Wide variety of entertainment acts to take the stage at Arts Fest, People’s Choice
While thousands of art enthusiasts will descend upon Centre County this week for People’s Choice and the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, live entertainment has also become an important part of the annual events.
For Rick Bryant, executive director of Arts Fest, entertainment is a critical piece of the event’s success.
“It’s one of the legs of the arts festival and the stool can’t stand without all the legs,” he said.
Bryant said the festival tries to book a wide array of musical acts. This year, that ranges from pop-rock cover band and State College bar regular My Hero Zero to the internationally touring Joe Baione Jazz Trio.
At People’s Choice, acts will include Talking Heads tribute band Start Making Sense, Black Cat Belly Dance and Elvis impersonator Brad Crum.
Some entertainers make the rounds at both festivals. Velveeta, one of the bands Bryant considers an Arts Fest “classic,” will perform in Sidney Friedman Park at 8 p.m. Saturday during Arts Fest and at 6:30 p.m. Thursday during People’s Choice. The band has been a fixture at the festivals for about 15 years and Brent Martin, the keyboardist, guitarist and manager of Velveeta, said they don’t prefer one festival over the other.
The festivals give Velveeta an opportunity to play for a wider audience, he said.
“Usually we perform at bars which are 21 (age of entry) and casinos which are 18, so Arts Fest allows us to get more of a family,” Martin said.
Entertainment at the arts festivals also goes beyond live music. Last year, Arts Fest booked a stand-up comedian, and this year the festival will be doing the same, with comedian Greg Warren performing on Friday night.
New this year, Arts Fest will feature Happy Valley Improv, a long form improv company.
Happy Valley Improv will be performing two shows on Saturday, one at 8 p.m. and one at 10 p.m., in the Attic at The State Theatre.
Improv member James Tierney said the audience can expect two 30-minute sets during the show.
“We’ll start by introducing the type of improv that’s going to be happening and then we’ll ask the audience of suggestions and then everything is going to be made up on the spot,” he said.
Given the unscripted nature of the show and the fact that each of the two shows will be performed by different members of the improv company, each show will be completely different.
Happy Valley Improv performs shows around the State College area, and the improv company hopes to give festivalgoers a unique experience.
“A lot of people coming to Arts Fest hear a lot of bands, a lot of music, we’ll have a ton of talented local musicians and we also have national musicians that are coming in and if someone’s looking for something different they can come to the improv show,” Tierney said.