TUSCUMBIA, Ala. – The Tennessee Valley Art Association will highlight art, music and theater with its July events.
SummerStock at the Ritz, TVAA’s theatre-education program for ages 16-29, presents “The Sound of 
Music,” Thursday-Saturday, July 19-21, and Thursday-Friday, July 26-27, at 7:35 p.m., at the Ritz Theatre, 111 W. Third St., Sheffield. Tickets are $15.50 adults and $9 students in advance from the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, 256.383.0533, or www.ritztheatre.ticketleap.com (online handling fee added) and $17.50 adults and $10 students at the door.
In addition, at 6 p.m. before the July 19-21 performances, dinner is available in the theater’s Encore Room. Tickets are 
$30 per person, performance not included. Reservations are required. Call Keith McMurtrey, 256.383.0533.
In July programming at the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, 511 N. Water St., Tuscumbia, “Art Works 2012” will be from Sunday, July 22, through Friday, Sept. 7, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays 
and 1-3 p.m. Sundays.
An annual multi-media survey of work by TVAA artist members, “Art Works” illustrates the vast range of talent and innovation by northwest-Alabama artists.
Cheryl Sparks, of Tuscumbia, will perform a selection of blues music during the free opening reception, 1-3 p.m., Sunday, July 22, as part of the annual W.C. Handy Music Festival, which honors the Florence, Ala., native known as the Father of the Blues. Artist members participating in the show will be there to discuss their work.
Sparks, a former piano teacher and member of the now-retired quartet Jericho, owns Sparks-Freeze Music with James Freeze, a musician at the Grand Ol’ Opry. They focus on Christian music and have a song on Percy Sledge’s upcoming gospel album.
Also in July at the art museum, “Alabama in the Making: Traditional Arts of People and Places,” organized by the Alabama Folklife Association, is open through Friday, July 13. The exhibit focuses on how folk and traditional arts that are unique to Alabama’s five culturally defined regions demonstrate and contribute to a sense of place and identity. The Tennessee Valley Museum of Art was the first stop for this exhibit. It will travel to other museums in the state through 2013.
For more information on TVAA programs, call 256.383.0533 or visit tvaa.net.
