In honor of Black History Month, SHSMO has prepared a special art exhibition at Ellis Library that explores the work by painter and graphic designer Spencer T. Banks, through artwork and photography he produced for African American businesses in St. Louis. Art curator Joan Stack will present a lecture on Banks Feb. 26, 12-1 p.m. at Ellis Library, Room 114A. Included in the exhibit is Banks’s serial comic strip Pokenia, which ran in the St. Louis Argus from 1939-40. The comic centered around the adventures of a Black female office worker and her conflicts with an office thief and a criminal gang.

The exhibit is open to the public during regular visitor hours at Ellis Library.

Learn more here.

Neosho Arts Council will be hosting their annual Big Spring Park Free Concert Series this May and June. Patrons will have the opportunity to enjoy three evenings of live music flowing through the park against a backdrop of lush greenery, spring flowers, and rushing spring water.

“We are thrilled to invite the community to enjoy live music from our historic Grecian stage in Big Spring Park,” said Sarah Serio, president of Neosho Arts Council. “For almost a century our community has enjoyed music from this stage and we are happy to continue the tradition.”

This year’s first concert will be May 9 featuring cello driven sound by Auralai.  Her unique brand of cello-pop brings a breath of fresh air to the contemporary music scene.

“These concerts are ideal for picking up a meal to-go at one of our downtown restaurants and enjoying a picnic in the park with live music,” Serio said.

Nationally touring musician Molly Healey will perform on May 29. She’s known as a one-woman band that brings a whole orchestra with her due to her unique ability to blend looping music, live string instruments, and intimate vocals together.

Healey began her solo career in 2015 after buying a simple looping pedal. There she found a passion for blending strings and voice into atmospheric and experimental orchestral folk songs.

“Molly was recently selected as a Missouri Arts Council featured artist,” Serio added. The program strives to showcase the variety of creative talent Missouri has to offer.

The arts council will wrap up their series on June 21 with a celebration Make Music Day featuring the Americana/Indie Rock group, Dandelion Heart. The group strives to capture the beauty in simplicity with penetrating harmonies while featuring a blend of folk, bluegrass, rock, and indie sounds.

“These concerts are open for everyone to attend. We hope families will join us and help nurture the next generation of music lovers,” Serio said. Big Spring Park features a playground a wheelchair accessible swing set.

“We will be holding a sidewalk chalk fun draw during each concert,” Serio added. “Music possesses the ability to spark creativity and promote relaxation, especially when intertwined with art.”

The performance will begin at 6:30pm on the south side of Big Spring Park (309 W. Spring Street) in Neosho. There is no cost to attend. Attendees should bring a lawn chair or blanket with them. In case of rain the performance will move indoors. You can learn more about each performance by visiting neoshoarts.net.

Neosho Arts Council needs you to help save a piece of American Military History.  During the Second World War Neosho, MO was home to Camp Crowder and thousands of soldiers received training there. Recently the Neosho Arts Council discovered a mural designed and painted by an unknown soldier who was passing though the camp for training before deploying overseas. Sadly, portions of the mural remain only in their early stages of a detailed sketch, as duty called the artist was forced to answer before he was able to complete the painting.

For decades this mural has been hidden away and almost lost to history. Now, over half a century later this work of art by an American solider is in need of protection and preservation. We need your help to save this mural so that future generations can learn about Neosho’s role in American History.

The following work is needed to ensure this mural survives

• Removal from current location

• Create new structural support

• Repairs to original wall board the mural is painted on

• Clean with tested surfactant

• Restoration of paint

• In-paint losses with conservation grade raw pigments

• Preservation treatment and UV varnish

Mail Donations to: 

Neosho Arts Council

Camp Crowder Mural

PO Box 605
Neosho, MO 64850

Learn more about the project, Camp Crowder, and to donate here!

Ozarks Lyric Opera (OLO) proudly announces its 45th season "World So Wide." The 2024-25 season offers two operas, three concerts, and an intimate onstage experience all at the historic Gillioz Theatre. See below for details.

"A Foreign Affair" kicks off the 2024-25 OLO season in September with another intimate, and soon-to-be sold out, concert and dining experience with Artistic Director, Michael Spyres. In November, OLO presents Aaron Copland's gorgeous opera "The Tender Land," and then we finish out the year with a holiday music spectacular "Home for the Holidays: A Spyres Family Concert." In March, the always popular "Opera Rocks" returns to the stage with the M Dock Band, and April brings the Missouri premiere of the enchanting opera "The Little Prince." OLO finishes their 45th season with "Jazz Aria," a fun, opera and jazz collaboration with the Missouri Jazz Orchestra (MOJO) in May. 

OLO 2024-25 Season Dates:

May 24, 2025 Jazz Aria w/ MOJO^ 

*Season subscriber event

^Special event

Learn more here.

The Missouri Symphony welcomes you to Firefly Music Festival 2025! Join us on a musical journey across four centuries, featuring both classical favorites including Haydn’s Drumroll Symphony & Dvořak’s New World Symphony, and new and exciting works from pops to film to contemporary!

Learn more and buy tickets!

Come and join the Airmen of Note for an exciting and eclectic evening of music, featuring hits from the golden age of swing to modern compositions and arrangements written specifically for the band!

Created in 1950 to continue the tradition of Major Glenn Miller’s Army Air Forces dance band, the Airmen of Note consists of 17 active-duty musicians and one vocalist. Stationed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C., it is one of six musical ensembles that make up the The U.S. Air Force Band.

Additional Missouri tour dates include:
May 2, 2025 - Jesse Hall - Columbia, MO - 7:30pm
May 4, 2025 - Platte City HS - Platte City, MO - 5pm

Details and tickets for additional tour dates here.

Through this year’s Picture the Music program, 13,000 students created art inspired by Arturo Márquez‘s Conga del Fuego Nuevo. Now you can be inspired by the wide range of emotions and creativity that the 100 finalists put onto paper. Make plans to visit the Picture the Music traveling exhibit, on view at the following location:  

• The Magic House, April 29-May 11 

If you can’t make it to the exhibit, you can view the artwork online at slso.org/picture.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year’s Picture the Music! Interested in future programs? Next school year, give your students the opportunity to be recognized and celebrated for their creativity and imagination through Picture the Music. 

Created in partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Magic House. Presented in partnership with the St. Louis Symphony Volunteer Association.

(Image caption: Logan Fletcher, Dance Across the Page, Shaw VPA - 5th grade) 

Please feel free to join us for any of the following UMSL First 5 events, whether you're an art teacher in your first five years of teaching or not! All are welcome, including veteran teachers, teachers of other subjects, your kiddos, etc. We look forward to seeing you at one of our First 5 events this year! 

QUARTER 4

“FIRST 5 AND MAEA DISTRICT 8 SOCIAL” WITH DR. JENNIFER FISHER
May 7, 2025 - 6:30 PM
Ferguson Brewing Company - 418 S Florissant Rd - Ferguson, MO 63135

Come join us as this informal First 5 and MAEA District 8 Social to connect with other area art teachers, enjoy food and drink, and swap stories from your school year!