Community Calendar

Attend the tale of a barber who returns from unjust exile, driven by vengeance and a hunger for justice. When he joins forces with Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful pie shop owner, the results are both horrific and strangely compelling.

Winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Sweeney Todd blends sharp wit, chilling suspense, and a powerful score that ranges from haunting ballads to biting satire. Described as “one of the greatest musicals ever written” (New York Post) and “a nightmare of a show and in some ways a dream” (The Guardian), this tale of love, loss, and razor-sharp revenge continues to resonate.

As we celebrate the future of shoes, it can be fascinating to look back to see where we have already been. During this ArtBreak talk, fashion historian and professor Iris Carney Cooper will offer an overview of notable and special shoe designs throughout time, discussing history, significance, function, and design.

Cooper is a fashion historian, currently teaching at Western Michigan University and managing the Historic Garment Collection. She received her BA in Fashion Design and Merchandising from Dominican University in River Forest, IL, and her Graduate Certificate in History from WMU.

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.

Attend the tale of a barber who returns from unjust exile, driven by vengeance and a hunger for justice. When he joins forces with Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful pie shop owner, the results are both horrific and strangely compelling.

Winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Sweeney Todd blends sharp wit, chilling suspense, and a powerful score that ranges from haunting ballads to biting satire. Described as “one of the greatest musicals ever written” (New York Post) and “a nightmare of a show and in some ways a dream” (The Guardian), this tale of love, loss, and razor-sharp revenge continues to resonate.

Attend the tale of a barber who returns from unjust exile, driven by vengeance and a hunger for justice. When he joins forces with Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful pie shop owner, the results are both horrific and strangely compelling.

Winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Sweeney Todd blends sharp wit, chilling suspense, and a powerful score that ranges from haunting ballads to biting satire. Described as “one of the greatest musicals ever written” (New York Post) and “a nightmare of a show and in some ways a dream” (The Guardian), this tale of love, loss, and razor-sharp revenge continues to resonate.

Attend the tale of a barber who returns from unjust exile, driven by vengeance and a hunger for justice. When he joins forces with Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful pie shop owner, the results are both horrific and strangely compelling.

Winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Sweeney Todd blends sharp wit, chilling suspense, and a powerful score that ranges from haunting ballads to biting satire. Described as “one of the greatest musicals ever written” (New York Post) and “a nightmare of a show and in some ways a dream” (The Guardian), this tale of love, loss, and razor-sharp revenge continues to resonate.

Joshua Bell, violin
Shai Wosner, piano

Before the 2026 Gilmore Festival officially kicks off, celebrated violinist Joshua Bell returns to Kalamazoo for a special recital program with pianist Shai Wosner, previously seen on The Gilmore’s Rising Stars Series. The two have performed together to wide acclaim on numerous recital tours in the great concert halls of the United States and Europe. They will treat Gilmore audiences to a program of Romantic and early-20th-century violin sonatas by Schubert, Grieg, and Prokofiev, as well as additional surprise works to be announced from the stage.

The Gilmore presents this recital in honor of the Stulberg International String Competition’s 50th anniversary, of which Bell was gold medalist in 1981.

Pre-concert talk at 6:30 pm with Dr. Zaide Pixley in Room 130

Program
F. SCHUBERT
Violin Sonata No. 4 in A Major D. 574 (“Grand Duo”)
E. GRIEG
Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 45
S. PROKOFIEV
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94

Please join us the first Saturday of each month at 9 AM (barring special events or bad weather which will be announced on our Facebook page), for "Beginning Birding Walks," led by experienced birders from the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo. This event is free and open to the public. Meet at the second parking lot at Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan, just off SR 43. All skill levels are welcome.

We will enjoy nature while typically identifying 20-40 species of birds, plus butterflies, frogs, etc. Over 200 bird species have been sighted at Wolf Lake, which offers a variety of habitats and easy walking trails. Annual highlights include colorful songbirds like orioles, warblers, tanagers, hawks and eagles, kingfishers, Great Blue and Green Herons, and over 20 species of waterfowl. Eastern Bluebirds can be found year-round! Children accompanying adults are welcome. The focus is on birding fundamentals, and extra binoculars are always available. The walk typically takes about 2 hours (but feel free to arrive late or leave early).

Join us for a special Artful Evening with Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto! Semmelhack is the curator of Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks. During this program, she will talk about why shoes matter and about how designers today are revolutionizing what we will put on our feet tomorrow. If you’ve enjoyed Future Now, don’t miss this opportunity to meet the curator behind the exhibition!

Semmelhack’s work focuses on the intersections of fashion, culture, and economics, with a particular interest in the history of footwear. She is widely quoted in the media from the New York Times to Vogue, and since starting at the Bata Shoe Museum in 2000, she has curated over thirty exhibitions and written fourteen books and catalogues and over thirty chapters and articles. Her most recent exhibitions and publications related to sneakers include Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists (2024), Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks (Rizzoli:2022), Collab: Sneakers x Culture (Rizzoli: 2019), and Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture (Rizzoli: 2015).

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.

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.

Inspired by the innovation and history of sneakers, we will provide origami paper to fold your own mini shoe! A variety of styles and difficulty levels will be provided. Check out the exhibition Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks for inspiration and then drop by the library to try your hand at this detailed paper project.

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.

This short collaboration celebrates sneaker culture through poetry. Consisting of two parts, part one is a micro saga-in verse about a quest to find sneakers but yields an even great discovery beyond shoes. Part two is a collection of prose poems, a kind of mixtape, which explores many aspects of sneaker culture from overarching artistic reflections to personal ties to footwear. Themes in this book will tie into Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks.

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.
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.