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Sponsored Listing
Junkyard Nights w/ Tele Novella, Theo Lawrence, and Cazayoux
Junkyard Nights is their 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.Thurs. June 26, 5pm-MidnightHole in the Wall -
Sponsored Listing
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-9pmMcLennon Pen Co. Gallery
Recommended
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Arts
Visual Arts
“Big Pour”
Collaboration’s the name of the artistic game here, with the newest exhibition at MASS being a three-way split showcase of Erin Miller, Audrey Blood, and Alexandre Pépin. Their pieces find shared experiences in the process of paper-making and reflect their navigation of “vulnerability, trust, and transformation through making.” Displayed alongside their separate works will be community-made pulp paintings, which were created during a MASS-hosted community paper-making day. Opening reception’s this Saturday, so take a page from these entangled artistes and invite all your friends. – James ScottThrough July 12 -
Arts
Visual Arts
“Collective Minds”
At Flatbed, printmakers of all styles, inspirations, techniques, and levels of experience find a home for their expression. Collective Minds, their annual in-house showcase, celebrates the collaboration and support that connects 22 diverse artists and staff members working out of the community studio. Get a feel for Flatbed’s 36-year legacy as Austin’s premier home for print and the dynamic spirit that keeps their work contemporary at the showcase’s opening event Saturday, as you meet local printmakers and admire their recent works. – Caroline DrewThrough July 26 -
Arts
Visual Arts
“Terra Forma”
This group exhibition featuring 10 local artists reimagines cartography as a skill endemic to artists, not scientists. Before the 17th century, maps were painted according to bodies, the show argues. These bodies were a lived, agreed-upon experience of a place not bound by data-driven management, the purpose of which is solely “to help outsiders drive through a land in which they had no real interest – except for locating resources to be exploited.” That’s Co-lab quoting from the book that lent the exhibition its name, Terra Forma: A Book of Speculative Maps by Frédérique Aït-Touati, Alexandra Arénes, and Axelle Grégoire. In an age of at once increasingly policed borders and forced migration due to a changing Earth, the show argues that “humankind is no longer solely in control.” – Lina FisherThrough July 19 -
Arts
Visual Arts
“The Floating World: Tokyo to Texas”
Step into a colorful space filled with music, dance, and Daryl Howard’s exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints. The Central Texas artist will be displaying his ukiyo-e inspired collection of surreal landscapes and vibrant florals. There will be Japanese appetizers, drinks, and cocktails for viewers to enjoy. Make sure to enter the raffle to win a $150 gift card, good for all Uchi restaurants in Austin. Traditional taiko drummers are scheduled to perform for this celebration of Japanese and Japanese-American culture, free and open to the public. – Sammie SeamonThrough September 7 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Captivating Colors: A Group Exhibition
There are entire college courses and certification programs for color theory, aka color science, delving into how colors interact and affect our perceptions and emotions. Fascinating stuff, really – part of why so many restaurants use warm colors like red, yellow, and orange in their branding is due to their tendency to stimulate the appetite. For this group exhibition featuring over 40 Austin artists, Art for the People showcases pieces where “color is not just aesthetic but an active agent shaping meaning and mood.” Visit with artists at a noon-5pm opening celebration on Saturday, June 14, or catch the exhibit sometime this summer and experience color in a new light. – Kat McNevinsThrough August 15 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Christopher Miller & Lily Timberlake: “I Could’ve Dreamed I Was Here”
From 6:30-10pm this Thursday, join two Austin painters for an exhibition celebrating slowness. Amongst the din of the attention economy, Christopher Miller and Lily Timberlake have created a capsule of work that draws your focus to daily pleasures like taking your dog for a walk and contemplating dappled shade on the sidewalk. Miller’s saturated, spacious Texas landscapes and Timberlake’s detail-oriented snapshots of foliage play off of each other to encourage a meditative viewing experience. Tin Whistle Gallery, tucked into the studios on Bolm Road, hosts this duo show through July 5. – Lina FisherThrough July 5 -
Arts
Theatre
City Theatre presents Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite
Get this – a priest advising a high-ranking family is actually corrupt and trying to take all their possessions for himself, all while being a rampant sex-pest toward every woman around. Shockingly, it’s not actually a breaking news story! But wowza: It sure could be. This French classic may be over 350 years old, but the story’s fresh as a daisy. It’s hard not to find resonant moments of recognition in corrupt con-man Tartuffe pulling the wool over hapless nobleman Orgon’s eyes. How easy it is for the wealthy to swallow comfortable lies. It’s just like Molière (and high school Cat) always said: “Man, I can assure you, is a nasty creature.” – Cat McCarreyThrough June 29Genesis Creative Collective, 1507 Wilshire Blvd. #1 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Lance Myers: “Frequencies in the Static Bloom”
