CFA to Open Summer Festival with SILK ROAD STORIES

Columbia Festival of the Arts 2016 Summer themed Festival "Silk Road Stories" runs from June 10 through June 26, including a kick off for the first Columbia Film Festival June 24-25, Koresh Dance Company on June 17th, a Bollywood Dance Spectacular, Mystic India, on June 18, classical pianist Sejoon Park on June 11, and Sundance Film Festival Shorts on Tour, June 12th, among others.

The Festival's traditional free Lakefront Festival has now moved to Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods in Columbia for a dynamic new outdoor Arts experience with live bands, arts & crafts vendors, food, strolling entertainers and more. This year's inaugural Free "Weekend In The Woods" runs Saturday June 18th from 10am to 6pm and Sunday June 19th from 12noon 6:00pm. In addition to Washington DC's high energy brass band Black Masala, the Glenelg Jazz Ensemble, a classic crowd pleaser, and others will join the outdoor celebrations.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets visit www.ColumbiaFestival.org.

Columbia Festival of the Arts Summer 2016 Line Up:

Stoop Storytelling Series
June 10 at 8pm, Owen Brown Interfaith Center, 7246 Cradlerock Way, $15
With the theme "Stories from Abroad" - Stoop shows are intimate and surprising, wonderful and weird, hilarious and heartbreaking...and a few individuals will be invited from the audience!

Sejoon Park, Classic Pianist
June 11 at 8pm, Horowitz Center at Howard Community College, $18
Born to cellist parents in Seoul, Korea, and made his debut with Korea's Busan Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of ten, Sejoon trained at Julliard and was winner of Astral's 2014 National Auditions.

The Sundance Film Festival Shorts On Tour
June 12 at 1& 4pm (talk-backs to follow), Horowitz Center at Howard Community College, $18
Showcasing a wide variety of story and style, the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour is a 95-minute theatrical program of eight short films selected from this year's Festival, which over the course of its more than 30-year history has been widely considered the premier showcase for short films and the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers.

Arts Council Open Studios & Improv
June 16 at 6pm, Howard County Center for the Arts, free
Resident Artists' Open Studios, 7:00-8:00pm, All-County Improv Performance 6:30-7:15pm

Koresh Dance Company: Mezze
June 17 at 8pm, Jim Rouse Theatre, $45/$40/$30
Internationally-acclaimed modern dance company hailed by Philadelphia Inquirer as, "typically turbocharged-because when the dust settles after a Koresh concert, you must leave bedazzled."

Bollywood Spectacular! Mystic India: The World Tour
June 18 at 8pm, Jim Rouse Theatre, $55/$45/$35
Featuring renowned Indian musicians, dancers, aerialists, and acrobats, and 750 opulent costumes, Urban Asia said of this this, "few spectacles are so global in appeal."

Free Weekend In The Woods in Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods
June 18 10:00am - 6pm & June 19 12noon - 6pm
Columbia Festival of the Arts traditional lakefront festival "LakeFest" has now moved to Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods. This family friendly FREE event packs two days full of live music, kids' entertainment and crafts, strolling performers, food, and activities for all ages.

Orson Welles/Shylock
A Docu-Fantasy Radio Play by Matt Chiorini
June 24 at 8pm and June 26 at 1pm, Horowitz Center at Howard Community College, $20
This new and highly original "Docu-Fantasy Radio Play" described by one critic as "endlessly entertaining...takes listeners on a roller coaster ride through time, space, and the mind of Orson Welles."

Debut of the Columbia Film Festival!
June 24 at 7pm and June 25 from 10 to 6pm, Horowitz Center at Howard Community College, $15
The Festival will produce original films from all over the world. Audiences will also take part in choosing who gets the "Audience Choice Award," "Best of Fest Award," and "Best Director."

3 Course Concert with Nistha Raj and Christylez Bacon: A Night of Indian Food, Drink and Music
June 25 at 7pm, Horowitz Center at Howard Community College, $45 (includes food) Enjoy three courses of Indian-inspired food and drink and three full sets of unforgettable music by Hindustani violinist Nistha Raj and DC-based, Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon!

Novelist Nadia Hashimi - "Refugees on the Silk Road"
In Co-Production with the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society
June 26 at 4pm, Horowitz Center at Howard Community College
Hashimi will also offer audiences a sneak peek at her new novel, coming out in August, about women in today's Afghanistan imprisoned for breaking social rules.