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for Thu., April 13
  • Opening Reception of "Tenfold" Exhibition

    McLennon Pen Co. Gallery is proud to announce its move to a new, expanded home at 1114 W 5th St in Clarksville. The inaugural exhibition titled Tenfold will debut the art gallery's first official artist roster including artists based in Austin, New York, Los Angeles, and Kansas City.
    Thurs. June 5, 6pm-9pm  
    McLennon Pen Co. Gallery
  • Junkyard Nights w/ Tele Novella, Theo Lawrence, and Cazayoux

    Junkyard Nights is Junkyard's second annual Fundraising Event and this year features Tele Novella, Theo Lawrence, and Cazayoux. Come help them raise money for their JUNKPOD program, transformed city buses into FREE and accessible rehearsal and work spaces for Austin musicians and venue owners. Doors at 6pm.
    Thurs. June 26, 6pm-Midnight  
    Hole in the Wall
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  • Arts

    Books

    BookWoman Hybrid Poetry Reading: Roja Chamankar

    Persian poet Roja Chamankar, author of Dying in a Mother Tongue and more, is featured in this in-person and Zoomed poetry reading and open mic. Cindy Huyser hosts.
    Thu., April 13, 7:15pm. Free.  
  • Arts

    Books

    Chloé Cooper Jones: Easy Beauty

    BookPeople welcomes Chloé Cooper Jones in conversation with Deb Olin Unferth to celebrate the release of Easy Beauty: a Memoir. The event includes a moderated discussion, a reading, an audience Q&A, and a signing line.
    Thu., April 13, 7pm
  • Arts

    Theatre

    Fusebox Festival

    The fuse was lit in Austin, back in 2005, by cultural provocateurs who “wanted to create a robust exchange of ideas across different art forms and geography, with a particular interest in the live experience.” Now, 18 years later, artists and audiences gather from all over the world for this explosion of live performances and art, as Fusebox presents its annual curated conflagration of film, theater, dance, visual art, literature, music, and more.
    April 12-16. $15-20.  
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    Visual Arts

    Ion Art: The Surreal Garden

    For the second consecutive year, Ion Art will illuminate the Zilker Botanical Garden with their Surreal Garden exhibition, an interactive art experience full of fantastical neon sculptures created by Sharon and Greg Keshishian and the relentlessly inventive Ion Art team. (You probably recall the brilliance they visited upon the public in the first iteration of this multivalent wonderment, right?) By integrating such a glowing, flickering, shimmering show into the serene setting of Austin's botanical gardens, the artists turn an already stunning event into a neon extravaganza – and a wonderful way to benefit the venue. Suggestion: Dress in your surreal best for night full of art, music, costumes, live entertainment, dancing, food trailers, cash bars, and more – and do check out the posh VIP preview option for April 6.
    Through April 15. Thu.-Sat., 6:30-11pm. $40 and up.  
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Moontower Comedy: Just for Laughs

    With two weeks of national and international headliners in larger venues – The Paramount Theatre, Stateside at the Paramount, and ACL Live at The Moody Theater – and a four-day comedy club binge taking over the city from April 19-22, you can see more, better, funnier comedians right here in Austin than you'll see anywhere on the planet. Devon Walker. Seth Myers. Samantha Bee. Leslie Jones. Jenny Slate. Vir Das. Maria Bamford. The Sklar Brothers. Howie Mandel. Preacher Lawson. And, yes, many, many more. See website for details!
    April 12-23. $150 (Club badge).  
  • Arts

    Theatre

    The Amazing Acro-Cats

    This troupe of trained domestic house cats, all former orphans, rescues, and strays, give a unique purrformance that includes cats riding skateboards, jumping through hoops, ringing bells, balancing on balls, and performing other feats of agility and entertainment. The show finale is the only all-cat band in the world: Tuna and the Rock Cats. Hey, John Merriman told us all about it right here.
    Mon.-Fri., April 10-14, 7pm. $40-60.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    UT School of Information: Algorithmic Assemblages: Do Machines Dream of Art?

