Connecticut Public, which produces Connecticut Public Television, Connecticut Public Radio and Connecticut Public Learning, is introducing a new TV station on Dec. 3 called Create.
Create’s programming will specialize on how-to shows on cooking, traveling, home improvement, gardening, arts and crafts. Among the offerings will be “America’s Test Kitchen,” “Rick Steves’ Europe” and “This Old House.” ctpublic.org.
‘Bros Before Prose’
“Bros Before Prose: Twichell and Twain,” a panel discussion about author Mark Twain and his best friend of 40 years, Joseph Twichell, will be at Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave. in Hartford, on Dec. 5 from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Twain scholar Kerry Driscoll will moderate the panel made up of Steve Courtney, author of “Joseph Hopkins Twichell: The Life and Times of Mark Twain’s Closest Friend”; Craig Hotchkiss, who gives Living History tours as Twichell; and Dr. Andrew Walsh of Trinity College, who studies late 19th-century Hartford clergy. Twichell was pastor of Asylum Hill Congregational Church. Admission is free but goodwill donations will be accepted. marktwainhouse.org.
Korean band film
A concert film starring a South Korean boy band will be shown this week at local cinemas.
“Burn the Stage: The Movie” follows the seven-member K-pop group during its 2017 “Wings” tour in 19 cities in South and North America, Asia and Australia. “Burn the Stage: The Movie” started out as a YouTube series, whose episodes were compiled to make the movie.
The film, in Korean with subtitles, will be shown on Dec. 5 and 6 at 7 p.m. at Bow Tie Cinemas, 330 New Park Ave. in Hartford; AMC Plainville, 220 New Britain Ave.; Criterion Cinemas, 86 Temple St. in New Haven; and Ultimate Marquis 16, 100 Quarry Road in Trumbull. Admission is $15. burnthestagethemovie.com.
Frederick Douglass talk
David W. Blight will discuss his new biography, “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom,” with author Ta-Nehisi Coates on Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. in the Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Lecture Hall at Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St. in New Haven. The evening is presented in conjunction with the school’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, as well as the department of history. Blight will sign books after the talk. Other books by Blight and Coates will be for sale at the event. Admission to the talk is free and open to the public. artgallery.yale.edu.
Natalie Van Vleck
Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main St. in Waterbury, will host a “Let’s Talk” discussion, “Natalie Van Vleck: American Woman Modernist in Men’s Clothing,” on Dec. 6 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Marc Chabot, a guest curator, will profile the gender-fluid modernist painter (1926-1981), who was founder of the Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury. The talk is being held in conjunction with “Natalie Van Vleck: True to Her Art, Life & Land,” an exhibit of paintings, works on paper, hand-carved wood frames, furnishings and archival material. The exhibit will be up until Feb. 24. Admission to “Let’s Talk” is $10. mattmuseum.org.
Schumann, Prokofiev and Brahms
William Benton Museum of Art, at 245 Glenbrook Road on the campus of UConn in Storrs, will be the site of a concert by violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv, pianist Mihae Lee and French horn player William Purvis on Dec. 7. Ivakhiv teaches at the UConn School of Music. Purvis teaches at the Yale School of Music. The program is Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 73, transcribed for horn and piano; Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 1 in f for violin & piano, Op. 80; and Brahms’ Horn trio in Eb, Op. 40. The concert starts at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $7. Proceeds benefit the museum. benton.uconn.edu.
Portuguese fado
Sonia Bettencourt and Guitarras do Atlantico will perform a concert of Portuguese fado music on Dec. 8 at 5 p.m. at LaGrua Center, 32 Water St. in Stonington.
Guitarras do Atlantico is made up of Manuel Leite on Portuguese guitar, Viriato Ferreira on viola de fado and an as-yet undetermined performer on viola baixo. Admission is $15, free for 18 and younger. After the ceremony, the Portuguese Holy Ghost Society at 26 Main St. in Stonington will offer special prices for Portuguese tapas. lagruacenter.org.
iPark open studio
I-Park, the artist residency park in East Haddam, will hold an open studio with its current residents on Dec. 9 starting from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The park is at 428 Hopyard Road.
The resident artists are Polina Nazaykinskaya, a Russian composer and violinist; Tessa Grundon, a visual artist who creates site-responsive work using elements of the landscape; Soonim Kim, a South Korean visual artist who uses natural materials; John Kenneth Melvin, who creates site-specific installations using up-cycled materials; Leah Schnelbac, an aspiring novelist and writer and editor; and Tony Solitro, a composer of concert and stage music inspired by politics, history, literature, drama and visual art. Admission is free but reservations are requested. i-park.org.
‘Making Our Mark’
“Making Our Mark: Contemporary Artists at Work” is at Chase Gallery at Mandell JCC, 335 Bloomfield Ave. in West Hartford, from Dec. 2 to Jan. 31. The opening reception is Dec. 9 from 2 to 4 p.m. Artists are Debra Cantor, Jennifer Davies, Jon Eastman, Michelle Peterson and Susan Spaniol, all of Bloomfield; Anne Doris-Eisner and Nancy Eisenfeld of New Haven; Amy Furman, Lynn Gall and Sue-Ellen Landwehr of Bethel; Jill Pasanen of Burlington; and C. Dianne Zweig of Avon, who curated the show. mandelljcc.org.
