Independence Day celebrations as well as exhibitions and performances in cool venues like museums and theaters highlight a culture-rich July. Here are our recommendations for an artful month ahead.
Above: Feel Me (Cranberry), a 2018 sculpture by Kelly Akashi, appears in Brave New Worlds: Explorations of Space, through December 15 at the Palm Springs Art Museum. The exhibition features projects by Akashi, Gisela Colon, Victoria Fu, Karen Lofgren, and Adee Roberson. Photograph courtesy Palm Springs Art Museum.
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
HUGH KAPTUR: Organic Desert Architecture, the exhibition offering a deep dive into the career of an architect with more than 200 built projects in the Coachella Valley, closes July 7 at the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center. Info
WALKER GUEST HOUSE: Tour a replica of the Paul Rudolph’s Walker Guest House, an icon of Sarasota modernism, in downtown Palm Springs on weekends through March 2020. Info
FESTIVALS & HERITAGE
FREEDOM TO JAM: Big Bone and The Lucky Devils perform July 3 at the Independence Day Celebration at Bagdouma Park in Coachella. Info
STRANGER THINGS: Celebrate Independence Day with a barbecue and fireworks show at Palm Springs Cultural Center. Cool off inside at the free season-three premiere of the Netflix hit series Stranger Things. (Come back Thursdays at 6 p.m. for free screenings of the series.) Info
SWINGING FOURTH: The Swing Cats Big Band will perform big band favorites at the Palm Desert Independence Day Celebration at the city’s Civic Center Park. Following the concert, a fireworks show will light up the sky to a soundtrack of classic American songs. Info
FILM
LIT FLICK: The book-to-screen film series at UCR Palm Desert celebrates Jane Austen July 10 with a screening of Sense and Sensibility. Info
PUTNEY SWOPE: Palm Springs Art Museum’s free Summer Film Series celebrates the summer of 1969 with a July 11 screening of Robert Downy Sr.’s satire of advertising, race in Hollywood films, the white power structure, and the nature of corporate corruption. Info
GREASE IS THE WORD: Dress in your 1950s best and sing along with this classic summer film July 12 at Camelot Theatres. The lyrics will be on the screen, and tickets include a prop bag. Info
SHAMPOO: Palm Springs Art Museum’s free Summer Film Series continues July 25 with a free screening of director Hal Ashby’s blistering satire of presidential and sexual politics. Info
MUSIC
GERARDO DE LA TORRE: The Mexican baritone, accompanied by Paul Floyd, performs popular arias from grand opera and show tunes from the Great American Songbook July 24 at CVRep in Cathedral City. Info
BAND CAMP: The Academy of Musical Performance presents its Summer Camp Showcase, featuring six bands of young musicians, July 27 at Hope Lutheran Church in Palm Desert. Info
JIMMY BRANLY TRIO: The Havana-born musician brings Cuban jazz to CVRep in Cathedral City July 29 in association with Bill Saitta. Info
SOYEON AN: The Waring presents the 27-year-old classical pianist from South Korea July 31 at CVRep Theatre in Cathedral City. The program includes Liszt (Mephisto Waltz), Mozart (Sonata in B Flat Major K.281), and Chopin (Mazurka). Info
THEATER & STAGE
RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL: Brace yourself for this hilarious production spoofing Broadway musicals from Gypsy to Mame as well as many films such as The Bad Seed and All About Eve. Performances are scheduled on weekends through July 14 at Desert Rose Playhouse in Rancho Mirage. Info
SPRING AWAKENING: Teenagers in late 19th-century Germany discover the inner and outer tumult of teenage sexuality in this rock musical based on an 1891 play by Frank Wedekind, from July 5 to 14 at Palm Canyon Theatre in Palm Springs. Info
A LOVELY LINEAGE: Kristin Towers-Rowles, one of the stars of CVRep’s production of A Class Act, brings her cabaret show to the Cathedral City playhouse July 28 for one performance only. The performance captures her Hollywood and Broadway ancestry with music from notable standards. Info
VISUAL ART
ART WALK: Visit artists in their natural habitat — their studios and galleries! — July 3 during Backstreet Art District Art Walk in Palm Springs. Info
ART IN IDYLLWILD: Idyllwild Art in the Park, a combination of art and nature, is set for July 6–7, featuring a mix of ceramics, painting, glass, jewelry, woodworking, photography, and fiber as well as live music in a charming village. Info
A CLOSER LOOK: In Photography From the Permanent Collection: A Closer Look, through July 11 at Palm Springs Art Museum, images by Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal, John Divola, and Christina Fernandez underscore the essential and contradictory impulses of the human condition — to both construct and destroy the world we inhabit. Info
POWER PLANTS: ArtsTank Greater Palm Springs grant winner Cat Chiu Phillips presents a site-specific installation calling attention to the tonnage of e-waste generated across the globe, through August 2 (by appointment) at College of the Desert. Info
LINES IN THE SAND: This exhibition, through August 11 at Palm Springs Art Museum, explores the history of the desert through for themes: land, light, people, and place. 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
FLASHBACK: La Quinta Museum presents Roadtrip: Route 66 through September 14. Info
CONTRASTS: Promised Gifts from the Kaplan-Ostergaard Glass Collection, through September 15 at Palm Springs Art Museum, showcases blown, cast, and kiln-formed glass by artists including Emma Camden, Steve Klein, and Nick Mount. Info
SUBLIME PHOTOGRAPHY: Contemporary Sublime: The Photographic Collecting of William G. Butler, an exhibition through October 6 at the Palm Springs Art Museum, taps into unconscious experiences and creates a psychological connection between viewer and image. Info
SHAPING VISION: Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism— showcasing paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Willem de Kooning, Édouard Manet, Joan Mitchell, and Mark Rothko— runs through October 13 at Palm Springs Art Museum. Info
BRAVE NEW WORLDS: Explorations of Space, at the Palm Springs Art Museum through December 15, features projects by Kelly Akashi, Gisela Colon, Victoria Fu, Karen Lofgren, and Adee Roberson. Info
