Spring Art Hopin downtown Bend

Twice per year, spring and fall, First Friday Gallery Walk expands into Art Hop, pulling yet more downtown Bend businesses into the merriment.

From roughly 5-9 p.m. today, enjoy artwork, wine, appetizers and, in some cases, live music at participating galleries, cafes and retail stores. Here’s just a taste of what you might see:

• At Townshend’s Bend Teahouse, 835 NW Bond St., you can check out a new exhibit of photographer Lexy Potts’ works titled “Odd and Peculiar.”

• Over in the Old Mill at artist-run Tumalo Art Co., 450 SW Powerhouse Drive, fine art photographer Bruce Jackson will open a show of new images till 8 p.m.

• At Franklin Crossing, 550 NW Franklin Ave., an exhibit of 15 works donated by noted photographers will display in the atrium. At 5:30 p.m. April 23, they’ll find new homes via a live auction to benefit the Family Resource Center.

Auditions for ‘Avenue Q’

Stage Right Productions will hold auditions for “Avenue Q” at 6:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at 2nd Street Theater, 220 NE Lafayette Ave., in Bend.

The Tony Award-winning musical will be staged Sept. 11-19 at the Tower Theatre in Bend as a Marquee Series presentation, for which local theater companies produce shows to be performed on the Tower stage.

In 2013, Stage Right produced “Spamalot” for the series; other years have seen productions of “Les Miserables,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and “The Producers” by other local companies.

“Avenue Q,” written by Robert Lopez (“Book of Mormon”), Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty, is a musical about life in New York City, as told by a cast of people and puppets via irreverent book and score.

This casting call is for actors only, not puppeteers. Performers must move well and sing proficiently and should come prepared with 16-32 bars of a contemporary musical theater piece. A cappella auditions and auditions without music for the accompanist are discouraged. Auditioners under the age of 18 must have parental approval.

Tickets are on sale now at the Tower Theatre Box Office at www.towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700.

For more information, contact 2ndstreettheater@gmail.com.

High Desert Chamber Music wins grant

High Desert Chamber Music has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust, which, since 1982, has awarded funds to organizations that address wide array of community needs in many different focus areas, including arts and culture.

This is the second grant HDCM — whose own mission is to bring world-class chamber music and musicians to Central Oregon — has received from the trust.

“We are grateful for their continued support and thrilled to receive this award,” said Isabelle Senger, executive director of HDCM. “These funds will be used toward general operating support, to ensure the long term sustainability of the operations and artistic excellence of High Desert Chamber Music.”

Contact: info@highdesertchambermusic.com or 541-306-3988.

— David Jasper