This year’s Bele Chere will be the last — at least, the last run by the city, as Asheville City Council members agreed during a March 12 budget session to end their financial involvement. As part of an overhaul in the way government deals with arts and festivals, city staff are also studying a proposal that sets up a “creative economies” chief, instead of a traditional arts administration staff. Photo by Max Cooper.
Starting in a special budget session this afternoon, Asheville City Council will contemplate a possible overhaul of the way the city deals with arts and festivals. At its formal meeting tonight, Council will appoint members of the school board.
Find some holiday peace at Johnson Farm’s Christmas festival on Saturday, Dec. 1.
“It was a photographer’s paradise at LEAF this past weekend!” says Xpress Office Manager Patty Levesque, who snapped these photos of the Lake Eden Arts Festival.
“I’m baffled and completely confused,” said Kevin Lacey of the Peculiar Pretzelmen about his first Dragon*Con experience. I totally relate. I didn’t know what to expect at Dragon*Con, and I could not have imagined the bizarre enormity of the largest fan-run multimedia popular culture convention in the universe. 
City staff considered DJ Kool, a 53-year-old hip-hop performer famous for his 1996 hit “Let Me Clear My Throat,” too much of a risk to play Bele Chere, emails obtained by Xpress reveal. The emails also illuminate a deeper conflict concerning hip-hop acts playing Bele Chere, which critics say revealed outdated prejudices.
From funk jams (like Lubriphonic, pictured here) to country rock and from steel pan to sacred steel, this year’s Downtown After 5 lineup has it all. The first free block party takes place Friday, May 20.
A few big, free events take place this weekend: The final installment of Shindig on the Green for this season happens Saturday evening. LAAFF runs all day on Sunday and The Asheville Symphony Orchestra performs a free concert on Park Square Park on Monday. See this weeks Xpress for details on those, and check out some of these other free or under $5 shows.
Don’t miss the annual Goombay Festival held on Eagle and Market Street in downtown Asheville. The three-day festival continues through Sunday, Aug. 29.
Thanks for sharing your views from ‘Roo! In this post, we have an aggregated Twitter feed and coverage from throughout the weekend.
Asheville b-boy posse Hunab Kru wowed crowds at ‘Roo. Photo by Jake Frankel.
Xpress has been doing a little detective work and here is a list of bands who have already announced that they’ll be playing this summer’s Bele Chere festival.
More budget-friendly events coming your way including the first Downtown After Five of the 2010 season, and the return of the Montford Arts Festival. Both are free!
Earth Day was a blast! Check out photos of the festivities at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
Answer a question and win a pair of guest-list spots for Thursday night’s show at the Grey Eagle, featuring Floating Action, the Coathangers and Kurt Vile and the Violators.
Things you might not have known about Folkmoot USA, the Waynesville-based international folk festival: It was started by a square-dancing surgeon in 1984. Groups from 100 different countries have performed. And each year, the festival features an entirely new program of performers.
Is it just me, or does a weekend that starts with a free festival seem somehow more auspicious than those weekends that don’t? (Even if you’re not a fan of this Friday’s Downtown After Five lineup, you can get your money’s worth—$0—in people-watching alone.) Beyond that, there’s free theater, a CD release and some of the area’s best-loved bands—including the reunion of Pure, on hiatus for the past 18 years. All for five bucks or less.
The occasional thunderstorm didn’t dampen the fun at last weekend’s Lake Eden Arts Festival. Xpress captured the fun on film and video.
The first annual HATCH Asheville—a creative-arts-and-mentoring festival featuring more than 25 free events—runs Wednesday, April 15, through Saturday, April 18. The official guide, which appeared as a pullout section in last week’s Xpress, is also available at festival venues and at special distribution boxes in downtown Asheville. In addition, a full schedule, event details and […]
Bye-bye Holly Jones Council approves new lighting standards City to co-sponsor “anchor events” As Asheville City Council meetings go, the Nov. 25 formal session had a decidedly emotional start, with a sometimes-tearful farewell to outgoing Council member Holly Jones, who’s moving on to claim a seat on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. Stuck in […]
City cuts event co-sponsorship costs Mumpower again raises immigration issue A proposed statewide moratorium on forced annexation could postpone a decision on four Asheville annexations that are currently tied up in court, City Attorney Bob Oast reported during City Council’s May 20 work session. The band plays on: The Asheville Holiday Parade was spared cuts […]
