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Sky Hopinka, b. 1984, Ferndale, Washington. Mnemonics of Shape and Reason, 2021, HD video, stereo, color. Total run time: 04:13. Courtesy of the artist

Visual Art

The Fralin Museum of Art Announces Fall 2026 Exhibitions

The Fralin Museum of Art at The University of Virginia announces Legacies of Independence, a slate of four exhibitions exploring varied themes and perspectives around the legacies of Thomas Jefferson and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. On view from August 29, 2026, through January 3, 2027, the exhibitions take both historic and contemporary approaches to consider the ways Jefferson helped shape the United States in its infancy and promoted ideals we continue to deliberate to this day.

March 26, 2026

With visible theater seats in the background, a girl on stage wearing a long pink dress looks worriedly off stage, while a male actor in a suit sits at a nearby desk and looks at the girl.

Drama

U.Va. Drama Brings ‘Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812’ to the Stage

From Thursday through April 3, the Ruth Caplin Theatre will travel back in time to 19th century Russia for the debut of the University drama department’s production of “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.” Decorative sets, dance interludes and passionate ballads make up the spirited narrative and energetic dance sequences of this immersive musical experience. The production features undergraduate, graduate and alumni performers with a wide range of talents and experience, all of whom have dedicated themselves to months of intense rehearsals in preparation for opening night.

https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2026/03/uva-drama-brings-natasha-pierre-the-great-comet-of-1812-to-the-stage?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_featured

A small stage with 12 panel members sitting in a semi circle on stools. A small audience sit in chairs and stools dispersed around the small room.

Film

The Indie Short Film Festival Returns to Highlight Independent Filmmakers

Kicking off Friday, the Indie Short Film Festival is back in full-swing for its third year in Charlottesville, cementing the Indie Short Film Festival as a Charlottesville staple. The festival will run from Friday through Sunday with showings of around 130 short films in venues along the Downtown Mall, as well as panels, a cinematography workshop and a launch party for the festival featuring live musical performances.

https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2026/03/the-indie-short-film-festival-returns-to-highlight-independent-filmmakers?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_featured

An image of a museum display case with 4 pieces of ceramic teaware, all white and accented with either gold or navy blue.

Art History

The Fralin Explores Tea Making as a Form of Global Connection with Teaware Exhibition

Drinking tea is one of the most common practices in the world, with Americans alone consuming 3.9 billion gallons in 2021. With instant tea bags and cafe matcha lattes becoming more prevalent around the world, it can be easy to forget the cultural significance that tea drinking has in the ease and convenience that these products provide. The Fralin Museum of Art’s latest exhibition, entitled “Crafted for Tea: Connecting Cultures with Teaware and Traditions,” highlights the skill, artistry and history behind the making of this common drink.

https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2026/03/the-fralin-explores-tea-making-as-a-form-of-global-connection-with-teaware-exhibition?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_featured

A background of a blueprint for a set design, with a orange and blue colored hue. In the center is an image of a man smiling, wearing a collared shirt and suit jacket.

Film

This Hoo is Behind the Scenes of Your Favorite Movies

In the Oscar-nominated movie “One Battle After Another,” Bob, a former left-wing militant played by Leonardo DiCaprio, has retreated to an isolated cabin in the woods with his teenage daughter, Willa, played by Chase Infiniti. When Bob questions Willa about the genders of some friends she plans to attend a dance with, she storms off to her bedroom, shouting, “It’s not that hard!” Chris Cortner, a University of Virginia alumnus and set designer, helped build that bedroom. His work, along with that of production designer Florencia Martin and set decorator Anthony Carlino, is now nominated for an Academy Award for best production design.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/hoo-behind-scenes-your-favorite-movies

A digital image of a hand with a pixelated filter, and a cluster of grey and orange dots surrounding the hand's fingertips.

