Calendar of Events

Thursday, December 7 through Sunday, December 24.
The Unusual Tale of Mary & Joseph's Baby dares to take the classic story at its word. There really is a pregnant virgin. There are shepherds, angels, foreign dignitaries (a.k.a. wise men), a ratty extra room/stable at an inn, and a maniacal, bloodthirsty dictator whose menacing shadow hangs over everything.

And obviously, it's a comedy. Seriously it is.
The Unusual Tale of Mary & Joseph's Baby surprises both virgin-believing and non-virgin-believing audiences alike by telling the most over-told story in a sincerely human way that bursts with imagination and wonder.

The Green Room at the Jackson Avenue Terminal in the Old City
211 Jackson Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37902

River & Rail Theatre Company, 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 106, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-407-0727, www.riverandrailtheatre.com

Ijams will host open houses Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, and Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. for individuals interested in learning more about the new Nature Preschool, 2018 summer camps and other activities at the nature center.

The Grainger Foundation, an independent, private foundation located in Lake Forest, Illinois, has donated $10,000 to Ijams Nature Center, Inc., in support of the nonprofit nature center’s new Nature Preschool, which is scheduled to open August 2018. The preschool will focus on helping children to develop a solid foundation for lifelong learning, while cultivating a love of nature that will serve as the basis for a conservation ethic later in life.

The new Nature Preschool will offer a morning and an afternoon session five days a week for up to 18 children per session. Ijams also plans to offer a morning-only Nature Preschool Summer Camp prior to the school’s fall opening to allow younger children to experience an age-appropriate version of its Nature Adventure Day Camp.

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Cattywampus Puppet Council and the Good Guy Collective will present their first collaborative theatre piece at Modern Studio: What the Water Tells Me. Through hip-hop, puppetry, and dance, What the Water Tells Me follows two children’s journeys to adulthood as they navigate the changes that occur in their home town and within themselves, when a large utility company threatens the waters that raised them. This collaborative and innovative show has involved many hands throughout its creation and has truly become a community art project. Four performances will be offered during the four day run and each will feature an audience “talkback” session afterward:

Thursday, Dec.7th-Doors 7:30pm, Show 8pm "Pay What You Can Night"- This donation-based show is open for everyone to attend regardless of funds. Tickets will only be sold at door. Cost: Suggested Donation ($10-$20)

Friday, Dec.8th- Doors 7:30pm, Show 8pm "Hip-Hop & Puppets Night"-This evening will also include several local hip-hop acts after the show. Cost: $15

Saturday, Dec.9th- Doors 7:30pm, Show 8pm "Puppet Dance Party"- This evening will include a DJ'd Puppet Dance Party after the show. Cost: $15

Sunday, Dec. 10th- Doors 2pm, Show 2:30pm- "Family Show"- This matinee will be geared towards kids and will include a free puppetmaking station open from 2-2:30pm. Cost: Kids 2 & under (FREE), Kids 3 & up ($10), Adults ($15). Ticket price includes puppetmaking. For more info about the show, visit our facebook page What the Water Tells Me. To buy advance tickets, please visit: https://whatthewatertellsme.bpt.me.

Cattywampus Puppet Council is a registered non-profit in the state of Tennessee and fiscally sponsored by Community Shares. CPC gathers and imagines stories inspired by nature and the human experience in the South East to bring people together. Through workshops, public art, performances, and parades, CPC seeks to promote play and community-based storytelling as integral to our individual growth and the health of our communities. CPC believes art accessibility invigorates an individual's sense of ownership and power within community.

Good Guy Collective’s mission is to empower young creatives to find the best version of themselves and build community through the culture of Hip-Hop.

Venue: Modern Studio, 109 W Anderson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-323-2425, www.modernstudio.org

Cattywampus Puppet Council information: 865-300-3736, www.cattywampuspuppetcouncil.com

Candlelight Tour
Thursday, December 7, 2017
6:30-8:30pm
Tickets $125 per person

Day Tour & Luncheon
Friday, December 8, 2017
Homes open: 9-11:30am & 1:30-4pm

Noon luncheon at Cherokee Country Club
Tickets $85 per person

Invitations are mailed to KMA members only. Tickets may be purchased via response card only. If you need to renew your KMA membership or are a member and have not received an invitation by November 1, please contact Maggie Meyers at mmeyers@knoxart.org.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

Free and open to the public in the Clayton Performing Arts Center!

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

Jubilee Community Arts presents Knoxville Square Dance with live old-time music by The Hellgramites and calling by Stan Sharp, Ruth Simmons and Leo Collins.

Thursday, December 7 (1st Monday)

Second Thursdays at the Laurel Theater! No experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. No taps, please. Admission: $7 ($5 for students & JCA members).

Follow the Knoxville Square Dance on Facebook: www.facebook.com/knoxvillesquaredance

Jubilee Community Arts, 1538 Laurel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37916. For information: 865-522-5851, www.jubileearts.org.

Join the Tennessee Holocaust Commission for an evening with author Dr. Rita Goldberg. Dr. Goldberg will speak at 7 PM in the McClung Museum auditorium, and a special reception will follow her presentation.

