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.

Welcome to your new home, Samson and Bonita! The two red foxes will be joining the other residents of the WNC Nature Center and are coming to us from Izzie’s Pond Sanctuary in Liberty, S.C.
Samson and Bonita have something more in common than their new home. They are both less than a year old and were both injured as a result of being caught in leg-hold traps and each has three legs, which means they would not be able to survive in the wild but can live safely in a zoo environment.
“The Nature Center has long provided excellent care for animals that, for one reason or another, could not live in the wild,” said WNC Nature Center Director Chris Gentile. “We are so excited to be able to welcome red foxes back to our Center.”
Come say “Hi!” to Samson and Bonita at the WNC Nature center beginning Feb. 11, when they’ll enter their new habitat for the first time.
2021 WNC Regional Scholastic Art Awards

The Museum, with the assistance of its volunteer docents and support from the Asheville Area Section of the American Institute of Architects, is proud to sponsor the WNC Regional Scholastic Art Awards. Students in grades 7–12 from all across our region are invited to submit work for this special juried competition. The Museum works with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers to facilitate regional judging of student artwork and recognition of our community’s burgeoning artistic talent.
In early spring each year, award winners are featured in an exhibition, and are honored at a ceremony. Regional Gold Key recipients’ work is sent to the National Scholastic Art competition hosted by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.
Across the Atlantic

Across the Atlantic
American Impressionism Through the French Lens
This extraordinary exhibition, drawn from the collection of the Reading Public Museum, explores the path to Impressionism through the 19th century in France. The show examines the sometimes complex relationship between French Impressionism of the 1870s and 1880s and the American interpretation of the style in the decades that followed. More than 65 paintings and works on paper help tell the story of the “new style” of painting which developed at the end of the 19th century—one that emphasized light and atmospheric conditions, rapid or loose brushstrokes, and a focus on brightly colored scenes from everyday life, including both urban and rural settings when artists preferred to paint outdoors and capture changing effects of light during different times of day and seasons of the year.
Across the Atlantic: American Impressionism through the French Lens is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.
Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges and The Maurer Family Foundation.

The Asheville Art Museum announces Meeting the Moon, an exhibition featuring prints, photographs, ceramics, sculptures, and more from the Museum’s Collection. This exhibition will be on view in the Asheville Art Museum’s McClinton Gallery February 3 through July 26, 2021.
2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Apollo space program at NASA, but its inception was hardly the beginning of humankind’s fascination with Earth’s only moon. Before space travel existed, the moon—its shape, its mystery, and the face we see in it—inspired countless artists. Once astronauts landed on the moon and we saw our world from a new perspective, a surge of creativity flooded the American art scene, in paintings, prints, sculpture, music, crafts, film, and poetry.
This exhibition, whose title is taken from a 1913 Robert Frost poem, examines artwork in the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection of artists who were inspired by the unknown, then increasingly familiar moon. Meeting the Moon includes works by nationally renowned artists Newcomb Pottery, James Rosenquist, Maltby Sykes, Paul Soldner, John Lewis, Richard Ritter (Bakersville, NC), and Mark Peiser (Penland, NC). Western North Carolina artists include Jane Peiser (Penland, NC), Jak Brewer (Zionville, NC), Dirck Cruser (Asheville, NC), George Peterson (Lake Toxaway, NC), John B. Neff (NC), and Maud Gatewood (Yanceyville, NC).
“Meeting the Moon offers the opportunity to combine science and popular culture with works of art in the Museum’s Collection,” says Whitney Richardson, associate curator. “I think all visitors will find something that draws them into this exhibition, whether it’s the artwork, poetry, music, or science of space travel. It’s such an affirmation of humanity to find these mysteries, like the moon, which enchant us all.”
This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Whitney Richardson, associate curator. Visit ashevilleart.org for more information about this and other exhibitions.

