The club will meet virtually for now.
Meetings will take place at 7:00 PM ET on the last Tuesday of each month via Zoom. Please visit the Romance Bookclub page for the monthly selection, and email Samantha at [email protected] for the link to join.
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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.
Photo credit:
Sae Honda. Courtesy of the Artist.
NEO MINERALIA suggests that recent rock formations no longer fit within the traditional groups: Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary. Instead, the Anthropocene, the era of human influence on the climate and environment, has introduced two post-natural rocks: Synthetic and Digital.
NEO MINERALIA presents a selection of new geological specimens crafted by ten international artists exploring rocks as reflections of our effects on human and nonhuman ecologies. By embedding synthetic materials (plastics, e-waste) and layers of data points (critical, financial, social) into the craftsmanship of these artifacts, the artists transgress the definition of rocks, turning them from passive aggregates of minerals into metaphorical aggregates of data. Within their apparent “rockness” we can decode hopes, warnings, and speculative future scenarios.
The featured works stemming from places as varied as Mexico, Japan, Poland, and Australia (including a curated artists’ books library), collectively signal a new era of planetary and geological consciousness where we are asked to read, feel, and listen to rocks in new ways.
Photo credit:
J Diamond, “Pony II,” 2022. Courtesy of the Artist
Something earned, Something left behind is an exhibition of objecthood; a critical analysis of the transactional and political languages of everyday and culturally significant objects. This exhibition challenges a history of exclusion and inclusion of People of Color (POC) and their narratives from the canon of craft based on subject matter. It dissects this history’s origins and precedent as an economic transaction to gain access to white spaces.
Racial and ethnic identity influences the way individuals perceive themselves, the way others perceive them, and the way they choose to behave. For this reason, People of Color are expected to perform certain roles in order to fit into hegemonic institutions. These roles can be an active shrinking of themselves and the racialized part of them, or a personal exploitation of their racialized selves. This exhibition addresses and redresses the ways narrowed populations have been included, and the ways in which they have been asked to participate.
Together, this work creates space for and legitimizes POC narratives with depth and care. The exhibiting artists’ practices work against institutionalized expectations of POC work, expanding discourse and inserting new subjectivity into the canon of craft art. It engages with a community hungry for the revitalization and resuscitation of non-Western voices within art spaces. This exhibition challenges the expectations of art from artists of marginalized backgrounds and embraces a new subjectivity of interrogating one’s inherited experiences.
Photo credit:
Photograph by Bowery Blue Makers
Jeans – with their standardized pockets, rivets, and denim – are so much a part of everyday wardrobes that they are easy to overlook. Yet, in workshops across the nation, independent makers are reevaluating the garment and creating jeans by hand, using antiquated equipment and denim woven on midcentury looms. Crafting Denim explores how and why jeans have come to exist at the intersections of industry and craft, modernity, and tradition.
A product of industrial factory production for over a century, jeans are being recast by a new cohort of small-scale makers including craftspeople like Ryan Martin of W.H. Ranch Dungarees, Takayuki Echigoya of Bowery Blue Makers, and Sarah Yarborough and Victor Lytvinenko of Raleigh Denim, who favor choice materials and small-batch fabrication. The jeans they make merge craft traditions with industry and extend the conversation between hand and machine.
Each maker creates a distinctive product but shares a deep appreciation for materials, tools, history, and denim. These jeans are in dialogue with the past and in line with contemporary interests in sustainability. The small workshops featured here are sites of innovation and preservation, and visitors are invited to take a close look at an everyday item and imagine alternative contexts for making and living in our own clothes.
The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in
two locations for all Buncombe County residents. This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Register for Food Scraps Drop Off
Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin? Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.
Locations
West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building
942 Haywood Road, Asheville
Library open hours
Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot
30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville
Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot
749 Fairview Road, Asheville
Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander
Explore Biltmore House with an Audio Guide that introduces you to the Vanderbilt family and their magnificent home’s history, architecture, and collections of fine art and furnishings.
