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For the many ArmadilloCon regulars, this will be the first year without the late, great Harold Waldrop, the leviathan of weird short stories and godfather to the community around the convention, Austin’s premier celebration of fantasy and science fiction literature. So of course, there will be a chance to remember his work and friendship with a Celebration of Harold Waldrop on Friday night. But the future of the genre and medium is also here to be celebrated, with Andrea Stewart (The Drowning Empire trilogy) appearing as guest of honor ahead of the September publication of her new book, The Gods Below, and special guest Delilah Dawson (Star Wars: Phasma), who has a new book of her own, Guillotine, coming this month. – Richard Whittaker

Boasting the inaugural Dallas poet laureate title and The Dallas Morning News’ crown of the “People’s Poet,” Joaquín Zihuatanejo has a lot to recommend his work. His newest collection utilizes poetic erasure to remake long-form works by heterosexual white men into his own pieces – “the white space that remains becoming colonized Brown verse,” as the event copy says. Attend this event to hear those works read aloud as well as witness Zihuatanejo in conversation with local poet – and the person behind getting Austin its own poet laureate – KB Brookins. – James Scott

Five years ago, Jonathan “Chaka” Mahone – music commissioner and one-half of the husband/wife hip-hop duo Riders Against the Storm – launched Diversity and Wellness in Action, an emergency financial assistance program for local creatives of color. Though it arrived like a pre-pandemic premonition, DAWA has done more than lend monetary support; a first-of-its-kind week of BIPOC-led SXSW programming, a free-to-use studio space, and the creation of a Black Live Music Fund are among the ways Chaka has become a game-changing community organizer. The org taps comedian Tommy Davidson for a performance at its anniversary celebration – a well-deserved break from all this hard work. – Carys Anderson

Vibe it out at MASS Gallery’s second edition of all-night ambient tunes. This one’s for the chillers, the loungers, the folks who like to recline while beeps and boops carry them away on a musical dream. Instrumental sets from Wish Lash and Plume Girl will set the auditory mood, with support from ambient DJ Clancy Jones. Meanwhile, visuals from Britt Moseley will bring an aquatic calm to the whole affair. MASS encourages attendees to bring “blankets, pillows, robes, friends, neighbors, etc.” with the gallery also offering snacks and bevvies for the interested. After a wild summer, don’t we all need a little ambient cool-down?: – James Scott

If you’ve ever been listening to Running With Scissors or Poodle Hat and thought “man, this Weird Al guy is great, but I wish it was a little bit sexier?” First off, how dare you besmirch Yankovic’s hotness, and second off, great news! The incomparable Ginger Snaps has gathered a buxom bunch to bring the burlesque to everyone’s favorite parody artist. StripapALooza 2 is ready to fill your “Amish Paradise” with dance, aerial, and even some juggling. Get ready to rip off those tropical shirts and polka with pasties on. Never has there been a more interesting pairing. – Cat McCarrey

Audiovisual artist Masch brings his site-specific light installation controlled by a drum set and a little help from some fancy programming. Friday and Saturday evenings each feature a different trio of renowned drummers to showcase what the lights can do in the hands of a professional percussionist. Sunday is open to anyone with tickets from the previous days’ showcases and, from 1-8pm, Masch invites local drummers to grab some sticks and see what kind of light show they can produce. – James Renovitch

One thing I’ve loved about newer theatre or museums is the space given for land acknowledgement – statements about the ancestral roots of the space being used. Space that was not always ours, but taken. The Blanton’s latest exhibit tackles that question, but pushes the boundaries. It’s not just about what Native America was, but what it can be. Curator and lauded artist Wendy Red Star has assembled nine other Native artists to create a rich exploration of what life in America is today. Shown through a variety of mediums, something is guaranteed to resonate with the audience. Whether it’s the photos, paintings, videos, or multimedia works is up to you. – Cat McCarrey

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.

The local powerhouse of figurative painting, the art school that's the smart school for artists of all kinds, they've got a painting-along-at-home series going to help you keep your skills honed in these socially restrictive times, featuring live costumed models posing on camera and a thriving community of creatives rendering that lovely human biotecture from their separate studios. "Join us for a three-hour costumed-model drawing session. Use any supplies you wish, listen to music, share your work, chat with others. It’s a great way to stay connected with your art community!"

