NATIONAL TRENDS
Winter-Spring 2025 Arts Preview: A Season of National Inspiration
Explore key programming from Charlotte to Washington, D.C., showcasing Impressionism,
Modern Art, and defining moments of the 20th Century.
Winter-Spring 2025 Edition
The Spring Arts Season around the United States can be a source of inspiration when creating programming around the arts. Each city presents a myriad of ideas that reflect the national and international arts climate. The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra examines Impressionism in music through Debussy’s La Mer. La Mer is an excellent piece to usher in the warm weather. The nation’s capital has two inspirational programs reflecting the 20th century: Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at the Washington National Opera and the 70’s photo exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. Both ideas can bring nostalgia to the audience. The MoMA honors a trailblazing advocate who used her personal collection that reflected what we call “Modern Art.”
CHARLOTTE, NC
IMPRESSIONISM FILLS THE SOUTH WITH MUSIC IN THE SPRING
Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
Debussy’s La Mer
April 25-26, 2025, 7:30 PM
“Resident Conductor Christopher James Lees leads the CSO in a colorful and impressionistic program culminating in Debussy's cherished symphonic portrait of the sea, La Mer.” -charlottesymphony.org
PROGRAM IDEA: Present an art talk or music performance program on Impressionism
WASHINGTON, D.C.
OPERA, JAZZ AND BLACK CULTURE COME TO A FULL CRESCENDO IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL
Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
Washington National Opera
May 23 - 31, 2025
“It’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy” in Catfish Row, a working-class fishing town in South Carolina. When a murder shakes the community and tempts Bess to return to her drug-filled past, Porgy becomes her unlikely refuge.” -wno.org
PROGRAM IDEA: Present an opera talk on Porgy and Bess for Jazz Appreciation Month
THE NATION’S CAPITAL REMEMBERS A GROOVY AND TURBULENT DECADE
National Gallery of Art
The ’70s Lens: Reimagining Documentary Photography:
October 6, 2024 – April 6, 2025
“The 1970s was a decade of uncertainty in the United States. Americans witnessed soaring inflation, energy crises, and the Watergate scandal, as well as protests about pressing issues such as the Vietnam War, women’s rights, gay liberation, and the environment.” -nga.gov
PROGRAM IDEA: Present programming on photography, art or music created in the 70’s.
NEW YORK CITY, NY
A TRAILBLAZER IN MODERN ART IS HONORED JUST IN TIME FOR WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
MoMA, Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of Modern
Through March 29, 2025
“MoMA would not be what it is today without Lillie Plummer Bliss. In 1929, after years of advocating for modern art in New York, Bliss, together with Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Mary Quinn Sullivan, founded The Museum of Modern Art. Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of the Modern brings together 40 works from Bliss’s collection, including paintings and works on paper by Paul Cézanne, Odilon Redon, Georges-Pierre Seurat, and Pablo Picasso.” -moma.org
PROGRAM IDEA: Present an art talk on modern art for the spring