PLUS: Immersive, multi-sensory Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition created by Grande Experiences
PLUS: FREE next-day access to Biltmore’s Gardens and Grounds
This visit includes access to:
Art Exhibition: Italian Renaissance Alive
This fascinating experience takes you on a spellbinding tour of Italy, fully immersing you in the beauty and brilliance of iconic masterworks from the greatest artistic period in history
Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

Lee Entrekin will be demonstrating how he turns long pieces of wood into beautiful musical instruments – and he’ll play for you, too! Lee will be in the lobby of the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Visitors are encouraged to watch and ask questions while the demonstrators work and talk about their creative process! Call ahead for the latest updates: 828-298-7928.
Ikebana International of Asheville is hosting an ikebana demonstration at the Folk Art Center, 382 Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville, NC 28805, on April 25, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. This program will focus on creating an arrangement with a focus on branches. Ikebana, translated from Japanese as “living flowers,” is flower arrangements known worldwide for its grace and beauty.
This program will be presented by Lynn Forbes of the Ichiyo School. Ikebana arrangements generally use flowers, leaves, branches and stems to reflect the beauty of nature that inspires a response in the viewer. While flowers are often the main focus, this presentation will highlight the use of branches to create wonderful lines and interesting forms in ikebana. This program will feature branches that can be used throughout the year. Dried, lichen, bleached and seasonal branches reflect the seasons and invoke mood in the arranger. It is a way to appreciate the offerings that Mother Nature provides for us.
In the late 70s, Bradley Jeffries had a chance meeting with Robert Rauschenberg outside his home on Captiva Island, and they bonded immediately. Bradley was hired to be the artist’s business and life manager. Her employment with him for over 30 years, until his death in 2008, involved many roles on the Board of Directors of Change, Inc and The Rauschenberg Foundation. Bradley’s travels with Rauschenberg took her on incredible adventures all over the world and exposed her to extraordinary opportunities. Throughout their friendship and work together, Rauschenberg gifted Bradley with many of his original artworks.
The family and friends of Bradley Jeffries will use her expansive and never previously exhibited Rauschenberg collection as a means of memorializing Bradley through this traveling exhibition. “Rauschenberg: A Gift in Your Pocket” opens on April 25, 2022 at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College in Ft. Myers for display throughout the summer. After which her collection will travel to The University of Kentucky Art Museum followed by its culminating exhibition at BMCM+AC.
Once her collection of Rauschenberg’s artwork completes its planned memorial exhibitions, pieces will be donated to each of the involved institutions in an ongoing memorial to Bradley and her legacy of promoting the arts and artists.
Curated by Jade Dellinger, Director of the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College.
Included with admission
Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:
Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.
Online: Zoom Webinar
No cost due to sponsor support
Digital Marketing is critical in today’s world, but all the moving parts can be overwhelming. Small businesses struggle to stay caught up with trends, manage their followers and email lists, engage with relevant content, and track all the data to inform future marketing decisions. Automation is the key to doing MORE with LESS effort. – Do your subscribers automatically receive a steady stream of warm touch emails that build rapport and teach them what your brand is all about? – Does everyone on your list get all the same emails, regardless of status? – Do you know who is engaging you on social media the most, so you can classify them as a prospect? – Does your marketing system keep track of your website visitors, social media followers, and who is engaging so that you know who are potential leads? – Is data from your marketing platforms synchronizing itself automatically, or are you constantly managing spreadsheets, lists, downloading and uploading info, wearing yourself out? In this two part series, we will review in detail how automation can make a massive difference in your business strategy, growth, and peace of mind! In Part 2 we will dive even deeper, examining actual software and platforms that provide these solutions to make your digital marketing and business management much easier. Both sessions to include live interactive Q&A, so bring your questions and requests!
Speaker(s): Aaron Wesley Means
Co-Sponsor(s): Henderson County Chamber of Commerce and Brevard/Transylvania Chamber of Commerce
Webinar info will be emailed after registration.
