After a hugely successful first edition, Affordable Art Fair Austin returns May 15-18, 2025 at the Palmer Events Center, showcasing thousands of original contemporary artworks ranging between $100 to $10,000. Welcoming 55 local, national and international exhibitors, the second edition will be unmissable.
Come to the 14th Annual Dripping Springs Rodeo on Memorial Day Weekend! This year they will be bringing all the rodeo style fun on Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Bring your family and friends for a weekend of mutton bustin', bull riding, vendor shopping, great food, and all things rodeo!
Though May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Austin’s premier Asian American Film Festival serves up AAPI cinematic talent through June, too.
Here’s two chances to get your hair done and help out LGBTQ folks in need of financial assistance. All ages, cuts, and textures welcome, with proceeds benefiting local queer health heroes Kind Clinic.
Eager to watch a tragic, thought-provoking, sociopolitical tragedy? Experience the student-performed, professionally directed classic (which feels like an understatement), in a replica Elizabethan theatre space by Lake Austin.
Why is the championship of South America being played in the U.S., with Caribbean and North American teams as entrants? Best not ask for logic; just enjoy the fact that Austin gets to be a host for one of the world’s great soccer tournaments. There’s no Brazil or Argentina on offer here, but we do get to see four intriguing underdogs playing their group stage finales: Jamaica-Venezuela on Sunday, and Costa Rica-Paraguay on Tuesday. Looking for someone to root for? Show some love for Venezuela’s Dani Pereira and Costa Rica’s Julio Cascante: both key starters for Austin FC when they’re not representing their countries. – Nick Barbaro
Austin got picked as a host for one of the top soccer tournaments in the world, and we drew four interesting outsiders. Sunday it’s Jamaica against Venezuela, and Tuesday is Costa Rica against Paraguay.
Sunday-afternoon punk-rock matinees are a clubland tradition since CBGB instituted their Hardcore Matinee series in the early Eighties. The late, lamented Parlor did ’em one better, throwing daylight-hours punk shows Saturday and Sunday on the edge of Hyde Park. Kick Butt Coffee – now Austin’s firmly established home of all things aggressively guitared, attitude-drenched, and hypercaffeinated – picks up the mantle with this siesta-time pop-punk showcase headlined by local heroes Dropped Out, similarly minded San Antonio threepiece Nothing Lost, and locals the Hoaxxers and Charlie Dog. – Tim Stegall
Petty Cakes hosts and DMs this interactive Dungeons & Dragons drag show where attendees can 1) roll a giant 20-sided die, 2) name NPCs, 3) a whole bunch of other wild and wacky things that’ll make this the most fun you’ve had on a tabletop – though at the Eagle, that might be a close call.
Proving once again that our Sapphic community is the brains of the whole queer community, Austin’s annual Dyke March has moved to the much-more tolerably weathered fall season – a move also made to allow new leadership time to settle into their roles. In lieu of that event, they’re throwing a big ol’ splash at Chups so everyone can still enjoy the Susan Sontag Memorial water slide. So bring your partner, your friends, your situationship, and cool off among fellow dykes. Water you waiting for? – James Scott
For the rest of this month and into the next, Flatbed Press, local bastion of multiple originals, is putting you on to the next gen of Austin printmakers. For the third year in a row, this annual exhibition features work from students receiving a printmaking degree from any college in the Austin area, including UT, ACC, St. Edward’s, Texas State, and Southwestern. The work ranges from traditional to experimental, both in form and process. Hot tip: While you’re there, make sure to step out of the gallery and check out the working press portion of the building. – Lina Fisher
It’s the second coming of surrealism at Ivester Contemporary. Josias Figueirido aptly updates the legacy of Dalí and Chagall with his vivid dreamscapes. His exhibit presents spirit guides Piri the Dreamer and Flying Coyote in increasingly absurd settings, smoothly bubbled characters possessing hypnotic shininess. Paintings of them hang in eerily vivid flashe paint, existing harmoniously beside their animated counterpoints in an immersive, interactive reality. It’s the wondrous love child of Cartoon Network and modernism. You don’t want to miss it.: – Cat McCarrey
Collaborating this one last Pride splash, Austin Queer Connection and Black & Queer as Fuck present a pool party featuring a live DJ, drink specials, and on-site food. Grab an RSVP and enjoy a free & fun hot gay summer finale.
