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We're pleased to welcome patrons to Arts on the Side (our quarterly FREE dinner and arts event) on Tuesday, March 24, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 123 South Jackson Street in Athens. The community meal, catered by ARAMARK, begins at 5:30 PM in the Parish Hall at St. Paul’s (Jackson Street Entrance) with the premiere performance of “The Great Space” at 6:30 PM in the St. Paul’s Sanctuary.
Arts on the Side moves off The Arts Center campus in March as part of a tour premiering a new work, “The Great Space” for string quartet, by Nashville composer Ben Jones, with choreography by Becca Hoback.
Ben Jones is a full-time firefighter, husband, and father from the metro Nashville area. He received a grant from Tennessee Arts Commission to compose and tour this original work. Ben’s music and choreography by Becca Hoback use sound and movement to explore the physical spaces we inhabit. The performance is part of a premiere tour highlighting unconventional performance spaces with stops in Nashville and Knoxville. The tour also includes a limited vinyl release of “The Great Space.”
AACA’s Executive Director, Lauren Brown, is excited for Athens to be billed on the premiere tour for this work.
“Bringing exciting, one-of-a-kind performing arts experiences to our town is the reason our organization was created. It is particularly exciting when we can help showcase new, original work by emerging artists,” she said.
There is no religious connotation to the performance or gathering; the location is based on the exploration of non-traditional performance spaces. It is fitting that this event is at a local church, though, since this series was inspired by church soup suppers of Lauren’s youth.
“Gatherings at The Arts Center are not unlike a church soup supper. Everyone is welcome here. Plus, there is a lot of data about how sharing arts experiences and doing creative things helps create unity and a sense of community. Instead of sharing statistics, we’re sharing this invitation with the hope that people will come to feel that fact for themselves,” Brown said. “Even though this event is not physically at The Arts Center, the spirit of shared creative experience will travel with us.”
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
123 S Jackson St, Athens, TN 37303-4710, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.



