Bluebird Music Festival at Macky Auditorium

A yearly benefit supporting the Future Arts Foundation, a 501(c)3 that supplies music instruments and supplies to Colorado schools and students who can’t afford them, this year’s Bluebird Festival at Macky Hall promises to be one of the best yet. Running April 29–30, the slate of performers includes Haley Heynderickx, Buffalo Nichols, Joshua Lee Turner & Bob Barrick, Emelise, Shovels and Rope, Watchhouse, Heavy Gus and headliner Ben Harper. Proceeds go to support initiatives like providing 500 instruments to the victims who lost their homes in the Marshall Fire, so it’s well worth the cost of entry for an incredible slate of acts. Tickets start at $39 for single afternoon shows. Visit BlueBirdMusicFestival.org for tickets and more information.

Richard Carter, FOSSIL BED I, 2021, Mixed Media. 30 x 32”

Four at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art

Four artists from Colorado are featured in Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art’s current exhibition appropriately titled 4. The four featured artists have rich and varied careers and highlight a variety of artistic styles and mediums; Richard Carter exhibits his colorist probing imagery filled with straight, clean lines with inspiration from science and math. Judy Guralnick offers close-up examinations of seeds and plants with an almost ghost-like quality to them. Charmaine Locke’s featured work includes paintings of wars in energetic colors that swirl and threaten to burst from their frames. And James Surls’ work is a mixture of sculptures that combine a variety of feelings, redefining his favored motifs of houses, flowers and knives. The exhibit runs through May 29. Museum admission is only $2, 303.443.2122 or bmoca.org. 

Love’s Labour’s Won at Dairy Center for the Arts

If you’ve ever read Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost then you already know how the end leaves four pairs of lovers separated. Shakespeare himself never wrote a sequel to the well-known play, but Katherine Dubois has – and The Upstart Crow is offering a world premiere of her play Love’s Labour’s Won. The action starts one year later, and while there is no rhyming pentameter to this show – most of the beloved characters return for this new imagining. May 4–21 at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets range from $21 to $25 at thedairy.org or 303.440.7826.

Something’s Afoot at Longmont Theatre Company

What happens when an Agatha-Christie-Style whodunit meets classic musical theatre? You get the zany musical spoof that is Something’s Afoot by James McDonald, David Voss and Robert Gerlach. The musical pays homage to classic Christie plays like The Mousetrap or And Then There Were None – but with a musical twist. Ten people are stranded in an isolated English countryside and one-by-one they are killed in mysterious ways. Add in a rising flood, power outages and an amateur detective, and you’ve got a hilarious musical mystery romp. Something’s Afoot runs May 12–27 at Longmont Theatre Company, 513 Main Street, Longmont. Tickets are $32+ at longmonttheatre.org or call 303.772.5200.

Prismatic at Dairy Center for the Arts

The Dairy Center for the Arts has several art galleries, most of which are free to the public and often feature compelling and poignant works. Coming up, in honor of Pride Month in June, the Dairy Center hosts an exhibit titled Prismatic – curated around the concept of a color spectrum, using the seven gallery walls to display monochromatic works from artists who identify as LGBTQIA+, while the exterior gallery space will host exclusively black and white color schemed works. The free exhibition runs May 12 through July 6 with an opening reception on May 12. Participating artist’s announced so far include; Scottie Burgess, Alli Lemon, Carey Candrian, Nathan Hall, Sophie Hill, Joel Swanson, Alexander Richard Wilson, Tyler Alpern, and more. Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. www.thedairy.org or 303.444.7328.

Sarah Mount and the Rushmores at City Park Jazz

Colorado’s most diverse summer music series kicks off Sunday June 4 at City Park in Denver with Sarah Mount and the Rushmores, a dynamic jazz/funk/soul outfit that has become a local darling in recent years. “The musician who has the most impact on how I play is Billie Holiday,” Mount said in an interview with YS two years ago (“Spotlight on Sarah Mount” June 12, 2021). “I aim to have such a high level mastery of style, grace, finesse, time and thoughtfulness. She is a true one-of-a-kind, and she was also a huge advocate for social justice at a very important time in American history.” City Park Jazz runs Sundays from 6–8 p.m. and admission is free. Get more info at www.CityParkJazz.org or check out Facebook.com/DenverFunkAndSoul for more about Sarah Mount and the Rushmores.