This exhibition features archival objects from the Theodore Dreier Sr. Document Collection presented alongside artworks from the Museum’s Black Mountain College Collection to explore the connections between artworks and ephemera. This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by lydia see, fall 2020 curatorial fellow, with support from a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant through the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Desire Paths looks at makers within the discourse of craft and those existing on the periphery of the craftscape who focus on the movement of the body towards something desirable. These desires of the body are in relationship to nature, technology, self, and society. Using architectural theory and queer curatorial strategies, Desire Paths examines the possibilities and futures of bodies, revealing connections between the corporeal and craft.
“Desire paths,” a term taken from urban planning, are lines trodden in the landscape when constructed walkways do not provide a direct or desired route. Through action, repetition, and intentionality, desire paths are crafted modifications to the landscape that allow for a body to move towards a horizon. The format of the works include traditional craft media, performance, video, and interactive web-based work. Through this variety of media and performative tactics the makers in Desire Paths consider how we view, value, and ascribe meaning to a body/the body/the others body. They show us the power and agency held in body and present us with crafted visions of the body that confront and expand expectations
The works in this exhibition reclaim the concept of craft from its historical associations with the decorative, frivolous, feminine, indigenous, and the other. The makers use the medium of craft, and the action of crafting, to produce powerful representations and counter narratives to dominant culture.
Two Ways to View
Virtual Tour
Online visitors can register to attend a virtual tour of this exhibition. This is a free event. A $5-10 donation at time of registration is recommended.
In-Person
The Center is offering free, unguided visits and affordable tours of its exhibitions to the public. Guests can reserve a 30-minute visit to explore the current exhibitions, learn more about the Center’s national impact in their Craft Research Fund Study Collection, and enjoy interactive activities. The Center is open to the public Tuesday-Friday, 11 am -5 pm. Hours of operation may be subject to change.
Center for Craft is monitoring the effects of COVID-19 on the community and following the instruction of federal, state, and local health departments. Our top priority is always the health and safety of our staff, coworkers, and visitors. At this time, the Center can only allow a maximum of five guests in its public space at once and will require the use of masks or face coverings by all visitors, including children. The Center reserves the right to refuse entry to any visitor that will not comply.
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The Asheville Art Museum presents Fantastical Forms: Ceramics as Sculpture on view at the Museum November 4, 2020 through April 5, 2021. The 25 works in this exhibition—curated by associate curator Whitney Richardson—highlight the Museum’s Collection of sculptural ceramics from the last two decades of the 20th century to the present. Each work illustrates the artist’s ability to push beyond the utilitarian and transition ceramics into the world of sculpture.
North and South Carolina artists featured include Elma McBride Johnson, Neil Noland, Norm Schulman, Virginia Scotchie, Cynthia Bringle, Jane Palmer, Michael Sherrill, and Akira Satake. Works by American artists Don Reitz, Robert Chapman Turner, Karen Karnes, Toshiko Takaezu, Bill Griffith, and Xavier Toubes are also featured in the exhibition.
The Gallery at Flat Rock Offers Virtual and In-Person Exhibit
On January 21, The Gallery at Flat Rock opened their latest exhibit, Transcendence: An Artistic Celebration of the U.N. International Year of Peace and Trust. The in-person and virtual exhibit features, “over two dozen Gallery at Flat Rocks artists, who will each provide one artwork for the show that they believe evokes themes of peace and mutual trust among members of humanity.”
Winter Hours:
Wed – Sat 11am – 4pm
Sun 11am – 3pm
Open by appointment
or by chance
Black Is Beautiful is a collaborative effort in partnership with our friends at @weatheredsoulsbrewing whose shared mission is to bring awareness to the injustices that many People of Color face daily. Additional proceeds from select retailers will be donated to the Know Your Rights Campaign.

Please join us on Facebook Live for a webinar series addressing common questions for business owners. Wednesdays at noon, Running from February 10th through March 31st. Follow us on Facebook here.


