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.
Learning with Lynda
Lynda.com is an online educational site that includes over 3,000 courses (and over 130,000 videos) in popular fields like web design, web development, IT, education/instruction, media production, and business. Normally, using lynda.com requires a paid subscription, but Buncombe County Public Library cardholders can access lynda.com content FREE with their library card number by following these instructions.
How to access lynda.com content with your library card:
Use the lynda.com button to go to the Buncombe County Library lynda.com login page (do not go directly to the Lynda.com homepage). If you are using a smartphone or tablet, use your device’s browser, not the lynda.com app.
At the login page, enter your library card number and PIN.
Once you are logged in, the next step is to create a personalized account by entering your name and e-mail address. This account can help manage your course history, playlists, bookmarks, and Certificates of Completion.
Be sure to write down your password. If you forget your password, you’ll have to contact lynda.com directly by phone at 1 (888) 335-9632.
Effective communication is essential, and can be transformative for your farm operation. In this two day long interactive workshop, Improving Farm Communication, participants will address real life situations to learn about communication styles, ways to have better conversations, and have a chance to practice new skills. In this workshop we will cover the basics of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), aka, Compassionate Communication, and how it can be applied to your personal as well as your farm life and business. On-farm communication is critical for farm viability, and is one of the most common sources of conflict and frustration for farmers, family members, business partners, employees, and customers.
NVC has been used around the world for decades in all areas of people’s lives and has one of the most proven track records for reducing conflict and creating teamwork, increasing efficiency, and boosting morale.
By using examples from participants’ lives we will create a highly interactive learning environment and learn skills that can be immediately applied to your home and work life.
Come if you:
- Are part of a farm family or farm team
- See the benefit of improved communication skills
- Would like to have conversations that aren’t so awkward
- Are ready to tackle difficult conversations
- Find the stress of farm life difficult to express to others
Blue Spiral 1’s most diverse annual exhibition presents artists who have never previously shown in the gallery. This year’s show features nine artists working in a range of media, including painting, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, photography, and wood.
Artists: Anna Buckner, Mark Flowers, David Knox, Hiromi Moneyhun, Kris Rehring, Ben Strear, Gregor Turk
Blue Spiral 1’s most diverse annual exhibition presents artists who have never previously shown in the gallery. This year’s show features nine artists working in a range of media, including painting, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, photography, and wood.
Artists: Anna Buckner, Mark Flowers, David Knox, Hiromi Moneyhun, Kris Rehring, Ben Strear, Gregor Turk
Bring your current needle project and work while socializing with other like-minded crafters
Blue Spiral 1’s most diverse annual exhibition presents artists who have never previously shown in the gallery. This year’s show features nine artists working in a range of media, including painting, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, photography, and wood.
Artists: Anna Buckner, Mark Flowers, David Knox, Hiromi Moneyhun, Kris Rehring, Ben Strear, Gregor Turk
Join us a sit down discussion with famed astrophysicist, author, and pop culture sensation Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson for “An Astrophysicist Reads the Newspaper” at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Neil deGrasse Tyson brings his trademark academic and illuminating prowess to exploring the world’s and Asheville’s current events. Known by the masses from his social media posts about pop culture subjects and movie premises, his effortless blend of topical modern culture and scientific logic have made him a favorite among people of all ages. In recent years, Tyson has brought his captivating personality to shows such as Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, The Big Bang Theory, and cult-favorite Futurama.
Tyson is the fifth head of the world-renowned Hayden Planetarium in New York City and the first occupant of its Frederick P. Rose Directorship. He is also a research associate of the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. On the lighter side, Tyson was voted “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive” by People Magazine in 2000.
VIP tickets are available for this event. The tickets include:
- (1) Premium Seat at the event
- (1) Signed Commemorative Poster
- Photo Opportunity with Neil deGrasse Tyson after the event
- Access to Pre-Show Event Reception with open and hors d’oeuvres. Tyson will not be present for this event.
