The Arts

LITERATURE

Fez Avery & Marcel Fable Price

Oct. 10 
Kalamazoo Book Arts Center

Two Michigan poets will give a reading at 7 p.m. at the center, 326 W. Kalamazoo Ave., as part of KBAC’s Poets in Print series.

Fez Avery, author of CLAYBOY  (2026), is a poet and performer currently serving as a visiting instructor of creative writing at Interlochen Arts Academy. His work has been published in The Journal, Gulf Coast, Passages North and swamp pink.

Marcel Fable Price, author of New American Monarch (2024), is an award-winning storyteller and former Poet Laureate of Grand Rapids whose work explores grief, love, leadership and possibility. He is currently the director of platform and programming for Kalamazoo Forward Ventures.

For more information, visit kalbookarts.org.

Can Poetry Be Funny? 

Oct. 28
Friends of Poetry

Local writers and special guests will perform lighthearted, witty and slapstick poems in this annual event being held from 6–7 p.m. in the Van Deusen Room of the Kalamazoo Public Library. 

For more information, visit kpl.gov. 

Author Talks

Throughout the month
Various venues

Several authors will visit local libraries this month. 

Portage District Library will host true crime writer Michael Finkel, author of The Art Thief, at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 9, and Tobin Buhk, crime historian and author of True Crimes in the Civil War, at 6 p.m. Oct. 14. Registration at portagelibrary.info is required for both events.  

The Antwerp Sunshine Branch of the Van Buren District Library will feature Dianna Stampfler, author of Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses, at 7 p.m. Oct. 8, and Nicole Lintemuth, author of This Book is Dangerous: A Reading Journal, at 6 p.m. Oct. 21. The library is located at 24283 Front St. in Mattawan.

VISUAL ARTS

Artists’ Books Exhibitions

Opening Oct. 20
Richmond Center for the Visual Arts & Kalamazoo Book Arts Center

A collaborative exhibition of books as art will be featured this month at Western Michigan University and the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center. 

Beginning Oct. 20, works from Some Assembly Required: The Artist’s Books of Julie Chen, will be on display at both the KBAC Gallery, 326 W. Kalamazoo Ave., and the Netzorg-Kerr Gallery of WMU’s Richmond Center for the Visual Arts. Chen is founder of Flying Fish Press, which publishes limited-edition artists’ books that combine text and image with innovative book structures.  Chen will give a lecture at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Richmond Center for the Visual Arts followed by a reception. A reception for the artist also will be held from 5–8 p.m. Nov. 6 at the KBAC. 

The Richmond Center will also feature a companion exhibition, Bound To: Artist Books from the WMU Special Collections Library, from Oct. 20–Nov. 21 in its Albertine Monroe-Brown Gallery. 

For more information, visit kalbookarts.org or wmich.edu/art.

Among the Beasts: Wild, Tamed & Imagined

Oct. 28–Jan. 31
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

Featuring works from the KIA’s permanent collection, this exhibition will explore the roles animals have played in artistic expression through time. The exhibit encompasses real and imagined animals depicted in various media from ancient pendants and Chinese scrolls to contemporary photography. 

KIA hours are 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Thursday; and noon–4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10–$15 and free for children ages 6 and younger.

Continuing Exhibitions

For the People, By the People: America at 250, KIA, through Oct. 4.

Resilience: A Sansei Sense of Legacy, KIA, through Nov. 1.

Book Arts in Italy 2026, through Oct. 9, KBAC

MUSIC

Connecting Chords Music Festival

Throughout the month
Various venues

 The festival is offering a diverse sampling of cultures, performers and venues this month: 

• Duke Ellington Sacred Concert, with local musicians and WMU’s Jazz Orchestra, 7 p.m. Oct. 3, First United Methodist Church, 212 S. Park St. 

• Kleinstuck Trail Walk, with improvisational ensemble Songs of the Alvar, 6 p.m. Oct. 10, Kleinstuck Preserve, 1001 W. Maple St.

• Stundom, Nordic folk and chamber music, 7 p.m. Oct. 14, Bell’s Back Room, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave. 

• Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago, with colorful costumes, dance and percussion, 7 p.m. Oct. 15, Dalton Theatre, Light Fine Arts Building, 139 Thompson St.

•The Lodger, screening of the 1927 silent film with improvised score performed by organist David Briggs, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20, First Congregational Church, 345 W. Michigan Ave.

• Music Medicine Collective, contemplative music and stories, 2 p.m. Oct. 24, Van Deusen Room, Kalamazoo Public Library, 315 S. Rose St.

