Swan Lake at The Paramount 5/5 & 5/6

“Our mission is simple: ballet everywhere, ballet for all,” say Los Angeles-based World Ballet Company founders Sasha Gorskaya and Gulya Hartwick. With a nod to Broadway grandeur, the company’s lavish production of Swan Lake brings together 50 dancers, handcrafted costumes and sets, and Tchaikovsky’s timeless score to spin the tragic tale of cursed lovers. $45–105, […]

Embedded/The Tell Tale Cell Phone at Live Arts 5/1 & 5/2

As the season heats up, Charlottesville Opera’s Wallace Worx offers a weekend of chilling operas based on Edgar Allan Poe stories. Embedded (“The Cask of Amontillado”) follows a news reporter trying to maintain her top slot and stave off younger competition. The Tell Tale Cell Phone (“Tell-tale Heart”) is a short, suspenseful work that builds […]

How-To Festival at the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library 5/2

Special talents and expertise converge at Jefferson-Madison Regional Library’s How-To Festival, where attendees can “learn 30 things in three hours.” The drop-in workshops are open to curious minds of all ages and cover a range of topics from cooking techniques and how to use AI, to crafting a leather bag and mastering your Scrabble game. […]

May galleries

Atlas Coffee 2206 B Fontaine Ave. “Spring Bouquets,” oil paintings by Kris Bowmaster. Through May 31. Buck Mountain Episcopal Church 4133 Earlysville Rd. Paintings by Juliette Swenson. Through June 30.   The Center at Belvedere 540 Belvedere Blvd. Charlottesville Camera Club Group Photography Exhibition. A diverse collection of photographic works created by members highlights a […]

An exhibition at JSAAHC allows the public to contribute

In an effort to transform the remnants of Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue into a new commemorative design, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center has mounted “Swords into Plowshares Recast|Reclaim.” The three-pronged exhibition describes the events leading up to, and surrounding the removal of, the statue, what happened next, and what comes now.  The […]

Community study calls for new local arts council

When you’re exploring local art galleries, attending an author event, or going to see a concert or play, it’s easy to see Charlottesville as a city that’s invested in arts and culture—a refuge of the type of creative self-expression and community-building that often feels under attack these days, whether by artificial intelligence, federal funding priorities, […]

Festival of the Moving Creature at UVA Arts Grounds 4/23

Don’t look twice—run! Run to join the fun at University of Virginia’s Festival of the Moving Creature as several man-made giants emerge at sunset for an illuminated parade through the heart of UVA Grounds. The monstrous movers are built by students from the Art of the Moving Creature class in an homage to the work […]

Wordplay at The Paramount 4/23

Are you a verbally pompous know-it-all? Prove it at Wordplay, the annual fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle, where fans of vocabulary, pop culture, history, and literature show off their smarts to support adult literacy, one-to-one English lessons, and citizenship tutoring. Form a team, or play along in the audience, and take your chance on […]