Community Calendar

Join author Demarra West on February 18, 2026 from 5:30 to 7 pm at the Black Arts and Cultural Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan for a book reading and signing for her newly released book Love Will Liberate, hosted by the Black Arts and Cultural Center. In addition to the reading and signing, the evening includes an author Q and A and time to connect and celebrate the book release.

Love Will Liberate explores the science behind why we're hard wired for connection and how relationships, more than anything affect our wellbeing. The book introduces the Love Liberation Framework, a nine part model based on West’s extensive research, along with plethora of practical resources to help you gain greater self awareness, strengthen boundaries, work through conflict, and love with clarity and intention.

RSVP for free to save your spot since space is limited. If you want a copy before the event, you can order at www.demarrawest.com/love-will-liberate or through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IngramSpark, and other online book retailers.

See you there!

Become an animal detective!
We’ll start this wintery hike with a story book to kickstart our curiosity, then practice using our observation skills to search for clues about winter animal activity.

Additional info
♦ Kids of all ages are welcome!
♦ Kids must be accompanied by an adult.
♦ Though leashed dogs are normally welcome on the preserve, we ask that you please leave your furry friend at home for this hike.
♦ There are no restrooms at Chipman Preserve.

Company members from Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers will lead this engaging lecture-demonstration that invites participants to explore improvisational movement and discover the power of following their own physical impulses. Blending guided instruction with creative exploration, the program will be accessible to movers of all ages and experience levels.

Inspired by Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks, the session incorporates a selection of shoes as catalysts for imagination and motion. Together, we’ll consider prompts such as: If you were wearing this shoe, how might you put it on? What activity might you do in it? How might your body move differently because of it? Through these playful inquiries, participants will experiment with gesture, posture, and expressive movement. Wellspring’s facilitators will demonstrate core improvisational techniques while encouraging community members to join in at their own comfort level. By the end of the program, attendees will leave with a deeper awareness of their own creative instincts—and the joy that comes from letting movement tell a story.

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum, and curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum.

Please note that this event will not be livestreamed or posted on YouTube.

Explore the wonderful world of winter woodpeckers!
On this approximately 1.5-mile hike, we’ll learn about the fascinating adaptations that allow woodpeckers to chisel through trees, survive Michigan winters, and more!

Additional info
♦ All ages are welcome, but the slow, quiet nature of birding may be more suited to older children and adults.
♦ Though leashed dogs are normally welcome on the preserve, we ask that you please leave your furry friend at home for this hike.
♦ There are no restrooms at Portman Nature Preserve.

The KIA is pleased to present the annual Young Artists of Kalamazoo County exhibition, celebrating the artistic achievements of students in grades K–8. Nearly 70 art educators carefully select each featured work, creating a highly-anticipated partnership with our community’s exceptional teachers. This yearly highlight offers visitors of all ages a dynamic and uplifting experience. Enjoy free admission to the exhibition on Saturday, February 21. The exhibition will be on view through March 22.

Science Speaks: Ichthyology with Dr. Bloom
Saturday, February 21 at 2 pm

Audience: All Ages

Meet: Visitor Center Auditorium

Join local WMU evolutionary ichthyologist Devin Bloom for an exciting talk about how fish move through our local waterways, and the ways we view different species of native and non-native fish here in the Great Lakes region.

Fee: Included in regular KNC admission; drop in program

This fun, funky evening is all about cool art in a hot setting! Mix and mingle with arts enthusiasts, professionals, and talented artists while bidding on fantastic, one-of-a-kind glass art pieces in both live and silent auctions. Enjoy exciting glass blowing demonstrations as you dine on delicious hors d’oeuvres, sip on custom cocktails in your own keepsake blown glass tumbler, and swing to the sounds of The Lana Hoffman Trio, all while helping to support programming and outreach at Glass Art Kalamazoo.

The stunning art to be auctioned has been collected from visiting artists, public demonstrations, and the high octane excitement of Glass Blowers Battle 2025! This is Kalamazoo’s only glass art auction and you will have the chance to take home your very own piece of glass art – an investment in the arts community that you will enjoy for years to come. Guests are encouraged to wear blue or blue-accented attire for this event.

All proceeds for this charitable event will benefit Glass Art Kalamazoo glass education opportunities, youth scholarships, visiting artist programs, and community outreach initiatives such as Journey Beads.

An indie dance party for the ones who still romanticize a scratched iPod, American Spirits, and a blurry night soundtracked by bloghouse and post-punk revival. All Your Friends is at Bell’s Back Room on February 21, 2026, bringing the sweat, synths, and nostalgia of the early 2010’s house party.

This is your basement-floor flashback to tight jeans, smudged eyeliner, and nights that felt like a house show turned afterparty. Expect a high-energy dance floor fueled by indie sleaze classics and remixes you forgot you loved, from LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture to Foals, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, MGMT, Crystal Castles, and more. No frills, just bodies in motion.

Whether you never left the Lower East Side or just miss the chaos of that era, All Your Friends is a night dedicated to bad decisions, blown speakers, and the soundtrack of your favorite forgotten memories. Come ready for the sweat, the noise, and the party your Tumblr warned you about at Bell’s Back Room.

Come for the jazz concert - Stay for the dance party with the dancing and the eating and drinking down in Shakespeare’s Lower Level. Leonard “DUKE” Duke and his Cannons perform selections from hundreds of Jazz, R&B, Rock, Soul, and original music in their repertoire. They do this every other Monday for the enjoyment of a mighty lively group of regulars spending their Social Security checks. Crowded dance floor. Friendly staff. Free Parking. Complimentary popcorn.(!) Often a local musical guest is allowed on stage – who knows who it will be this time? Doors 4pm, Music from 5 until 7.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that humanity has only four years to cut global greenhouse gas emissions nearly in half, and the consequences of failure are dire - for us and for the natural world. Birds are already feeling the heat, and examples will be shared. Anyone who’s done a Christmas Bird Count or submitted to eBird has helped document climate-related changes in bird distribution, migration, and nesting. Climate initiatives from Audubon include National’s award-winning climate action guide and webpage, and many local chapter efforts. Good news is that quite a few proven climate solutions are available, already having an impact. But they need to be implemented, and everyone can help with that. We can make a difference for ourselves, the birds we love, and our irreplaceable living planet.
Our speaker and ASK Board member, Dr. Susan Schneider, has served on the boards of four Audubon chapters and been president of two. Her years of experience in climate change work include outreach, community projects, organizing, academic and nonacademic publications, and extensive public speaking. As Senior Scientist for the sustainability nonprofit Root Solutions, Schneider helped design projects, and coauthored two chapters in the organization’s guidebook, Making Shift Happen: Designing for Successful Environmental Behavior Change. Recent outreach includes a podcast for the Union of Concerned Scientists and a monthly “green psychology” blog. Schneider’s award-winning book for the public, The Science of Consequences, covers basic learning principles and their broad range of applications, including sustainability. Schneider is on the faculty at Western Michigan University and serves on its Climate Change Working Group. She also serves on the Tools of Change Landmark Peer Review Panel for Climate Change, a psychology for sustainability board, and the board of the nonprofit Green Driving America.