Hit the trails and learn more about The North Carolina Arboretum’s botanically diverse forest with a guided trail walk! April through October, this free hiking program is led by trained volunteer guides who take small groups of participants along woodland trails and through a variety of forest types. Depending on the season and each guide’s area of expertise, topics of discussion may include wildflowers, plant and tree identification, natural history and more.
Guided trail walks are limited to 15 people, including the guide, and are not recommended for guests under 16 years of age. Groups depart from the Baker Visitor Center Lobby on Tuesdays at 1 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m..
Walks last 1.5 – 2.5 hours, are approximately one to two miles in length. As this program is held rain or shine, all participants should dress appropriately for the weather.
There is no pre-registration; walks are first-come first served and sign up sheets are located in the Baker Visitors Center.
Walks are FREE; however, donations to The North Carolina Arboretum Society are appreciated. Regular parking fees apply. Arboretum Society Members always park free.
We are seeking volunteers to assist us in our small after school program for children in West Asheville in low-income housing. We provide a safe and nourishing environment, healthy snacks, and creative activities. Our program currently meets during the school year on most Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:00-5:00pm. You may volunteer for one or two days a week.
Volunteer Responsibilities:
Requirements:
What is sound? How does a person hear and listen to music? Why is it one of the most powerful expressions of humanity? All that exists creates sound. The tiniest elements of everything on this planet move, vibrate, and therefore create resonance or sound. This powerful force has the ability to heal and create or confuse and destroy. Once we understand what sound truly is, we have the ability to influence our consciousness, as well as our environment. Imagine a space where people of all ages can explore sound, view and play with instruments from around the world, and experience through music the commonalties of cultures. Music influences our social, emotional, cognitive, physical, spiritual, and creative selves. People will be able to understand the science behind how they listen and enjoy discovering about brainwave states and how sound effects the mechanics and of the body. That’s exactly what you can do in the LEAF Instrument Petting Zoo!
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Come down the Pack Memorial Library and play with LEGOs! Please leave your personal LEGOs at home, because we’ve got plenty.
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• We accept SNAP EBT + Credit Cards •
At the West Asheville Tailgate Market, vendors’ tables are abundant with an array of goods including fruits, vegetables, baked goods, bread, eggs, cheese, milk, meat, poultry, and fish. You will also find plant starts for gardens, locally made specialty items, natural beauty products, herbal medicine, and locally made art and crafts. We have live music and free kids activities so there’s fun for the whole family.
Every Tuesday 1/2 off bottles of wine at 131 Main Restaurant
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The third concert in the new Rising Star Concert Series, presented by the Asheville Chamber Music Series in collaboration with the Asheville Art Museum, will take place in the Windgate Foundation Atrium of the Asheville Art Museum. The featured ensemble will be Arsevi Duo, a group of young musicians embarking on a major concert career and representing music excellence in North Carolina.
The Black Mountain Tyson Library will be holding a Centennial Celebration
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 in the Library Community Room, 105 N. Dougherty
Street, Black Mountain, NC. The reception will take place from 6-8 p.m. and
is open to the public.
The Black Mountain Public Library opened in July 1922 in a Black
Mountain Presbyterian Church classroom. Volunteer Edith Sloan
served as the librarian overseeing a collection of 50 books and offered
four hours a week of library service. The library grew quickly and after
a few more moves, it was apparent a permanent location and building
were needed. That’s when local residents Betty and Alfred “Bub” Tyson
got involved. They became the driving force that resulted in the
construction of the current Black Mountain Library. The new, modern
library opened its doors in 1968, and in 1994 it was officially renamed
the Alfred Forbes and Mary Elizabeth Tyson Library.
In addition to over 25,000 books, the library houses a seed library,
computers, a meeting room, a piano and more, all of which are
available to the public. The Friends of the Library also have a
bookstore inside the library with books for sale during regular library
hours.
The Centennial Celebration is being hosted by the Friends of the Black
Mountain Library. There will be displays, a slide show, and mementos
from the library’s past. Refreshments will be available.