• Neta Elkayam + Amit Hai Cohen, Judeo-Moroccan music, 4 p.m. Oct. 25, Congregation of Moses, 2501 Stadium Dr. 

Tickets for each performance are $5–$17 and can be purchased online at connectingchordsfestival.com.

• Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony
• Halloween Boos & Brews

Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra

The KSO is brewing up two unique performances this month. 

Violinist Ella Eon, 2026 Stulberg Gold Medalist, will join the symphony for its presentation of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 at Miller Auditorium. Tickets are $7–$78. 

Enjoy Halloween-inspired tunes played by the KSO Pint-Sized Orchestra at Halloween Boos & Brews, 6 and 8 p.m. Oct. 28, at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave. Tickets are $34.

To purchase tickets, visit kalamazoosymphony.com or call  349-7779.

WMU School of Music

Throughout the month
Various venues

Western Michigan University Gilmore School of Music has a full slate of performances this month. Unless otherwise noted, the performances are at the Dalton Center Recital Hall and tickets are $6 to $18. 

• Carol Dusdieker, soprano, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1

• WMU Orchestra, with 2026 Stulberg Silver Medalist Mingzhe Ye, 7 p.m. Oct. 4

• Best of MAT, works by Multimedia Arts Technology students, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5, free

• KSO Artists-in-Residence, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7

• Aron Zelkowicz, cello, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10

• University Bands, 2 p.m. Oct. 11, Miller Auditorium

• University Jazz Lab Band, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13

• George Garzone & Jerry Bergonzi, saxophone, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15

• Dana Jessen, bassoon, 2 p.m. Oct. 16

• Choral Showcase, 3 p.m. Oct. 18

• Nathan Carterette, piano, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28

• PRISM, saxophone quartet, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28, Dalton Center Lecture Hall, free

• Multimedia & Surround Sound Concert, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29

• Gold Company Sneak Preview — 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30

For more information, visit wmich.music.

• Dabin Ryu Trio
• Aristo Sham

The Gilmore

The Gilmore will host concerts by two award-winning artists in October.

The Dabin Ryu Trio, fronted by jazz pianist and composer Dabin Ryu, winner of the 15th UNISA International Piano Competition, will perform at 4 and 7 p.m. Oct. 3 at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave. 

Pianist Aristo Sham, the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition winner, will perform at 4 p.m. Oct. 18 in the Cori Terry Theatre of the Epic Center, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall.

Tickets for each performance are $10–$28 and available online at thegilmore.org.

America’s Story at 250 Years

Oct. 24
Kalamazoo Concert Band

The Kalamazoo Community Chorale, Kalamazoo Male Chorus and conductor and cornetist Chris Bradley will join the KCB for this free patriotic performance. 

Showtime is 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at Chenery Auditorium, 714 S. Westnedge Ave. For more information, visit kalamazooconcertband.org.

THEATER

Birthday Candles

Oct. 1-11
WMU Theatre

Audiences will witness 90 years of Ernestine Ashworth’s life in 90 minutes in this production set for the York Theatre at Western Michigan University. 

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1–3 and 8–10 and 2 p.m. Oct. 4 and 11. Tickets are $12–$22 and available online at wmich.edu/theatre.

• Some Enchanted Evening 
• Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr.

Kalamazoo Civic Theatre

Young thespians and those with a little more time treading the boards will perform in two musicals at The Civic this month. 

The Senior Class Readers Theatre, a program for performers 50 and older, will present Some Enchanted Evening, The Songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein Oct. 2–11 at the Parish Theatre, 405 W. Lovell St. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 and 9 and 2 p.m. Oct. 3, 10 and 11. Tickets are $17–$35.  

The Civic Youth Theatre will take audiences under the sea Oct. 23–Nov. 1 with its presentation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23 and 30; 2 p.m. Oct. 24, 25, 31 and Nov. 1; and 5 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Civic Auditorium. Tickets are $15–$20. 

To purchase tickets, visit kazoocivic.com or call 343-1313. 

Ghost Stories

Oct. 16–30
New Vic Theatre

There’s no telling what you’ll hear in these performances of spooky stories the theater promises will be “a little different each time.” 

Showtimes are 8 p.m. Oct. 16, 17, 23, 24 and 30 at the theater located at 134 E. Vine St. Tickets are $10–$30 and available online at thenewvictheatre.org or by calling 381-3328. 

Vampires In the Night

Oct. 24
All Ears Theatre

Get ready to revisit Dracula Bram Stoker’s Dracula in this all-audio theater production adaptation written by Bryan Zocher. 

Showtime is 6 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy
Coalition building, 315 W. Michigan Ave. For information, visit allearstheatre.org.