Calendar of Events

April 5, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM at Ijams Nature Center (2915 Island Home Ave)

Join Ijams Nature Center, UTK Sources of Strength, and Contact Care Line for Spring Into Hope, a vibrant and uplifting mental health awareness festival! As spring brings renewal, this special event will focus on hope, resilience, and support for ourselves and our community.
• Community Resources – Learn about mental health support and services.
• Art & Hands-on Activities – Creative ways to express and heal.
• Nature Walks – Connect with nature to restore balance.
• Breakout Sessions & Discussions – Conversations to break the stigma surrounding mental health.
• Listening Lounge – A safe space for open conversations with trained listeners.

The festival kicks off at 12:00 PM on the plaza at Ijams. Come be part of a welcoming, supportive space to connect, learn, and grow. Together, we can Spring Into Hope and promote positive well-being for all!
https://www.ijams.org/event-details/special-event-spring-into-hope-2025-a-mental-health-awareness-festival

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Visitor Center open daily 10-6; grounds and trails open daily from 8 AM - dusk. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Children’s art activities and dance performances will be among the activities planned for the first-ever Creative Kids Fest from 10 am - 4 pm on Saturday, April 5, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, 461 West Outer Dr. Activities will be based in the museum’s gym and the Kids Go Green! Environmental Center and Gardens. Flamenco Dance Academy of West Knoxville and Creative Edge Dance Studio of Oak Ridge will perform in the gym. Individual art activities in the gym include flower crowns, bird nest mixed media, thumbprint collages, crazy hair self-portraits, henna hand art, and birthday cake washi tape collages. Collaborative art activities in the gym include a flower mural, Kandinsky circles, squish painting, a 3D mobile sculpture, and decorating a museum bench. Activities in the Kids Go Green! Environmental Center and Gardens include music, en plein air painting, and flower seed spreading to help the museum’s pollinator garden. Exhibits will be open throughout the Museum. A low sensory area will be provided by Xander’s Place.

As part of the Week of the Young Child celebrated April 5 - 11 across the country, the Children’s Museum is honoring young children and all those who make a difference in children’s lives. The Creative Kids Fest is supported by the Tennessee Arts Commission.

The Creative Kids Fest is free with Museum admission: $10 for adults, $9 for veterans, $8 for children 3 - 17, $5 for seniors 62 and older, and $5 for educators with school I.D. Children 2 and younger, Children’s Museum members, and Museums for All participants receive free admission.

The Children’s Museum, offering children and families the opportunity for learning through play, is open from 10 am- 4 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 - 4 pm Sunday. For more information, see the Children’s Museum website at https://childrensmuseumofoakridge.org/ or call (865) 482-1074.

Cosponsored by the Birdhouse Neighborhood Center
April 6, 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm and April 8, 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Cost: Sliding-scale donation ($0-35)

This workshop is designed for teachers, community leaders, and any other individuals ages 13 & up who would like to learn how to design and create giant puppets and other parade art for this spring's Cattywampus Parade and Block Party on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at Suttree Landing Park!

Now in its 8th year, Cattywampus's people-powered Parade invites community members of all ages to make giant puppets, costumes, and other art and come together to parade as one. This year’s parade theme “Our Joy is Powerful” invites us to let delight, play, and celebration inspire our artmaking as we conjure our collective joy as a community and use it as fuel to practice audacious acts of imagination and move into the future together.

During this workshop, we will focus on papier-mâché, cardboard sculpting, rigging, and other methods for making inexpensive parade art. There will not be enough time for participants to complete their own project during this workshop but each participant will receive a Giant Puppet Making & Parade Art Manual to take home, plenty of hands-on experience, and time to work on their own design/brainstorm a project for their group.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYZcbyuVMlet13ORe03uJOimCbmankbv7Cuqw4X-sZAzi4VA/viewform

Chamber Classics Series
Sunday, April 6, 2025, at 2:30 p.m.
Bijou Theatre

From the three pieces by modern composers Garrop, Assad and Herron that open the program to Vivaldi’s tour de force “The Four Seasons,” Baroque influence radiates from the Knoxville Symphony’s concluding Chamber Classics Series concert.

Aram Demirjian, conductor
Sean Claire, violin
Zofia Glashauser, violin
I-Pei Lin, violin
Kyle Venlet, violin

STACY GARROP: Spectacle of Light
CLARICE ASSAD: Suite for Lower Strings
MOLLY HERRON: Spin, Span, Spun
ANTONIO VIVALDI: Four Seasons

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra: 865-291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com

5 PM with Wesley Baldwin, cello
Works of Bach, Casarrubios, Piatti, Perkinson and Summer

The Episcopal Church of the Ascension
(865) 588-0589 or info@knoxvilleascension.org
800 S. Northshore Dr., Knoxville, TN 37919

Friends of Music and the Arts, a support society for music at Ascension, augments the calendar of liturgical feast-days with concerts and organ recitals throughout the year. https://www.knoxvilleascension.org/foma

4:00 PM ET - 5:30 PM ET
At Church Street United Methodist Church, Henley at Main Street

Hosted by Conversations on Race (COR), a multiracial group building Beloved-Community relationships.

As people of religious faith or no faith are trying to get their bearings in the current environment, Dr. Heyward asserts that communities of faith need to be spaces of authentic conversation and truth.
An Episcopal priest, professor, theologian, activist and writer, Dr. Heyward has earned degrees from Randolph-Macon Women's College (A.B., Religion); Columbia University (M.A., Comparative Study of Religion); Union Theological Seminary (M.Div., and Ph.D., Systematic Theology).

https://www.evite.com/event/018EMNSIYV6QPEUTEEPP6MX6UNNT4A

In partial fulfillment of their graduation requirements, students pursuing the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree are required to mount a solo exhibition of work. Due to the number of graduate students enrolled in the UT School of Art, these exhibitions generally take the form of small groups of students presenting concurrent solo exhibitions in the gallery space.