Visual Art

Data Meets Art at UVA

The subject is art, the theme is “truth” and the medium is data. The University of Virginia’s School of Data Science is hosting its annual Data Is ART Competition, inviting artists and data scientists to transform data into compelling visual narratives. In its third year, the competition is open for submissions until Sunday from artists across disciplines related to this year’s theme: what truth looks like in data. Awards include a grand prize of $2,500. Finalists’ work will be announced at a fall ceremony and publicly exhibited. In its inaugural year in 2024, the competition drew more than 130 submissions from seven countries and four continents.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/data-meets-art-uva

Film

From UVA Dorms to Hollywood Dreams

Karen Zipor knew she would eventually end up in Hollywood, but her career has still come as something of a surprise. “If 21-year-old Karen knew what was coming, she would not believe it,” said Zipor, who graduated from the University of Virginia in 2022 with degrees in drama and computer science. Since graduating, Zipor has worked on productions for Disney, DreamWorks, and Netflix, among other studios. She’s produced the talk show “Brittany Broski’s Royal Court,” which has featured guests like singer Harry Styles, comedian and “Saturday Night Live” star Marcello Hernandez, and Oscar-winning actor Jessie Buckley. She even started her own production company and has made both live and animated short films.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-dorms-hollywood-dreams

An image of a typewriter printing a page with the words, "Virginia Festival of the Book," and with two cardinals sitting on the typing device.

Creative Writing

Arts This Week: 2026 Virginia Festival of the Book

The Virginia Center for the Book is hosting the 2026 Virginia Festival of the Book. Programming begins this Thursday with preview events, and will continue from this Friday, March 20th, through this Sunday, March 22nd. For Arts This Week, we spoke with the director of the Center, Kalela Williams.

https://www.wtju.net/arts-this-week-2026-virginia-festival-of-the-book/

A green wooded background with a man wearing a grey t-shirt and a red baseball cap stands smiling at the camera.

Music

A Conversation With UVA’s A.D. Carson About ‘Being Dope’

The book is part personal narrative, part critique of power structures in America. A.D. Carson is an associate professor of hip-hop and the global South in the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Music and a Shannon Center Fellow for Advanced Studies. A member of the UVA faculty since 2017, Carson founded the UVA Rap Lab, a “collaborative hip-hop cypher space” and classroom where students are encouraged to explore their experiences and thoughts through the medium of creating music.

https://www.vpm.org/news/2026-03-13/uva-professor-ad-carson-being-dope-hip-hop-book-interview-phil-liles

A blue striped background behind an image of two interlocked puzzle pieces, one pink and one orange. The title, "CVille Puzzle Hunt" is in white letters on the puzzle pieces, and a magnifying glass enlarges the word, "Puzzle."

Visual Art

Arts This Week: Cville Puzzle Hunt

The Puzzle Hunt has nothing to do with puzzles like jigsaw puzzles. Instead, it’s like brain teaser puzzles. So we describe it as part escape room, part scavenger hunt, and it starts at IX Art Park. And basically you go around downtown Charlottesville finding and solving puzzles. Basically, there’s four initial puzzles. So at the beginning of the puzzle hunt will give you the coordinates and the map that you need to find the puzzles. The puzzles are around downtown, and you find them, you solve them

https://www.wtju.net/arts-this-week-cville-puzzle-hunt/

A mustard orange background with a painting of an older Black woman with a short haircut wearing glasses and long earrings. She is looking straight forward.

Creative Writing

From Circe to Octavia Butler, UVA Library Celebrates Women’s History Month 2026

For Women’s History Month this year, librarians at UVA recommend a variety of books written by women, ranging from science fiction to memoir to Greek myths. “Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia Butler” by Susana M. Morris (Amistad, 2025) In tracing the interior world of science fiction legend Octavia E. Butler through her writing, journals, archives, and interviews, Susana M. Morris generates a fascinating character study as well as a gripping story of struggle and persistence set against late-20th-century U.S. cultural history.

https://library.virginia.edu/news/2026/circe-octavia-butler-uva-library-celebrates-womens-history-month-2026

Film

Arts This Week: 11th Annual Banff Mountain Film Festival

On Friday, March 6 through Sunday, March 8, the Shenandoah National Park Trust will host the 11th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival at the Paramount Theater in downtown Charlottesville. For Arts this week, we spoke with Molly Strauchler. My name is Molly Strauchler. I’m the events and volunteer manager at Shenandoah National Park Trust, the official philanthropic partner of Shenandoah National Park, and we host the Banff film festival every year at the Paramount the Banff Film Festival is our largest annual fundraiser, and it is an epic cinematic experience over the course of three days. Each screening shows completely different films every night, and they’re all jam packed full of mountain culture and mountain adventure.

https://www.wtju.net/arts-this-week-11th-annual-banff-mountain-film-festival/