Lance Myers’ previous work as an animator (Space Jam, A Scanner Darkly) inherently involved movement. With this exhibition he slows things down to a complete stop. The still lifes and portraits are a study in stillness, but there’s life in every brushstroke with flowers bursting with color and figures with proportions that are almost imperceptibly exaggerated. Throw some insects into the mix and you have a gently surreal and passionate display. Just because there isn’t any action, doesn’t mean you can’t be moved. – James RenovitchThrough July 6 -
Arts
Theatre
Lucky Stiff
Resident theatre company of the Baker Center’s floral-named stage, Beyond August Productions goes zany this summer season with a rom-com musical. After Harry Witherspoon learns he’s getting big buckaroos – or pounds, as they say in the play’s setting of merry old London – following an estranged uncle’s demise, his life gets turned upside down thanks to a particularly “zany” clause requiring he escort said dead unc all the way to Monte Carlo. Failure means no money for ol’ Harry, but success involves a whole lotta hijinks including weirdos, schemes, and even true love! – James ScottThrough June 29 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Michael Velliquette: “The Distance Within Us”
Slow down, stroll the gardens, enjoy a specialty cocktail, and see sculptures nestled in the green gardens at Umlauf this summer. Velliquette’s solo exhibition shows off his largest presentation of sculptures made of paper and powder-coated metal. These works invite visitors to take a moment to breathe and focus on the present moment, with an awareness of the shared human experience. “It’s about reaching inward and outward at once, and the ways that symbolic forms can guide us toward greater awareness and connection,” Velliquette said. – Sammie SeamonThrough August 22
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Arts
Visual Arts
Aisha Imdad: “The Allegorical Gardens”
Gardens loom large in legend. Think the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Shalimar Gardens, the Garden of Eden: each bursting with symbolic beauty, dripping with promises of life and growth. Artist Aisha Imdad explores the lush intricacies of this verdant imagery. Her watercolor works delve into literary and mythological gardens, inspired by Indian, Mughal, and Persian frescos. Each invites closer introspection, a desire to immerse in the vibrant world of her works. Each intricate blossom speck, or gilded turn of a bird wing, vibrates with idealized life. Imdad’s art portrays the possibilities of paradise. – Cat McCarreyThrough July 3 -
Arts
Theatre
Anton Chekhov Is a Tasty Snack
Art imitates life, which then imitates art. Such is the story of Round Rock theatre Penfold’s latest production, commissioned from Austin-based playwright Jenny Connell Davis. With a script that riffs on the titular tasty snack’s The Seagull, this romp playfully punctures theatre work by following a small Texas company attempting the most impressive production of Chekhov’s first major play. Expect ego, passion, and complete chaos – not totally unlike the original play’s 1896 opening night, where the lead actress was so alarmed by audience animosity she lost her voice. – James ScottThrough June 28 -
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
Atelier Dojo: Remote Studios
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!"Tuesdays, 1:30-4:30pm; Fridays, 6:30-9:30pm; Saturdays, 9:30-12:30pm. $5. -
Arts
Books
Austin African American Book Festival
Totally free and with activities for all ages, the fest offers a full day of thought-provoking discussions, author connections, and celebration of Black culture and literature.Sat., June 28 -
Arts
Theatre
Austin Chamber Music Festival
The Austin Chamber Music Center once again presents a summerlong celebration of intimate ensemble works. This year’s lineup includes the Yamazalde Trio (featuring ACMC Artistic Director Sandy Yamamoto), the Miró Quartet, the Poiesis Quartet, Michelle Schumann, Gil Shaham, Akira Eguchi, the Kodak Quartet, and a family-friendly performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals.June 27-Aug. 9 -
Arts
Visual Arts
“Dog Days”
When the profound connection between dog and human has become fetishized and monetized for clicks, where’s a soulful dog person to go? Why not this group exhibition, which pays sweet tribute to our four-legged fam? Referencing the origins of “dog days” as a time of unrest in ancient times, DORF curators Sara Vanderbeek and Eric Manche are using the show to advance a different narrative: “that in a time of global uncertainty and rising temperatures, the steady, loving presence of a dog can be a grounding force – a source of comfort, stability, and meaning.” Friday’s pet-friendly opening reception will have on-site adoptions, live dog portrait painting by Ami Plasse, and a doggy dance party with DJ Dana Scully. – Kimberley JonesOpening night, May 23; runs through Sept. 6 -
Arts
Visual Arts
“duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, grayDUCK!”
