Kentucky Arts and Culture

Kentucky is hoping to add another thread to the increasingly colorful tapestry of the history of the state's horse industry. The state has applied to have a house at 547 Breckenridge Street in Lexington added to the National Register of Historic Places because of its link to a largely forgotten African-American horse trainer named Courtney Mathews.

Robert Bohrn knows a little about the two men behind the bronze busts in his foyer. One thing he’s sure of is that this year’s Civil War sesquicentennial adds to their historical worth. He knows they served in the Union’s all black 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. That they built roads and fortifications, often under Confederate fire, in Folly Beach, S.C., from 1863-1864 and that they died from typhoid, dysentery and other ailments common in military encampments then. Bohrn, a 54-year-old Charleston, S.C.-born hunter of Civil War relics who now lives in Franklin County, helped unearth 19 skeletons of the men in the 55th.

The oldest Christian music festival in the nation may not come back for a 43rd year. The Ichthus Festival draws tens of thousands of people to a large field in Wilmore, Kentucky, but the event is struggling financially. CEO Mark Vermillion says Ichthus can no longer rely on just ticket sales.

Two musicals for two very different audiences this weekend in central Kentucky.  The Lexington Children’s Theater offers a production of “Annie” that includes whole families in its cast.  Summerfest stages “The Rocky Horror Show” for people with more adult tastes.  Plus, in response to audience demand, “Three Viewings” will have more viewings.  Arts reporter Rich Copley of the Lexington Herald Leader offers these previews.

Ann-Blair Thornton, a 21-year-old from Bowling Green, was nearly speechless Saturday night after being crowned Miss Kentucky 2011. "I don't know if this is real," she said. "Looking back on all the years I've put into this, I never dreamed it would be real." Shortly after the glittering crown was placed atop her head at the University of Kentucky Singletary Center for the Arts, Thornton said the first thing she planned to do as Miss Kentucky was "give my parents a hug. This is all their doing," she said.

Adrian Vergot grew up playing with Hot Wheels and watching the television show “Speed Racer.” He was constantly disappointed that few cars actually resembled his childhood icons, so last year he purchased the ultimate hot wheels. Vergot, of Pittsburgh, brought his 1968 titanic Corvette to the 30th annual National Corvette Homecoming, which wrapped up Saturday at Bowling Green's Sloan Convention Center. Vergot was one of hundreds of Corvette enthusiasts who flocked to the three-day event, showing off their cars that ranged from the newest Corvettes to cars that were manufactured decades ago.

Scott Smith, 87, is a retired newspaperman. He's also had a lifelong fascination with the Old West. Now, the Danville resident has combined his two long held interests and published his first novel - The Bronco Man. Naturally, it's a western.

Tickets in one hand, wands in the other - both at the ready. Roughly 1,500 fans attended the midnight screening of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2,” the last in the movie series, at the Great Escape Theaters’ Bowling Green 12 today. The theater showed “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1” at 9 p.m., followed by the sold-out midnight showing of “Part 2” on every screen in the theater.

A crime drama based in Appalachia continues to earn praise from critics.  This week, “Justified” netted four Emmy nominations.  Rich Copley, who’s an arts and culture reporter for the Lexington Herald offers an explanation.  He also says the final installment in the “Harry Potter” series can pose competition to events take place in Kentucky.  Among those events is a dramedy based in Danville at the end of World War Two.

A television drama set mainly in Harlan and Lexington, Kentucky is in the running for a number of Emmy awards. The nominations were revealed early Thursday morning. Timothy Olyphant, who stars as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givins in the critically acclaimed FX series Justified, has received a best lead actor nomination. Margo Martindale, who last season portrayed the criminal matriarch Mags Bennett, got a best supporting actress nod, and Walton Goggins, who plays Givins' frenemy Boyd Crowder, is up for a supporting actor award.

Some members of the Louisville Orchestra’s musicians union are staging a protest at the orchestra’s headquarters this afternoon as their contract impasse continues. The musicians had already said they would reject management’s latest contract offer. They had until today to consider a proposal that outlines specific expectations for rehearsal and performance attendance.

What started as a joke between friends turned into Natalie Blake’s big break when she was chosen to be one of 18 contestants on the upcoming season of the Fox reality show “Hell’s Kitchen.” Blake, a 23-year-old chef from Harrodsburg, went to culinary school at Sullivan University in Lexington and currently works as a sous chef at Beamont Inn in Harrodsburg.

For one spring night next year, the world of Bluegrass music will fix their focus on Jackson and Breathitt County, when the renowned six-piece band The Grascals will grace the Douthitt Park stage for a concert on Saturday, June 9, 2012.

Members of the Louisville Orchestra’s musicians union say they will reject the latest contract offer from the Orchestra. The Orchestra proposal, which outlines specific expectations for rehearsal and performance attendance, was delivered last week. It names tomorrow as the deadline for members to respond. If they don’t, the orchestra says it  “will be treated as a voluntary refusal to work and the Louisville Orchestra will take whatever steps are legally appropriate to fill your position.”

Organizers of the Spotlight Lexington Festival have officially canceled this year's event citing a lack of corporate support. Spotlight Chair Kip Cornett says while the festival proved a very popular aspect of the World Equestrian Games last fall, continuing it this year proved cost-prohibitive.

The inaugural season at Eastern Kentucky University’s Center for the Arts is packed with popular performers and entertainment. The lineup of about dozen acts was released Friday. Among the performers are public radio’s Garrison Keiller, country icon Willie Nelson and soul music queen Aretha Franklin. Center executive director Debra Hoskins is pleased with the way things have fallen into place, especially since she was hired only five months ago.