Arts & Culture

A record number of high schools in the Lehigh Valley and New Jersey will participate in this year's Freddy Awards — the State Theatre's annual recognition of Lehigh Valley high school musical theater.

After searching for the right space for around nine months, Maria and Alison Corradini officially opened Alchemize Pilates Community in Emmaus on Jan. 3. As the two push to build a community through their Pilates studio, almost 100 members registered before the business wrapped up its first week.

Hear firsthand the stories of a longtime family-run bakery this Saturday.

Available through early March, the private chalets seat up to six guests and are designed in an alpine décor, including seasonal treats such as hot chocolate, s’mores and optional add-on snacks, as well as access to a heated outdoor hot tub.

ArtsQuest has announced that 26 bands from Pennsylvania and New Jersey will compete over five dates in February and March, in front of live audiences and a judging panel of music educators at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be observed Monday, Jan. 19, with a wide range of events across the Lehigh Valley honoring the life and legacy of the civil rights leader.

Roebucks' newest film, made entirely in the Lehigh Valley, will premiere Feb. 21 with three red-carpet events before a Feb. 27 national release.

Jessica "Jess" Lee, 67, served PBS39 viewers in the Lehigh Valley for nearly a half-century. The Bethlehem native and Liberty High alum died Thursday after a battle with cancer. She joined the station in 1980.

Scranton rock band Tigers Jaw will perform at Allentown's Archer Music Hall as part of the venue's Pennsylvania's Own series of Keystone State musical act. Tickets went on sale Friday.

A new addition at Steel Ice Center will house the facility's now third 200-by-85-foot ice rink, along with a new fitness center, stretch-and-recovery lab and other amenities.

Citing its lease ending, south Bethlehem paint-your-own pottery shop will reopen in the lifestyle center where it first opened 15 years ago.

Local artists teamed up to dispense their artwork from a vending machine at the Easton Public Market.

Arrival From Sweden: The Music of ABBA will perform July 18 at the venue, 301 W. Mill St., Quakertown, as part of the Sounds of Summer Concert Series.

Hollywood Undead, best known for the 2008 hit "Undead" and 2009's "Everywhere I Go," will perform a paid-ticket concert at the venue at 7 p.m. May 13, it was announced. The show also will feature gold-selling rock band Set It Off and charting rap-rocker Zero 9:36.

Attendees will receive a piece of artwork during the benefit, which takes place Friday at the JuxtaHub.

The 26th annual Lehigh Valley Auto Show will be held March 20-23 at Lehigh University. More than 400 vehicles, domestic and imported, will be on display.

Sting, who topped the charts with such songs as "Every Breath You Take" as bassist and vocalist of The Police, then with "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" as a solo artist, will perform Nov. 20-21.

Live Nation head of club programming Molly Warren said the Archer is viewed as a resource being built where there's already a "thriving community" for music — the Lehigh Valley — that embraces artists of many genres.

A punk band that started at Nazareth Area High School will perform at 7 p.m. April 12 in the venue's The Arrow room. And Emo Night Brooklyn, which started as parties in the 2010s that captured the youthful, Do It Yourself milieu of the genre, will perform at 8 p.m. March 22, also in The Arrow.

Lisa VanArsdale, a local podcaster and comedian, will perform her one-woman show on Sunday, Feb. 23.

James Arthur, who won the ninth series of "The X Factor" in Britian 2012 and is best known for the 2016 hit "Say You Won't Let Go," will perform at the event center at 7:30 p.m. July 3.

Three chart-topping reggae-based bands will perform at 8 p.m. June 11 at the Musikfest Cafe. Joining Tropidelic will be reggae-rock band Ballyhoo! and Reggae-punk band Authority Zero.