    This exhibition by Sylvia Morales and Holland Hopson features an algorithm-generated stream of artistic combinations based on randomized descriptions from the United States Library of Congress Subjects Index.
    Closing reception: Thu., April 13, 12:30-1:30pm
    1616 Guadalupe
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  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Art & Parks Tour

    This sweet opportunity comes to us from the Downtown Austin Alliance, the Pease Park Conservancy, and Ride Bikes Austin – so we know it's a damned good thing indeed. Take the self-guided Art & Parks Tour to explore the best of what Downtown Austin art and parks have to offer through this selection of curated murals, artworks, and green spaces. You can sign up anytime, so click that URL and get ready to learn the most vibrantly visual parts of your city soon – live and in person.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Art for the People: Springing Into Colour

    The movers and shakers of AFTP have transformed this lively gallery with at least 90 new pieces created by more than 33 Austin artists – including 13 who are showing their work here for the first time – to bring a bright flood of spring into our city.
    Through June 2
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    Classical Music

    Austin Classical Guitar: Moontower Duo with James Tabatta

    Guitarists Matthew Lyons and Stephen Krishnan, joined by James Tabata on bass, share new and original music inspired by Austin and by ACG’s season theme of "Home."
    Thu., April 13, 7:30pm. $15-75.  
  • Arts

    Dance

    Ballet Austin: Classes

    Learn your way to physical grace with a dance class at Ballet Austin. There are so many varieties to choose among – ballet, barre, contemporary dance, hip-hop, tap, cardio dance fitness, Pilates, and more – and all taught by professional instructors. See website for details.
    $3-7 per class.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Big Medium: I am at my best when I'm escaping

    Big Medium presents an exhibition by the 2022 Tito’s Prize recipient, Tammie Rubin. In this show, the artist uses ceramic conical forms, raised maps, and murals to transform the Canopy-based gallery into a portal for escape, delving into her fascination with power objects, coded symbols, migration, rituals, and faith.
    Through April 29
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Butridge Gallery: Children of the Earth + The Other Side

    The "Children of Earth" paintings by Camille Lema are about human connections and being grounded to the planet that's our home. Meena Matai's "The Other Side" is an exploration of the personal stories of her family and millions of others who were affected by the India-Pakistan partition of 1947. Together, these two exhibitions shine with power and beauty.
    Through May 20. Free.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Butridge Gallery: Girls Gotta Eat

    This is a series of vibrant cinematic portraits of drag performers grocery shopping that invites viewers to explore “how other is us." Through Sarah Bork’s lens, the grocery store becomes a playground of comfort and self-care. These character portraits are paired with handwritten grocery lists and extensive interviews, exploring a nuanced spectrum of identity and experience beyond the traditional gender binary.
    Through April 15  
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    Visual Arts

    Camiba Gallery: discards vessels fragments

    This noteworthy new exhibition at Camiba Gallery features the works of 1) Jason Webb, an Austin-based artist who spends his Sundays driving through unfamiliar neighborhoods and photographing once private possessions now publicly disowned, then painting individual piles isolated against white backgrounds; 2) San Antonio-based Benjamin McVey, whose new paintings of vessels represent the artist’s search for quiet space, simplicity, focus and purpose in today’s increasingly complex post-pandemic world; and 3) Austin's own Rebecca Rothfus Harrell, who documents states of flux across the country, reinterpreting remnants of structures that have a history but no longer serve their intended purpose.
    Through April 15
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Cap City Comedy Club

    That's right: Cap City Comedy Club, the longtime cornerstone of Austin's comedy scene for nearly four decades is at a new venue in the Domain. And here's Valerie Lopez with a closer look at what's in store for the scene via the venue. Click for details!
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Cloud Tree: Yo Soy la Tierra

    Contemporary artist Chanel Kreuzer brings a wealth of colorful, Texas-inspired paintings for her first solo show, focusing on vibrant, inviting landscapes in "a unique style that draws inspiration from Matisse, Van Gogh, and David Hockney."
    Through April 30
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Davis Gallery: 50 Years of Building Beauty

