The Nourish Festival Feeds the Mind, Body and Soul

metroweekly.com:

“It’s all about nourishing yourself — mind, body, and soul through the arts,” says Kate Villa. The Kennedy Center’s Director of Comedy and Institutional Programming is telling me about “Nourish,” an array of events centered on “the profound impact of food and artistic expression on our lives.”The arts and wellness festival, which places a strong emphasis on food, runs through the end of October at the nation’s performing arts center in Washington, D.C.“I’m excited to bring in the culinary arts because it’s something that’s underappreciated as an art form,” Villa, her jet-black hair styled in a short, Ina Garten-inspired bob, says during an energetic and wide-ranging conversation one crisp fall morning.“The culinary arts are an amazing art, but that’s only one part of it.

When you are cooking, when you are creating something — whether it’s a visual piece of visual art, whether it’s dance, whether it’s the culinary arts — you’re in a meditative state, a state of creativity, a state of creation, and I wanted to expand that into as many genres as possible.”Indeed, the festival, which launched last Tuesday with a Concert Hall speaking appearance by Ina Garten, America’s current grand doyenne of cooking (who will return for an encore on Nov.

26), is robust with highlights that encompass everything from cooking and dance classes to readings and discussions, to a farmer’s market, a “sound bath” on the Concert Hall stage, and even an ebullient communal sing.That particular evening — The Big Sing — happens next Wednesday, Oct.

23, at 7 p.m. at the National Cathedral. It’s free, but first-come, first-serve, and registration is strongly recommended.“It was the first thing I programmed for this festival,” says Villa. “Our conductor.