April is Sexual Violence Awareness Month and Child Abuse Awareness Month! Join the Buncombe County Violence Prevention Task Force for an educational panel with violence prevention educators and students as we have discussion about consent and boundaries! Food will be provided at the event which is located at the East Asheville Public Library. ASL and Spanish interpretation will also be available for this meeting.
Abril es el Mes de la Concientización sobre la Violencia Sexual y el Mes de la Concientización sobre el Abuso Infantil. Únase al Grupo de Trabajo para la Prevención de la Violencia del Condado de Buncombe para un panel educativo con educadores y estudiantes para la prevención de la violencia en el que debatiremos sobre el consentimiento y los límites. Se ofrecerá comida en el acto, que se celebrará en la Biblioteca Pública de East Asheville. También habrá interpretación ASL y en español para esta reunión.

Great news for poets and poetry lovers: Dark City Poet’s Society is returning to the Black Mountain Library. DCPS is a completely free poetry group that is open to poets of all ages and experience levels. Join us at the Black Mountain Library from 6-7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month for our (respectful) critique group. DCPS will meet at BAD Craft from 6-7 p.m. on the third Tuesday for our monthly open mic Poetry Night. Find out more on Instagram @darkcitypoetssociety or contact the Black Mountain Library.
This is a hybrid event, meaning there is an option to attend virtually and a limited number of seats are available to attend the event in-store.
Click here to register for the VIRTUAL event. The link to attend will be emailed to attendees on the day of the event.
Click here to register for the IN-PERSON event. Note the important event details on the RSVP form.
This event includes a book signing. If you would like a signed book but can’t attend in person, use the order comments field when you order below to request a signed copy and tell us to whom the book should be personalized.
If you decide to attend and to purchase books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!
In this classic memoir that explores the Nazi presence in the south of Chile after the war, Marjorie Agoisin writes in the voice of her mother, Frida, who grew up as the daughter of European Jewish immigrants in Chile in the World War II era. Woven into the narrative are the stories of Frida’s father, who had to leave Vienna in 1920 because he fell in love with a Christian cabaret dancer; of her paternal grandmother, who arrived in Chile later with a number tattooed on her arm; and of her great-grandmother from Odessa, who loved the Spanish language so much that she repeated its harmonious sounds even in her sleep. Agosin’s A Cross and a Star is a moving testament to endurance and to the power of memory and words. This edition includes a collection of important new photographs, a new afterword by the author, and a foreword by Ruth Behar.
Marjorie Agosín is the Pura Belpré Award–winning author of I Lived on Butterfly Hill and The Maps of Memory. Raised in Chile, her family moved to the United States to escape the horrors of the Pinochet takeover of their country. She has received the Letras de Oro Prize for her poetry, and her writings about—and humanitarian work for—women in Chile have been the focus of feature articles in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Ms. magazine. She has also won the Latino Literature Prize for her poetry. She is a Spanish professor at Wellesley College.
Emöke B’Rácz is the beloved founder and co-owner of Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe and Downtown Books & News. She is the editor of Hungarian Refugee (Burning Bush Press of Asheville, 2021) an account of life and revolution in Hungary taken from writings by and interviews with her father, Istvan B’Rácz. Also an accomplished artist and poet, she is the author of the poetry collection, Every Tree is the Forest.
Celeste Kostopulos Cooperman‘s translations of Latin American women’s poetry have appeared in numerous publications including Harper’s, Human Rights Quarterly, City Lights (San Francisco), and The Bitter Oeander (New York). She has also translated a number of books by Marjorie Agosín, including A Cross and a Star (University of New Mexico, 1995 & 2022). She received the Outstanding Translation Award from The American Literary Translations Association for Circles of Madness / Circulos de locura: Las madres de la Plaza de Mayo (New York: White Pine Press, 1992). She is also the author of the Lyrical Vision of María Luisa Bombal (London, Tamesis Press), At the Threshold of Memory / Selected and New Poems by Marjorie Agosín, and Secrets in the Sand, The Young Women of Juárez, also with White Pine, a translated volume of poems by Marjorie Agosín for which she wrote the critical introduction. Her most recent publication appears in Rio Bravo, A Journal of Borderlands, “Mujeres en la frontera.” Cooperman holds an M.A. (1976) and a Ph.D. (1980) in Hispanic Studies from Brown University.