    Yeah, they're not kidding – because here's a John Sager retrospective, and the Austin-based Sager has been building works of astonishing beauty for at least that long, with this new collection at the Davis Gallery showcasing the man's uniquely altered books, collages, and assemblage sculptures.
    Through April 15
  • Arts

    Comedy

    East Austin Comedy Club

    Founded by comedians Raza Jafri and Andre Ricks, this club that operates out of Tiger Den on the Eastside is the city's only BIPOC-owned comedy venue.
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Fallout Comedy

    This hotbed of local performance is carrying on even more than usual, with an eclectic mix of live, mind-rocking comedy from some of Austin's best, all week long. Hey! The place is our cover story, as reported by Valerie Lopez! And, srsly, who would ever disagree with the sentiment of Monday night's Fuck This Week show? Check the website for details.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Flatbed Press: Positively Third Street

    This retrospective show does homage to the work of the printers, the artists, and the publishers who were a part of the first ten years of Flatbed Press at 912 W. Third Street. James Surls. Julie Speed. Sydney Yeager. Melissa Miller. Michael Ray Charles. Terry Allen. Trenton Doyle Hancock. And more. Works from those first years highlight many of Flatbed’s landmark prints and will be available for sale.
    Through April 15
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    Visual Arts

    Food, Shelter, Water: Projects by Four Texas Photographers

    This new show features the work of four Texas-based photographers – Verónica G. Cárdenas, Stephanie Duprie Routh, Cindy Elizabeth, Jamie Robertson – who address themes related to our most basic human needs. From Egypt, Latin America, Texas, and Austin, the images presented bring new light to the ways we interact with our social and physical environments.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    grayDUCK Gallery: Ommatidium

    Shawn Smith's "Ommatidium" explores our complicated relationship with the insect world, investigating the darkly humorous marketing of chemical agents to safely annihilate, the extreme championing of aesthetically pleasing and useful insects over all others, the strangely macabre methods of measuring insect population density, and the overlooked beauty of their complex architecture. All of this arthropodic exploration is stunningly rendered in two- and three-dimensional works in a variety of mediums, from drawings and collages to stained glass and 3D prints.
    Through April 16  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Harry Ransom Center: Drawing the Motion Picture

    Explore the beauty and complexity of moviemaking through sketches, storyboards, and designs that illuminate the creation of motion pictures from the silent era to the present day in this new exhibition, featuring production art from iconic movies like Rebel Without a Cause, Raging Bull, Apollo 13, and Lawrence of Arabia, many connected with innovative directors Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Mike Nichols, Michael Powell, Nicholas Ray, Martin Scorsese, Stephen Spielberg, King Vidor, and more.
    Through July 16
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Ivester Contemporary: The Beauty of Life and Death II

    This is Jaylen Pigford’s second solo exhibition at the Ivester, his latest series carefully placing familiar symbols he's referenced throughout his career within colorful but unknown settings. Pigford appoints two protagonists here – plants and skulls – as he contemplates the balance of life and death. Question for you, citizen: Do you know how good this guy is? Get your ass down to the gallery and see what wonders he's wrought.
    Through April 16
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Laguna Gloria

    This local treasure of a venue, run by those Contemporary Austin folks who also bring us the Jones Center shows Downtown, is all about the outdoors – which is perfect for these trickily navigated times of ours, n'est-ce pas? Recommended: Stop by and breathe in the air, enjoy the lawns and gardens and the many examples of world-class sculpture arrayed across the property, and (as Frankie used to say) r-e-l-a-x.
    Thu.-Fri., 9am-noon; Sat.-Sun., 9am-3pm
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    Visual Arts

    Landmarks: Self-Guided Walking Tour

    Use your smartphone to access self-guided tours of the outdoor public art sited by UT's award-winning Landmarks program any time you feel like it. BONUS: There's also a free, docent-led tour starting at Marc Quinn's "Spiral of the Galaxy" (1501 Red River) on Sun., Jan. 8, 11am.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Last Day of the Eureka Room!