UT-Austin celebrates the Longhorns’ highly anticipated move to the Southeastern Conference with an exciting all-day slate of free festivities across the Forty Acres. Entertainment includes a Ferris wheel, activities at select university establishments such as the Blanton Museum of Art, a first chance to purchase SEC co-branded UT-Austin merchandise, and live music. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey spearheads a welcoming ceremony for UT at the UT Tower followed by fireworks and a closing performance from Pitbull. And in a true sign of the forthcoming times, SEC Network broadcasts live coverage from the Main Mall. Longhorn Network relaunches as a free streaming service on July 1. – Derek Udensi
Coca-Cola’s Sips and Sounds is back for a second year in Austin with 15 music performances across two stages. Headliners Kelsea Ballerini and Jon Pardi accompany your choice of the many local food vendors on hand.
In Link & Pin’s Summer Exposure series, they’re presenting three artists for two weeks each. Kicking it off are Jan Pomeroy, Denise Elliott Jones, and Kristy Battani. Their work perfectly complements each other, exhibiting worlds full of vibrant colors and rich, evocative texturing. Play along with their vivid sightscapes this Thursday, in conjunction with East Austin Arts District’s Third Thursday walks. Or wait for the artist reception on Saturday, for wining and dining and art aplenty. – Cat McCarrey
Nestled in amongst the walkable – and therefore intolerably expensive – Hyde Park neighborhood is former post office-turned-book purveyor First Light. They’ve made their mark among the hip and literate in Austin, but now they aim to secure the cinephile crowd as well. Kicking off their summer movie series, The Talented Mr. Ripley screens in First Light’s picturesque courtyard. A tale of stolen identity, the film adapts Patricia Highsmith’s first Tom Ripley novel into a scintillating summer story featuring Matt Damon as bisexual menace Ripley and a golden Jude Law at peak pretty in the Dickie Greenleaf role. Popcorn’s included, so all you need to bring is a camping chair or blanket to watch from. – James Scott
Biased as I am toward video rental nonprofit We Luv Video – that’s right; I pay $10 a month to rent Beverly Hills Cop instead of buying it on iTunes – their new SunGAYS screening series is factually cool. Cutting through the easy queer cinema choices such as But I’m a Cheerleader or To Wong Foo, these movie mavens pull Nineties sci-fi passion project Vegas in Space for the series’ inaugural show. Plot? Rare gems go missing on a ladies-only planet, and three Earth soldier boys must disguise themselves as women to help hunt the stones down. Bold, beautiful, and totally drag-tastic, this is the perfect bow on your Pride month schedule. – James Scott
Calling all lovers of intergenerational family tales – maybe a niche crowd, but definitely a good one. Zach presents to you The Lehman Trilogy, winner of five Tony Awards. One of those Tonys? Best Play. Decide whether it deserved the honors, all while following the infamous Lehman family from their arrival in America through the 1900s until their infamous financial firm (spoiler alert) collapsed in 2008. If you miss Succession but wished it had just a smidgen more early 20th century immigration struggle and concrete financial crisis, you’ve got to check this out. – Cat McCarrey
Keep it Sun-GAY at We Luv Video with a screening of the cosmically camp Vegas In Space. WLV describes the film thusly: "After rare gems in a distant women's-only planet go missing, a group of male soldiers must change sex to save the galaxy."
