Rapid City Arts Council presents First Fridays Open Mic night for local artists
Creative space for artists to express themselves
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The Rapid City Arts Council relaunched the emerging performing artists program, which offers up-and-coming talent in the local area space to perform and connect with an audience.
Deb Lux, the Emerging Performing Arts (EPA) Facilitator, for the Rapid City Arts Council, says First Fridays is a free event built for the members of our community who want to tune their performing arts skills. Lux says all kinds of acts, vocal and musical talent are the most common but we happily welcome comedy, poetry, monologue, or any form of performance. She explains that First Fridays was created 10 years ago, “To give emerging artists of any age a safe place to try out their talent, perform in front of a live audience. It’s a listening room where people can come to support the music, to support these young artists so every first Friday we will have an open mic at 6 p.m.” At the end of the month, the last Friday will be a Spotlight mini showcase with four performers from the open mic to allow them to create their own set and perform it in front of a live audience.
Invited music artist, Rowan Grace, a former contestant on a national singing show, says First Fridays allowed her to test out her musical selections in front of a live audience, “The emerging artist program was the very first time I had ever performed in front of people and I’m really excited it’s coming back because for me I would go there and do the open mics and I remember being so nervous. Now I’m so much more comfortable on the stage and I owe a lot of that to being able to go to these open mics and see other people as well and not only perform and watch other artists around the area.”
Lux adds that a performer is nothing without an audience. If you aren’t ready to perform quite yet please come out to support the emerging talent in our city on both the First and Last Fridays of the month at the Dahl Arts Center from 6-8 pm. Luxe says throughout the season, emerging performers will be invited to special one-time opportunities to engage with touring artists and special guests at the Dahl Arts Center. Stay tuned for invitations to meet & greets, workshops, and more. These opportunities are by invitation only to EPA program attendees.
To become a member all you have to do is sign up on our website.
Look out for some upcoming performers; Feb. 2 Bohdi Linde, March 1 Jeremy Quick, and April 5 Tom Frear.
A beer and wine bar will be available.
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