"Arts matter, dance matters," Ballet Memphis CEO Gretchen Wollert McLennon says. "Arts are a respite and a celebration. They change lives, they employ people."

Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre will play a free showing of “Get on Up” on Wednesday, Sept. 9 to honor the life of Chadwick Boseman.

An anonymous artist has fabricated and erected — without permission — 12 road signs in 12 states. They look like official traffic signs, but display a short poem. Tennessee's sign was placed along North Parkway, but city crews this week removed it. 

BONUS: A Q&A with the creator of the roadside senryu

After eight years on Broad Avenue, Collage Dance Collective is relocating to a 22,000-square-foot location on Tillman. This is part of the nonprofit’s vision to grow into the largest Black-owned ballet company in the South.

For the Shell, the problem is the medium, not the message. Tagging has been a recurring issue. “When we’re sitting here empty, and it’s dark, I understand that it’s an empty canvas,” said Shell executive director Natalie Wilson.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4.

Mark Greaney has written nine thrillers about his legendary assassin Court Gentry, aka 'The Gray Man.' Netflix cast Ryan Gosling in the film role.

Ryan Watt has held the top job at the film organization since 2015. A national search will be conducted to replace him.

As a depiction of the terrain of Memphis, circa 1993, “The Firm” is notable for its trip to the now dated and decaying Mud Island River Park, arguably the most inventive use of a Memphis location in any film. Here, it’s the setting for a climactic Hitchockian chase scene.

“Classical Creativity in Isolation” will open the professional theater company’s 13th season. “I don’t care for live theaters being classified as ‘non-essential’ this year,” says TSC founder Dan McCleary. 

Scheduled for Oct. 3-10, Memphis Art & Design Week will include interviews, panels, talks, virtual studio tours and online shopping.

Record Store Day will be several days this year, with stores varying how they let people in. The pandemic has forced retailers and store reps to find creative ways to package and promote records. 

The start of the 2020-21 season has been pushed back to December at least, and the theater has turned to inventive ways to make sure the show goes on.

The effort and cost it takes to pick up the litter left by these ahistorical Lost Cause organizations is a drag. I’m not here to tell Collierville what to do, but those Confederate markers will go away some day.

Live theater companies in Memphis endured a long exercise in improv in the second half of the 2019-20 theater season. And 2020-21 is shaping up as more of the same.

Milton "Memphis" Howery's quarterly professional mixer, The Link Up, continues now as a virtual happy hour. 

Named after a Memphis grocery store chain, Big Star recorded three haphazardly distributed albums over the course of just a few years, toured sporadically, got good press and had no hits. This obscurity grew over time into a considerable cult.

Buy some Memphis music, y’all. Our independent record stores are back open and doing shopping by appointment, which, honestly, is pretty cool.

Adopting Stax Records' approach to tackling Black liberation through song, several local artists responded to recent protests with lyrical activism.

The size of the historic Downtown theater makes it possible to reopen to audiences during the COVID-19 epidemic, said Orpheum president Brett Batterson.

The Memphis-based regional movie chain, with 36 locations across six states, will start reopening its indoor theaters Aug. 21, with significant physical upgrades that involve more luxurious – and reserved – seating. 

We're used to large-scale alterations underway on sites Downtown, but landscapes are also changing at some promising and high-profile properties farther East. 

Elizabeth Rouse, President & CEO of ArtsMemphis, joined Eric Barnes on The Extra Podcast this week to talk about the myriad number of ways that artists are trying to connect with people during the shutdown.

On its 20th anniversary, the Stax Music Academy is using the break from in-person instruction to prioritize solo musicianship over live performance.

Elvis’ popularity may have started this week in 1956. That’s when “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel”— constituting two sides of one 45 rpm single — reached the top of Billboard's pop singles chart.