Okay so: What’s with all the ducks? If you count them, it’s one duck for each year that this art gallery has been hosting art. This anniversary exhibition, curated by Los Outsiders collective, has a work of art representative of each year in the life of grayDUCK. It’s kinda like one of those videos where someone takes a photo of themselves every year, except in this case it’s something beautiful or poignant, and isn’t that better? Kicks off this Saturday, May 24 and runs through June 28. – James RenovitchThrough June 28 -
Community
Events
“Roots Unveiled: Exploring the Chinese Experience”
Among the many anti-civil rights bills creeping their way through the Texas Legislature is Senate Bill 17, which would bar Chinese and many other Asian citizens from buying land here. Denounced by detractors as racist and reminiscent of 19th-century laws targeting Asian immigrants, its 2023 origins, along with growing anti-Asian sentiment after the pandemic, inspired Houston artist Jane Xu to found the multi-city Asian American Art & Culture Initiative and initiate this multidisciplinary exhibit. Curated by renowned international independent curator Sylvia XuHua Zhan, it brings in-depth research and archives along with work from a wide range of artists to offer a look at the rich history of Chinese Americans in Texas. Opening reception is Sunday, May 18, noon. – Kat McNevinsThrough August 31; opening reception, May 18 -
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
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
Comedy
ColdTowne Theater
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. -
Arts
Comedy
Come @ Me: Improv Comedy Inspired by Your Instagram
Why are there so many different social media apps you have to be on? And where are my slippers? Are you my grandson? I’m joking about being old, which is something they might make fun of me for when they do the improv comedy inspired by my Instagram. If you can’t laugh at yourself, you won’t make it far in this world! So come be the butt of the joke at this weekly show created by Isaac Garza, Amy Knop, and Kyle Irion, and starring Natalie O’Sullivan Hamilton, Juese Cutler, Sunny Huang, Xander Noland, Lisa Jackson, Colton Matocha, Jenn Rosario, Kevin Anderson, Jamie Meeks, and special guests, who will all endeavor to finally use social media for something good. – Kat McNevinsSaturdays -
Arts
Visual Arts
Creekside Studio
Creekside Studio is a women-owned printmaking studio and gallery, located in Canopy on the Eastside, specializing in fine art prints pulled by hand using archival materials and matrices: engravings, photogravure etchings, monotypes, woodcuts, copperplate etchings, and linocut.Saturdays, noon-1pm916 Springdale, Bldg 2 #103B -
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
Theatre
Fat Ham
The hot question on everybody’s minds during Shakespeare class… is Horatio invited to the cookout? Finally, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham provides some sort of answer. Instead of Hamlet, we have Juicy: He’s Black, queer, and trying to cope with his mother’s recent remarriage. When the ghost of Juicy’s father intrudes to beg for revenge, a modern retelling of Hamlet takes off with love, fourth-wall breaks, and the gentle disruption of generational trauma cycles. How would Hamlet’s life be different if he just went to therapy? Fat Ham dares to venture into those unknowns. – Cat McCarreyThrough June 29 -
Arts
Comedy
Hysteria!
