The UNLV School of Music presents dozens of free classical music recitals and concerts every term. Most are by students, performing solo or in small groups. There are also performances by music faculty, guest artists, and visiting ensembles.
Can simply walking a nervous dog help save its life? Can spending some time with a scared cat turn into something wonderful? The answer to both is yes. Volunteers at the Animal Foundation do these simple things and more to help pets find their forever homes. The shelter is looking for people willing to commit to as little as six hours a month to be part of their ambitious Mission: Possible 2020. Getting all healthy and treatable animals adopted can only happen with the help of volunteers.
Take part in an eclectic experience — Nevada style! The year-in-the-making exhibit explores aspects of Nevada life far beyond the sagebrush and neon clichés. Coyotes, soapbox derby cars, maps: you can start to sense the breadth of this show. In addition to the largest photographic exhibit the museum has ever mounted, there are interactive elements, too. Type on a typewriter, feel an animal pelt. Bask in all of Nevada’s glory. Nevada State Museum, $9.95, nvculture.org
If you disable your conditioned cynicism — if you don’t think My kid could do this, or Abstraction is just a way for untalented artists to stay in the game — and just roll with it, abstract art can be enormously fun. Largely stripped of referentiality, abstract art deals in the eye-candy potential of shapes, lines, splatters, drips, washes, juxtaposition, randomness, and composition. See it all and more in this group show. (SD) Winchester Gallery, 702-455-7340
Our 2019 Best of the City pick for Best Film Festival clocks in with its 19th edition. “Everyone, yes everyone, is welcome,” says the festival website, and, indeed, a documentary like Aulcie — about an African American basketball player from New Jersey who led an Israeli basketball team to a historic title, became famous in his adopted country, and wound up in prison — can be enjoyed equally by the Jewish and and non-Jewish alike. As a bonus, famed nature writer Terry Tempest Williams will be on hand for a screening of Wrenched, a film about the doomed Earth First! Movement. (She will also do a separate reading hosted by the Black Mountain Institute on January 24 at the Historic Fifth Street School; see Black Mountain's website for more.) (SD)Various venues, info: lvjff.org
The Breast Center at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas holds several classes and meetings every month. Included are a breast cancer support group, the young survivor's breast cancer support group, pilates classes for women with breast cancer, yoga classes (including pre-natal), and more.
The non-profit Narcotics Anonymous is a twelve-step program offering help for people trying to end a drug addiction, modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous. There are several meetings every day in Southern Nevada, most of them in Las Vegas.
It’s a museum by day and a School of Striptease at night! The Burlesque Hall of Fame’s School of Striptease offers classes for the hobbyist, the novice, and established performers of all kinds. Learn about the art of the striptease from the industry’s top performers of today and yesteryear.
Homeward Bound Cat Adoptions is a Las Vegas based non-profit devoted to finding homes for cats. They have cats to adopt on some weekends at area Petcos and PetSmarts and a cage-free adoption facility. They can always use volunteers, especially folks to be foster parents for kittens and cats.
The Nevada Southern Railway Museum in Boulder City offers train rides in old Pullman coaches every Saturday and Sunday (with modern air conditioning during the summer). Trips go to the Railroad Pass Casino and back, taking about 35 minutes.
The Court Appointed Special Advocate Program in Las Vegas is looking for volunteers to work as advocates for children in the foster care system. Volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate in court and other settings on behalf of children who have been abused or neglected, Volunteer orientation is held the third Wednesday of every month from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.
The Jewish Genealogy Society meets on the third Sunday of the month at the Sahara West Library, starting at 1:30. They usually have a program devoted to some aspect of genealogy. Non-members are welcome to attend.
The library is at 9600 West Sahara Avenue. Their number is 507-3630.
The nonprofit Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada provides home repair, accessibility modifications and energy conservation services for low-income homeowners, particularly seniors, people living with disabilities, veterans and families, individuals and multigenerational families.
Paralympic Sports Club Las Vegas, in conjunction with the Clark County School District, is a program designed for children and adults with physical disabilities. It offers sports training and competitions throughout Southern Nevada. Their mission is to maximize the potential of people with physical disabilities through sports. Hosted by the City of Las Vegas.
Keep Memory Alive at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas hosts "Lunch & Learn" talks most Wednesdays from noon to 1:00. Most often they cover topics of interest to those serving as caregivers to people with dementia.
Is it ever not fun to see artists nudged from their usual work into something more whimsically specific and offbeat? No, it is not. So this exhibit — a cross-state collab between Las Vegas’ Core Contemporary Gallery and Virginia City’s St. Mary’s Art Center — ought to delight. Some 30 artists, split between both places, created exquisite corpse pieces that will surely teem with zinging juxtapositions, surreal imagination, and inspired silliness. (SD) (opening reception January 25), Core Contemporary, 900 E. Karen Ave. #D-222, free, corecontemporary.com
Raphael Saadiq is a student of soul in the best sense of the word. One of the founding members of late-’80s outfit Tony! Toni! Toné! — an act charting consistently with dance-ready R&B pop tunes that nonetheless refused to forfeit spirit or sophistication — Saadiq has spent much of his subsequent solo career exploring soul music, testing it with inflections of rock, dance, and blues. But he’s perhaps at his straightforward best on songs such as “Kings Fall,” when Saadiq is simply performing intense, searching, searing, torchy soul music. With opener Jamila Woods. (AK) 8p, Brooklyn Bowl, $35-$459.38, brooklynbowl.com
Thanks to our friends at Brooklyn Bowl, in the coming weeks we'll bring you specially-priced tickets for shows at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas, with 100% of the proceeds benefitting the radio you love.
The Rape Crisis Center in Las Vegas uses male and female volunteers, ages 21 and over, to assist sexual assault victims. Volunteers assist the staff of the center by answering crisis calls around the clock, making referrals for victims and others who are seeking assistance, and more.