    Austin's most absurd and fun attraction will have its last day on September 24th, so visit while you still can! It's the Eureka Room, a participatory experience where visitors engage with curious and playful programming within a unique 100-square-foot room filled with light and sound.
    See website for reservations. $25.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Lora Reynolds Gallery: Snails In Comparison

    The Lora Reynolds gallery inaugurates its brand new space(!) with this whimsical and wonderful show by those irrepressible Haas Brothers. Observe as fraternal twins Niki and Simon Haas unveil a group of sculptures of big, bizarre snails: their first endeavors in combining a material new to their practice (blown glass, which constitutes the gastropod's soft bodies) with another medium they've known longer than any other: the snails' shells are hand-carved marble.
    Through May 27
  • Arts

    Theatre

    Luchadora!

    When an aged pink lucha libre mask is found in a small Texas town in the 1960s, an inspiring journey of heritage, cultural identity, and family traditions set in the world of lucha libre unfold in this moving story of "a young girl who defies traditional roles of women and breaks personal barriers through drive, determination, y ganas." The cast features guest Equity artists Tonie Knight and Victor Santos alongside St. Ed's students, directed by Khristián Méndez Aguirre.
    Through April 23. Thu.-Sat., 7:30pm; Sun., 2pm. $15-28.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Lydia Street Gallery: Details of My Existence

    This is a three-person show, see, but it's also a one-man show. Uh, what now? Better to ask Jon Eric Narum (aka The Sky Guy). Or Juan Diego Nerumski. Or a fellow named Hercules da Vinci. Regardless, do stop by to check out these unbelievably beautiful oil paintings of the sky. And the perfectly balanced abstractions. And the colorful creations painted in oil on paper towels.
    Through May 7
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Martha's Contemporary: Hokey Pokey + What You See Is What You Get

    Here's a two-person exhibition that features painting, installation, videography, and sculpture by Moll Brau and Wes Thompson. It's a deep dive into a pool of loneliness, triumph, and rebirth. It's a forest of mazes where fireflies provide the light. It's a show of creations from a pair of terrific, hardworking local artists and you don't want to miss it.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    MHOA: Design for All Partnership

    Michael Hsu Office of Architecture has announced its second annual Design for All Partnership, a seed program supporting community-driven partners through design. The architecture and interior design firm is seeking another nonprofit partner that’s based in Austin or Houston. The partnership award will provide $20,000 in pro bono design and consultation services.: MHOA has just released its Request for Proposals (RFP) for interested nonprofit organizations and is now accepting submissions through May 19.
    Accepting submissions through May 19  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Museum of Illusions

    Enter the fascinating world of illusions in this new venue that boasts a stunning array of intriguing visual, sensory, and educational experiences among new, unexplored optical wonderments.
    11010 Domain #100
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    Visual Arts

    Northern-Southern: Green Eyes

    Here is Michelle Marchesseault's second solo show at this fierce little Downtown gallery, a polychrome wealth of paintings that comprise "twists and riverscapes, picnics in ancient places, memories tumbled with magic, vulnerable practices, explosions of sunlight, change and comfort." Yeah, no, this is definitely a collection to see, before N-S hoicks it to the NADA New York art fair in May.
    Through April 30
  • Arts

    Theatre

    Roe

    At age 27, Austin attorney Sarah Weddington won the landmark 1973 case Roe v Wade that legalized abortion, making her the youngest person to ever successfully argue a case before the Supreme Court. A national debate ensued, and a divide in America endures over this controversial issue. What most people don't know is that after the case, Ms. Weddington and Norma McCorvey ("Jane Roe," the plaintiff), took divergent life paths that reflect the complicated polarization in our culture. Poignant, surprising, and with unexpected humor, this play by Lisa Loomer, directed for Zach Theatre by Jenny Lavery, illuminates the difficult choices women make and the passion each side has for its cause.
    Through April 30. Wed.-Sat., 7:30pm; Sun., 2:30pm. $25 and up.  
  • Arts

