Arts & Culture

A local playwright who brought Jack Tales to thousands of children and people across the United States has died. Rex Stephenson passed away on August 13 at the age of 81.

In 2024 an iconic piece of 80s cinema, Dirty Dancing, was added to the national film registry, securing its place in the canon of American cinematic history.Locally, fans of the film regularly pay homage to its characters and set locations at Mountain Lake Lodge in Giles County.

In Floyd, the June Bug Center provides after-school and summer programs for rural kids. But the Trump administration's budget cuts leave it facing an uncertain future.

One small company is celebrating its tenth year— claiming half of its audience is people who don’t consider themselves opera lovers. In fact, many had never been to an opera before.

Local cookbook author and social media sensation Betül Tunç caters to an international audience from her home base in Blacksburg.

We’ve heard warnings of sea level rise, seen pictures of massive wildfires and tornadoes, but what has climate change meant for us? One environmentalist spells it out in a new memoir that recounts the loss of more than 1,200 trees in his own neighborhood.

One week after its first screening in Los Angeles, a film that features music from the Waynesboro Symphony will be shown in Charlottesville, Richmond and Northern Virginia. It was shot in the Grand Canyon during two epic hikes – one in December and another in June.

Five years ago, most Virginians were stuck at home, terrified by the arrival of a deadly virus called COVID-19. Putting fear and uncertainty aside, five photographers in Charlottesville decided to record that moment in history. This weekend they’ll host a display of about a thousand images.

Virginia is home to one of the nation’s oldest and largest residency programs for artists, hosting more than 400 painters and sculptors, writers and composers each year. Ten years ago, its future was in doubt, but today, thanks to one painting, its future is assured.

Thousands are expected to gather this week for the 40th annual Festival of the Book with 65 events— many of them free— on the schedule.