The 2026-27 arts season is off to the races in West Michigan. There are blockbuster Broadway shows in Grand Rapids, classical masterworks and jazz legends, ambitious local theater, contemporary dance, major museum exhibitions and more. 

This fall, the Grand Rapids Art Museum brings together three artists whose creative practices intersect with the American criminal justice system, exploring the ways art can preserve identity, foster resilience and challenge perceptions of incarceration.

On November 12, 2012, pianist Wu Han, violinist David Finckel, and Philip Setzer performed a selection of chamber music at St. Cecilia Music Center.

• St Cecilia Music Center
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Joy, darkness and some particularly unsettling ghosts took the stage as H2, Hope College’s pre-professional dance company, opened its fall concert Halloween weekend at Knickerbocker Theater in Holland. 

Grand Rapids Ballet’s 2026-2027 season opener Broken Wings pairs two imaginative short ballets, each inspired by iconic figures whose lives were shaped by physical disability.

• dance
• Grand Rapids Ballet
• GR Ballet
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• Dance reviews

New musicals that are adaptations of popular films that were based on books abound. Much rarer are those that actually improve upon their source material. The Notebook is one of those exceptional musicals.

Timothée Chalamet notwithstanding, ballet is alive and well. West Michigan offers aficionados any number of chances to experience the power, beauty, and range of dance, including Grand Rapids Ballet’s Broken Wings, Deos Ballet’s Giselle, and Wellspring's Tendrils.

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• Ballet
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Kailey Sullivan works and lives as a “designy illustrator,” blending her artistic passions into one practice.

• visual art
• Artists

Bright colors, childhood nostalgia and early-2000s dance-floor hits are coming to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts this October, with a new exhibition and a free community celebration inspired by the playful possibilities of plastic lace craft.

• Saugatuck Center for the Arts
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The Campbell family are recognizable in these parts: for them, Michigan football is a religion. And when the Woverines play Ohio State? Forget about it. It’s war.