Forest Floor is offering sixteen different week-long camp options for ages ranging from K-10. Camps begin with the first week June 15-19 and end with the week of August 10-14. The program is structured to get kids out in the forest, exercising and playing, sharing stories and songs, solving challenges, and learning traditional crafts, wilderness skills, survival skills, and martial arts. Forest Floor programs are unique in the Asheville area because of the focus on Nature Connection Mentoring and helping children reach and exceed their potential.
Parents can drop their children off at Haw Creek Commons in Asheville between 8:30 – 9:00 AM daily, and then pick them up there between 3:00 – 3:30 PM. Camp staff will transport the children via passenger van to the forest location and back each day. An “After Camp” option with games and nature activities is available for parents who choose to pickup as late as 5:30 PM. After Camp can be reserved for specific days or the entire camp week.
The standard pricing for the camps is $295 per week including transportation. The Blacksmithing and Knife-making camps for Grades 6-10 only are priced at $384 per week. After Camp adds $15-30 per afternoon depending on the specific reservations. A payment plan and sibling discount are offered as well. A limited number of partial scholarships are also available. Registrations are taken online in advance at the company website www.OnTheForestFloor.org.
About Forest Floor Wilderness Programs – Forest Floor Wilderness Programs (FFWP) is a unique Asheville provider of Nature-Connection Mentoring programs. FFWP was founded in 2011 by Executive Director Clint Corley to bring a nationally-proven youth mentoring model to the Asheville area. The group offers summer camps, and a wide variety of other programs including weekly programs for homeschool families, bi-weekly programs for teens & public school children, Saturday programs, family campouts, and workshops for adults.
Blue Spiral 1’s most diverse annual exhibition presents artists who have never previously shown in the gallery. This year’s show features nine artists working in a range of media, including painting, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, photography, and wood.
Artists: Anna Buckner, Mark Flowers, David Knox, Hiromi Moneyhun, Kris Rehring, Ben Strear, Gregor Turk
The Mars Hill University Weizenblatt Gallery is showing a collection of works created by North Carolina Glass Center artists. The reception will be held on Wednesday, January 22. You’ll have an opportunity to see the works and to meet and talk with the artists. The exhibition runs daily through February 6.
Weizenblatt Gallery is in the Moore Fine Arts Building on the Mars Hill University campus. As always, the reception and the gallery are free.
Caroline Christopoulos and Lauren Harr of Gold Leaf Literary Services, LLC will hold an informational session for authors on best practices for working with bookstores to create a mutually beneficial relationship. They will discuss publishing options and how they affect bookstore relationships, ways to help boost sales, making the most of author events, and more. Christopoulos and Harr have decades of experience in the book industry and have taught courses for authors through the Great Smokies Writing Program, Flatiron Writers Room, and NC Writer’s Network. More on Gold Leaf Literary at www.goldleafliterary.com. This event is free, but does require registration. The deadline to register is January 15th. To register, email [email protected] with the subject: Malaprop’s session.
Blue Spiral 1’s most diverse annual exhibition presents artists who have never previously shown in the gallery. This year’s show features nine artists working in a range of media, including painting, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, photography, and wood.
Artists: Anna Buckner, Mark Flowers, David Knox, Hiromi Moneyhun, Kris Rehring, Ben Strear, Gregor Turk
IMPACT! is about humans’ affect on the environment. It embraces our negative impact on the environment, as well as solutions for the problems we have created, success stories and the hope for a better tomorrow. Come join us as we creatively explore this topic. The show encompasses a variety of artists who all have studio spaces in Pink Dog Creative. Each artist takes to this show, a unique way to express and interpret the theme. From oil paintings, to stained glass, to jewelry and much more, each artist uses their own unique styles and creative talents to show how humans have affected the environment in which we live. Exhibiting artists include Joseph Pearson, Karen Brown, Pat Phillips, Patti Anastasi, Lucy Cobos, May Rhea, Sandi McAllen, Ralph Burns, Noel Yovovich, Stephanie Grimes, Leene Hermann, Andrea Kulish and more.
