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Local stories hit the big screen at Kalamazoo Film Society’s fourth annual showcase

The event features mostly filmmakers from Kalamazoo and the surrounding region, with films shot in — and in some cases about — the city itself. One of the featured filmmakers, Jerod Kauffman, created a documentary about the final days of the longtime dive bar Harvey’s on the Mall, which closed after a buyout. Kauffman said he wanted to capture the story of a place that helped define Kalamazoo’s nightlife culture. “The closure was sudden to everyone — the community and staff — so I wanted to immortalize a place that was loved by so many,” Kauffman wrote to Watershed Voice. “I saw a fence and bulldozer outside the building today on the way to work. I think it's going to be torn down, so I am happy I was able to capture a piece of Kalamazoo history and the bar that stood and served the community for 40+ years.”

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Useless Creatures to donate all of today’s sales to tornado relief

Useless Creatures Brewing Company plans to donate all sales today, Thursday, March 12 to tornado recovery efforts. All of the money will go to The Huss Project who has been organizing volunteers, collecting donations, and providing resources for those in need in the wake of the tornado. 

Sturgis Civic Players to present “Anne of Green Gables” March 20–22 at Sturges-Young Center for the Arts

Directed by Elizabeth Smith of Sturgis and adapted from one of the best-selling books in the world, Anne of Green Gables follows Anne Shirley’s journey from a mischievous girl to a young woman, exploring themes of imagination, belonging, and family. This production spans six years of Anne’s life — from her arrival in Avonlea as a 12-year-old to her young adulthood at 18 as she prepares to set out on her own. The production highlights many of the story’s most beloved moments.

Rapid fire film festival Kazoo 48 returns for its seventh year

Designed to introduce people to filmmaking while also challenging experienced creators, Kazoo 48 gives teams 48 hours to complete a short film between one and six minutes long. Each team must incorporate an assigned genre, line of dialogue, character, location, and prop into their film.  Once completed, the films are judged by a panel of local talent. Awards include prizes for best use of an assigned item and the festival’s signature award — a gold engraved kazoo — presented to the best films in both the amateur and professional categories.

Three Rivers High School students to bring the world of “The Little Mermaid” to life onstage

About 35 students are involved in the production this year, director Jennifer Miller said, filling roles both onstage and behind the scenes. Some students perform as actors, singers and dancers, while others manage technical elements such as sound, lighting and props. “What I love is how diverse their contributions are,” Miller wrote. “It’s a whole ecosystem of student talent, and everybody has found a place where they belong.”

NYT bestselling author Shelby Van Pelt to keynote inaugural literary arts festival in Vicksburg

Kimm Mayer, planning committee lead, said establishing the festival is important because “it makes reading and literacy accessible to everybody by introducing people to authors and activities in a fun and relaxed environment.” She added that the festival complements the arts community in Southwest Michigan and could impact literacy in the region while promoting tourism.

Huss Project offering paid summer internship for WMU students in Three Rivers

The 10-week internship generally runs through the organization’s Back to School Celebration at the August Second Saturday Farmers Market. Interns are paid $17.50 per hour and are expected to work about 20 hours per week. Every other week, they attend professional development training at Western Michigan University as part of the Broncos LEAD program. For Co-founder Rob Vander-Giessen Reitsma, the internship is about more than seasonal help — it’s about formation. “We hope students learn about small-scale food production, community development in a small town, and how our work is rooted in the core values of our organization,” he said.

From rural midwest poetry to a French residency, how Aubrey Barnes continues to share his uncompromising voice

Barnes, who has previously performed at the Watershed Voice Artist Showcase in Three Rivers and had several works published by the news and culture magazine, was recently awarded a writing residency at Chateau Orquevaux in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. He described the experience as life-changing. “The artists — writers, painters and other creatives — would gather. We walked together, explored the grounds, shared our art, cried, laughed and built deep bonds quickly. It was transformative.”

Monoform to show ‘Ganja & Hess,’ a pivotal film in Black cinema

Often regarded as a landmark in the history of Black cinema, Ganja & Hess (1973) uses vampirism as a metaphor for “Black assimilation and identity, white cultural imperialism, addiction, desire, and the hypocrisies of organized religion,” Monoform Cinema wrote on its website.

Sayrie: Sounding the alarm 

Watershed Voice’s Aundrea Sayrie writes, “Black History Month is celebratory of Black achievement and existence, yes, but it is equally meant to continually sound the alarm on discrimination, and a means of advocating for justice. Applied pressure on the neck of oppression and erasure, a vehicle to ensure the truth isn't lost in the footnotes of history.” You can listen to Aundrea perform this piece via the SoundCloud player at the top of the article.

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