Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
Families and people of all ages are invited to come and enjoy community, earth-friendly crafts, environmental education, and more!
Join Conserving Carolina and our partnering organizations as we share our knowledge and passion for the preservation of this amazing planet!
The event features educational activities, crafts, and hands on learning. Subjects include river restoration, water quality and monitoring, non-native and invasive species, climate change and action, the history of Harmon Field, American Chestnut restoration, folk medicine, bee keeping, and more!
In partnership with Parsec Financial, there will be a special showing of NOVA’s Polar Extremes at the Tryon Depot, 22 Depot St, Tryon, NC, at 6:30 pm. Click here for more information. Space is limited and pre-registration required at this link.
Organizations and presenters at the event include: MountainTrue, Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE), Polk County Soil and Water, Drunken Root Apothecary, NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources, NC Forest Service, Polk County Agricultural Economic Development, Trout Unlimited, Polk County Appearance Commission, the Henderson Polk County Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby, Quible & Associates, P.C., Foothills Humane Society, Unity in the Community, Polk County Library, NC Cooperative Extension Polk County Center 4-H Youth Development, Girl and Boy Scouts, National Centers for Environmental Information, American Chestnut Foundation, Housing Assistance, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Polk County Health and Wellness, NC State Parks, Steps to Hope, Polk County Parks and Recreation, Tryon Arts and Crafts, North Carolina Bluebird Society, Tryon Garden Club, nature and forest therapy, and an expert bee keeper!
Music by Blue Wall, Phil and Gaye Johnson, and the PacJAM Clover Pickers!
Manzolina’s Eatery will provide food for purchase: hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, nachos, drinks, etc.
History of Earth Day:
Earth Day was a unified response to an environment in crisis — oil spills, smog, rivers so polluted they literally caught fire.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses, and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet.
The first Earth Day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement, and is now recognizes as the planet’s largest civic event.
Theme in 2022:
The theme for Earth Day 2022 is Invest in Our Planet. “This is the moment to change it all — the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate. Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, our livelihoods… together, we must Invest In Our Planet.“ Click here for more information.
Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.
On April 19th from 5:30 – 7:00 pm, join us at Mountain Child Advocacy Center’s downtown office at 124 College Street, Third Floor, for a film showing of “Spare the Child”, a local film production from the Justice Film Collective. The short documentary explores the childhoods and subsequent adulthoods of three diverse survivors of childhood abuse and the lifelong impact on the human body, heart, and psyche. This event is open to the community and free of charge. There will be an expert panel of community professionals and filmmakers for a Talk-Back and Q/A session following the screening.
Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:30pm at Story Parlor
April 13, April 20, April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18*
*Final class on May 18 runs from 6:30-9:30pm
Make up class reserved for May 25
Story Parlor presents Creativity Lab: a six-week exploration of the creative process, common blocks and obstacles, and ways to kickstart and sustain creative momentum.
Focused on the process and the act of doing, opposed to product or outcome, Creativity Lab explores ways to overcome fear, embrace curiosity, and channel our muse in all creative endeavors.
The six-week workshop is experiential, hands-on, and tactile. The Lab will utilize exercises to help cultivate imagination, innovation, and creativity. Each class will focus on a different part of the creativity process all while building a tool kit for dealing with obstacles in our way, creating positive habits for growth, and investigating the ways our personal narratives intersect with our work.
Registration Includes:
A guidebook with supplementary readings, exercises, and activities
A custom Story Parlor notebook
Access to Creativity Mixers
Who Should Attend:
Anyone looking to kickstart or follow-through with a creative project
Anyone wanting to discover more about their habits and approach to creativity
Anyone hoping to learn more about the process of being creative
Anyone wishing to make creativity a part of their daily life
Anyone looking to explore the intersection of art and the human condition
Anyone interested in identifying their core values’ intersection with creative goals and aspirations
Anyone wanting a creative community in which to play, explore, and experiment
“The Office’s” mockumentary style used for Blue
Ridge CC Theatre Department’s spring film
production of “Medea”
Get ready to laugh at a tragedy as the Blue Ridge Community College Theatre
Department premieres its spring production of “The Making of Medea: The
Musical? The Movie!” on Friday, April 22 via YouTube.
Produced as a “mockumentary” filmed in a fashion similar to NBC’s “The
Office,” this pre-recorded production turns the classic Greek tragedy of
“Medea” into a comical affair.
According to Theatre Department faculty Jennifer Treadway, the continuous
presence of COVID-19 made switching their usual live, onstage production to a
film all the more simple.
“Live theatre is still taking a huge hit, because if even one of our cast – of an
onstage production – gets COVID, countless others will have to quarantine and
it just puts the entire production on hold,” Treadway stated.