The 27th Annual Spring Conference—for farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, and sustainability seekers—is hosted by Organic Growers School (OGS), an Asheville-based non-profit organization. The conference takes place Friday–Sunday, March 6–8, 2020. The weekend event takes place at Mars Hill University in Mars Hill and the pre-conference events are in Buncombe and Henderson Counties.
Cost for the pre-conference workshops are $60 with conference registration (Saturday, Sunday, or both) and $75 without. Cost for the weekend conference if registered by January 31, 2020 is $65 for Saturday and $80 for Sunday with the full weekend for $110. For registration after January 31, the cost of Saturday is $80, Sunday is $70 and the full weekend is $140.
The Spring Conference offers practical, region-specific workshops on farming, gardening, permaculture, urban growing, and rural living and includes a trade show, a seed exchange, special guest speakers, and a Saturday evening social.
More than 150 classes—both 90-minute sessions and half-day workshops—are offered on Saturday and Sunday in 17 learning tracks:
-
Community Food
-
Cooking
-
Earth Skills
-
Farmers: Beginning
-
Farmers: Experienced
-
Gardening: Beginning
-
Gardening: Experienced
-
Herbs
-
Homesteading
-
Livestock
-
Mushrooms
-
Permaculture
-
Poultry
-
Soils
-
Sustainable Forestry
-
Sustainable Living
-
Thinking Big
This one-of-a-kind event brings people of all walks of life together for a weekend of learning, inspiration, and networking and features a host of local and regional experts. The mission of the Spring Conference is to provide down-to-earth advice on growing and sustainable living while remaining affordable and accessible. The Spring Conference is the largest locally run sustainability conference in the Southeast and is proudly focused on regionally appropriate growing methods.
Three full-day, on-farm, pre-conference workshops with special guest instructors are available on Friday, March 6, 2020 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. They are:
-
Mushroom Cultivation at the Farm & Home with William Padilla-Brown & Leif Olson at Creekside Farms Education Center in Arden, NC.
-
Healing Our Soils through Compost, and Compost Tea: Safe & Natural Fertilizers with Troy Hinke at Living Web Farms in Mills River, NC
-
Chickens & You: From Egg to Table with Pat Foreman & Meagan Coneybeer at Franny’s Farm in Leicester, NC.
The conference will also host an evening lecture on Friday, March 6, 2020 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with Leah Penniman entitled, Farming While Black: African Diasporic Wisdom for Farming & Food Justice. The location for this event is the Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Center, 285 Livingston St, Asheville, NC 28801.
The Spring Conference features a trade show on Saturday and Sunday that showcases a wide array of exhibitors and products from local farms, gardening suppliers, and cottage industries that specialize in organic products and resources. Also featured on Saturday and Sunday is the annual Seed and Plant Exchange booth which offers the opportunity to preserve genetic diversity and protect regionally adapted varieties. Attendees may bring excess seeds and small plants to share, barter, or trade.
For more information, visit the website at https://organicgrowersschool.org/conferences/spring/ and see the entire weekend schedule at https://organicgrowersschool.org/conferences/spring/schedule/.
Blue Spiral 1’s most diverse annual exhibition presents artists who have never previously shown in the gallery. This year’s show features nine artists working in a range of media, including painting, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, photography, and wood.
Artists: Anna Buckner, Mark Flowers, David Knox, Hiromi Moneyhun, Kris Rehring, Ben Strear, Gregor Turk
Ready to go WILD? Join us for a trip “off the eaten path.” You’ll learn how to safely gather edible wild plants, mushrooms, and other “extreme cuisine.” Stay for a stunning view of the sunset and enjoy dinner at Vue 1913 featuring a free appetizer with the edibles you met on your tour. Suitable for all ages and abilities. To register or for more info, see here. Three-hour foraging tours also available, year-round, by arrangement.
