It’s impossible to put a price on the
benefits of art and culture. Except when you’re, like, broke. While
it would be swell to pick up a fabulous piece of art from a chic
gallery, dart to a nice evening show at the theater, and follow it up
with a rock concert, for most of us, that’s just not in the budget.
Thankfully Rochester has a plethora of
arts and entertainment options, many of them exceedingly affordable.
Smart culture vultures can capitalize on their frugality even more if
we know the right places to hit, and at what times. Here’s a list
of options that will get you a looooong way on a little scratch. But
use it only as a starting point. Check out City Newspaper every week
for a comprehensive calendar of events.
Music
Rochester is undeniably a music town.
There are so many concerts at so many venues so many nights a week
that it would be impossible to list all the venues (consult
www.rochestercitynewspaper.com for a comprehensive list). But if
you’re looking for good tunes on the cheap, there are numerous
standbys worth considering.
For acoustic and folk, coffeehouses
are always a good bet, and Rochester has many with live music. Daily
Perks, Boulder Coffee, Flat Iron Café, and Little Theatre
Café regularly feature musicians with covers rarely exceeding
$10. For blues, Beale Street Café, Rab’s Woodshed, and
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que have live acts most nights a week and the
performances are typically free.
Classical music concerts are abundant.
While the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s regular tickets
aren’t cheap, they are affordable, and the RPO also has smaller
ensembles that play around town for little or nothing. Students from
the Eastman School of Music can be found playing at many area
churches, and its faculty and students regularly gives low- or
no-cost concerts at the school itself. In fact, most area colleges
have excellent music programs and frequent concerts that rarely cost
a thing. Not to mention, there are numerous quality classical
ensembles that play throughout the year for reasonable admission
prices.
Rochester loves its jazz, as evidenced
by the very popular Rochester International Jazz Festival each
June. In addition to the big-ticket concerts the festival provides
several free street stages packed with quality touring and local
artists. Not to be missed. During the year, consider the Grill at
the Strathallan or Horizons Lounge at the Lodge at Woodcliff,
which host jazz musicians on the weekends.
Our rock and pop clubs typically
charge $10 or less for local and regional acts. Check out The Bug
Jar, Water Street Music Hall, hard-rocking Penny Arcade,
defiantly alt A/V, Montage Live, California Brew Haus, High
Fidelity, and many of the bar and clubs at East and Alexander to
see what’s on the schedule.
Visual art
Since most galleries are free to browse
at your leisure, checking out visual art is a good way to get lots of
culture while not spending a lot of money. Rochester’s galleries
are a diverse bunch, and many of them offer opening receptions with
free food and drink for an extra budget boost. Also, take advantage
of the area’s many colleges, most of which house excellent art
centers that show multiple exhibits at one time.
For another option for sampling many
styles in one trip, check out Anderson Alley Artists’ Second
Saturdays open house (noon to 4 p.m., second Saturday of each month,
October through May), where you can meet and jaw with three floors’
worth of artists in their studios while looking at their work. For
free! Also consider Genesee Center for the Arts and its numerous
galleries and the ARTISANworks collective (which will cost you $12
per visit).
Our local art museums — the Memorial
Art Gallery and George Eastman House — do charge admission, but the
MAG offers reduced prices on Thursdays 5-9 p.m. (you can also take a
tour at 6:30 p.m., so get in on that action).
