‘A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant’ at Violet Crown 9/12–9/18

Chronicling the extraordinary life and career of a prolific artist, A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant illustrates how, over five decades and 10 U.S. presidents, the Australian transplant became America’s most renowned and feared political cartoonist. Featuring interviews with Oliphant, his family, friends, and colleagues, plus archival footage and hundreds of […]

Katherine Nies at The Quarry Gardens at Schuyler 9/13

The Second Saturday Music Series presents genre-blending pianist, composer, and storyteller Katherine Nies for an evening of outdoor arts and entertainment. Nies combines classical, folk, and improvisation into a sound that feels both timeless and otherworldly, drawing inspiration from her mother’s Peruvian and Puerto Rican folk songs on guitar and her father’s late-night jazz piano, […]

Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival free community performance at The Paramount Theater 9/12

The Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 26th season with a series of concerts including a free community performance on September 12. The eclectic program for strings, clarinet, and piano features music from Brazil as well as short works by classical composers Niccolò Paganini, de Beriot, Rebecca Clarke, Osmo Vänskä, and others in a one-hour […]

Chatham County Line at The Southern Café & Music Hall 9/5

North Carolina roots stalwarts Chatham County Line, known for its blend of bluegrass, folk, country, and rock ‘n’ roll, is riding high off the release of its 10th studio album last year. Singer/guitarist Dave Wilson and bandmates John Teer (fiddle/mandolin) and Greg Readling (bass/pedal steel) bring evocative tales of love and heartbreak, joy and sorrow, […]

Maupintown Film Festival at Jefferson School African American Heritage Center 9/5–9/7

The 12th annual Maupintown Film Festival returns with a powerful lineup that includes shorts, documentaries, animated films, and discussions with filmmakers, experts, and community members. This year’s theme, Bold and Beautiful, highlights the Black community’s long tradition of resistance against injustice while holding fast to an unshakable sense of pride and cultural identity. The three-day […]

‘Queen Lear’ at Thistlerock Mead Company 9/6

A condensed all-female production of Shakespeare’s King Lear reimagines the Bard’s darkest masterpiece as a compelling exploration of maternal authority and sisterhood in Queen Lear. Mounted by Cottage Industry, a women-only performance and production troupe based in Charlottesville, the one-hour play places veteran actress Kate Bennis in the titular role under the direction of local […]

September Exhibitions

Through 10/10 The Ruffin Gallery at UVA presents an expansive group exhibition that brings together the knowledge and aesthetic achievements of individuals whose ancestral lineage predates Spanish colonialism, and who center millennia of inherited epistemologies within their contemporary practices. “Fuego Eterno: Soberanías Visuales” features sculpture, photography, video, painting, performance, textiles, mural, and installation works by […]

Kristen Chiacchia in the HotSeat

Since taking the reins at Second Street Gallery in 2016, Executive Director and Chief Curator Kristen Chiacchia has expanded the nonprofit’s reach while creating programs that connect artists and audiences in fresh ways. One of her biggest successes is “Teeny Tiny Trifecta,” the annual exhibit and art sale that has grown from 72 artists its […]

Disney’s Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour at John Paul Jones Arena 8/29

In a crossover combining fantasy and sci-fi tailored for kids, tweens, and the young at heart, Disney’s Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour brings elements of two popular film franchises together for a one-of-a-kind interactive live concert experience. Pulling from Descendants (wherein the children of Disney’s most infamous villains grapple with the choice between good and evil) […]