Take your vitamins. The busy season of arts and culture starts now: Modernism Week Fall Preview, Latino and women’s film festivals, live music and theater, and more art than your eyes can see in one month. Here are our staff’s recommendations for an artful October.
Above: A replica of architect Paul Rudolph’s 1952 Walker Guest House opens Oct. 18 as a temporary installation in downtown Palm Springs. Photograph courtesy ©Ezra Stoller/Esto
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
ART OF REUSE: Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse opens Oct. 1 at the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center in downtown Palm Springs. The show, which continues through Jan. 14, 2019, presents three designers’ alternative approaches to the high human and environmental costs of textile industry waste. Info
MODERNISM WEEK: The Modernism Week Fall Preview, set for Oct. 18-21, features double-decker bus tours with Charles Phoenix, expert lectures and panel discussions, and tours of Frey House II, the Walker Guest House Replica, as well as historic modern houses and communities. There are also parties and the Modernism Show & Sale. Info
FILM
STREET FOOD CINEMA: After three centuries, three witch sisters are resurrected in Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night, and it is up to two teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to their reign of terror once and for all. Hocus Pocus screens and the band Brightener performs Oct. 6 at La Quinta Park. Info
INDIE FILM AWARDS: The second annual Coachella Valley Indie Film Awards, Oct. 8 at JPL in Rancho Mirage, honors the cinematic achievements of indie filmmakers and actors/actress from the Coachella Valley and beyond. Info
LATINO SHORT FEST: The new Coachella Library hosts the fourth annual Official Latino Short Film Festival Oct. 12-14 as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. The program includes three days of screenings plus an awards program. Info
CINEMA CULTURAS: Cinema Culturas presents Festival in the Fields (Oct. 25-27), a celebration of the artistic visions of Mexican and Latino filmmakers to initiate dialogue about the dynamics of living in multicultural Southern California. The program unfolds at various venues, including UCR Palm Desert and CSUSB Palm Desert. Info
REEL WOMEN: Set for Oct. 27-28 at the Camelot Theatres, the fifth annual Reel Women’s Film Festival offers an inspiring weekend of diverse films about women. Proceeds benefit Planned Parenthood sexual and reproductive health care services in the Coachella Valley. Info
MUSIC
JOSHUA TREE MUSIC FESTIVAL: The 13th annual edition of the fall event unfolds Oct. 4-7 at the Joshua Tree Lake Campground with a lineup that includes Fatoumata Diawara, Matador! Soul Sounds, Desert Rhythm Project, The Egg, Gene Avaro Jr., Monophonics, and many others. Info
CONCERTS IN THE PARK: Santanaways, aka “the Carlos Santana Tribute Show,” leads off the city of Palm Desert’s Concerts in the Park series Oct. 4 with a free performance at Palm Desert Civic Center Park. Other concerts in October are The Dreamboats (Oct. 11), Twisted Pine (Oct. 18), and Hot Club of Cowtown (Oct. 25).
MARIINSKY ORCHESTRA: Palm Springs Friends of the Philharmonic presents Mariinsky Orchestra performing Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and Mahler Oct. 24 at McCallum Theatre. Info
THEATER & STAGE
MEGAN MULLALY AND NICK OFFERMAN: The actor/humorist couple leads off the Palm Springs Speaks series Oct. 5 with “The Greatest Love Story Ever Told” at the Richards Center for the Arts, located on the campus of Palm Springs High School. Info
INTO THE WOODS: This modern twist on the Brothers Grimm, presented by Desert Theatreworks, brings together Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (of beanstalk fame), a Baker, his Wife, and a dancing cow, Oct. 5-21 at Indio Performing Arts Center. Info
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE: CV Rep presents Paula Vogel’s funny, surprising, and Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of survival as seen through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl and an older man, Oct. 24 through Nov. 18. Info
JOHN WATERS: John Waters comes to Palm Springs Cultural Center Oct. 25 with his one-man show, “This Filthy World,” a vaudeville act that celebrates the film career and obsessive tastes of the man William Burroughs once called “The Pope of Trash.” Info
VISUAL ART
HWY 62 OPEN STUDIO TOURS: This is a one-of-a-kind experience for art lovers to take a free, customized self-guided tour of more than 90 open studios in the Morongo Basin and to speak directly with the artists about their work and creative endeavors in the intimacy of their private work spaces. It takes place Oct. 13-14 and Oct. 20-21. Info
ART IS HERE: Palm Springs celebrates 30 years of public art Oct. 14 with free interactive art experiences presented by Scene Creative and Palm Springs Art Museum, screen-printing with Windmill City Screen Printing, customized fine art cookies, music, and more in downtown Palm Springs. Info
FLIGHT PLAN: The Birds of Sunnylands, the new, season-long exhibition at Sunnylands Center & Gardens in Rancho Mirage, exhibits 52 photos of some of the more than 130 species of birds that migrate here every year, all photographed at the Annenberg estate over the past two years by wildlife photographer and ornithologist Tim Laman. Info
DESERT ICONS: Open through October 21 at the new Yucca Valley Visual & Performing Arts Center (aka YV Arts), this exhibition focuses on how 36 artists reflect on their experience in the High Desert. Curator Michael McCall challenged artists to steer away from clichés and force viewers to think about what one may consider an “icon.” Info
LINES IN THE SAND: The exhibition at Palm Springs Art Museum explores the history of the desert through our relationship to the land. It features highlights from the museum’s collections of indigenous art, depictions of the California desert through painting and photography, and contemporary art inspired by the physical and cultural environment of the state. Info
DESERT PHOTOGRAPHY: Journey Through the Desert – The Road Less Traveled, a survey of photography from the early 20th century to today, continues through November 25 at Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert. The show includes Stephen H. Willard, John Divola, Lee Friedlander, Karen Halverson, Wanda Hammerbeck, Richard Misrach, and Mark Ruwedel. Info
LOCAL ART: The Artist Council Exhibition — showcasing a selection of works by local painters, sculptors, photographers, and others — opens Oct. 20 at Palm Springs Art Museum. Info
UNSETTLED: This sweeping, season-long exhibition (Oct. 17-April 30, 2019) at Palm Springs Art Museum features more than 75 artists living or working in the Greater West, including Ed Ruscha, Gerard Murillo, Sonia Falcone, Ana Teresa Fernández, Edgar Arceneaux, Andrea Zittel, Nicholas Galanin, Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes Pelton, and Phillip K. Smith III. Info
