Orcas Center

In 2004, artist-composer Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky, re-edited director D.W. Griffith’s problematic 1915 silent film as “Rebirth of a Nation.”  Rebirth of a Nation is a culturally significant project that examines how exploitation and political corruption still haunt the world to this day.

Look through the lens of DJ Spooky’ s unique art of mixing.

Mr. Miller will be joined on stage by “Tres Voci”, local artist consisting of Pamela Wright, Holly King, Scott Heisinger, and guest Violinist Dr. Rachel Bishop. 

Reporting live on an unfolding crisis, Frank in the Studio is aided by his team of field reporters: John in the Field, Constance at the Home, and Michael, the Legal Advisor. As the impending event approaches and chaos builds, the broadcasters reveal themselves to be all too human. In an era during which many have come to question the veracity of the news media, Will Eno's Tragedy: A Tragedy hilariously transcends fact-in-fiction in search of universal truths about the world we live in.

An evening of dance for all ages!

Directed and Choreographed by Tiffany Loney

Presented through Orcas Dance Collective

Featuring Junior Dance Collective and special guests

Orcas Dance Collective’s fall dance class series is coming to a close, and we are so excited to see what our student dancers have learned. Join us for a Holiday Showcase - “Winter Wonderland” and “Nutcracker: Kingdom of Sweets” on December 15th and 16th, at 5:30 pm and 7:00 pm. These performances will present student dancers of all ages with something for everyone. We hope to see you there!

Orcas Dance Collective’s fall dance class series is coming to a close, and we are so excited to see what our student dancers have learned. Join us for a Holiday Showcase - “Winter Wonderland” and “Nutcracker: Kingdom of Sweets” on December 15th and 16th, at 5:30 pm and 7:00 pm. These performances will present student dancers of all ages with something for everyone. We hope to see you there!

The Crow Valley String Band, Brograss and friends invite you to join them for their annual “Home for the Holidays” show. Although it was fun streaming from our living room last year, we are so excited, thanks to the vaccine, to return to the stage at the Orcas Center. Tashi will be home from music conservatory and college, and Kaj back from studying in London, even taller, and inspired with new tunes and ideas. Come hear about what they have been doing. Please join Jim, Rachel, Tashi and Kaj again this year,  as we bring you music, song and stories to welcome the festive season.

Locarno incorporates music from Columbia, African Sukous, Mexican Marimba Music, Venezuelan Joropo and Brazilian Forro Music. Perhaps where the band shines the most is in the live shows which features Tom Landa on jaranas and guitars, Kalissa Landa on violin, Robin Layne on marimba, congas and timbales, Pedro Mota on guitar an vocals, Aaron McKinney on bass, Liam MacDonald on drums, congas and pandero, Mark D’Angelo on trumpet and Nick La Rivere on trombone.

JIJI is an adventurous artist known for her virtuosic performances that feature a diverse selection of music, ranging from traditional and contemporary classical to free improvisation, played on both acoustic and electric guitar. Through her impeccable musicianship, compelling stage presence, and constant premieres of new musical works, JIJI’s intriguing programming solidifies her reputation as a 21st century guitarist.

Pride and Prejudice concentrates on Mrs. Bennet’s determination to get her daughters married. Jane, Elizabeth, (Lizzie) and Lydia are likely-looking girls in a period when a woman’s one possible career is matrimony. To be a wife was success. Anything else was failure. But, Lizzie's heart is her primary decision maker. Fearless, funny and utterly irresistible, she'll catch the fancy of more than one gentleman before the evening's out!

With couples to cheer for (and against), and the pluckiest heroine ever to ignore her mother's romantic advice, Pride and Prejudice is the ultimate Rom-Com, blending the elements of romance, sarcasm, and comedy that transcends time.

Designed and performed by Powell Flutes Artist Amelia Lukas, Natural Homeland is a timely, tour de force program of music for solo flute, piccolo, alto flute, and electronics, that delves deep into the meaning of home and our place in the world around us. A diverse and gorgeous array of music weaves together stories of natural disaster and displacement, but also of hope and inner sanctuary. This is a reflective, restorative and important program that draws expansive connections around ideas of shelter, belonging, and freedom, all offered through Lukas’ riveting performance, which conveys a “fine balance of virtuosity and poetry.” (The New York Times) The scope of extended techniques and global palette of sounds featured in these works is stunning, and rarely heard on the concert stage. Lukas will introduce and offer context for each piece.

Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy Award-winning Chicago-based percussion quartet. For over fifteen years, the ensemble has created exciting and unexpected performances that constantly redefine the classical music experience. The ensemble has been praised for “commandingly elegant” (New York Times) performances, the “rare power” (Washington Post) of their recordings, and “an inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune).
Third Coast Percussion maintains a busy tour schedule, with past performances in 38 of the 50 states and Washington, DC, plus international tour dates across four continents.

Yamandu Costa, 7-string guitar virtuoso, was born in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and has created his very particular style of compositions, somewhere between the typical music from the south of Brazil, Choro and Samba with finger acrobatic like passages, high tempo and yet very delicate and melodious pieces.

Annie is a modern dancer who, after witnessing the fall of the Twin Towers, heads to Japan to study butoh dance. Ten years later she is diagnosed with cancer and returns to butoh to prepare for her final dance.

Join us on the Village Green for Good Lovelies and Madison West on June 18th. Part of Orcas Center's FREE Summer Concert Series sponsored by OrcaSong Farm, Country Corner, and LTAC through San Juan County.

Join us on the Village Green for Zan Fiskum with Special Guest Grace McCune on July 8th - Part of Orcas Center's FREE Summer Concert Series sponsored by OrcaSong Farm, Country Corner, and LTAC through San Juan County.

Join us on the Village Green for LeRoy Bell on July 9th- Part of Orcas Center's FREE Summer Concert Series sponsored by OrcaSong Farm, Country Corner, and LTAC through San Juan County.

Join us on the Village Green for Alpha Yaya Diallo with special guest, Rafe Pearlman on Saturday, July 30th- Part of Orcas Center's FREE Summer Concert Series sponsored by OrcaSong Farm, Country Corner, and LTAC through San Juan County.

Join us on the Village Green for Rise UP! on Saturday, August 27th - Part of Orcas Center's FREE Summer Concert Series sponsored by OrcaSong Farm, Country Corner, and LTAC through San Juan County.

In the modern musical landscape, it’s rare to hear something as put-together as Cascadian folk duo West My Friend - something so layered, deeply symphonic, baroque, and mysterious in its own winking way while still courting an edge of disaster. Simple is safe, but complex is fiery, intricate, and ultimately more rewarding.

With nine critically acclaimed releases, a #1 single, a JUNO Award, and a devoted fanbase blanketing the globe, roots-pop combo The Good Lovelies are among Canada’s brightest musical lights. The hardworking trio of Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough, and Susan Passmore — guitar-wielding songwriters all, and queens of the goose bump–raising three-part harmony.

Have you ever wanted to enter a Spelling Bee contest? Or are you a former Spelling Bee champ and crave another opportunity? Here’s your chance!

The Orcas Island Library is hosting an Adult Spelling Bee on Friday, Oct. 25 from 6 to 8 p.m. There will be prizes and refreshments.

An exquisite and evocative multi-modality experience of sacred song, dance, ritual theater, puppeteering, and visuals, ‘The She Rose Show’ entices the hearts of the witness to bloom in reverence of the power & wisdom of the emergent divine feminine.

The Orcas community and guests are invited to join in witnessing a historic celebration of peace between Lummi and Haida tribal leaders. The community will witness song, dance, celebration and culture in an embodiment of what it means to move forward from historical atrocities and for peace to grow on Orcas.

We remember Abraham Lincoln as a great president, but he was also a great student of history and nearly a century ago, he predicted the presidency of Donald Trump. Not by name, of course. But Lincoln knew history and human nature well enough to warn us that someday America would see the rise of a strong-man leader hungry for absolute power. Someone like Caesar or Napoleon.

Think you’ve got what it takes to spell your way to glory? Or love watching others sweat over silent letters and tricky vowels? Either way, the 3rd Annual Adult Spelling Bee is back!