While The Nutcracker is a winter tradition for most, Grand Rapids Ballet’s creative director James Sofranko starts thinking about the shows as early as August. 

In 2023, arts organizations are back on their feet and offering incredible seasons of art, conversations, fun and community involvement. This month, you can visit the theaters for big Broadway shows and intimate plays, listen to symphonies play the classics and modern pieces, and head to local museums for a variety of stunning art. Check it out.

On May 10 of this year, a beloved theatre arts practitioner, professor and director passed away. His name was Randy Wyatt, and besides acting as an indescribable force for positive good in his local community, he had also received renown as a regional playwright.

In 2023, arts organizations are largely back on their feet and offering incredible seasons of art, conversations, fun and community involvement. 

On June 27th, 2020, Dog Story Theater closed its doors. COVID-19 had pushed the organization, which operated with thin margins at the best of times, past its breaking point. At the time, there was no clarity as to when live theater might resume or when audiences would feel safe returning. “We will feel its loss keenly,” the group announced.

The first thing you may notice when visiting Abdoulaye Conde’s “Raining Wisdom” mural at 45 Ottawa NW, besides its impressive size, is its intriguing use of bold, black lines to separate colors and create an unfolding mosaic pattern.

Amid the sea of musicals adapted from film, some work better than others. And in the case of “Mean Girls”, now on tour at Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo, based on the cult classic 2004 film written by Tina Fey, the musical in many ways improves upon the film.

It’s the final year for a failing Chicago high school, just one of many that graduates fewer than half their students and is therefore slated for the sledgehammer. Not only do they have 20 computers for 3,000 students, they can’t sufficiently stock the bathrooms with toilet paper.

Given how few and far between women killers have been in history, as a culture we can’t look away when a murderess emerges. We’re fascinated—so much so that an up-close-and-personal story of women who murdered more than 100 years ago is exceptionally gripping.

In an area like West Michigan, where art and nature so oftentimes mingle in harmony, there is still perhaps no place quite like Ox-Bow.