1570 Gallery 1570 East Avenue,
770-1923
All Things Art 65 S Main Street,
Canandaigua, 396-0087
Anderson Alley Artists 250 N
Goodman Street, #212,473-0070, www.andersonalleyartists.com
Art Stop Gallery 10 & 12
North Avenue, Webster, 872-5710, www.artstopllc.com
ARTISANworks 565 Blossom Road,
Suite L, 288-7170, www.artisanworks.net
A\V 8 Public Market, 615-8446,
www.avspace.org
Crocus Clay
Works 1115 East Main Street, 414-5643, www.crocusclayworks.com
Friendly Home Memorial Gallery 3156
East Avenue, 385-0298
Gallery On Main Street 131 South
Main Street, Canandaigua, 394-2780
Genesee Center for the Arts 713
Monroe Avenue, 271-5183, www.geneseearts.org
George Eastman House 900 East
Avenue, 271-3361, www.eastmanhouse.org
Image City Photography Gallery 722
University Avenue, 271-540, www.imagecityphotographygallery.com
International Art Acquisitions, 3300
Monroe Avenue, 264-1440, www.internationalartacquisitions.com
Jembetat Gallery 645 Park
Avenue, 442-8960, www.jembetat.com
Link Gallery City Hall, 30
Church Street, 624-4913
Little Theatre Café 240 East
Avenue, 258-0400, www.thelittle.org
Memorial Art Gallery 500
University Avenue, 473-7720, mag.rochester.edu
Mercer GalleryMonroe
Community College, 1000 E Henrietta Road, 292-2021,
www.monroecc.edu/depts/vapa/mercer/
Mill Art Center and Gallery 61 N
Main Street, Honeoye Falls, 624-7740, www.millartcenter.com
More Fire Glass Studio 80
Rockwood Place, 242-0450, www.morefireglass.com
My Sister’s Gallery Episcopal
Church Home, 505 Mt Hope Avenue, 546-8439
Nan Miller Gallery 3450 Winton
Place, 292-1430, www.nanmillergallery.com
Nazareth College Arts Center 4245
East Avenue, 389-2700, www.naz.edu/artscenter
New Gallery Arts & Cultural
Council, 277 N Goodman Street, 473-4000, www.artsrochester.org
Oxford Gallery 267 Oxford
Street, 271-5885, www.oxfordgallery.com
Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery 71 South
Main Street, Canandaigua, 394-0030, www.prrgallery.com
Renaissance Art Gallery 74 Saint
Paul Street, 423-8235, www.rochesterrenaissanceartgallery.com
Rochester Contemporary 137 East
Avenue, 461-2222, www.rochestercontemporary.org
Rochester Institute of Technology Bevier Gallery, James E. Booth Building, 475-7680 | Gallery r,775 Park Avenue, 242-9470, www.rit.edu/~galleryr | NTID Dyer Arts
Center, Johnson Building, 475-6855 | SPAS Gallery, Gannett
Bldg 7B, 475-2770; www.rit.edu
Spectrum Gallery Lumiere Photo,
439 Monroe Avenue, 461-4447, www.lumierephoto.com
SUNY Geneseo Lederer Gallery,
Brodie Hall, 245-5211 | Lockhart Gallery, McClellan House,
245-5814 | Opus Gallery, MacVittie College Union, 245-5516;
www.geneseo.edu
Tower Fine Arts Center and Rainbow
GallerySUNY Brockport, 180 Holley Street,
Brockport, 395-2805; www.brockport.edu
University of Rochester Gallery
at the Art and Music Library, Rush Rhees Library, River Campus,
275-4476 | Hartnett Gallery, Wilson Commons, River Campus, 275-4188 |
Rare Books and Special Collections Library, River Campus,
275-4477 | Rossell Hope Robbins Library, Rush Rhees Library, River
Campus, 275-0110; www.rochester.edu
Vagabond Gallery 32 South Main
Street, Canandaigua, 394-8680, www.vagabondgallery.com
Visual Studies Workshop 31
Prince Street, 442-8676, www.vsw.org
Williams Gallery First Unitarian
Church, 220 S Winton Road, 271-9070
Williams-Insalaco Gallery34 Finger Lakes Community College, 4355 Lakeshore
Drive, Canandaigua, 394-3500, www.fingerlakes.edu
Theater
Tickets to the theater can be
expensive. Some of the smaller local groups charge as little as $5 to
$10, while some of the big fish can go $20 to $50. Thing is, the
quality is usually worth it. To save some bucks, always consider
matinee performances. They’re usually cheaper and often less
crowded.
Beyond that, several companies —
including Geva and Shipping Dock — offer pay-what-you-can nights at
some point during a run; keep your eye out for these prize cheapo
opportunities, but don’t be too stingy.
Area college theater programs are
bursting with soon-to-be-big talents who are ready for their close
up. Shows are going on seemingly all the time, and tickets rarely
cost more than $10.
Many of the theater companies also do
staged readings of new plays. Granted, you won’t get the full
experience, but if you’re looking for a good story to take you away
for an afternoon, it does the trick. And also, usually free. Geva,
Shipping Dock, and the Plays in Progress series will periodically
schedule these under-the-radar events, so stay on your toes.
