Northampton Arts Council presents week of free family movies at the Academy of Music
The Northampton Arts Council will present KidsBestFest 2026, a free week-long celebration — from Monday, Feb. 16, through Friday, Feb. 20 — of cinema for children and their families during the February school break.
“KidsBestFest is a highlight of our winter programming,” Brian Foote, executive director of the Northampton Arts Council, said in a statement. “It provides a vibrant, accessible space for families to enjoy world-class storytelling together on the big screen, right in the heart of downtown.”
Admission to all screenings is free, though donations accepted at the door. This program is made possible by the generous support of the A2Z Science and Learning Store, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the City of Northampton, Greenfield Savings Bank and the Academy of Music.
For a full list of movies and showtimes, visit aomtheatre.com/aom_event/kidsbestfest-2026.
The Rural Alberta Advantage comes to the Iron Horse
Canadian indie-rock trio, The Rural Alberta Advantage, is billed as a “live band’s live band and, when it comes to creating new music, the charged folk-rock trio relies on the same thunderous energy they bring to the stage.” Commonly abbreviated as The RAA, the band consists of Nils Edenloff on vocals and guitar, Amy Cole on vocals, keyboard, and percussion, and Paul Banwatt on drums.
They’ll bring that thunderous energy to Northampton when they perform at The Iron Horse on Thursday, Feb. 19.
The band is currently working on their sixth album with the first single, Falling Apart, available now. The band also recently released the single “The Hunt in Edson.”
The RAA will be joined by Jordan Burchel, who is known to “deliver hook-heavy indie rock woven with psychedelic textures, folk intimacy and razor-sharp storytelling.”
Burchel has toured the U.S. and shared the stage with artists like Dan Mangan, Kishi Bashi, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Menno Versteeg, Noah Guthrie and William Tyler. With a new album slated for release in 2026, he continues to carve out a space in his home state and beyond.
The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $26.50. For more information, visit ironhorse.org.
Queer Prom returns
Queer Prom, a DJ’d dance party for LGBTQ adults, will return to 33 Hawley in Northampton on Friday, Feb. 13, from 8 to 11 p.m.
Each guest will receive a goodie bag, snacks, a flower and a free drink ticket. The event will feature a photo booth, a raffle, a Royal Court crowning and a “Best Dressed” contest.
Resilient Community Arts will provide childcare from 7 to 9 p.m.
On the event page, the organizers wrote, “In a world where queer and trans communities continue to face exclusion and erasure, Queer Prom is a joyful act of resistance and affirmation. As an arts nonprofit committed to equity and access, we believe everyone deserves to feel seen, safe, and celebrated. Events like this create more than memories, they build cultural infrastructure. They remind us that community care is a form of art, and that gathering together with pride and purpose strengthens the fabric of our shared future.”
Tickets are $20 to $35, sliding scale, via nohoarts.org/queer-prom, and proceeds will go to the Northampton Center for the Arts’ Community Funds. The link above also contains a curated playlist for guests to listen to while getting ready for the night.
Second Friday at the Smith College Museum of Art
The Smith College Museum of Art will host this month’s Second Friday at SCMA on Friday, Feb. 13, from 4 to 8 p.m.
The event will feature drop-in zine-making (materials will be provided), drop-in poetry writing with visiting poet Rob Macalaisa Colgate, an installation of works about art as resistance in partnership with the Lewis Global Studies Center and free chocolate (while supplies last). The museum’s gallery will also be open.
Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, visit scma.smith.edu/calendar/february-second-friday.
Gallery A3 to host ‘Winter Garden’ show
Gallery A3 in Amherst will host “Winter Garden,” a group show made by gallery members, featuring work designed to “suggest and to celebrate the new light and cycling life of a garden,” according to a press release, through Saturday, Feb. 28.
The show will include paintings, prints, photographs, collage and mixed media.
The artists will also take part in a virtual art forum on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
The gallery is open Thursday through Sunday, from 2 to 7 p.m.
Admission to both the gallery and the art forum is free; register for the art forum at gallerya3.com.
Open mic series for queer, trans BIPOC artists
The Northampton Center for the Arts will host “Not A Noplace,” a pop-up open mic event for queer and trans BIPOC artists, on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 1:45 p.m.
Billed as “a frequency of freedom” and “a living room” for queer and trans BIPOC artists “to be, breathe and feel into the present moment,” the event will also include concessions, coloring pages and bracelet-making material for sale.
The featured artists will be Camille Asia of Brooklyn, New York and Entifan of Orange County, California.
Masks are required. Tickets are $7 to $28, sliding scale, via Eventbrite, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Sign-ups for the open mic will be in-person.
Flip Fabrique presents ‘Blizzard’ at UMass
The Canadian circus arts troupe Flip Fabrique will present their show “Blizzard” at the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
According to the event listing, the show “transports the audience into a frozen world where snow and ice become sources of inspiration. Through aerial acrobatics, dreamlike scenes, refined aesthetics all set to original music performed live, the show offers a visually poetic reflection on the beauty and solitude of winter inviting you to lose yourself in a moment of complete wonder.”
For more information about tickets, visit umassarts.site/uc-flipblizzard26.
Emily Dickinson Museum accepting programming proposals
The Emily Dickinson Museum is accepting proposals for its Phosphorescence Contemporary Poetry Series and Tell It Slant Poetry Festival.
Phosphorescence, a virtual event held monthly on Thursdays from April through September, “celebrates contemporary creativity that echoes Dickinson’s revolutionary poetic voice,” according to the submission listing. The museum is looking for submissions from groups of two to three poets who plan to read together if selected. Readings are generally 15 minutes long per poet. All selected applicants must be willing to take part in a facilitated discussion after their readings.
Tell It Slant, held Sept. 21-27, is a hybrid event held virtually and at the museum, and it features generative workshops and panels. The title, based on a Dickinson poem, “underscores the revolutionary power of poetry to shift our perspective and reveal new truths,” according to the submission listing.
All proposals are due by Sunday, Feb. 15 at 11:59 p.m. Poets who submit to Phosphorescence will be notified by Thursday, April 2; poets who submit to Tell It Slant will be notified by Friday, May 1.
To submit proposals or for more information, visit emilydickinsonmuseum.org/call-for-submissions-2026.