Join us for a stitch n’ bitch fiber arts group! Debbie and Alicia are knowledgeable in knitting, crochet, embroidery, and historical fiber techniques including spinning yarn and traditional darning. Ideal for beginners that need guidance or for the seasoned professionally looking for a social group to craft with!
*potluck snacks and beverages always welcome!

Grab a local beer, crucifix and a rubber chicken* —You might survive this hour long hilarious haunted ghost tour of Asheville.
*Legal Note: Crucifix not required to board the bus; we do not condone exorcisms, chickens, rubber, or any combination of the three.
The club will meet virtually for now.
Meetings will take place at 7:00 PM ET on the last Tuesday of each month via Zoom. Please visit the Romance Bookclub page for the monthly selection, and email Samantha at [email protected] for the link to join.
The long awaited SIMRIT Tour is headed your way! Come experience this mind-elevating, soul-transporting sonic force. We are going to get down, and lift up!
SIMRIT is creating waves with packed theaters and concert halls, chart-topping albums, and raving fans world-wide, powering a palpable musical movement. Transcending genres with their eclectic and eccentric blend of instruments and lineages, the SIMRIT experience is based around lead singer-songwriter, Simrit Kaur, born in Athens, Greece and adopted by Greek Americans into South Carolina. Traditional Greek music, Roots Reggae, Motown among many others, have proven deeply influential as Simrit has unlocked her own unique sound. Filling out the SIMRIT sound and experience is Salif Bamakora on the 21-string West African kora, Shannon Hayden on electric cello (which she runs through a pedal board with wild effects) and guitar, Jared May on bass & Moog synthesizer and Devon Ashley on drums and other percussion. SIMRIT’s music is known for its healing effect; hypnotic, deep-pocket groove, haunting beauty, edge, and mind-bending atmosphere.
“Everyone in SIMRIT is a master of their craft…Even more critical than individual skill is the fact that their collective chemistry…Their whole is substantially greater than the sum of its parts.” -OZ FRITZ (Grammy Award Winning Sound Engineer)
“Imagine that the Aurora Borealis could sing: that’s Simrit’s voice. Timeless, Strong, and Ethereal as a whale’s song…” -LA YOGA
“For Simrit, singing is not a performance, it is a sacred worship of the Divine. Her voice, her music, and her teaching, reflect this devotion which seems to come from her so effortlessly. This devotion is a gift, a talent beyond any, that will lead thousands into the lightness of being and awareness that is so vital to humanity in this day and age.” -SNATAM KAUR
“First of all, I’m such a fan of Simrit. Her sense of melody, her energy, and her musicality set her apart. Simrit, to me, is the voice of this new day and age.” -BELINDA CARLISLE (Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, The Go-Go’s
We have three opportunities for you to help Connect Beyond AND see some music! We need volunteers to assist with wristbands for three shows this summer at Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville in Downtown Asheville, N.C. Shifts are roughly (3) hours and all participating volunteers will also receive (1) free ticket to stay after and watch the show. The following dates and shows are available:
- May 7th: Gojira and Mastodon
- June 13th: boygenius
- August 12th: Motionless in White
– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY
Pedro the Lion is the band name Dave Bazan has used off and on since 1995 to release six albums and two eps of his hooky, insightful, and mournful songs. This year, his critically acclaimed and fan favorite, first and third LPs, 1998’s “It’s Hard to Find a Friend” and 2002’s “Control”, turn 25 and 21 years old, respectively. To celebrate, Dave, along with guitar player Erik Walters and drummer Terence Ankeny, will play every song from each album on tour.
Erik Walters is an American songwriter and guitarist based in Seattle, Wash. Steeped in the local music community since 2008, he has written songs for several bands and played guitar for artists such as Telekinesis!, Perfume Genius, and is a current member of Pedro The Lion. He released his eponymous solo record in 2021.