Blackfriars Theatre 28 Lawn
Street, 454-1260, www.blackfriars.org
Bread & Water Theatre New
Life Presbyterian Church, 243 Rosedale St, 271-5523,
www.BreadAndWaterTheatre.org
Downstairs Cabaret Theatre 20
Windsor Street, 172 W Main Street, and 540 E Main Street, 325-4370,
www.downstairscabaret.com
Geva Comedy Improv 75 Woodbury
Boulevard, 232-4382, www.gevatheatre.org
Geva Theatre Center 75 Woodbury
Boulevard, 232-4382, www.gevatheatre.org
Greater Rochester Repertory
Companies 438 Quaker Meetinghouse Road624-8360,
www.grrc-arts.org
JCCenterstage Jewish Community
Center, 1200 Edgewood Avenue, 461-2000, www.jccrochester.org
A Magical Journey Thru Stages
Auditorium Center, Suite 380, 875 East Main Street, 935-7173,
www.mjtstages.com
Mercury Opera 26 Gibbs Street,
473-6567, www.operafactory.org
Nazareth College Theatre Program
Nazareth College Arts Center, 4245 East Avenue, 389-2170,
www.naz.edu/dept/theater-arts
NTID Performing Arts Panara
Theatre, 475-6254, www.rit.edu/~423www/
Nuts and Bolts Comedy Improv
Downstairs Cabaret Theatre 2, 172 West Main Street, 503-7815,
www.nutsandboltsimprov.com
Off-Monroe Players Salem United
Church of Christ, 60 Bittner Street, 234-0500,
www.off-monroeplayers.org
Penfield Players
www.penfieldplayers.org
Plays in Progress Project 377-8911
Rochester Association of Performing
Arts 727 E Main Street, 325-3366
Rochester
Broadway Theatre League 875 E Main Street, 222-5000, www.rbtl.org
Rochester Children’s Theater
Nazareth College, 4245 East Avenue, 385-0510,
www.rochesterchildrenstheatre.org
Rochester Community Players
261-6461, www.rochestercommunityplayers.org
St. John Fisher College Passion
Players Cleary Family Auditorium, 385-8325
Shipping Dock Theatre Visual
Studies Workshop, 31 Prince Street, 232-2250,
www.shippingdocktheatre.org
Shipping Dock Unleashed! Visual
Studies Workshop, 31 Prince Street, 232-2250,
www.shippingdocktheatre.org
SUNY Brockport Department of Theatre
Tower Fine Arts Center, 395-2478, Brockport.edu/theatre
University of Rochester
International Theatre Program Todd Theatre, River Campus,
273-5159, www.rochester.edu/College/ENG/theatre/
Film
At this point, even matinees are
expensive at the typical chain theaters. If you’re willing to wait
a couple of weeks, you can save some serious cash at one of the
area’s second-run movie houses. Movies 10 gets new flicks pretty
quickly, and charges a mere $1.75 a show (although it increases to a
whopping $2.25 on Fridays and Saturdays after 6 p.m.). On Tuesdays
you can subtract an additional $1 from the price. So yes, a movie for
75 cents. The Cinema offers double-feature bills, two flicks every
evening for $5, and two weekend matinees for $3. Popcorn for
everybody!
If you’re willing to take a bit of a
drive, in the summer you can head for a double-feature and some
nostalgia at the Vintage Drive-In in Avon. Tickets are just $7 for
people 11 and older, $2 for kids under 10.
Lastly, read City Newspaper every week
for a chance to score free passes to advanced screenings of new
flicks. It’s a great way to see all the big buzz movies without
paying a cent.
Brockport Strand 93 Main Street,
Brockport, 637-3310, www.strandtheater.com
Canandaigua Theatres 3191 County
Road 10, Canandaigua, 637-3310
Cinema Theater 957 South Clinton
Avenue, 271-1785, www.cinemarochester.com
Dryden Theatre George Eastman
House, 900 East Avenue,271-4090, www.eastmanhouse.org
Geneseo Theatres 4180 Lakeville
Road, Geneseo, 243-2691
Little Theatre 240 East Avenue,
258-0400, www.thelittle.org
Loews Webster 12 2190 Empire
Boulevard, Webster, 251-8851
Movies 10 2609 West Henrietta
Road, 292-5840, www.cinemark.com
Pittsford Cinemas 3349 Monroe
Avenue, Pittsford, 383-1310
Regal Culver Ridge 16 2255 Ridge
Road E, Irondequoit, 544-1140, www.fandango.com
Regal Eastview Mall 13 70
Eastview Mall Drive, Victor, 425-0420, www.fandango.com
Regal Greece Ridge 12 176 Greece
Ridge Center Drive, 225-5810, www.fandango.com
Regal Henrietta 18 525
Marketplace Drive, 424-3090, www.fandango.com
RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium 657
East Avenue, 271-1880, www.rmsc.org
Tinseltown USA/IMAX 2291 Buffalo
Road, 247-2180
Vintage Drive-In, 1520 West
Henrietta Road, Avon, 226-9290, www.vintagedrivein.com
This article appears in Mar 21-27, 2007.
