After watching ArtPrize explode as an international art competition, West Michigan native Tyler Loftis wanted to find a way to connect the art world in New York City, where he now lives and works as a painter, with his Midwestern roots.

Pink bunnies, a life-size Trans Am, reclining Buddha — they have more in common than you think.

Defined by specific time periods, with distinct styles and notable composers, classical music’s progression over the last 500 years has been more revolutionary than evolutionary.

Music always is evolving as an art form. All composers, no matter how original or innovative, were at some point influenced by their predecessors. However, no classical composer has been more pioneering than Johann Sebastian Bach. 

Jason Potgieter’s passion for puppeteering will come in handy for Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher.

Adult comics will bring kids’ imaginations to life with a free show at this year’s Gilda’s Laughfest. This is the second annual show directed by local comedian Amy Gascon, who performs in various comedy and improv groups in Grand Rapids.

E.L. Doctorow's 1975 best-seller, “Ragtime,” probably would not rank high on anyone’s list of books that cry out to be turned into musicals. A portrait of America in the early 20th century, it follows an anonymous, well-to-do family from New Rochelle, N.Y., as they make “Forrest Gump”-ian connections with some of the major figures of the day, brushing up against a few controversies along the way.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” is so stacked with classic songs that even seeing them all listed together dizzies the head — “My Favorite Things,” “Maria,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Sixteen Going On Seventeen,” “So Long, Farewell,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” the title piece about the hills being alive with … well, you know.

It’s slightly jarring to see the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre mainstage completely exposed as director Todd Espeland’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” begins: At first, there is nothing on the stage except a dozen or so empty chairs.

At first glance, you might wonder how the work of S.E. Hinton could possibly connect with today’s teens. Something of a trailblazer in the 1960s, Hinton was barely out of high school when she sold “The Outsiders,” a strikingly honest look at high school life and gang rivalries that her publishers feared would be overlooked if critics knew it was written by a woman (the initials stand for Susan Eloise).