Reception: April 11, 5-7pm

Kaitlyn Anderson - Tethered
In Tethered, Kaitlyn Anderson considers the inherent tension of gendered issues within the religious spaces of southern Appalachia. Through animal forms, the installation draws attention to the duality of resilience and shame; highlighting how this disproportionately impacts marginalized groups.

Kyle Cottier - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost
In Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Kyle Cottier’s sculptures form an intricate lattice of interwoven wood and collaged photographs, exploring systems of mending, containment, and loss. Their fluid, permeable structures dwell in the tension between ruin and repair, where repetitive gestures oscillate between care and control, shaping both material and environment.

Hannah Langer - Dispersal: The Choice of Rediscovery
On December 8th, 1998, I was abandoned in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau of Changfeng County, Anhui Province, China; eleven months later, I was adopted by a Caucasian couple from Beverly, Massachusetts. As a transracial adoptee, I have felt that a portion of myself was left in China, resulting in a lifelong struggle to understand a sense of home, culture, and race. Through the exhibition Dispersal: The Choice of Rediscovery, I explore the loss of relating to my own origin.

Ruchi Singh - Multiplied by Infinity
A space transforming the ordinary into extraordinary - Ruchi Singh's time-based installations are inspired by everyday life, childlike wonder, Indian philosophy and its relation to science. These artworks represent the story of discovering the bigger truths of life, while making the intangible tangible.

https://ewing-gallery.utk.edu/upcoming-exhibitions/

ANA POPOVIC
MONDAY, APR 7 | 7:30PM

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information/tickets: 865-522-0832, https://knoxbijou.org/

The UT Creative Writing Program is excited to present a reading by debut novelist Chukwuebuka Ibeh, named one of the “Most Promising New Voices of Nigerian Fiction” in Electric Literature. The reading will take place Monday, April 7 at 7pm in the Lindsey Young Auditorium of John C. Hodges Library on the UT Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Chukwuebuka Ibeh is a novelist and Tedx speaker from Port Harcourt, Nigeria. His writing has appeared in McSweeneys, New England Review of Books and Lolwe. A 2023 Spruceton Inn Artist Resident, he was runner-up winner of the 2021 J.F. Powers Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for the Gerald Kraak Award and Morland Foundation Scholarship. His debut novel, Blessings, named highly anticipated in USA Today, Cosmopolitan, The Gentleman's Journal, The Irish News, and Esquire, was sold in eight territories, available in five languages and was shortlisted for the 2024 Wilbur Smith Prize. He is currently a teaching fellow in Fiction at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Information: chebert3@utk.edu

Event Starts 12:00 PM
Doors Open 11:30 AM

Join us for a FREE concert you won't want to miss! Mighty Musical Monday will feature House Organist Freddie Brabson on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. Stay tuned for more info about our special guest performer!

While we will not be providing lunch, you may bring your own. Concessions will also be available for purchase.

Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information/tickets: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a premier film series showcasing the finest in independent cinema across the South. This tour partners with local arts organizations to offer audiences a rare opportunity to experience groundbreaking films, engage in enriching discussions with the filmmakers, and explore a wide range of perspectives. From compelling documentaries to innovative narratives, the Southern Circuit celebrates the art of storytelling, creating a deeper connection between filmmakers and their audiences.

Clayton Center for the Arts is excited to be a host venue for this prestigious film tour. Over the next several months, we will present six thought-provoking and powerful films. Tickets are $10.00 each, or you can purchase a pass for all six films for $45.00.

Where the Butterflies Go
April 8, 2025
7:00 PM

In a desperate attempt to host his own children’s nature show, a fumbling filmmaker travels 3,000 miles asking North Americans how to save the endangered monarch butterfly, and ourselves, from extinction.

https://claytonartscenter.com/performances-events/

Experience the sounds and legacy of Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, KSO Music Director Aram Demirjian, and actors from the Clarence Brown Theatre, in partnership with the non-profit Stanford Eisenberg Knoxville Jewish Day School bring stories of injustice, suffering, resilience and survival to life during two unforgettable concerts. Performances take place at the Tennessee Theatre on Wednesday, March 5, and Tuesday, April 8. Tickets are on sale now for both performances.

MARCH 5 CONCERT: https://knoxvillesymphony.com/concert/violins-of-hope-strings-of-the-holocaust/
APRIL 8 CONCERT: https://knoxvillesymphony.com/concert/violins-of-hope-strings-of-the-holocaust-2/

The Violins of Hope are a collection of historic violins, once played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust, that symbolize resilience and the enduring power of music. Many of the Violins of Hope, which have been carefully and artfully restored, are concert-playable. World-class KSO musicians will bring these powerful instruments and their stories to life. Between selections, actors will provide powerful vignettes weaving history and art into an immersive journey of reflection and remembrance. The Violins of Hope project seeks to inspire audiences with messages of unity, hope, and humanity. By sharing the incredible stories of these instruments and their owners, the project connects past tragedies to a vision for a more compassionate future. Proceeds from the concerts will benefit KJDS, supporting its mission to foster education and community engagement.

In addition to the two KSO concerts, the Violins of Hope will be on display as part of a professionally curated and designed exhibition, which will run March 3 through April 9, 2025, at Digital Motif, 108 S. Gay Street in downtown Knoxville. KSO musicians and educators will also present in-classroom performances and educational sessions about Violins of Hope.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to witness history, music, and storytelling converge in an event that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit. Reserve your seats today to be part of this powerful experience.
At the Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street