Wild food is the ultimate natural food: ultra-local, fresher, more flavorful, 10 to 100 times more nutritious than its garden-variety descendants, AND it’s free! With over 300 wild edibles, Western North Carolina is the richest temperate ecosystem on Earth. For a taste of the wild life, forage ahead and experience the life of a modern hunter-gather firsthand. It’s a unique experience in self-catering, a memorable lesson in high-class survival.
Redirect is an exhibition that critically and philosophically engages with technology, each artist examining the web, social media, mobile devices, or other contemporary technology with a calculated sense of intentionality or caution. Redirect investigates our contemporary digital lives from various perspectives but always with a lens that looks deeper than the surface treatment. Unsearchable former content, spotlights on web censorship, crystallization of load times, and the physical manifestation of unseen systems come together to create a meditation on our present-day technological attachments.
Featuring artists: Conrad Bakker, Victoria Bradbury, Ben Duvall, Janna Dyk, Benjamin Grosser, Joyce Yu-Jean Lee, Jorge Lucero
Opening reception with panel discussion: January 24th, 6-8pm
Artist Opportunities
The Asheville Area Arts Council is pleased to share the following opportunities for artists that have recently been submitted to us. If you have any questions about an opportunity, please contact the listed organization.
The Asheville Area Arts Council does not endorse or recommend any specific opportunities, but provides this list for information only. We encourage artists to research each opportunity thoroughly before applying.
Call for Artists: NRCC Art Society
The North Ridge Country Club Art Society wishes to promote art and area artists, while also developing increased art appreciation within its membership. The NRCC Art Society continues to expand the permanent art collection in the clubhouse for members …
January 3, 2020 – January 19, 2020
Call for Musicians: Chamber Music Raleigh
ANNOUNCING THE FOLLOWING OPPORTUNITY FOR NC-BASED MUSICIANS Performance Venue: North Carolina Museum of Art, SECU Auditorium Dates: Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 2pm or Sunday, April 18, 2021 at 2pm Artists Fee: up to $2500 Submission Instructions: …
January 2, 2020 – January 24, 2020
Call for Artists: Shenandoah National Park
The Shenandoah National Park Artist-in-Residence program offers professional artists focused time to creatively explore the natural and cultural resources of this astounding landscape. It also allows artists the opportunity to share their work through …
November 25, 2019 – January 31, 2020
Call for Artists: Zapow Juried Show
ZaPow Gallery, the premier Illustration and Narrative Art Gallery in the Southeast, will be hosting its Second Annual Juried Open Show March 2020. If you are an Illustrator or Narrative artist living in the WNC area this is your chance to show your wor …
December 9, 2019 – February 1, 2020
Call for Artists: Magnetic Theater
SPECIAL EVENT – ONE ACT PLAY FESTIVAL Script Submission Guidelines: – The submission deadline is Saturday, February 1st at 11:59pm. – Plays should be between 10 and 30 minutes long, though there is a bit of wiggle room. – No more than 10 roles (prefe …
January 3, 2020 – February 1, 2020
Call for Artists: Chilkoot Trail Residency
The Yukon Arts Centre, the US National Park Service, Parks Canada and the Skagway Arts Council are calling for submissions for the 2021 Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency Program. Participants will combine their artistic abilities with a love of the outdo …
December 9, 2019 – February 11, 2020
Call for Artists: International Artist Residency
Open Call for 2020-21 International Artist Residencies at Farm Studio in Rajasthan, India The deadline for applications is 20th February, 2020. Residencies will take place October, November, December 2020 and January, February 2021. All residency infor …
Applications are due Feb. 21.
The Asheville Police Department (APD) is now inviting residents to apply for the spring semester of the Citizen’s Police Academy (CPA). Participants in this free course will learn about the daily work and operations of APD, while also giving the department an opportunity to obtain valuable feedback from the community.
The course will begin on March 5. Sessions are held each Thursday from 5:30 to 9 p.m. for 12 weeks. The course is held at the Municipal Building, 100 Court Plaza, in downtown Asheville. Dinner is provided.