Previously under the moniker “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” this comedy variety show skewers the Lone Star State’s backwards movement on reproductive rights. Carolyn Kelleher and Caroline Penca play hosts/producers/directors to a cast of comedic talent that includes such luminaries as Becca Andrews, Ricky Corragio, Rainny Daze, Kim Egner, Sandra Fountain, Judy Lee, Chelsee Lopez, Shannon Mullery, Martha Neil, and Kat Williams. Be there this Saturday, or be an aborted little cell clump! – James ScottSaturdays -
Arts
Visual Arts
Jiab Prachakul: Sweet Solitude
Whoever says Austin isn’t a fine art town can get the hell out of here. We continually break artistic ground with innovative and international taste. The Contemporary once again adds to that rep by hosting artist Jiab Prachakul’s first solo museum show. Born in Thailand, living in France, and with a solid film background behind her, Prachakul’s work has a bold style and clear point of view. Heavy graphic lines and soul-stirring colors fill her art. Each moment could be a film still, each stroke staking her claim on a far-too-Western art world. Widely accessible but intensely intimate, Prachakul’s scenes beg for close inspection. Join the Contemporary, and the artist herself, in examining her offerings during Friday’s opening night festivities or in conversation on Saturday, Feb. 1. – Cat McCarreyThrough August 3 -
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
Comedy
Last Voyage of the Voyagers
Austin’s comedy scene is synonymous with improv, but it’s not all about the “yes, and.” Sketch comedy troupe the Voyagers goes on stage with a lot more than a wing, a prayer, and hopes that the audience has some good prompts. Promising live sketch comedy from the bottom of the barrel of their hearts, these laughs from the end times come from writer/director John Gholson, who is set to become the toast of this year’s Tribeca Festival as star of the new Austin-made horror, Man Finds Tape. But before he terrorizes the Big Apple, catch him and the rest of the Voyagers as they find humor in these dumpster fire days each Saturday night through May. – Richard WhittakerSaturdays -
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. -
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Visual Arts
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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.$20-24.11010 Domain #100 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Old Bakery Gallery: Fantastical Flora
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.Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 20, 1-4pm. Free. -
Arts
Comedy
South Austin Comedy Club
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.Wed.-Sat., 7:30pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
Stephen L. Clark Gallery: Kate Breakey
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. -
Arts
Books
Story Circle Network
Nonprofit organization for women, offering monthly reading and writing circles and more, in North, Central, and South Austin. -
Arts
Comedy
The Creek and the Cave
This snazzy spot for local and national stand-up acts has shows almost every night of the week. -
Arts
Comedy
The Hideout
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.$10 and up. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Valerie Fowler’s “Entanglements” & Benné Rockett’s “Grown in Darkness”
It’s a pleasure to see Austin’s bevy of talented working artists grow and change over the years, exploring new material and thematic fixations. Valerie Fowler is one such mainstay of the scene, and her new summer show at Lydia Street Gallery finds her meditating on the interconnectedness of nature and humanity with signature meticulous attention to detail. In “Entanglements: You Too Are Part of This,” she renders birds’ nests and vines in dazzling Technicolor. Under the same roof, Benné Rockett, an Austin art therapist who’s spent the better part of a decade between Mérida, Yucatan, and her hometown of New Orleans, offers mixed-media encaustic works that render flora and fauna in three dimensions. Watch these works interact with one another starting Saturday, May 24, through to August 10. – Lina FisherThrough August 10 -
Arts
Comedy
Velveeta Room
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.$10. -
Arts
Theatre
Waitress
Based on the hit movie, this Sara Bareilles-boosted musical tells the tale of a waitress skilled in pie-making and warming hearts as she navigates heartbreak in a small town. Good for ages 12 and up, so make this your preteen’s first musical experience!June 11-July 13 -
Arts
Theatre
Waitress
Ever been to a musical and got a little peckish before intermission? Well, Waitress has a solution: Onstage seats in this ZACH360 production get served real slices of pie during the show. For everyone else, there’s still the heart-touching drama of this adaptation of the 2007 film of the same name, complete with the Tony- and Grammy-nominated score from Sara Bareilles. Leslie McDonel, who recently scored an Austin Theatre Critics Award nomination for breathing life into the story of Carole King in Zach’s 2024 production of Beautiful, steps into the role of Jenna, a waitress and baker in a town that may be too small for her big dreams. – Richard WhittakerThrough July 13 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Words and Wonder: Rediscovering Children’s Literature
One of the pleasures of having a first-rate research center and archive in town is how the Harry Ransom Center will regularly comb through its own vast holdings and hand-pick gems to present in a new context. Hence the HRC’s latest exhibit, “Words and Wonder: Rediscovering Children’s Literature,” which pulls from its manuscript, art, photography, film, and performing arts holdings to spotlight early 20th-century authors and illustrators catering to a young readership. The exhibit includes magic lantern slides from Aesop’s Fables, John Tenniel’s illustrations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Ernest H. Shepard’s indelible images from the Hundred Acre Wood, among other treats. Runs through August 17. – Kimberley JonesThrough August 17 -
Arts
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 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Yard Dog: Paul Rodriguez
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."Opening reception: Fri., Jan. 19, 7-9pm