Gregory Crewdson, Untitled, 2001–2002, chromogenic print mounted on aluminum, 47 ⅝ × 59 ½ inches. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, promised gift of the Fisher Landau Center for Art, P.2010.300. © Gregory Crewdson, image courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art.
Drawing inspiration from Vantage Points, students are challenged to use photography to explore people, places, and storytelling.
Please note:
- Youth Studio is held indoors in the Museum’s Education Center.
- Space is limited to small groups of up to eight students; face coverings and social distancing are required.
Presented in conjunction with Vantage Points: Contemporary Photography from the Whitney Museum of American Art. Generous support for exhibition programming provided by Art Bridges.
YOUTH STUDIO
Youth Studio is the Museum’s new studio program for children and teens! Students experiment and explore a variety of media and techniques through classes and workshops led by visiting artists and Museum educators. Classes meet 2–4 weeks and are designed for a deeper exploration of a specific media; workshops meet 3–5 hours and introduce a new medium or process. All materials are provided by the Museum.
The Museum is committed to making our programs accessible to everyone, regardless of economic means. With support from the Walnut Cove Members Association, we are able to provide a limited amount of financial aid to help students who could not otherwise afford to enroll in our programs. Email Sharon McRorie, education programs manager, or call 828.253.3227 x124 to inquire.
Free Drive-thru COVID-19 Testing
The Brevard Music Center in association with the Pisgah Health Foundation announces a free drive-thru COVID-19 testing site for everyone – the insured and uninsured, those on Medicare and Medicaid – everyone!
Keystone Laboratory of Asheville will administer the COVID-19 tests and antibody tests, with results typically available within 5 business days depending on volume.
When: Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Please no early arrivals.
Where: Brevard Music Center Main Parking lot (entrance on Music Camp Road off Probart Street)
Who: Anyone who wants a test.
How:
- Appointments are not necessary. Participants will be served in the order of their arrival.
- Participants can choose to be tested for COVID-19 via nasal swab or have the COVID-19 antibody test via blood sample.
- Participants will receive their test results at the contact information provided at check-in, typically within 5 business days depending on volume.
What:
- A driver’s license is helpful, but not required.
- A doctor’s order is not required.
- If you have private insurance, please bring your insurance card with you.
- If you have Medicare or Medicaid, please bring your card with you.
- If you do not have insurance, you will be asked to sign an affidavit stating so.
- Please wear a mask and stay in your vehicle while on BMC’s campus.
- If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, please seek medical attention from your medical provider, urgent care, or the hospital.
- Please leave pets at home.
Questions: Please email [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Taught by Amanda Klinikowski
Join us for 7 weeks on Zoom for a fun and interactive Dance class covering the fundamentals of dance for the theater! Each week, we will warm up our bodies, learn new basic jazz, ballet, and musical theatre steps, and work on a fun new dance combination to some of our favorite songs. Some past combinations featured songs from Hamilton, Wicked, The Greatest Showman, Lady GaGa, Trolls and more! Students will learn a recorded dance combination performance which will be shared with families after the final class.
7 Week Session: January 13-February 24, 2021
Wednesdays at 4:00-5:00 PM Eastern
Student Ages: 8-12 (or with prior approval from Amanda Klinikowski)
A limited number of scholarships are available for this class. CLICK HERE TO APPLY. Please do not purchase registration prior to applying. Applications must be received by 2:00pm on Monday, January 4, 2021 for consideration. Please contact Amanda at [email protected] with questions.

Join us EVERY Wednesday night for Kid’s Night! Children receive a free four-count kid’s meal with the purchase of an adult meal. See you on Wednesdays!
Adventures in Stage Design
Age: Adult (18+)
Virtual Platform: Zoom
Instructor: Dennis C. Maulden
Supplies Needed: An internet connection. This class will use household art supplies such as paper, pencil, pens, magazines, scissors, etc.

All registrants will receive a zoom link to the event.
About the Presenter : Saro Lynch-Thomason is a ballad singer, song writer, folklorist, documentarian, and illustrator from Asheville, North Carolina. Her passion for traditional music, people’s struggles and Appalachian traditions calls her to perform, teach and produce media that tell the stories and songs of America’s social history. Her multi-media projects include the CD Blair Pathways: A Musical Exploration of America’s Largest Labor Uprising, her solo album Vessel featuring unaccompanied ballad singing; and Lone Mountain , the first-ever children’s book about the national tragedy of mountaintop removal mining. Saro holds an M.A. in Appalachian Studies, a Certificate in Documentary Studies, and serves as the events coordinator for the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center.

ONLINE lessons given at an interactive classroom website at the School of American Mah Jongg. You will play online with 2 or 3 other students while I teach you how to play in four weekly lessons at the Mah Jongg classroom. In addition, a Zoom link provides audio and visual support. Please sign up in advance as I need to mail learning materials to you for use during the class. Class meets on February 10, 17, 24 and March 3. Please register and pay for the class by Laura Hoover at the School of American Mah Jongg. https://mahjongteacher.com
What we’re about
This group is designed to teach American Mah Jongg is a fun and stimulating game of strategy, skill, and luck. Mah Jongg is a 4 player game using 152 tiles and the National Mah Jongg rule card. All lessons are done in a virtual, interactive classroom through the School of American Mah Jongg. Please refer to event details for more info or contact me at [email protected] or Facebook at LessonsFromLaura
ONLINE lessons starting soon.

