Ashanti Files discusses her experiences thus far as Urbana's Poet Laureate, including what she has learned in the position, and what is still to come for the remainder of her year-long term. Trigger warnings: please note that this article contains mentions of mental health concerns including body image, depression and suicide.

July is hot with changes to experience the arts outdoors and among friends. 

The opening reception of Around the Block III:  Artists from Our Neighborhood was an all too familiar affair in these times:  100% virtual.

As I planned my Boneyard weekend, I wondered "With everything that we've gone through these last 18+ months, would the work reflect grief, loss, rage, or metamorphosis? Would it inspire catharsis? A glimmer of hope? A path forward?"

"It almost feels a bit like starting over which can be a bit messy but wholly thrilling at the same time," says 40 North Executive Director Kelly White about Boneyard 2021. 

These three new installations from the Urbana Utility Box Mural Program show just how much can exist within a thin layer of vinyl wrapping. 

Green screen technology does some incredible work for this opera, both practically and narratively.

Debra shares five things in arts this month you won't want to miss. 

Recent University of Illinois graduate Jordan Ratliff discusses the inspiration, process, and takeaways from a senior thesis production that has been over a year in the making.

Springtime is the right time to cultivate your Instagram. Here are five artists you want to be following. 

Designer and illustrator Brooke Armstrong advice to new artists is to "make the work you want to see."

Lyric Theatre at Illinois co-director Julie Gunn "[likes] our students, the performers, to work with living people at least some of the time, and I also like them relating what they’re doing to something in their own lives."