The Seventh Street Center, formerly First Baptist Church, will be alive with the sights and sounds of the Christmas season on Friday during the inaugural Christmas Kaleidoscope showcase, hosted by the Golden Triangle Theatre.
“It is basically a showcase of the performing arts groups here in Columbus, primarily children’s programs,” said Garrett Torbert, executive and artistic director for the organization. “That includes music, theater and dance.”
The event kicks off at 7 p.m., but there is a pre-show performance from some GTT students, at 6:40 p.m.
Five performing arts groups, totaling about 125 individual performers, will perform roughly 15 minutes of material during the event.
The participating groups include: Wherehouse Dance Academy, Suzuki Strings of Columbus, The Columbus Girlchoir, Golden Triangle Theatre and Music Academy and Ballet Columbus.
“It’s a variety show,” Torbert said. “So, it will feature some skits from our theater kids, the dance will have some selections that they do and then the Suzuki Strings will do some songs as well and the girlchoir will perform some songs.”
The organizations have been preparing for the event all semester, and are excited to see it come to fruition on Friday.
“This is like the culmination of our work for the semester,” said Cherry Dunn, leader for the Columbus Girlchoir. “We’ve got three Christmas songs that come from our concert that we just did this past weekend.”
Tickets for the performance are $20 and can be purchased online at goldentriangletheatre.com, or in-person at the Columbus Arts Council and the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The event will act also as a fundraiser, with a percentage of the ticket sales going to the groups that participate.
“With the proceeds, a percentage will go back to the organization that is participating,” Torbert said. “We are hosting the event, but the idea was to give back a percentage to those who are participating that can go back to scholarships for the students or back to their general fund to support their organization however it’s needed.”
The group had sold about 300 tickets as of Tuesday. The venue can seat about 600 people comfortably.
“We do anticipate a large crowd,” Torbert added.
In addition to the Christmas Kaleidoscope, there will be a free performance by the guitar students from the Golden Triangle Theatre and Music Academy from 6-8 p.m. on Saturday night at the 7th Street Center.
Promoting the arts
The ultimate goal of the Christmas Kaleidoscope is to promote the arts in Columbus and show what is available.
“It’s just a snapshot of what our program is and how we hope to continue to see it grow and build and find a home here in the community,” Torbert said.
The different groups want to come together to emphasize the importance of the arts and encourage participation from the community.
“Unfortunately, we live in a sports-obsessed culture that often prevents young people from participating in the arts,” Dunn said. “I think having a showcase helps show the community that this is important.
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