Lauren Warnecke

A concert at First United Methodist Church reminds art lovers to take a deep breath amid what, for some, remains a chaotic and disorienting time. “Breathing Deeply,” a collaboration between the Normal church and Illinois Symphony Orchestra, takes place this Sunday, with art, music and poetry — plus cookies and fellowship.

Youth art camps are already filling up at Illinois Art Station. As the art center rounds the bend on one full year since moving into their new home on Vernon Avenue, new leadership by a familiar face in the Twin Cities arts scene is returning the non-profit to its community roots and reigniting the Youth Mural Project for the first time since 2019.

The exhibition “Little Black Boy” enters its final weeks at Heartland Community College’s Joe McCauley Gallery, featuring black and white photography by Bloomington-Normal native Rashod Taylor.

In 1974, in the wake of the Stonewall Riots, a few ballet enthusiasts formed Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, a satirical ballet company born out of New York City’s drag scene. Lovingly known as the Trocks, the company’s hilarious takes on classic ballets are performed en travesti, with men dancing all the roles and donning tutus, tights and very large pointe shoes.

The early music group Schola Antiqua makes its Twin City debut March 19 with a special Women’s History Month program. Not just any women, though: “Music in Secret: Sounds from the Early Modern Convent” is dedicated to music written almost exclusively by nuns.

Illinois arts organizations lost, on average, 31% of their revenue to the pandemic in 2021, according to recent data from Arts Alliance Illinois, and they are on pace to match those losses over the first six months of 2022. WGLT surveyed area arts leaders with one main question: Are the arts doing OK?

Tom Kirk doesn’t view his day job as co-owner of Henson Disposal as related to his visual art, apart from the inside look he gets at how much people throw away. Kirk has spent the past several years building large-scale art pieces from discarded metal, gears and machinery, and he recently expanded to a spot in downtown Bloomington where a concrete lady now sits beneath the Main Street bridge.

Through March 4, the Joe McCauley Gallery at Heartland Community College is showing more than 50 works by Iranian artists. Titled “Being A Woman: Iranian Artists’ Reflection,” the exhibit shows a slice of what normal life is like for Iranian women.

Pt.fwd kicks off a new concert season on Feb. 26 with Chicago musicians Macie Stewart and Lia Kohl at the McLean Country Museum of History. Pt.fwd and the museum began their partnership in 2019, but the pandemic has held back their ability to host live, in-person concerts — until now.

Bloomington Public Library’s latest art exhibit, “Face Reality,” features black and white realism by central Illinois artist Jake Reagan. On view through Feb.18, “Face Reality” is one of Reagan’s first exhibitions since being released from prison nearly a year ago.