The course consists of basic classroom instruction, presentations and demonstrations of topics such as criminal investigations, constitutional and criminal law, use of force, departmental structure and defensive tactics. Participants will also be given the opportunity to ride along with an officer.
Those wishing to participate must apply and be accepted. You can submit an application online at this link. Applications are due Feb. 21.
Environmental Education is crucial to what RiverLink does. We believe that in order for someone to protect their environment, they must first understand it. Our education programs focus on getting students out in the watershed for hands-on experiential learning. We help students foster a love and appreciation for their water resources by allowing them to see, hear and interact with their local waterways. As a result of engaging with our program we hope that students will be inspired to become the next generation of watershed stewards.
Forest Floor is offering sixteen different week-long camp options for ages ranging from K-10. Camps begin with the first week June 15-19 and end with the week of August 10-14. The program is structured to get kids out in the forest, exercising and playing, sharing stories and songs, solving challenges, and learning traditional crafts, wilderness skills, survival skills, and martial arts. Forest Floor programs are unique in the Asheville area because of the focus on Nature Connection Mentoring and helping children reach and exceed their potential.
Parents can drop their children off at Haw Creek Commons in Asheville between 8:30 – 9:00 AM daily, and then pick them up there between 3:00 – 3:30 PM. Camp staff will transport the children via passenger van to the forest location and back each day. An “After Camp” option with games and nature activities is available for parents who choose to pickup as late as 5:30 PM. After Camp can be reserved for specific days or the entire camp week.
The standard pricing for the camps is $295 per week including transportation. The Blacksmithing and Knife-making camps for Grades 6-10 only are priced at $384 per week. After Camp adds $15-30 per afternoon depending on the specific reservations. A payment plan and sibling discount are offered as well. A limited number of partial scholarships are also available. Registrations are taken online in advance at the company website www.OnTheForestFloor.org.
About Forest Floor Wilderness Programs – Forest Floor Wilderness Programs (FFWP) is a unique Asheville provider of Nature-Connection Mentoring programs. FFWP was founded in 2011 by Executive Director Clint Corley to bring a nationally-proven youth mentoring model to the Asheville area. The group offers summer camps, and a wide variety of other programs including weekly programs for homeschool families, bi-weekly programs for teens & public school children, Saturday programs, family campouts, and workshops for adults.
The 27th Annual Spring Conference—for farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, and sustainability seekers—is hosted by Organic Growers School (OGS), an Asheville-based non-profit organization. The conference takes place Friday–Sunday, March 6–8, 2020. The weekend event takes place at Mars Hill University in Mars Hill and the pre-conference events are in Buncombe and Henderson Counties.
Cost for the pre-conference workshops are $60 with conference registration (Saturday, Sunday, or both) and $75 without. Cost for the weekend conference if registered by January 31, 2020 is $65 for Saturday and $80 for Sunday with the full weekend for $110. For registration after January 31, the cost of Saturday is $80, Sunday is $70 and the full weekend is $140.
The Spring Conference offers practical, region-specific workshops on farming, gardening, permaculture, urban growing, and rural living and includes a trade show, a seed exchange, special guest speakers, and a Saturday evening social.
More than 150 classes—both 90-minute sessions and half-day workshops—are offered on Saturday and Sunday in 17 learning tracks:
-
Community Food
-
Cooking
-
Earth Skills
-
Farmers: Beginning
-
Farmers: Experienced
-
Gardening: Beginning
-
Gardening: Experienced
-
Herbs
-
Homesteading
-
Livestock
-
Mushrooms
-
Permaculture
-
Poultry
-
Soils
-
Sustainable Forestry
-
Sustainable Living
-
Thinking Big
This one-of-a-kind event brings people of all walks of life together for a weekend of learning, inspiration, and networking and features a host of local and regional experts. The mission of the Spring Conference is to provide down-to-earth advice on growing and sustainable living while remaining affordable and accessible. The Spring Conference is the largest locally run sustainability conference in the Southeast and is proudly focused on regionally appropriate growing methods.