As country legend Alan Jackson likes to say, “Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee, it gets hotter than a hoochie coochie.” We’re hundreds of miles from there, but since it’s just as hot here, let’s pop on our cowboy boots and waterski! Or at least line dance poolside at Austin Motel’s oasis on South Congress. Boi Orbison brings the good-time music for this Neon Rainbows summer spectacular, and Owie and Lawrie Bird return to host along with the notorious Lady Bull Johnson. As they say, “Ride the bull, ride the wave, beat the heat.” Free with RSVP, boot-scooters! – Kat McNevins
Here in the Live Music Capital of the World, there should be no shortage of opportunities for kids to develop their tuneful talents and pursue rockstar dreams. Austin Jazz Workshop’s jam series is one of these opportunities, with twice-monthly jams led by Gil Del Bosque just for middle- and high school students to get a feel for a real gig setting. Thanks to a financial boost from the city’s Cultural Arts Division, jams are scheduled through August: first Sundays at Batch, last Sundays at Central Market South, both at noon. – Kat McNevins
Hoo-wee! Does anything feel better than a dip in the pool during a hot Texas summer? While some among us may be privileged to own private watering holes, most of us get to enjoy the great Austin PARD’s work at the 44 public aquatic facilities to choose from this summer. You’ve got regional, neighborhood, and community pools; a wading pool; splash pads; and the crown jewel: Barton Springs. Check austintexas.gov/pools-splashpads for up-to-date info on which pools are open, what their entry fee is, and whether you have what it takes to be a public pool lifeguard. Now, outta the way if you don’t wanna get wet: I’m gonna do a cannonball! – James Scott
Regine Malibiran is a woman of passion. She pours her soul into every project she undertakes – creative and entrepreneur, activist and advocate. Now as the founder of forth space productions, she has taken all of her passion and experience to forge a path for artists to express their truths fearlessly and with the support of forth space, whose mission and name derive from the “sociological concept of the fourth space as a realm where meaning is made and all the potential that lies between here and forward.” “BUMUO,” from the Tagalog for “whole,” is an exhibition that centers the strength and artistic brilliance of the Filipino community. Six artists tell the connective story of the Philippines, reclaiming their history, rejecting the manipulation of the colonizers who inhabited their home for four centuries, and building a future of healing and empowerment. On view through July 27. – Cy White
Thanks to Seventies funk band War, the word “lowrider” often calls to mind the unforgettable sax riff of the band’s 1975 No. 1 single. But lowrider can mean a snazzy customized car with hydraulics or a person who works on such a vehicle, and the culture around these cars has strengthened Mexican American communities in the Southwest since the Forties. Learn more about them at this exhibit featuring an interactive touchscreen mural, cars and bikes on display, and stories about the people who make lowriding a community. A member reception takes place May 18. – Kat McNevins
A lucky few may have already seen the “Sonder” show at Davis, but if you haven’t, please rush to the reception this Saturday. It’s a perfect time to bask in a wealth of styles and mediums. Dissect the surreal landscapes of Garrett Middaugh and Isabel Stensland. Lose yourself in the hypnotic shapes of Lisa Beaman and Joseph Hammer. Marvel at the intricate details in sculptures by Dana Younger and John Sagar. Sigh at Denise M. Fulton’s brightly impressionist nature paintings. And those are just small portions of artists represented! There’s something for every artistic taste, so gorge yourself on Davis’ impeccable buffet of beauty. – Cat McCarrey
We’re in that liminal space of summer, where life is lush and blooming, right before it succumbs to death by heat. Big Medium’s curator Coka Treviño has collected an exhibit full of garden scenes representing that magical explosion of garden growth. In her own words, it’s a way “to forget how heavy it feels to be a human.” There’s constant discovery in the wide variety of works, from dozens of artists like the established Dawn Okoro and up-and-comers MuthaGoose. Join the opening reception this Friday to view interpretations of glorious greenery. – Cat McCarrey
Vessel: a container that holds things. Vessel: a person infused with a quality. What quality? Any. Feel free to interpret it yourself when basking in Diane Chiyon Hong’s exhibit “Vessels – Handle with Care.” Her architectural sketches, part function, part form, part object, part person, part humor but all thought-provoking, currently grace the halls of the Asian American Resource Center. It’s Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Month, so why not pay the AARC a visit. I mean, if not now, when? – Cat McCarrey
A great selection of local farmers bringing fabulous pastured meats, eggs, dairy, vegetables, and fruits, plus prepared-food vendors, artisans, bakers, and of course, live music.