Community Calendar

Monarch Tagging with KNC’s Michigan Butterfly Network
Sunday, July 20, 1-3 pm
Saturday, August 23, 1-3 pm
Saturday, September 13, 1-3 pm

Join KNC staff this summer for guided butterfly walks around the Emma Pitcher Prairie. Participants will have the opportunity to search for butterflies, observe them up close, and learn more about what makes each species unique. This will be a great opportunity to see different butterfly species become active as the summer season progresses and as different food and nectar sources become available.

Fee: $7/Member, $10/Non-Member. Registration required.
Audience: All Ages (children must have an adult in attendance)
Meet: KNC Camp parking lot

In partnership with the Kalamazoo Nature Center, the Connecting Chords Music Festival will be presenting live music from area artists stationed around the Nature Center.

This event is FREE (donations accepted on-site), and music will be playing from 2:00 – 4:00 PM… feel free to come anytime!

Imani Perry explores the deep cultural and emotional ties between the history of Black people and the color blue. From indigo cloths traded during slavery to blues music’s blend of sorrow and resilience, Perry weaves personal narrative, history, and art into a powerful meditation on race. Drawing on symbols like blue skies, water, and flowers, she crafts a poignant, original examination of Black identity that captures both the pain and beauty of the human experience.

Please note that this event will not be livestreamed or posted on YouTube.
All book discussions are free, open to the public, and take place in-person at the Meader Fine Arts Library. Participants do not need to have read the book, but it will help facilitate the overall discussion. Preregistration is encouraged.

Enjoy free admission and extended hours until 8pm on Thursdays. Generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program and the Efroymson Family Fund.

Inspired by the Ink Rhapsody exhibition and want to try your hand at Chinese ink painting? Join us for a workshop led by local artist Julia Wang, a fourth-generation disciple of the Lingnan School! Create your own ink painting while learning more about this expressive art form and the many different ways in which influential Chinese artists have used ink to convey meaning throughout history. This workshop is free to attend, but seats are limited – preregistration is highly encouraged! No prior experience is necessary, and all supplies will be provided.

Want to learn more about Chinese ink painting? Don’t miss Wang’s ArtBreak on the Lingnan School on August 27!

The Alaya Project is the essential bridge between the intricate Carnatic style of Indian classical music and contemporary jazz and funk. Born in the cultural bastion of Oakland, California, The Alaya Project explores new textures and perspectives built over two decades of friendship, dialogue, and musical immersion across genres and continents.

The driving hybrid kit grooves of Indian percussionist and drummer Rohan Krishnamurthy, the soulful Ragas and melodies of Prasant Radhakrishnan on saxophone, and the harmonic bedrock of Colin Hogan embodies the permanence of a changing soundscape.

Advance tickets are $17 general admission, $14 for seniors/active military and veterans, $5 for ages 25 and under, and $40 for families (2 adults + kids).

Art and engineering come together to create adorable artsy robots! Drop by the library to make your own creation, then switch on the motor and watch the magic happen! Robots swirl and dance around, creating colorful patterns. Be inspired by the amazing patterns and colors in the exhibition Leo Villareal: Interstellar! Please note that supplies will be provided, but motors and battery packs will be available only to the first 15 participants.

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

Claude Debussy, a friend of Monet, wanted to be a painter. Instead, he used music to create evocative, beautiful pictures. His contemporary Maurice Ravel turned the miraculous seascapes of Impressionist painters into sparkling piano pieces. In Vienna, Arnold Schoenberg, also a serious painter, wrote music that pushed traditional boundaries to their limit. In his opera Wozzeck, Alban Berg created a character that embodies Expressionism. Intimately connected to the cultural currents around them, these groundbreaking composers turned Impressionism and Expressionism into sound. During this ArtBreak, explore these key movements in visual art and music with Dr. Zaide Pixley.

Zaide Pixley holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Michigan. As a member of the faculty at Kalamazoo College, she taught a wide range of courses, from music theory and history to rock and roll. She is President of the Board of Trustees of the Gilmore Piano Festival and the author (with Jane Rooks Ross) of 100 Years of Great Music, celebrating the centenary of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Pixley is deeply interested in how music reflects, responds to, and shapes its cultural and social context, as well as in the beauty and power of the music itself.

All hybrid events will be livestreamed to our YouTube page and can be found under the “Live” tab. Recordings of select past events are available on YouTube as well.

Enjoy free admission and extended hours until 8pm on Thursdays. Generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program and the Efroymson Family Fund.

In the quiet glow of a moonlit junkyard, a community of cats gathers for one extraordinary night. They dance, they sing, they tell their stories — each one hoping to be chosen for a new life.

Western Michigan University’s production of CATS brings this beloved musical into the intimate Williams Theatre, placing the audience right in the heart of the Jellicle Ball. With characters that range from rebellious to wise, mysterious to magical, this is a show about identity, memory, and connection — told through music that leaps off the stage and choreography that fills every corner of the space.