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C’mon y’all freaks and geeks: Austin’s premier transmedia festival dedicated to bold creativity within the LGBTQ community is back again. Over four days, creators like Good Pollution, Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, Ajani Brannum, Xandra Ibarra, and many more will bake your noodle with performances pacing past all known artistic outposts. Special presentations pop up throughout the fest run, but ongoing all four days will be DARKROOM, a blindfold-required sonic experience, and Lezbian Popcorn Cart, a celebration of savory sapphic her/hirstory. Highly recommended: the Legacy Awards boosting Austin spacemakers Priscilla Hale, Chale Nafus, Sandra Martinez, and Susan Post at Cheer Up Charlies on Friday, Feb. 16. – James Scott

Author of Never a Girl, Always a Boy and subsequent co-playwright of its stage adaptation Jo Ivester hopes the play written alongside her son Jeremy serves to “contribute to the growing awareness of what it means to be Trans.” After an industry presentation in NYC with Tony-Award winning A Strange Loop producer JJ Maley directing, this personal transition story comes home for its world premiere at Ground Floor featuring director Lisa Scheps and performers Laura Leo Kelly, Kaden Ono, Molly Fonseca, Nathan Jerkins, Max Green, Chelsea Corwin, Trace Turner, and Jeremy.– James Scott

Three mesmerizing dance works take the stage this Valentine's weekend: George Balanchine's neoclassical Concerto Barocco combines with Amy Seiwert's contemporary Renaissance and the world premiere of Stephen Mills' Bubblegum, all with live accompaniment by the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

To create this photography exhibition featured at creative consultancy/gallery & studio space OFC Creatives, local artist and activist Jeremy A. Teel pulled from his wider “I, Too, Am Kink” series, which focuses on Black bodies within the BDSM/kink community to “consider the complexities of bondage, body positivity, and the liberation of the Black body amidst daily struggles and pleasures.” Last weekend, however, brought broken windows to the OFC gallery, who remarked it was no accident the only display damaged was the Black queer art. They plan to, in response, be “Blacker and Queerer,” so support them in that mission by catching this exhibition or attending their Friday, Feb. 16, discussion with ATX Queer Connection. – James Scott

You’re a busy guy; you don’t have time to read all of War and Peace. But you’re also ashamed that you’ve not dug into the hottest Russian novel of 1869! Hark: A solution awaits at the Zach Theatre production of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Dave Malloy’s musical adaptation of a 70-page section of Tolstoy’s great tome. Described by the theatre as an “innovative electro-pop opera,” this two-hour-and-thirty-minute love triangle will be available as pay-what-you-will until Feb. 4. Heads-up to queers: Thursday, Feb. 1, is PRIDE night!– James Scott

“The Bard is just the beginning,” promise the irrepressible thespians of Austin Shakespeare; and now here they are, making good on their word with a play that showcases classic short works by Austin’s own William Sydney Porter – you know: O. Henry – to bring audiences at the Long Center’s Rollins Theatre an early-20th-century good time with “The Gift of the Magi,” “The Pimienta Pancakes,” “The Ransom of Red Chief,” and more. Bonus: Music and dance enhance the talented talespinning, and there are talkbacks with the director and cast after every show.: – Wayne Alan Brenner

Adapted from bestselling novels by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, this Tony-winning play by Rick Elice digs deep into J.M. Barrie’s story of Neverland like never before. Learn the origins of the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up as well as his friends and foes like Wendy, Captain Hook, and Tinker Bell. Directed by Ben Wolfe, this production features music by Wayne Barker and an ensemble cast of 16 actors in over 100 character roles. –James Scott

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.

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!

This vibrant show is a visual conversation between artists Margaret Meehan and Jade Walker, drawing on years of friendship, shared research, and visual interests.

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.

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.

Opening this Friday, Feb. 2, is Mexican, Latino, and Latin American art & cultural center Mexic-Arte Museum’s annual mega exhibition/art sale. Mix ’n’ Mash will feature over 200 artists utilizing a 12-by-12-inch Gessobord to explore “the large and small of what makes Austin weird, interesting, timeless, and robust,” according to Mexic-Arte’s website. Each board goes for around $150 each, but buyers are encouraged to buy at least three to create an ATX triptych to impress all your gallery-going friends. – James Scott

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.

This is the new solo exhibition by Austin’s own Donya Stockton – yes, the multitalented woman behind legendary club venues Beerland, Rio Rita, King Bee, and more. So, the show’s about music? No, because this Stockton is also a world-class weaver, and her latest works of handmade basketry (and its stunning deconstructions) incorporate driftwood, Oaxacan seed pods, and copper into her signature serpentine loops of cane and reed, bringing topology itself to its knees in Philip Niemeyer’s excellent Downtown gallery.  – Wayne Alan Brenner

The diverse lineup of hilarious, always surprising improv shows continues, with Pgraph and Maestro and the Big Bash and more, for the most unexpected delights of in-person entertainment.

This is a solo exhibition – an extraordinary solo exhibition, we daresay – by Spanish artist Juan Luís Jardí, who uses a mix of magic realism with influences of Pop Art and surrealism to illustrate the contrast in our lives and the doubts we're faced with as humans.