Contrary to a live production, a video has multiple benefits, Treadway said,
including the flexibility of time schedules for actors. Also, since each scene can
be filmed in any order, there’s never a time when the entire cast has to be
present at once.
The classic Greek tragedy “Medea” centers around the titular character as the
wife of Jason, of “Jason and the Argonauts.” When Jason leaves Medea for
another woman, Medea kills his new wife and her own two sons as revenge.
The College’s “Medea” plot will center around a college theatre department
attempting to put on the traditional onstage “Medea” play.
“Since it’s a mockumentary, viewers will get to see all the wild antics that
happen when a theatre department tries to put on a play,” Treadway said. “So
it’s more about the people putting it on rather than the play ‘Medea’ itself.”
To maintain the semblance of a mockumentary and to collect b-roll footage,
the auditions and rehearsals were filmed and will be included in a portion of the
final version. The first rehearsal took place on Feb. 7, and there are now more
than 30 cast and crew members.
Filming will take one month of work, with a shorter turnaround time to edit. The
runtime will be approximately 30 minutes long.
Andrea Kulish, artist and activist whose family is from Ukraine, talks about her Ukrainian pysanky eggs and how to help immediately in Ukraine. These small, intimate discussions include a Meet + Greet at 11:30 am; presentation and discussion from noon-1 pm at Artsville Collective at Marquee. 36 Foundy in the RAD.
From Andrea:
“I am a member of the Ukrainian National Womens’ League of America. We are collecting funds for Humanitarian Aid.100% goes to four hospitals in Ukraine to help wounded soldiers and displaced civilians in Ukraine.”
Donate here: https://unwla.org/top-news/call-for-humanitarian-aid/
Citizen Vinyl and Asheville Music School have teamed up for a silent auction fundraiser to benefit Asheville Music School’s Play It Forward capital campaign. Tickets are only $10 to attend and include light bites and two drink tickets. There is also a cash bar serving cocktails, wine, and local beer. Tickets available online here: https://bit.ly/AMSSilentAuction
Up for bidding will be luxury regional experiences, vacation getaways, wine tasting events, fine jewelry, pampering packages, restaurant and wellness gift certificates, concert tickets and more.
This event raises funds for Asheville Music School’s Play It Forward capital campaign, securing their new facility in West Asheville. In addition to necessary upfits to our new space, we will be developing a music production studio (the AMS Sound Lab) in which students will learn to use modern music technology, equipment, and techniques. This new multi-use studio will allow us to offer group lessons, add additional programming with neighboring schools, and will serve as a rehearsal room with professional sound.
Asheville Music School is the largest nonprofit music school of its kind in Western North Carolina, serving over 300 students annually and providing sustainable and rewarding work for dozens of music educators. We offer private music lessons, band and ensemble classes, summer camps, master classes, and workshops for all ages and income levels. As a community school, our mission is to keep music education accessible to all, regardless of economic barriers. We accomplish our goals by offering need-based scholarships, an instrument-lending library, and by operating an outreach program that connects AMS students and teachers with the most vulnerable populations in our community.
Join Conserving Carolina and Parsec Financial for a screening of NOVA’s new special, Polar Extremes, hosted by paleontologist and Sant Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, Kirk Johnson. Using the fossil record, Johnson takes viewers on an amazing adventure through time, exposing the numerous polar extremes our planet has experienced over thousands of years.
Johnson uses the evidence of the past to help reveal our planet’s climate today and shares what may be in store for the future.
While visiting Downtown Tryon for the film, be sure to enjoy 4th Friday! A monthly event where businesses in Town extend their hours, staying open until at least 7 pm! There will be live music, dinner specials, refreshments, and more!
Each ticket includes one hand-crafted bowl (all donated by area potters) and a soup-based meal
(a variety of soups, breads and desserts). Tickets are available at St. John in the Wilderness
Parish House Office, from Backpack team members or at the door on the day of the event. For
more information, call 828-693-9783. Credit cards are accepted; checks should be made out to
SJIW, noting Empty Bowls.
Please join us for this fun community event. Donations are gratefully accepted throughout the
year.
Updated COVID-19 restrictions will be in place.
Flat Rock Backpack Program: Each week during the school year, volunteers gather at Hubba
Hubba Smokehouse on Friday mornings to pack between 100-125 grocery bags of food;
nourishment for area nursery and school age children identified as those in need of weekend
food. Food includes oatmeal, tinned meat, rice, pasta, beans, vegetables and fruit. To do this,
volunteers buy food and supplies (with supplemental food from MANNA FoodBank), organize
packing, pack, and then deliver bags to the schools where the administration slips the bags into
backpacks for discreet delivery home (when there is a home). Annually, the group buys for, and
packs approximately 6,000 backpacks which cost about 22 thousand dollars. Neighbors from
throughout the community donate their time while Saint John in the Wilderness acts as the
‘home’ base providing technical and administrative assistance (including 501c3 status). To
meet our budget, we rely on corporate and individual donations, and our local pottery artists,
pivotal partners, who generously donate their time and talents for this annual fundraiser.