Taught by Tom Chalmers and Kim Mako
This online course is offered as a primer in the craft of scripted performance, exploring the steps to submitting audition tapes, sustaining connected scene work through a screen, and creating three-dimensional characters on a two-dimensional medium. Learn how people see you and what you convey when you are on stage, and now on screen. Armed with that awareness, learn how to best choose and deliver the monologue to land you the parts that are perfect for you. If given material to audition with, learn how to break down the sides, how to discover the beats of the scene, and how to offer varied options. And when you land the part, learn how to attack the script, build the arc of your character, and establish the thoughts behind the lines. This course will culminate with a streamed showcase of the best work created in the class.
A limited number of scholarships are available for this class. CLICK HERE TO APPLY. Please do not purchase registration prior to applying. Applications must be received by 2:00 pm on Monday, January 11, 2021 for consideration. Please contact Amanda at [email protected] with questions.
6 Week Session: January 20 – February 24, 2021
Wednesdays, 6:30-7:45 pm
Jerry Donoghue is founder of the Asheville Compassionate Communication Center and the Inner Presence Coaching Institute in Asheville, NC. Jerry is a Master Spiritual Coach who specializes in training couples to be more compassionate with themselves and each other through his courses and private coaching. He also trains helping professionals in gentle, non-invasive, non-prescriptive approaches to support that rely on the clients’/students’ innate intelligence. He draws on his many years of teaching people compassion communication, self-compassion, and nondual awareness work to create this dynamic Inner Presence Inquiry Work. He shows us in a totally practical and deeply experiential way, how to fully enter, lovingly embrace and be present to the disowned, painful and rejected parts of ourselves. www.ashevilleccc.com
What we’re about
The Asheville Wisdom Exchange is a sacred space for the non-judgmental exchange of insight and wisdom in our quest to better express the Divine inherent within us. Topics vary weekly utilizing a combination of experts and open discussion in a unique and respectful format based upon the premise that we all can learn from each other. We welcome you to join us and share your voice in the uplifting of humanity.
We meet via Zoom every Wednesday from 7 – 8:15 p.m.
https://www.ashevillewisdomexchange.org
Law of Attraction (LOA) is a powerful guideline that can be utilized within our lives, and impacts ourselves as well as the collective consciousness. Let’s discuss practical, everyday ways we use and apply these tools in 2020! This session’s discussion will be, “Visualization exercises in LOA.” No advance prep, reading or knowledge required. Come with an open mind and heart, free of judgement, and let’s learn together! This is an inclusive, informal, interactive discussion for people will all levels of LOA understanding.
Some other topics we will cover in future discussions include:
– How to utilize LOA to manifest best case scenarios
– Gratitude practices as a tool in manifestation
– Honoring your own feelings, emotions and well being (and others) as a form of self care while manifesting
– Staying grounded, avoiding toxic positivity and spiritual bypassing when manifesting
– Visualization exercises in LOA
– Manifesting on specific themes (love, money, good health, etc.)
Discussions will be held by Kathryn Brahaney, myself. I’ve utilized Law of Attraction in having a significantly better recovery than anticipated from two major car accidents, in receiving a job offer that allowed me to relocate to Asheville, NC (where I live now) and in finding my favorite apartment to date in a city I wasn’t sure would be in my budget. I started these discussions to share my experience using Law of Attraction and to provide opportunities to learn more that are accessible and affordable. Looking forward to sharing more with you all and chatting about how we can use LOA in navigating the rest of 2020 and beyond!

Mountain Spirit Acoustic Series – Live Streaming event – Donations requested for the artist. This event will be streamed live on Zoom. Registration link
Patrick Landeza began playing Hawaiian slack-key guitar as a teen. He was mentored by the masters of the genre – Raymond Kāne, George Kuo, Dennis Kamakahi, and Cyril Pahinui – whose teachings and emotional support for the California-born Hawaiian were crucial. In 2012, when he became the first non-resident artist to win the Hawaii Academy of Recording Artists’ prestigious Nā Hōkū Hanohano award for Slack-Key Guitar Album of the Year, Landeza told the audience, “Growing up in California never made me any less Hawaiian.” That sentiment is at the core of his new release, “Far Away.” Produced by Kūpaoa’s Līhau and Kellen Paik, the album’s songs express the longing one feels when they are far away from their beloved Hawai’i. Patrick has been a regular instructor at the Swannanoa Gathering Guitar week each Summer.
The show will include Patrick’s Hawaiian cooking tips too.

