Arts & Culture

This week, Floyd County is hosting 30 artists who are spending the week outside, painting scenes in the Floyd Plein Air Biennial.

About 10% of all people are left-handed, which helps to explain why the melody in compositions for the piano is usually written for the right. But a former professor from Sweet Briar College specializes in works composed for the left. He’ll be performing at Virginia Tech, UVA and JMU later this month.

Two art professors at Virginia Tech have been exploring questions they have about artificial intelligence through a performance piece that will be shown later this week in Blacksburg.

For more than a decade, Virginia’s hosted the Supernova Ska Festival, an event that each year pulls in dozens of performers adhering to the genre’s 1960s origins, as well as newer acts inclined to incorporate punky elements into their work.

When it comes to Hollywood films, we hear a lot of about actors and directors but not so much about producers. The Virginia Film Festival hopes to change that situation by presenting a special award to exceptional producers.

“It’s this idea that you can compose, you can play with sounds that don’t fall into traditional ideas about harmony and rhythm.”

The Grandin Theatre in Roanoke first opened in 1932. A lot has changed in 95 years. A new construction project is underway to meet the theater’s changing needs.

In 1990, a Virginia writer set out to hike the Appalachian Trail, inspired by a story in National Geographic. He was 31, and it was the hardest thing he had ever done. He suffered injuries, hypothermia, exhaustion and the shocking loss of two fellow hikers who were murdered in a trailside shelter. Still, 36 years later, he decided to do it again.

Chris Farina has made more than a dozen documentary films here in Virginia, from the sobering stories of kids in juvenile detention to the inspiring tale of men overcoming addiction. He made people laugh with the saga of a rowdy band of musicians who entertained and sometimes offended UVA football fans, and told the world about a game that inspired children and military leaders to think about world peace. Now, Farina is working on his last film.

Emilee Hackney's debut book, "All That's Unseen: An Appalachian Memoir," was released on July 28 to widespread praise.