Arts & Culture

The Allentown Film Festival is now in its second year and will feature short films and Q&A sessions with filmmakers.

The event's theme this year is "All Jazzed Up," and students shared what they're excited — or jazzed up — about in their own lives.

Actor/comedian Patrick Roach, who plays the character Randy on “Trailer Park Boys,” will bring Randy's Cheeseburger Picnic to Maingate Nightclub on Saturday, June 1.

Violinist Diane Monroe and New Jersey-based dance group Nimbus are among the scheduled performers set for April at Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University.

Megan Campbell and her son Finley have just released their first storybook, "Home is Where the Heart is," which features some of the young man's favorite spots in Easton.

Blues Traveler, which also in the 1990s had five gold and platinum albums and whose 1990 hit "Run-Around" spent 49 weeks on the Top 100, will perform Aug. 24. Also on the show will be Big Head Todd and The Monsters, who had the Top 15 hits “Bittersweet,” “Broken Hearted Savior” and “Resignation Superman.”

A $900,000 grant to ArtsQuest and the City of Bethlehem will improve pedestrian infrastructure around the nonprofit's Banana Factory complex on Third Street.

A new event, Steel City Smokeout, will be held Saturday, July 20, on PNC Plaza on the SteelStacks campus in conjunction with Bethlehem restaurant Nick’s BBQ.

Moravian University students wrote and directed the productions as part of their Master of Fine Arts thesis projects. Their performances at Touchstone Theatre — spread out through April and starting this week — will explore disability, self-worth and creativity.

Heavyweight developer City Center plans to open its new music venue, The Archer, in the 900 block of Hamilton Street in Allentown later this fall. Construction is underway.

Metropolitan Community Church in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, is in its fifth decade of serving the LGBTQ community.

Montgomery County-based Teeze became Roughhouse and hit it big on MTV in the 1980s. Now they're back together and playing their original album tonight at The Gin Mill in Northampton Borough.

The fast-growing, Philadelphia-based chain honeygrow opened May 23 in Airport Shopping Center at 1872 Airport Road, Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

With support from Unity Bank and organizers Greater Easton Development Partnership and the Easton Tea Dance, Easton will host its first-ever Pride celebration on June 1, 2025.

The PA Shakespeare Festival, celebrating its 34th season, will hold its Play On! community tour beginning on Friday, May 30, at Emmaus Public Library. The free show will also take place at the National Museum of Industrial History and the Allentown Public Library.

Shaun Cassidy, known for 1970s chart-topping gold pop hits "That's Rock 'n' Roll," "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Hey Deanie," will perform at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26.

The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Regional Music Awards, a new organization, will hold its inaugural presentation Dec. 7 at Emmaus Theatre.

Start Making Sense, a Talking Heads tribute band with singer Jon Braun assuming the role of frontman David Byrne, will perform the first day of Garlic Fest, set for Oct. 4-5 in Downtown Easton.

The arts and music extravaganza will run from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 24, and Sunday, May 25. New attractions this year include a drone show on Sunday night.

Nazareth Area High School's production won five Freddy Awards — including Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical — at the ceremony Thursday night at Easton's State Theatre.

The ninth annual Good Neighbor Awards recipients were Darian Colbert and Yolanda Colbert, Ilene Hochberg Wood and Judith A. Harris. The ceremony was held at the Univest Public Media Center, home to Lehigh Valley Public Media, which consists of PBS39, 91.3 WLVR Radio and LehighValleyNews.com.

ArtsQuest has announced the lineup for its free festival that celebrates the musical genre founded in Jamaica, which will return to the SteelStacks campus for a fourth year, from noon to midnight July 5.