If it's diversity of programming you're after, you usually don't have to look beyond The Church in Sag Harbor, where this weekend kicks off on Saturday with two programs of "An Evening With the Stars" -- not entertainers, but, rather, the cosmos.
In a first-time collaboration, Suffolk County's Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium in Centerport will bring its mobile planetarium to the main floor of The Church, with two showings of "Stars: The Powerhouses of the Universe," a 26-minute documentary narrated by Mark Hamill. After each showing, guests will be led to telescopes set up in the garden, weather permitting. The event is timed to maximize the possibility of viewing Saturn and the Earth's moon, which are expected to be visible.
Leading the event will be Dave Bush, the planetarium's director; Rachel Goralski, its outreach coordinator, and Brittney Mickaliger, its astronomy educator. Showtimes are 6 to 7:15 p.m. and 7:15 to 8:30. Tickets are $20, $15 for members; advance registration has been recommended for each show.
Ekphrasis is an ancient Greek term meaning "the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device." Marian Mitchell Donahue and Mira Johnson, writers and resident alumnae of The Church, will lead a workshop on ekphrasis on Sunday afternoon from 1 to 3.
Participants will be guided through the historical context of ekphrastic literature while examining various methods and techniques found in the form. Ms. Donahue and Ms. Johnson will share excerpts from their own work, after which students will explore the exhibition "Here and There: The First Churchennial," and select one or more works to respond to. A group reading of written texts will conclude the session.
No prior writing experience is necessary; a notebook and pen or pencil are the only required materials for the workshop.
Ms. Donahue graduated from Stony Brook University with an M.F.A. in creative writing and literature, where she was awarded the Deborah Hecht Memorial Prize in Fiction. A 2019 Bookends fellow, her first novel, "Backstitch," will be published in March by Galiot Press.
Ms. Johnson also earned an M.F.A. in creative writing and literature from Stony Brook and was a Bookends fellow in 2018. Her work has been published widely and she has held residencies at Bread Loaf, Eckerd College, the Key West Literary Seminar, Tin House, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and Wolff Cottage.
Tickets are $40.
When the writers leave, the artists will arrive. A drawing meetup with Jackie Hoving and Norm Paris, artists, art professors, and Church resident alumnae, will happen on Sunday from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Participants in the communal drawing salon can take a sketchbook, graphite or colored pencils, and/or pens in order to draw onlookers, their surroundings, or anything else that captures the eye. The event will welcome all skill levels -- The Church calls it a casual drawing session, not a class.
Tables and chairs will be provided, but participants can also find space within the exhibition for a solo drawing experience. Some graphite pencils and 8-by-11-inch paper will be provided, however all in attendance have been encouraged to take their own supplies. (Charcoal, paints, and markers are not permitted in these sessions.)
Mr. Paris, a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, and Ms. Hoving, a professor at Pratt Institute, met as students in Sam Messer's Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art program. They were inspired by Mr. Messer's "drawing happenings," where drawing brought people together.
Tickets are $5, free for members who R.S.V.P.
