Featuring artists from the exhibition Cuba Avant-Garde, this event includes Gustavo Acosta, Carlos Estevez, Rueben Torres Llorca, and Glexis Novoa. A panel discussion, moderated by Helen Ferre of WPBT Channel 2 and El Diario, will be followed by a reception and exhibition viewing at the Lowe Art Museum. The event will be held on Saturday March 6 at 1:30 p.m. at Storer Auditorium. Admission is $10; free for Lowe members. HSBC Private Bank is the event sponsor.

The University of Miami’s Department of Art and Art History, Africana Studies Program, The Global Institute, and International art curator Ludlow Bailey present “Relentless Resilience: Harnessing the Energy of Contemporary African Diaspora Aesthetics.” This art exhibition, which celebrates Black History Month with a unique focus on contemporary Haitian artists from the Miami community, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, through February 28 at the College of Arts and Sciences Gallery on UM’s Coral Gables campus.

Almost, Maine cast members Ryan Phillips, left, and Kate Metroka, right, team up with Baby with the Bathwater cast member Leah Costello during rehearsals for the two comedies being presented on alternating nights from February 24 to March 7.

The Jerry Herman Ring Theatre’s 2009-10 season continues with Almost, Maine, a heartwarming comedy set in a very cold town. On a cold, clear, moonless night in the middle of winter, all is not quite what it seems in the remote, mythical town of Almost, Maine. As the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, Almost’s residents find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend—almost—in playwright John Cariani’s magical and delightful midwinter night’s dream.

Baby with the Bathwater is Christopher Durang’s bitingly satiric dark comedy about the pitfalls of parenthood. Durang, one of the American theatre’s most outrageous and inventive writers, looks at how difficult it is to be a parent…and how scary it can be to be a child. (In rotating repertory with Almost, Maine)

Read the full story

The Bill Cosford Cinema will present all of the nominated live action short films and animated short films for this year’s Academy Awards from Friday, February 19 to Tuesday, February 23.

The films will be presented in two separate programs: Live action films and animated films. The live action program is approximately 95 minutes long. The Animated program will be approximately 80 minutes long and will include short animated films beyond just those nominated for the Academy Awards.
Read the full story

The Frost School of Music  and the Miami Bach Society present Baroque Psalmody: A Benefit for Haitian Earthquake Relief at Plymouth Congregational Church. The psalms are among the oldest, most personal, and most loved texts in the Judeo-Christian world. This concert traces some of the best-known psalms from their earliest printed musical settings in 1524 and proceeds through more than four hundred years of musical twists and surprises. Joining the  UM Collegium Musicum, directed by Donald Oglesby, will be voice faculty members Tony Boutte, Dean Southern, and Susan Williams. Robert Heath with play organ adaptations of favorite psalms. Admission is free; a voluntary offering for earthquake victims will be received. Attend on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Plymouth Congregational Church, 3400 Devon Road, Coconut Grove. For more information, call 305-284-4162.