From October to March, Columbia enjoys a thriving dance scene, led most prominently by two professional ballet companies. 

“Few local arts leaders can work a room — or get things done — like Larry Hembree.” — Free Times, June 25, 2014

When Free Times reached out to Donald Brock, Jr., co-founder of the Soda City Comic Con, we wanted to know how he and partner Steve Powell do …

There’s a lot wrapped up in how we understand motherhood. It sometimes seems simple, sometimes complex. Its definition is sometimes biological…

This Friday, more than 30 people will walk across the stage at the Newberry Opera House, showing off a variety of outfits. But the clothes won…

Even if you weren’t a Twitter user, it was hard to miss the online explosion last week. Fans reacted to the freshly unleashed trailer for the …

Larry Lebby, the South Carolina artist known for depictions of African-American life and portraits of public figures, died July 21. He was 69.

A few years ago, Columbia artist Mana Hewitt had a modest idea to honor two women who made significant contributions to human progress. 

Just about every school kid ends up studying John Keats’ 1819 poem “Ode On A Grecian Urn.” It’s one of the best-known poems in literary histor…

It’s time again to harp on one of Free Times favorite harping points: The Harbison Theatre at Midlands Tech books far above what’s expected of…

Thirty-three years ago, a book was published in Columbia that had a wide-ranging effect in the fields of photography and African American stud…

Since Cirque Du Soleil was founded in July of 1984 in Quebec, the goal — per the group’s mission statement — has been to “invoke the imaginati…

On the surface, Tarot cards and black history don’t seem to have much in common.

Dewey Scott-Wiley, director of the upcoming Trustus Theatre production of Heathers, the Musical, jokes that she has no problem being an “emiss…

Germon “Mama G” Miller-Bey has one of the most varied and fascinating lives you’ll find. The 66-year-old has a PhD in urban anthropology. She …

Sometimes a comedy club isn’t the best place to see comedy. In fact, if a comedian chooses to work in a format other than standing on stage ho…

Mimi Kato and Jimmy Kuehnle don’t do anything small, or similar. 

As a filmmaker, Charleston’s Michelle Iannantuono readily admits that she’s “not the best case study.”

The University of South Carolina’s Southeastern Piano Festival, an internationally renowned celebration of some of the finest musicians in the…

The local art gallery Anastasia & Friends will come to an end soon — but not without a going-away party.

Chatting with Sean McGuinness the day before Godzilla: King of the Monsters opens in theaters and just over a week before the June 7 opening o…

Marina Alexandra is an accomplished classical guitarist who began playing at a very young age — but it wasn’t exactly her decision.

“We do a great disservice to people by making them read Shakespeare,” posits Tim Giles.

This weekend, Tapp’s Arts Center will host the second annual Columbia’s Emerging Choreographers showcase. Presented by the local dance company…

Jason Kendall is likely one of the few modern artists who can not only look back on a storied career as a high school jock, but also draw insp…

An organization like the South Carolina Philharmonic will always find its natural home in an ample concert hall the size of the Koger Center, …

There’s a new piece of public art in Five Points — but there’s been none of the usual publicity about it yet, because people weren’t sure it w…

When Columbia artist SaBrina Jeffcoat had the idea for a multi-artist exhibition, she didn’t fool around.

Classical music is not a genre typically associated with improvisation. As beautiful and moving as pieces by Beethoven or Mozart or Tchaikovsk…

When the University of South Carolina received 180,000 comics and books from a collector in Ohio, the school brought in Chris Foss, a 40-year …

“I want to speak in all of my languages.”

There’s an old adage from her Russian homeland that Olga Yukhno would just as soon never hear again: One person in the battlefield cannot be a…

Ed Madden dislikes restricting poems to books. 

When ArtFields first launched in 2013, the idea that a quaint, small town in the Pee Dee could be an anchor of the regional or even statewide …

If you look at his resume, Raymond Smith doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would start such an event as this weekend’s first-ever Doko Fil…

For University of South Carolina senior Allie Anderson, directing the upcoming production of Wonder of the World represents the culmination of…

When Clark Ellefson first moved into the Vista in 1980, Columbia’s old warehouse and textile district was no one’s idea of upscale or artsy.

Is it possible that one of the most groundbreaking authors in the English language has been all but erased from literary history?

If there was a sign on the door of Greg Stuart’s Experimental Music Workshop at the University of South Carolina Honors College, perhaps it wo…

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel of romance, obsession and decadence among the wealthy on Roaring ’20s Long Island, has ofte…

Annual art events tend to evolve, some more dramatically than others. 

If you need proof that ace video game players are the new rock stars, look no further than this year’s South By Southwest event in Austin, Tex…

For a writer described by reviewers as “wacko-southern,” a “raconteur,” and “America’s funniest short story writer,” George Singleton’s new co…

In some sense, the Sympatico Percussion Group is what happens when the music matters more than anything else.

As a writer, Dorothy Allison deals in brutal honesty and complex emotions. The Greenville native is the author of the searing, viscerally emot…