Three full-day, on-farm, pre-conference workshops with special guest instructors are available on Friday, March 6, 2020 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. They are:
-
Mushroom Cultivation at the Farm & Home with William Padilla-Brown & Leif Olson at Creekside Farms Education Center in Arden, NC.
-
Healing Our Soils through Compost, and Compost Tea: Safe & Natural Fertilizers with Troy Hinke at Living Web Farms in Mills River, NC
-
Chickens & You: From Egg to Table with Pat Foreman & Meagan Coneybeer at Franny’s Farm in Leicester, NC.
The conference will also host an evening lecture on Friday, March 6, 2020 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with Leah Penniman entitled, Farming While Black: African Diasporic Wisdom for Farming & Food Justice. The location for this event is the Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Center, 285 Livingston St, Asheville, NC 28801.
The Spring Conference features a trade show on Saturday and Sunday that showcases a wide array of exhibitors and products from local farms, gardening suppliers, and cottage industries that specialize in organic products and resources. Also featured on Saturday and Sunday is the annual Seed and Plant Exchange booth which offers the opportunity to preserve genetic diversity and protect regionally adapted varieties. Attendees may bring excess seeds and small plants to share, barter, or trade.
For more information, visit the website at https://organicgrowersschool.org/conferences/spring/ and see the entire weekend schedule at https://organicgrowersschool.org/conferences/spring/schedule/.
Get the Early Registration Discount!
Learning with Lynda
Lynda.com is an online educational site that includes over 3,000 courses (and over 130,000 videos) in popular fields like web design, web development, IT, education/instruction, media production, and business. Normally, using lynda.com requires a paid subscription, but Buncombe County Public Library cardholders can access lynda.com content FREE with their library card number by following these instructions.
How to access lynda.com content with your library card:
Use the lynda.com button to go to the Buncombe County Library lynda.com login page (do not go directly to the Lynda.com homepage). If you are using a smartphone or tablet, use your device’s browser, not the lynda.com app.
At the login page, enter your library card number and PIN.
Once you are logged in, the next step is to create a personalized account by entering your name and e-mail address. This account can help manage your course history, playlists, bookmarks, and Certificates of Completion.
Be sure to write down your password. If you forget your password, you’ll have to contact lynda.com directly by phone at 1 (888) 335-9632.
Blue Spiral 1’s most diverse annual exhibition presents artists who have never previously shown in the gallery. This year’s show features nine artists working in a range of media, including painting, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, photography, and wood.
Artists: Anna Buckner, Mark Flowers, David Knox, Hiromi Moneyhun, Kris Rehring, Ben Strear, Gregor Turk
FEBRUARY 3, 10, 17, & 24 (make-up, if needed: MARCH 2)—Mondays, 6–8 pm
Registration deadline: January 27
Soft pastel is the purest medium for painting vibrant colors. In this four-part class, explore color, texture, and design to create beautiful finished artworks. Practice blending, layering, and a variety of strokes and techniques, in addition to color theory, design, and individual expression.
Instructor Terrilynn Dubreuil has over 30 years’ experience encouraging people of all ages and abilities to realize they can be creative with helpful techniques and energy. With an undergraduate degree and graduate studies in fine art, she teaches most media through approaches that help newbies to more experienced artists, and everyone in between.
Adult Studio
The Museum’s studio program for adults offers a core curriculum in drawing, painting, printmaking, and three-dimensional media, and also explores the intersections between them. Local and visiting artists help students of all levels and abilities develop skills in media that reflect techniques and themes featured in the Museum’s Collection and special exhibitions. Classes meet for 3–12 weeks, and are designed for anyone interested in exploring specific media in depth; daylong workshops introduce new media or processes. To add your name to our Adult Studio mailing list, email Kristi McMillan, adult programs manager, or call 828.253.3227 x122.