Yesterday we told you about a program that’s turned two Kalamazoo hotels into a temporary home for people who were homeless. Many are moving on to permanent housing. But not everyone, and time is getting tight. One hotel is closing. The other one may stay open a couple more months. In the second of a three-part series, reported in collaboration with MLive and the Kalamazoo Gazette, the deadlines are causing anxiety for some guests and the people serving them.

"If you know family, especially in the African-American community, you know these people," says Face Off Theatre Artistic Director Marissa Harrington about the new play "I Am Grace," by local playwright Vickie G. Hampton. In a conversation with Cara Lieurance, Harrington and Hampton preview the world premiere production, which will be staged at the Dormouse Theatre May 21-23. Both in-person seating and online viewing passes are available.

Hundreds of people in Kalamazoo County do not have a home. Some are couch-surfing, others are staying in shelters, and some have pitched tents by the river on the east side. Fearing the campers could freeze or be swept away by floods, last winter a group of nonprofits tried something new: turning two hotels into temporary homes.

In the first of a three-part series, reported in collaboration with MLive and The Kalamazoo Gazette, we report on how the program has also helped some people move on to permanent housing.

Bianca Washington-Ciungan, Director of Programs at the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, says the Arts Council's new Art Hop "app" was created in hopes that it could provide a green alternative to the printed guides. It's actually a website that will function as an app when saved to the home screen of your smartphone (it won't be found in your smartphone's app store).

May 7 is the second month of having the Art Hop in-person after a year of online Art Hops during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's twice as big as April's event. Artists will be stationed on Bates Alley, the Kalamazooo Mall, in front of the State Theatre, and at Kalamazoo Defender, housed in the Comerica Bank building on S. Rose St. That's where 22 year-old Maya James, an artist garnering national attention, will show her work from 6 - 8 pm during Art Hop. Cara Lieurance spoke to Washington-Ciungan and James for a preview.

In Western culture, the topic of death is often avoided as something to fear. But for Elyse-Krista Mische, death has become a topic to embrace and explore.

The Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition, formed in 2017, has achieved one of its primary goals: becoming the official owners of First Baptist Church of Kalamazoo, an 1853 historical landmark whose expense had become too great for its congregation. It gifted the property to KNAC in April.  KNAC board president Dann Sytsma talked to Cara Lieurance about the work and cooperation that went into this step, and how the 30,000 square foot structure might serve the Kalamazoo community in the future.