Empty Bowls was started over 25 years ago in Michigan as a high school service project. The
goal is to address hunger needs in local communities. The event concept is a simple one. The
community is invited to a meal of soup, bread and dessert (donated by local businesses and
organizations). As part of the admission fee, the ticket holders choose a
handmade bowl (crafted/donated by local artists) to take home as a thank you gift. The bowl
serves as a reminder that, as long as children in our community go hungry, we will help.
A video of the mission was produced by volunteers to show how the program works. Here’s the
link: https://youtu.be/AYKbzLHI_zM The video is also available by visiting YouTube – St. John
in the Wilderness, Flat Rock NC
In conjunction with Gillian Laub’s Southern Rites exhibition on view through July 4, 2022, join us to view Laub’s 2015 documentary. Please note, face coverings are required to view this film.
Southern Rites visits Montgomery County, Georgia, one year after the town merged its racially segregated proms, and during a historic election campaign that may lead to its first African-American sheriff. Acclaimed photographer Gillian Laub, whose photos first brought the area unwanted notoriety, documents the repercussions when a white town resident is charged with the murder of a young black man. The case divides locals along well-worn racial lines, and the ensuing plea bargain and sentencing uncover complex truths and produce emotional revelations. This timely film debuts the week of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision 61 years ago. Executive produced by John Legend, Troy Carter and Mike Jackson; written and produced by Josh Alexander.
Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:30pm at Story Parlor
April 13, April 20, April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18*
*Final class on May 18 runs from 6:30-9:30pm
Make up class reserved for May 25
Story Parlor presents Creativity Lab: a six-week exploration of the creative process, common blocks and obstacles, and ways to kickstart and sustain creative momentum.
Focused on the process and the act of doing, opposed to product or outcome, Creativity Lab explores ways to overcome fear, embrace curiosity, and channel our muse in all creative endeavors.
The six-week workshop is experiential, hands-on, and tactile. The Lab will utilize exercises to help cultivate imagination, innovation, and creativity. Each class will focus on a different part of the creativity process all while building a tool kit for dealing with obstacles in our way, creating positive habits for growth, and investigating the ways our personal narratives intersect with our work.
Registration Includes:
A guidebook with supplementary readings, exercises, and activities
A custom Story Parlor notebook
Access to Creativity Mixers
Who Should Attend:
Anyone looking to kickstart or follow-through with a creative project
Anyone wanting to discover more about their habits and approach to creativity
Anyone hoping to learn more about the process of being creative
Anyone wishing to make creativity a part of their daily life
Anyone looking to explore the intersection of art and the human condition
Anyone interested in identifying their core values’ intersection with creative goals and aspirations
Anyone wanting a creative community in which to play, explore, and experiment
Documentarian Michael Frienerson will screen his new film on noted NC novelist and poet Fred Chappell. Chappell, a native of nearby Canton, is one of the most innovative and creative writers this state has ever produced. Register to attend through Zoom
This film screening is the final of three events in the Mountain South Lecture Series. Other events that took place included the March 24 Hiking Western North Carolina panel and the April 4 “Somebody Died, Babe”: The Swannanoa Tunnel in Music and Memory panel.
This series is made possible with funding from Professorship of the Mountain South.
Community Expectations
As members of this community, we care about everyone. Faculty, staff, students, and visitors have a shared commitment to take the necessary precautions to avoid spreading COVID-19 while following all recommended health guidelines. Please see UNC Asheville’s Community Expectations. Be respectful of individual choice to wear or not wear a mask in any situation; wear a mask when and where encouraged, following guidelines and precautions outlined by the CDC.
Accessibility
Find accessibility information for campus buildings at maps.unca.edu. For accessibility questions or to request event accommodations, please contact [email protected] or 828.250.3832.
Visitor Parking
Visitors must have a permit to park on campus — please visit the Transportation website to register.
Step Into the heart of Rwanda With Culture Keeper David Kwizera + the LEAF International Rwanda Jr. Troupe! This spring documentary is exactly what you need!
“Daughters of the Dust” is a Sundance-winning film written and directed by Julie Dash. The film centers on an extended, multi-generational family from the Gullah sea islands at the turn of the century. The film demonstrates how craft, particularly indigo dyeing and sweetgrass basket making, is integral to their matrilineal family and culture. It was the first film directed by a Black woman to receive nationwide theatrical release and the cinematography is by esteemed video artist Arthur Jafa. The film was also the inspiration for Beyonce’s “Lemonade” video.
Step Into the heart of Rwanda With Culture Keeper David Kwizera + the LEAF International Rwanda Jr. Troupe! This spring documentary is exactly what you need!