School daze Charlottesville’s hopes for a $75 million renovation for Buford Middle School became more complicated last week, as a bill that would have allowed localities to raise taxes for school funding was killed in a General Assembly subcommittee. Area state Senator Creigh Deeds’ SB 298 would have authorized Charlottesville to raise the local sales […]
Don’t look back in anger: What does it mean to be nostalgic for the American past? To be sentimental for your own family history? Jennifer Niesslein tackles these questions and more with humor and charisma in her new collection of essays, Dreadful Sorry, from the perspective of a liberal white woman. She reflects on her […]
Action movies: Take an epic journey through the great outdoors without leaving your seat at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, a two-night event that features short films about adventure sports, culture, environment, and exploration. Films are shot in a variety of styles, from actions to dramas, amateur to professional productions, and capture inspiring experiences from […]
Seeds of the soul: The community of enslaved people who lived and worked at Monticello developed musical traditions that influenced American music for centuries. Sacred Music of Monticello presents a program juxtaposing spirituals associated with Monticello’s enslaved people with a modified version of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, a composition found in the library at […]
By Luke Williams Despite the chilly February evening, Second Street Gallery was filled with warm energy for the opening of “Stuart Robertson: A Suh Wi Dweet.” The exhibition offers a never-before-seen collection of portraits by Robertson, a Jamaican artist. The patois title translates roughly to “This is How We Do It,” foregrounding Robertson’s love of […]
Running for repair On March 3, 1865, Union army troops arrived in Charlottesville, liberating over 14,000 enslaved people—more than half of the city and Albemarle County’s population. In celebration of Liberation and Freedom Day, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is hosting its second annual Reparations Fun Run/Walk from March 1 through 6. The […]
All that you can’t leave behind: What if you had to say goodbye to Earth forever? In UVA Drama’s How to Live on Earth, four contestants win the opportunity of a lifetime—a trip to Mars—with the condition that they stay there forever. Playwright MJ Kaufman drew inspiration from the Mars One project and reality TV […]
Smooth sax: Tenor saxophonist Charles Owens has been performing, composing, and teaching music for over 25 years. Owens got his start in New York, where he attended The New School. He’s released nine albums and regularly performs at venues in Charlottesville and Richmond, bringing listeners peace and happiness through the rich, mellow sounds of his […]
Shreddin’ it forward: Growing up in Agadez, a desert village in rural Niger, Mdou Moctar built himself a guitar after seeing YouTube videos of Eddie Van Halen performing. Moctar combined Van Halen’s six-string techniques with traditional Taureg melodies to create a modern Saharan-rock sound, full of rhythmic drums, epic guitar shreds, and plenty of noise. […]
By Matt Dhillon Since The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA was built in 1935, it’s had to close its doors a few times—once during World War II and again in the ’60s when the space was requisitioned for classrooms. In 2020, the growing pandemic shut the museum down for a third time. “There’s certainly […]