“I am the child of a woman who survived the Holocaust not by the skin of her teeth but heroically,” writes Rita Goldberg. In a deeply moving second-generation Holocaust memoir, Goldberg introduces the extraordinary story of Hilde Jacobsthal, a close friend of Anne Frank’s family who was fifteen when the Nazis invaded Holland. After the arrest of her parents in 1943, Hilde fled to Belgium, living out the war years in an extraordinary set of circumstances—among the Resistance and at Bergen-Belsen after its liberation—that the Guardian newspaper judged “worthy of a film script.” As astonishing as Hilde’s story is, Rita herself emerges as the central, fascinating character in this utterly unique account.

Proud of her mother and yet struggling to forge an identity in the shadow of such heroic accomplishments (in a family setting that included close relationships with the iconic Frank family), Rita Goldberg reveals a little-explored aspect of Holocaust survival: the often-wrenching family and interpersonal struggles of the children and grandchildren whose own lives are haunted by historic tragedy. Motherland is the culmination of a lifetime of reflection and a decade of research. It is an epic story of survival, adventure, and new life.

This event is free and open to the public. Copies of Dr. Goldberg’s book will be available for purchase and signing at the reception. For more information about the event, please contact Danielle Kahane-Kaminsky at danielle.kahane-kaminsky@vanderbilt.edu.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

WDVX presents "A Tribute to Guy Clark" with Clark's longtime sidemen and songwriting partners Verlon Thompson and Shawn Camp, along with bassist Bryn Davies.
Special opening poem by Bill Alexander "The Appalachian Hippie Poet."
Hosted by WDVX founder Tony Lawson.

Doors at 7pm : Show at 7:30pm
Knoxville Visitor’s Center, 301 South Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902

Tickets: General Admission Seated = $50.00/ticket
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3164074?mc_cid=3efe0adb4f&mc_eid=cc248d5048

December 7 Knox Heritage hosts the Preservation Awards Celebration,
5:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the Historic Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street.
FREE and Open to the Public
rsvp@knoxheritage.org

Knox Heritage, at Historic Westwood, 3425 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Information: 865-523-8008, www.knoxheritage.org

Bearden Beer Market, 4524 Old Kingston Pike Knoxville, TN, 37919 United States
Tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ugly-christmas-sweater-workshop-at-bearden-beer-market-registration-39399214110?aff=efbeventtix

Tis the season to be tacky! Join Goodwill at Bearden Beer Market for our festive and fantastic ugly sweater crafting workshop! Create your very own tacky Christmas sweater while enjoying a wide selection of beer and great company!

Goodwill will provide all the supplies you need to bedazzle and bedeck your custom sweater. Your registration includes a sweater in your size and everything you need to make it the shiniest, jingliest, tackiest and most festive sweater at your next Christmas party.

Children are welcome at this event, though we do suggest that an adult be present to help attach decorations to the sweaters. Dogs welcome!

After you create your masterpiece, be sure to enter Goodwill’s annual “Share Your Sweater” contest for the chance to win a Goodwill shopping spree! Details at www.gwiktn.org/shareyoursweater. To make the deal even sweeter, Bearden Beer Market is donating $1 from every beer sold at this event to Goodwill. Proceeds from this event support Goodwill’s vocational training programs and employment services for individuals with barriers to employment, helping to build Knoxville into a stronger community. Goodwill Industries-Knoxville served over 3,750 individuals in 2016!

Global Outreach Leaders is a tax-exempt non-profit in Knoxville Tennessee working on building sustainable living and project development for underserved communities here and abroad.

We will be hosting a charity fundraiser titled "Vignettes of (un)humanity" at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville, showcasing art from local and global artists presenting the theme of the event: Human Oppression. The art pieces will be auctioned during the event, where the artists will be available to mingle with the guests and elaborate on their own perspectives on oppression. We will be hosting a number of speakers to present on their role in combating oppression such as human trafficking, drug abuse etc. Some of the speakers are Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking, the Helen Ross McNabb Center and more.

Our organization is currently working on building an agricultural school in Senegal, where the mayor of the Talibe children has donated land to the Talibe Trust (our partner in Senegal) to build a school along the migration line to help combat child trafficking. Proceeds from the event will benefit the school in Senegal and other projects here in Knoxville.

Our invited guests are city council members, business owners, young professionals and the general public. There will be a Mediterranean food bar available plus a wine bar for those who purchase the tickets and our invited guests.

To purchase tickets, please visit www.goleaders.org.

Don't miss this fun event! The Knoxville Writers’ Guild will host its popular Holiday Open Mic and Potluck on Thursday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church. Members and anyone curious about KWG are encouraged to attend and to bring a covered dish or snack to share.

This public event will be in the Fellowship Hall of the church, 201 E. Third Ave. Central United Methodist is a handicapped accessible building and offers plentiful free parking. A $2 donation at the door is suggested.

This is a wonderful event to meet other writers, buy and sell books, and enjoy holiday food with friends! Guidelines for participants include:

1) You must be a current member of the Knoxville Writers' Guild to read or sell books, although anyone may come to listen, mix and mingle. You can join or renew your membership before the readings begin. To establish speaker order, there will be a sign-up sheet at the door for those taking part.

2) What you read should be your own work or that of another guild member. If it will be the work of another KWG member, you are required to have permission to read his/her work.

3) Your reading time will be three to four minutes maximum, depending on the number of people who sign up.

4) What you read should be suitable for a general audience.

Members who wish to sell books will be given table space.

The Knoxville Writers Guild welcomes your participation! Visit www.knoxvillewritersguild.org.