Arts & Culture

Construction is set to begin after the former Banana Factory building is demolished in March. There, the new ArtsQuest Creative Factory will house a Martin Guitar recording studio, volunteer center, artist studios and a year-round comedy club.

Chicago, which is among the Top 30 bestselling music acts of all time, with more than 120 million copies of its 46 albums sold worldwide, will perform on Musikfest's main Steel Stage on Aug. 5.

The broad range of shows coming to Allentown's new Archer Music Hall includes an all-star revue of New Orleans musicians that headlined Musikfest's main stage, an iconic original punk band and an early 2000s teen chart-topper.

The new exhibits feature artwork by well-known creatives and former residents of the New Arts Program, plus pieces by local artists Rain Black and Mallory Zondag.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers tribute band Damn the Torpedoes will perform Friday, Jan. 17, at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks in Bethlehem.

A top-priced $99 ticket for country star Darius Rucker at Musikfest on Aug. 3 normally would come with a $10 service fee, a $8.50 Musikfest venue fee and a $1 ticket vendor fee. So normally, you'd pay $19.50 in fees (a 19.7% upcharge) per ticket. But not today.

The fledgling cultural center on Church Road in Martins Creek is at the former Good Shepherd Church, built in 1864. The center offers monthly lunches for seniors, free classes for children, monthly movie nights, book clubs and gardening.

The 109th PA Farm Show is in full swing and continues through Saturday in Harrisburg. Find out how Lehigh Valley competitors placed in the Family Living and Commodities competitions.

Ahead of the Civic Theatre's staging of "Jesus Christ Superstar," Ted Neeley, star of the 1973 film, will visit Allentown for a special appearance.

The Lehigh Valley Arts and Culture Alliance is offering grants to individual artists and nonprofits to help revamp parts of downtown Allentown. LVACA also seeks artists to paint a mural on the Spiral parking garage on Linden St.

Ten new shows were added to the State's 2024-25 season lineup.

Il Divo will play the event center at 8 p.m. March 28, comedian Jimmy Carr on Nov. 7, 2025, and comedian Stavros Halkias on May 10.

The free-admission event features 40 unique merchant huts, live entertainment, a skating rink and more. It runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 22.

Based on themes of home in the Lehigh Valley and executed via improvisation on the piano, former Nazareth native Dominic Billett's new record “Truer is the Valley, the River, the Pale Sky" paints a thoughtful, vivid picture perfect for walks throughout the region.

A big part of the Christkindlmarkt experience is the food, drink and holiday music. The German-inspired holiday market will be open Friday to Sunday for its first three weeks, then expand to Thursday to Sunday through Dec. 22.

The State Theatre show will kick off a tour in which Elvis Costello will perform only with pianist Steve Nieve from his band The Attractions, according to his website.

Sebastian Maniscalco is scheduled to perform at the PPL Center in Allentown on Thursday, March 13. Tickets go on sale Friday morning.

Conservative TV talk show host Greg Gutfeld, whose program "Gutfeld!" on Fox-TV is the most-watched late-night show in the United States, is coming to PPL Center on Sept. 20.

The Kutztown Folk Festival, known as the oldest continuously operated folk festival in America, is no more.

Sophie Vandecasteele is hoping to open Sophistiqué before Thanksgiving, with a soft opening set for Friday, Nov. 22, at 924 Walnut St.

"Saint Nick of Bethlehem" is screening at the Frank Banko Alehouse Theatre and Shankweiler's Drive-In. Actor Danny Roebuck will also appear at ArtsQuest as Santa Claus on Sunday, Dec. 1.

The owner of Board to Death Games at 338 Main St., just off the Emmaus Triangle, said he wants to be a space for both classic board games and more hardcore hobbyist games. Just down the road, on the same side of the Triangle, Let's Go Coffee Co. is set to open at 358 Main St.