Arts and Culture

Award-winning cartoonist Keith Knight's focus on racial profiling, police brutality, and race relations have many pegging him as a social activist.

Knight draws and narrates three different platforms. His “K Chronicles” is a weekly multi-panel.  “(th)ink” is a weekly single panel. “The Knight Life” is his daily comic strip, and the one he said is most personal and based on his life and family.

In Grace Sheese’s artwork, rabbits, squirrels and other animals frolic around ceramic cups. Yet under the whimsy, the artist has a powerful message about connection to share.

From medieval weapons to farming tools to hand railings and wall hangings, blacksmithing is actually thought to have started around 1,500 B.C. in the Middle East.

Pop culture once idolized the hero—the white knight who took the high road to the rescue. But lately our tastes have changed, taking a darker turn toward what we seem to find irresistible.

Is just being an actor enough to play the role of a gay or trans character?

The life of an actor is no easy road, with ample demands that can tax the hardiest of artists. But help is at hand from a new book from a Bloomington-Normal pair who saw the need for practical advice that leads to lasting positive change for actors.

Kindred spirits gather in a neighborhood bar in Philly and get something stronger than a shot of whiskey. It's a place where everybody knows your name. But do they know your heart?

Community Players in Bloomington begins its 97th season this weekend with "Peter and the Starcatchers."

The Coalescence Theater Project is a new institution in the Twin Cities with some stalwart names attached.

Defining a griot’s role in West African society can be a challenge, as the title doesn’t translate easily to European-based culture.

Illinois Wesleyan University jazz studies director Glenn Wilson says rare concert footage is a major reason the Thelonious Monk documentary is "a must watch."

Bloomington's Herb Eaton says his "Mommy's Broom" bronze sculpture chosen for this year’s Peoria Sculpture Walk is actually a vision from 30 years ago.

Miski Dee Rodriguez said she left corporate America 15 years ago to follow her true love: Music.

New fine arts acts and more children's programming are part of the lineup of the new season at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts.

Prairie Fire Theatre goes gothic this year with an erie production of "The Secret Garden," based on the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The now five member blues-rock outfit Old Smoke has been headlining central Illinois shows and opening for national acts including Samantha Fish and Tommy Castro at the Castle Theatre for roughly three years -- despite no album to sell or promote.

Cody Diekhoff as his alter ego Chicago Farmer is a riveting live performer who has cultivated a loyal following with folk songs and stories about the American heartland. And especially central Illinois.

As many as 150 people recently participated in a ceremonial barn-raising event in Goodfield, but it wasn’t to help an ailing farmer.

The digital age has aided globalization of popular culture, according to Illinois State University professor Lane Crothers. 

It's the Illinois bicentennial, and as a result the 10th year of Lincoln's Festival in Bloomington-Normal will be richer and more nuanced, according to organizer Barb Adams and grant writer Marcia Young.

Inside the Constitution Trail tunnel under Washington Street in Bloomington, young artist Eden Warner painted a giant letter “B” with lots of green trees.

The Something Brothers guitarist Edwin Pierce said it was surprisingly easy for band members to create and record new music together despite a nearly 30-year studio hiatus, and missing a key band member.

Concerts on the Quad have been filling pleasant summer Mondays since the 1980s at Illinois State University.

The Fourth of July holiday is all about mom and apple pie, as well as the nation's founding. Here is a different story of motherhood.

The last time singer-songwriter Neko Case played the Castle Theatre in Bloomington, the sold-out crowd missed out on her new album. The recording "Hell-On" was still a few months away from release.