    Theatre

    St. Nicholas

    In this darkly comic one-man performance written by Conor McPherson, a theater critic relates tales of his life among the vampires. Last time 'round, the local media called the show "hilarious, harrowing" and "a must-see" and said, "Hyde Park Theatre's Ken Webster holds the audience utterly spellbound." And it's true: He totally fecking does, and this brilliant and brilliantly twisted show will make your shadows dance a goddamn hornpipe for having witnessed such strange beauty. Look, our own reviewer thinks so, too.
    Through April 22. Thu.-Sat., 8pm. $21 and up.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    The Blanton: Day Jobs

    This first major exhibition to examine the overlooked impact of day jobs on the visual arts is dedicated to demystifying artistic production and upending the stubborn myth of the artist sequestered in their studio, waiting for inspiration to strike.
    Through July 23
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    The Blanton: Las Hermanas Iglesias

    Sisters Lisa and Janelle Iglesias present related textiles, collages, and sculpture that explore caregiving as part of a complex network of social issues, melding melds cultural references to the Dominican Republic and Norway (their parents’: home countries) with personal experiences – most recently their navigations of fertility, pregnancy, loss, and birth.
    Through July 9. Free on Thursdays.  
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    Visual Arts

    The Contemporary Austin: Competing with Lightning / Rivalizando con el Relámpago

    The Contemporary Austin presents an exhibition tracing the evolution of Eamon Ore-Giron's dynamic paintings over more than twenty years of creative practice, revealing how the artist mines the complex nature of Latinx identity, the history of the Americas, and the many legacies of abstraction in art. ALSO: The newest exhibition space here is called HOST and features work by María Fernanda Camarena and Gabriel Rosas Alemán (aka the Mexico City-based artist duo known as Celeste).
    Through Aug. 20. Free (Aug. 9-13).
  • Arts

    Theatre

    The Dragonfly Princess

    The Vortex presents ethos' classic tale of magic, power, and transformation. Inspired by Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness, Chad Salvata created the story, music, and aesthetics of this epic wherein we "journey with Princess Mala as she rides Xéphyra the Dragonfly into the wilds in search of Vyn, the renegade Sorceress. The Magic of the Pearls, the Mysteries of the Temples, and the Secrets of the Ages are revealed as Mala is transformed from the Green Princess into the Red Queen." The intense musical spectacle won a B. Iden Payne Award in 2007, and this new production directed by Bonnie Cullum features eight additional scenes and songs – and all new designs and choreography.
    Through April 15. Thu.-Sat., 8pm; Sun., 6pm. $15-37.  
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    Theatre

    The Winter's Tale

    The Baron's Men, costumed in a manner that is as historically accurate as possible, present their new production of this Shakespeare classic, directed by Anneliese Friend at the Curtain Theatre – a replica of the original Globe Theatre – on the shores of Lake Austin.
    Through April 29. Thu.-Sat., 8pm. $17-25.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    UT's Art Galleries at Black Studies: Old Wounds, Dark Dreams

    African-American artists Carrie Mae Weems, Cauleen Smith, Rodney McMillian, and Charles Gaines use video to meditate on anti-Black racism and the wounds it inflicts on the American psyche while participating in the tradition of appropriation – where artists quote other artists’ motifs, methods, and works to contribute new meanings to the old, which allows them to comment on, critique, or amplify the original.
    Through May 19  
    Christian-Green Gallery, 201 E. 21st
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    Visual Arts

    Wally Workman Gallery: Holding Space

    This is a multipartite show of paintings by Nola Parker, a self-taught landscape painter based in Vermont. Her series "The Neighborhood" depicts the manmade safety of our lives; "The Wild" investigates the mystery of the undomesticated; and "The Garden" reveals the liminal place between human success and failure in attempting to control the natural world.
    Through April 30
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    Visual Arts

    Women & Their Work: Then and Now

    Lindy Chambers observes and animates the often overlooked aspects of rural Texas life, her subjects ranging from recognizable iconography (mobile homes, stray dogs, lambs, piles of trash), to graphic abstractions, to the amorphously biological and otherworldly.
    Through May 11. Free.  
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    Visual Arts

    Wyld Gallery

    This is Ray Donley's gallery of art by Native Americans, located in that company of artistic glory called Canopy and resplendent with creations from the original people of our struggling country.
    Call for appointment

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