Art is communal, stronger when visions are shared. ICOSA already showcases the connections between Austin artists on the regular, but with “Straight Like That” the web grows to include the Houston-based Throughline Collective. With a selection curated by Mueni Loko Rudd, a Kenyan American curator and preservationist dedicated to expanding the cultural landscape of art, visitors to ICOSA’s latest show can witness a vibrant exhibit of Texas-based artists pushing the boundaries of what is expected from art. The pieces vary in form and theme. But all evoke new insights into what Texas art can be. – Cat McCarrey

Carole King is one of those once-in-a-generation songwriters, the kind who absolutely deserves not just a jukebox musical, but this type of theatrical biography on stage. A lot of folks know her seminal album Tapestry and her collaboration with longtime platonic soulmate James Taylor. But she had a thriving songwriting career beforehand. Beautiful tracks her stunning girl group anthems (“One Fine Day” or “Loco-Motion,” anyone?) and her fraught relationships with male collaborators. Can they keep this “natural woman” down? Of course not, but watch her rise while grooving to King’s victorious anthems.

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!

The California-based artist, known for combining visual art and industrial design, uses media including photography, sculpture, simple machines, and more to explore both the art world and corporate culture and other themes during this exhibition’s six-decade span. While tackling often serious subject matter, Cheng’s work retains a sense of playfulness on display at the Jones Center. Get a first look of the collection at the public opening reception Friday at 6pm. – James Renovitch

Look, grown-ass adults wearing whiskers and singing about a Jellicle Ball is always going to be a little goofy, but that willingness to play make-believe is why we go to the theatre. Nobody expects strict realism, which is why the 2019 film was such an unmitigated disaster, and why Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sung musical, based on T.S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, is far better suited for the stage at Georgetown’s historic Palace Theatre. Grizabella’s ballad “Memories” may be the song that puts people in seats, but don’t sleep on the magical “Mr. Mistoffelees.” – Kimberley Jones

ColdTowne's new brick-and-mortar place is totally open, and who knows what they'll shake this city with next? But one truth remains: ColdTowne is a designated den of gold, baby, sweet comedy gold.

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.

Ever topical, Ivester Contemporary’s September Project Space show centers around memory and home – concepts apt for the seasonal change to cooler weather. This exhibit, “Echoes of Home: Relational Memories and Urban Futures” by Occupy Vacancy, a public art initiative based in St. Louis, is its first ever within a gallery context. Usually the artists, Brianna McIntyre and André Fuqua, transform vacant lots into neighborhood-specific installations “that contemplate St. Louis’s vernacular architecture, settlement history, and blight within the city’s Northside,” reads the exhibition text. “Echoes of Home” similarly uses architectural elements and aspects of the urban landscape, but within a gallery context, inviting Austinites to reflect on our own complicated and rapidly changing urban landscape. – Lina Fisher

Esther's Follies – Austin's not-so-secret weapon in the fight against ennui – the comedy gem that still dazzles this growing urban hub – returns to the weekly live and in-person stage of their club on Dirty Sixth, the whole troupe bringing back old favorites and debuting a new program of hilarity with topical, ripped-from-the-headlines sketches and musical numbers. And you do need a laugh or two, right about this time, don't you, citizen? (And how about a margarita to go with that?) We'd add that the mind-boggling illusions of magician Ray Anderson are a bonus in the night's clever spectacle … but, the way that arch maestro conjures mystery and delight, "bonus" would be an insult.

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.

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.

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.

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 multimedia exhibition is a comprehensive exploration of the beauty of botanical forms, expressed realistically and in the abstract, featuring the work of local artist Francine Funke.

This is a weekly stand-up comedy showcase to help you pregame your Friday night on the town. (Snail Haven also features music shows, film screenings, and general hangs. Best bet: Follow @SnailHavenShows on Instagram and DM them for event details.)