The Travis Book Happy Hour is a 90 minute variety show hosted by Travis Book; bassist, songwriter, and vocalist in the Grammy Award winning bluegrass band, The Infamous Stringdusters, streaming live from the historic Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC. Born from his desire to bring musicians and friends together for collaboration and conversation, Travis launched the series in the summer of 2020 amidst the uncertainty of the Covid-19 crisis and a country divided. Faced with a cascade of existential questions about the nature of life and of being, Travis sought an outlet for inquiry, and individuals to help him dig deeper into what it means to be a musician and a creative being in the context of an ever-changing world. Unique, spontaneous musical collaboration with friends and contemporaries leads to singular moments of harmony and the occasional musical train-wreck… The Travis Book Happy Hour is his attempt to shine light into the darkest corners of our lives; to dive deep into the nature of our being and emerge bathed in the love, happiness, grace, and gratitude that’s available to us all, and hopefully, to make some beautiful, meaningful music along the way.
California native Nicki Bluhm recently made the move from her home of San Francisco to Nashville, TN re-invigorated as a songwriter and performer. Embarking on her second decade of releasing albums, Nicki stepped out on her own with the 2018 release of ‘To Rise You Gotta Fall’, a collection of songs exploring old endings and new beginnings. Eager to try new things in unfamiliar places, Bluhm decided to record at the legendary Sam Phillips Recording Services in Memphis, TN and enlisted producer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Calexico) to take the helm. After a year of rigorously touring ‘To Rise You Gotta Fall’ across the country and overseas; Nicki now performs with a variety of musicians including long time musical comrades Scott Law and Ross James. Having also shared the stage with such luminaries as the Infamous Stringdusters, The Wood Brothers, Geroge Porter Jr. and Phil Lesh, her collaborative efforts have made way for new bright-eyed interpretations of her existing catalog while inspiring fresh material to be released in the near future.

Get moving in this fun, high-energy dance class focusing on Broadway-style choreography through the decades. Each live zoom class features a full-body warm up, a step-by-step breakdown of theatre dance vocabulary, and Broadway-style choreography to learn and perfect throughout the semester. Join Studio 52 to get a weekly workout, learn how to fill your movement with character, and step into your next dance audition or production feeling confident!
January 27 – March 24
Instructor: Lauren Hopkins
Supplies Needed: Internet connection, enough space to move around safely, comfortable clothes, light sneakers, jazz, or ballet shoes.

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March 13-21, 2021 – Online
Kick-off Live Event
March 13, 2021
Track Workshops
March 14-19, 2021
View 3 pre-recorded hour long workshops in each of 11 Themed Tracks:
Live Panel Discussion SessionsMarch 20-21, 2021Join a live Panel Discussion with each speaker from the Track workshops. Interact directly with panelists during the live Q & A portion!
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There is new inventory for the seedling sale. Apples, pears, and additional stock in blackberries and rhubarb have been added to the seedling sale. If you have already placed an order, no worries! Submit another order, and we will make sure your new order gets packaged with your previous order.
The Buncombe County Soil & Water annual seedling sale runs now through Sunday, Feb. 28. To order, use the link here. Please note, some seedlings might sell out before Feb. 28. Seedling pickup will be March 4-5, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
If you have additional questions, call (828) 250-4785.
Some of this year’s seedlings for sale:
- Blackberries
- Red Mulberry
- Redbud
- Persimmon
- Kousa Dogwood
- White Oak
- Much more

Don’t miss our staff picks! Enjoy live-streamed performances, resources, and activities we love from Around the Web.
Staff Picks From Around the Web
Apollo’s Fire:
Music for the Soul
Enjoy this beautiful virtual Baroque video series for homebound music lovers.

A new online survey launched on the proposed Asheland Avenue affordable housing development
On Feb. 23, Asheville City Council will hear Haywood Street Congregation’s proposal to build 42 permanently affordable apartments on a 1.09 acre, City-owned site located on Asheland Avenue in the South French Broad neighborhood. Council will be asked to vote on whether the City should enter into a contract to sell land this parcel for $1 to Haywood Street Congregation for this affordable housing development. The sale is subject to zoning and finance contingencies and affordable housing deed restrictions.
How to participate
The online survey is open for the community to provide input now through Feb. 19. Your input will help inform City Council, Council will vote on this project Feb. 23.






