax native Christine Kane will be just one of the festival’s many music acts. Kane is a singer-songwriter who now lives in North Carolina and owns her own record label. For those more interested in classical music, The Virginia Opera and the Fairfax Symphony each have performances scheduled. Students from George Mason University and several local high schools will be staging plays.
The Fairfax Art League will sponsor an exhibition at Old Town Hall. Fairfax High School, George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College will each put on exhibitions of their students’ works.
The International flavor of the festival will come not only from the International festival. The St. Petersburg ballet will perform "Russian Seasons" and "Romeo and Juliet."
The honorary co-chairs of the festival are Lord and Lady
Fairfax, who will be in from London for the opening gala. Lady Annabel Fairfax has donated two prints to be auctioned off to support the scholarship program sponsored by Spotlight on the Arts.
For more information, or to see and bid on the prints, visit www.fairfaxspotlight.org.
— Ari Cetron