South Austin’s first dedicated comedy venue is spearheaded by local comics Martin Henn, Andre Ricks, and Raza Jafri, and brings top-notch acts to South Austin every Wednesday through Saturday. Note: The upcoming comics – including nationally touring acts, local sweethearts, and everyone in between – will be listed on Instagram each night.

You imagine a line and it’s probably straight the way a manufactured ruler is. Yet nature shows lines curved in all manner of ways. Born in 1980 within a 120-year-old house, the Wally Workman Gallery presents two artists whose work engages the myriad manner of lines. In his sculptural work, Joseph Janson utilizes bailing wire to make pieces that “ebb and flow like marks on a page to create recognizable forms: people, animals, and objects such as tables and lamps,” according to the gallery’s description. Stephanie Strange’s graphite drawings are more concerned with making seeable the invisible: communication. “In her work,” the gallery says, “she seeks to express the beauty of how energy is a communication running through all existence.” Both artists use curving lines, but attend this show’s opening reception on Saturday, Aug. 3, to see how they do so in their own materials. – James Scott

This exhibition of new work by Kate Breakey showcases hand-colored photography of the natural world, particularly of Texan and Australian landscapes, animals, and insects.

Making puppets “mature” is no new phenomenon (see: Avenue Q, or that terrible Melissa McCarthy movie, The Happytime Murders – sorry for reminding you of that film’s existence). But most content struggles to move beyond “Hey, isn’t it sooo funny that puppets are having sex and swearing?” It takes a special work to make the puppets an essential part of the theme, but with Sunny Days, Reina Hardy moves past novelty and toward intense introspection. Named for the iconic Sesame Street theme song, Hardy takes the gentle, educational approach of that classic property to explain her not-so-fictional world ravaged by political unrest and climate change. The puppets are an integral part of the story. They’re needed for this unmissable call to action told with hilarity, heartbreak, and hand puppets. – Cat McCarrey

This snazzy spot for local and national stand-up acts has shows almost every night of the week.

Its latest installment went overboard with heavy-handed dialogue about the Importance of Cooking, but season one of The Bear remains an enthralling, realistic – and for many restaurant veterans, traumatizing – look into the chaos of the kitchen. Lex Okeke takes inspiration from the FX dramedy for her directorial debut The Grizzly, a monthlong show about the stress and intensity of improv performance. The cast’s real-time thought processes make up the production, highlighting the messiness of early-stage collaboration – when performers are still perfecting their comedic recipe, if you will. Let’s just hope Okeke learns from Carmy and doesn’t go for a star. – Carys Anderson

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.

Reenter the world of “all for one and one for all” with this collaboration between the Archive Theater and Austin Scottish Rite Theater. It may have been a while since you’ve seen any of the movie adaptations of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale, but witnessing the swashbuckling adventures of D’Artagnan and his trio of mentors live onstage is a much better way to revisit these fearless Frenchmen. Archive specializes in taking classic stories from page to stage. In their hands, the musketeers are sure to be spellbinding. Besides, any excuse to see a show at the gorgeous and historic Scottish Rite is a good one. – Cat McCarrey

I first saw Dana Younger’s art at the Blue Genie Bazaar, and even those smaller pieces were enough to make me a forever fan. His sculptures were realistic with slight exaggerations to capture interest, bits and pieces of humans and nature etched in wood and bronze. When placed alongside the popping portrait paintings of partner Felice House, their work becomes even more powerful. House plays with feminist rewritings of history, showing glowing cowgirls and vibrant desert settings, settings where Younger’s comedic cowboys and stately cacti comfortably dwell. A West that never was, but is intensely alluring. – Cat McCarrey

The legend of Ronnie Velveeta lives on at this storied 'stablishment of a stand-up stage, where some of the country's hottest comics come to make the floorboards quake with laughter every weekend on Dirty Sixth. Brandie Posey: Sat., May 20, 8 & 10pm. Jake Flores: Sat., May 27, 8 & 10pm.

Time to upgrade from your Ansel Adams wall calendar and instead appreciate the legendary landscape photographer’s black & white pictures of the American West where they belong – on a gallery wall.

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.

Yard Dog presents the vibrant works of Paul Rodriguez, a printmaker from San Miguel de Allende. "And some very cool new paintings by Harry Underwood."