The Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Van Wezel Foundation Present “Unscripted+: Community Edition”

June 7, 2021 – Sarasota

The Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Van Wezel Foundation present the fourth installment of “UNSCRIPTED+: Community Edition,” featuring Kennedy Center teaching artist, storyteller, and performer Reggie Harris, on Thursday, June 10, at 7 p.m. ET, via Zoom. This intimate, “off-script” series takes audiences on an insider’s journey of the artistic process, featuring award-winning writers, musicians, composers, choreographers, visual artists, educators, and other Hermitage Fellows from around the globe. Previous UNSCRIPTED programs have featured Hermitage Fellows Claire Chase (flutist, MacArthur “Genius” recipient, Avery Fisher Prize winner); Ann Patterson (visual artist, sculptor, author); Melissa Studdard (poet); Christopher Theofanidis (composer); and Patrick Harlin (composer, visual media artist); and Hermitage curator Eric Booth (arts educator). 

Reggie Harris is a Hermitage Fellow, an arts educator, and a one-of-a-kind performer. He has been a vital part of international folk and acoustic music circles for over 40 years. Harris is a songwriter, storyteller, song-leader, educator, and a Kennedy Center teaching artist who travels the world presenting over 300 performances a year spreading hope and light through song to audiences of all ages. As co-president and music education director for the Living Legacy Project, he leads pilgrimages to sites of the Modern Civil Rights movement in the southern U.S. Harris’ solo CD “Ready to Go” was Number 5 on the Folk DJ charts for 2018, and his collaboration “Deeper Than the Skin,” with fellow artist Greg Greenway, has led to a growing movement of courageous conversations on race and history across the nation. Harris has been a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Scholars program, and he was in residence at the Hermitage Artist Retreat various times between 2017 and 2019. For more information, visit ReggieHarrisMusic.com.

UNSCRIPTED is a partnership between the Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Van Wezel Foundation. In the spirit of the series name, there is no single venue or stage, and every performance takes place in a variety of forms and locations. Whether it be a virtual Zoom room, on the beach, in a studio, or even in a private living room, each presentation is a one-of-a-kind interactive experience. Following the success of the latest ‘Community Edition’ of UNSCRIPTED, Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg and Van Wezel Foundation CEO Cheryl Mendelson once again decided to open this forthcoming installment of the series – the last of this season – to a wider audience.

The event is offered via Zoom, and registration is required at artsUNSCRIPTED.org, or by visiting the website of the Hermitage Artist Retreat (HermitageArtistRetreat.org) or the Van Wezel Foundation (vwfoundation.org).