An art-theft ring in Burlington? Maybe not quite, but the exhibits at Red Square have certainly attracted their share of, uh, interest lately. Last month, a group show called “Watch the Roux” featured artworks in various media as well as found objects, post-Katrina, from New Orleans. Halfway through, someone made off with an outsized cast-glass key — named “The Key to the City.” The act was caught on a surveillance camera, but the thief was never identified or apprehended. Then, last week, a man tried to depart with a painting by current exhibitor Les Cosgrove. Same guy? No one knows. Bar owner Martti Matheson caught the culprit and grabbed the painting, but the would-be robber eluded him and ran off. Anyone with information leading to the missing artwork, or the mysterious “art collector,” should call Red Square curator Diane Sullivan at 318-2438.

PAMELA POLSTON

*****

A Pervert’s Guide to Cinema isn’t a handy directory of X-rated films. It’s an irreverent psychoanalysis of the movies starring trendy Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, and it’s showing next week at the fourth annual White River Indie Film Festival. The fest runs from Saturday, April 21, through Sunday, April 29, with screenings at the Center for Cartoon Studies, the Hotel Coolidge and the Tip Top Building. Its “red carpet night” on the 27th is the Vermont premiere of Lebanon, New Hampshire, filmmaker David Millstone’s The Other Way Back: Dancing with Dudley. Its subject, a contra-dance caller, will show up after the screening to do what he does best, with live music.

Many of the more than 30 films on tap have been festival faves this past year, such as Iraq in Fragments and The War Tapes. But the event’s programmers have devised some intriguing workshops and panels as well. A “First-Person Filmmaking” panel, led by Boston Globe critic Ty Burr, looks at the emerging trend of films in which “the filmmakers themselves are part of the story.” Five of those filmmakers will participate. One who may show up is Adrian Grenier, star of HBO’s “Entourage.” His 2002 film Shot in the Dark — screening at WRIF — documents his real-life reunion with his estranged father.

White River Indie Film Festival. April 21 to 29, various White River Junction locations. Most screenings $7. Info, www.wrif.org or 738-5550.

MARGOT HARRISON

*****

It was no coincidence that the Vermont Ballet Theater performed with the Vermont Youth Orchestra Monday night to honor St. Michael’s College President Marc vanderHeyden and his wife Dana: Five years ago, SMC donated a building on its Fort Ethan Allen campus to the VYO — a former cavalry drill hall that would become the Elley-Long Music Center and HQ for the young musicians. Now, the young dancers are about to get the same opportunity. The outgoing prez has given an adjacent building to VBT, currently located in Essex, for the purpose of constructing a dance-school facility and performance hall. With this development, vanderHeyden’s larger vision of a youth arts campus on St. Mike’s property is becoming a reality, says a VBT spokesperson. The nonprofit company was founded and is directed by former ballet dancers Alexander Nagiba and Kirsten Quinn Nagiba.

PAMELA POLSTON

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