An aerial view of the 2012 Pit Fire on the Cochise College Douglas Campus.
DOUGLAS — The seventh annual Cochise College Pit Fire Festival will feature performances by the Bi Cultural Road Show, a collaborative effort that’s on a spring-fall tour across the Southwest border states.
The Pit Fire Festival is a unique extravaganza that combines the arts of ceramics, music, dance and cuisine. This year’s event is from 5 to 9 p.m. Oct. 24 on the Cochise College Douglas Campus, free and open to the public.
“This unique pit fire event will be a dazzling public spectacle,” said Tate Rich, Cochise College art instructor. “As we commemorate the best of education, we will be enriched by the passions of our community.”
Companies performing in the Bi Cultural Road Show include the Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater Company, Nemcatacoa Teatro, Verbo-Bala, Hojarasca, and, an old favorite of the festival, Flam Chen.
“The Bi Cultural Road Show expands the understanding and appreciation of Latin Culture beyond the Mexican border by being a living display of creative co-existence that includes presenting each participating company’s repertory performances, sharing two slide show lectures and conducting a residency program, entitled The Open Society Project, that engages students and artists from the different communities visited by the Bi Cultural Road Show,” according to the Carpetbag Brigade’s website.
The Pit Fire Festival was initiated by the Cochise College Art Department to celebrate the firing of hundreds of pots created by Cochise College ceramics students. The event has grown and expanded in activities and attendance each year.
“We believe in creating a platform for transformation, whether in the individual or society,” Rich said. “And it occurs through collaboration, commitment, and deeply personal participation.”
Those in attendance can support Cochise College arts by becoming a Friend of the Art Department. A $10 donation at the Pit Fire Festival comes with a handmade ceramic bowl for soup tasting during the evening.
The Cochise College Center for Lifelong Learning is once again offering its Pit Fire Pottery Studio class, a four-part course that meets on the Douglas Campus for students to make coil or pinch pots and have their work included in the Pit Fire Festival.
For more information about the Pit Fire Festival, call the Cochise College Art Department on the Douglas Campus at (520) 417-4025.