When she started writing “Black Lake,” award-winning poet and University of Memphis professor Emily Skaja expected to document her healing journey. “But that didn’t happen.”

Harry Lennix said Hattiloo’s success has shown what a Black-led regional theater can mean for a city’s cultural life.

Plus, several artists with ties to the Memphis region are on former President Barack Obama’s annual summer playlist.

How many chances do you get to BYOB to a show by an EGOT winner? In August, Memphians can see a country superstar, musical improv on Beale and, of course, John Legend. 

The show also highlights the movement’s Black activists and Memphians Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell, who fought to keep questions of racial justice from being sidelined by white suffragists eager to appease Southern lawmakers.

Celebrating the best in Memphis theater for the 2025-2026 season, this year’s Ostrander Awards take place at the Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center.

Also, director Sam Pollard’s Lorraine Motel documentary will show at the Nashville Film Festival. 

“We’re finding ways to tell new stories with our permanent collection, but also introduce our visitors to new works, new acquisitions that we’ve been holding onto very eagerly to debut them in our new building,” said chief curator Patricia Daigle.

Disney’s “first prince” and a beloved American president are the focus of the two shows opening this weekend.

There’s an opening date set for the Memphis Art Museum. And when it opens, it will welcome locals to a bigger gallery space, a sculpture garden, a rooftop walking path and more for free. 

Opening this week: a darkly comic thriller about a barber whose quest for revenge turns into a spree of murder and cannibalistic meat pies. It also happens to be a beloved musical.

Grant opportunities are now open to local visual artists and nonprofit or government organizations that want to address community issues through art.

The Lakeland native started out in the children’s programs at Germantown Community Theatre, Playhouse on the Square, Harrell Theatre and New Day Children’s Theatre.

“People are hungry for songs and stories,” according to a local musician. And a South Main music festival is here to deliver. 

Plus, Mississippi-native KIRBY sings the new “Spider-Noir” TV series’ theme song.

With roots in Mississippi, the Rhodes graduate has amassed more than a million monthly Spotify listeners and was the featured artist for March on BET’s spotlight program.

Runway at the Museum includes six featured designers, most of whom are local.

After 10 years at TheatreSouth, Quark Theatre is joining TheatreWorks as a resident company. Quark’s motto is “small plays about big ideas.”

The National Center for Choreography–Akron is “Making Moves” across the United States, but the ties that bring it to Memphis go beyond tour dates. 

Elvis, Jerry Lawler and the Beale Street Flippers: Find the nooks and crannies of Memphis culture in this “Where’s Waldo”-inspired piece. 

More Daily Memphian staffers share their favorite baseball movies.

Some of these can be considered to be more baseball movies than others, but hear us out.

Samilia Pelshak, a Memphis-based fashion designer, is the artist behind the outdoor installation “Wax Print Wonderland.”

In a Cooper-Young bar, a musician and painter led a room full of people through speed portraits. 

Works by more than 80 Memphis and Shelby County students will be on view through April 30 at the Pink Palace.

“All the teachers were fine artists and loved to teach,” said Murray Riss, who established the photography department at Memphis College of Art.