Who knew that St. Paul’s Episcopal Church had a sizable and nicely laid out art gallery? Apparently lots of local artists and groups, for church receptionist and gallery helper Julie McFarland says that the spaces are steadily booked. “Shows change every two months,” McFarland noted. “They are all local artists on display,” she said, adding […]

Weathervane Playhouse, a Knight Arts grantee, begins its 78th season by taking a dramatic leap with Tracy Letts’  “August: Osage County.” The Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-award winning play is a taut, gruff, polished comic tragedy — that is, a play where you laugh yourself right up to the uneasy, unsettling final moments where bleakness prevails. […]

What began 125 years ago as a group of young ladies getting together on Tuesdays to sing and play for one another has turned into a classical paradise of international performers and exquisite artists that is Tuesday Musical, a Knight Arts grantee. According to executive director Barbara Feld, this year’s opener is a multi-layered event […]

Wanda Sykes, star of “The New Adventures of Old Christine.” Photo via www.tacomaweekly.com My new best friend Wanda Sykes and I had a short tête-à-tête recently on the phone. Actually, I simply had the privilege of an interview before Ms. Sykes’ appearance at the Akron Civic Theatre (a Knight Arts grantee) on Friday, September 21. This […]

Voting for winners of the first Akron Art Prize has begun. Beginning with the Downtown Art Walk on September 1, votes started rolling in. According to Rich Hoselton, director of events for the Downtown Akron Partnership, 200 people had registered within the first hour of competition. There are 150 artists, Hoselton added in the interview, […]

And now for something totally different – Pakistani pop. That might seem a flippant way to introduce cousins Zeb Bangash and Haniya Aslam, who hail from Peshawar, Pakistan, but it gets at the essence of why they will be performing in concerts on the University of Akron campus and downtown in Lock 3 on September […]

Akron will be hopping this week. Hip-hopping, that is, because, for the 5th year in a row, the Akron Civic Theatre, a Knight Arts grantee, will be hosting the annual Hip-hop Showcase put on by Keepers of the Art, also a Knight Arts grantee. This year’s showcase will feature two of the ostensibly most cutting-edge […]

The Akron Symphony Orchestra is in full gear and heading into a brand new season. One of the ways you’ll know that is from its great new poster. Everything is on it — a well-drawn summary of its “Classic,” “Pops” and “Specials” series, and a great lead-in to maestro Christopher Wilkins at work on his podium.  […]

Logo of Artists of Rubber City. Photo courtesy of organization Tucked in a corner of the third floor of the Summit Artspace building are two Box galleries, as they have been named, that are used by the Artists of Rubber City. The larger, or Big Box, is about 20 x 20, while the smaller, or […]

There’s a “what’s going on here” display currently at the Akron Art Museum, a Knight Arts grantee. Titled “Robert Stivers: Veiled Image,” the exhibition presents about 40 of the museum’s large collection of Stivers’ photographs. The works defy easy explanation. But that’s not all. The physical display has an edge to it as well. Robert […]

When the Ohio Ballet folded several years ago, it left a huge hole in the Akron dance world. The group performed year-round, primarily through its paid subscription series, but also (through the generosity of the City of Akron) during summers, first in a plaza in the downtown area, and then more widely for the city […]