Home Events Arts

Zach Theatre’s adaptation of the Dickens classic is a musical sleigh ride through rhythm and time, infusing the traditional Victorian story with a score that spans all genres and eras. "Celebrate the season with the loving Cratchit family and three soulful ghosts as they take Ebenezer Scrooge on a joyride to rediscover his heart and love for human kindness."

Flatbed is celebrating its 34th birthday with a flash sale of prints from its deep inventory, a curated selection available for 25% off for one weekend only. (Note: Some editions are final impressions, so they'll go fast.) Prints can be purchased in person at Flatbed or online; the discount will automatically be applied to your Shopify cart at checkout. Ah – just in time for the gifting holidays!

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!"

The multidisciplinary artist José Villalobos grew up on the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, and was raised in a traditional and religiously (Evangelical) conservative family. His work reconciles the identity challenges in his life, caught between traditional Mexican customs and American mores, as well as growing up with religious ideals that conflict with and condemn being gay.: Villalobos manipulates material through the context of self-identity as he examines gender roles within family culture, demonstrating that dismantling traditional modes of masculine identity centers an interstitial space where materiality softens virility.Recommendation: See this vivid show of highly resonant work, the inaugural exhibition in the new Big Medium space – from the folks who bring our lucky city the annual Austin Studio Tour.

Witness, for your delight, Neal Flynn’s exhibition of mostly new assemblage, collage, and site-specific intervention exploring ideas relating to nostalgia, loss, violence, ownership, and modern Western culture.

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!

Graham Franciose fills the Cloud Tree gallery with delicate moments frozen in time. A prolific gouache and watercolor painter, his 40 original poetic works on paper will charm you with their delicate beauty and intricate details.

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.

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.

Kyle Hawley, founder and creative director of Letterpress PLAY, breaks the silence surrounding motherhood with her powerful exhibition, using the unique medium of monoprinting, to transform cloth utility accessories and garments that she designed for mothering into seven life-sized prints that are embedded with colors that recall the nostalgic colors of Kodachrome.

From ceramic vessels to greenstone jewelry, 200 works of classical Maya art (250-900BC) depict the relationship between the royal courts of ancient Maya and their supernatural entities.

Featuring collaborations between fine presses and artists, examples of typographic and concrete poetry, and experimentations in pop and surrealism, the exhibition puts prints by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Ed Ruscha in conversation with works by Charles Henri Ford, Kristin Calhoun, David McGee, and others.

This two-part exhibition explores the history and contemporary urgency of climate-related issues. Curated by journalist Jeff Goodell, who has written extensively on the topic, it's the first exhibition at the Blanton to explore one topic across several of the museum’s temporary gallery spaces. See our review of the show right here.

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.

New and recent work by Erin Shirreff, her practice rooted in the studio and in process: material translations from two to three dimensions (or from three to two) or from analog to digital (and vice versa) are what form her diverse but interrelated bodies of work.

Erin Cunningham's works examine and portray intricacies within the female figure, delving into the subtleties of the body's external structure. Elsa Gebreyesus explores visual representation of poems and themes by poets or wordsmiths she's been inspired by.

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.

This exhibit presents an impressive collection of relevant artworks created by artists with an intimate connection to the Mexic-Arte Museum and the Austin community.

In Zona Gale's classic play – the first play written by a woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama – Lulu Bett lives with her sister's family and does all the cooking in the house. Spinsterhood seems to be her destiny – until an enthusiastic visitor proposes. Directed by Norman Blumensaadt for Different Stages.

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.

Laura Lit’s sculptures are like utterances of deep quiet made solid and real. These newest ones have been built over two years, with skeletons of wood, muscles of foam, tissues of paper clay. The forms are painted with acrylic and oil, adorned with feather-feelers of plastic or scales of dyed resin. Some of these sculptures are the size of rabbits; others loom like growing trees. Gentle suggestion: FFS, don't miss this magnificent show.

This legendary work recounts the struggles of Spain's national hero, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the famed el Cid, as he attempts to preserve his honor after being exiled by King Alfonso VI. Directed by Ann Ciccolella for Austin Shakespeare.

Here's an exhibition of posters by a Polish designer, Patrycja Longawa.

Journey into a pipe-cleaner wonderland via Montrel Beverly's immersive teenage bedroom straight out of the early Nineties, chock-full of everything from Lunchables to Ninetendos to Air Pressure Jordans, all made out of pipe cleaners.

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.

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.

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

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.

In The Thin Place, the fragile boundary between our world and the other one is breached. With acuity and relentless curiosity, Lucas Hnath’s play transforms the theater into an intimate séance, crafting an unnerving testament to the power of the mind, which has a mind of its own. And here's our full review of the show.

The Umlauf's famed Garden features expertly wrought sculptures, the bronze or stone cynosures from Charles Umlauf and others anchoring sight among the bright foliage and tree-towered paths. Bonus: "Apropos" is a juried group exhibition of contemporary art exploring an aspect or aspects of Umlauf’s work – featuring new pieces by Darcie Book, Janet Brooks, Nathan Burgess, Bella Cheng, Avery Connett, Matt Donner, Sarah Fagan, Leslie Kell, Ellen LeBlanc, Gary McElhaney, Jennifer Pate, and more.

In this curated collection, Unchained's family of 14 emerging and established artists – including photographers, sculptors, and painters specializing in a range of styles from abstract to figurative to ink on rice paper - have each selected their one favorite piece from their own portfolio.

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.

Malcolm Bucknall’s absurdist surrealism brilliantly muddles Old Masters with tidbits of cartoons, films, home photography, and many other fascinations to create his anthropomorphic creatures.

Virginia L. Montgomery's new solo exhibition is a surrealist thought experiment about the philosophical praxis of atomic healing, featuring new video art, sound art, performance photographs, and sculptural objects that interweave psychoanalytic, mythological, and scientific textures. Bonus: luna moths!

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.

This new show at Austin's finest bastion of folk art features mixed-media collaborations that combine Jim Sherraden's printmaking with Jon Langford's painting to brilliant, rockabilly effect.