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One thing I’ve loved about newer theatre or museums is the space given for land acknowledgement – statements about the ancestral roots of the space being used. Space that was not always ours, but taken. The Blanton’s latest exhibit tackles that question, but pushes the boundaries. It’s not just about what Native America was, but what it can be. Curator and lauded artist Wendy Red Star has assembled nine other Native artists to create a rich exploration of what life in America is today. Shown through a variety of mediums, something is guaranteed to resonate with the audience. Whether it’s the photos, paintings, videos, or multimedia works is up to you. – Cat McCarrey

Bibliophiles, start your engines! We know you have a book you’re excited to pass on to its next fan. So bring it on down to the book exchange hosted by the best in sour beer brewing. Whether it’s a beach read, poetry collection, thriller, romance, hot new bestseller, or classic novel, it’s welcome at the table open from 7 to 9pm where you’ll swap it with a new one for yourself. That way you’ll be ready to start a new chapter for Book Lovers Day Aug. 9 – but no one’s stopping you from cracking it open that very night along with a Tiger’s Blood sour and a hummus plate from Blue Owl. : – Kat McNevins

Picture this: You are giggling and guffawing, perhaps even rolling upon the ground. How could this be your reality, Reader? By attending improvised comedy show Garage, where women and non-binary comics create on-the-spot comedy from audience song suggestions. These peeps will make your cheeks ache from smiling after an hour of their high-octane hilarity hosted by local stand-ups – and all for like eight bucks pre-show, and $10 at the door. Like, sheesh. What more could you want? Maybe, like, an in-venue bar or something? Oh, wait: Fallout Theater freakin’ has that, too. No more excuses, Reader. Seize your ROFL reality. – James Scott

All I’ve wanted since the summer of 2014 was someone, anyone, to tell me the difference between the teen singing “Royals” and her curly-haired doppelgänger busting out the bridge on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.” So the release of “girl, so confusing” left me more lost than ever. But Volstead Lounge is leaning into that madness with the musical doppelgänger event of the summer. They’ve got Turito spinning out the classics from New Zealand queen Lorde and girl-of-the-summer Charli XCX, complete with brat-themed cocktails. There’s something for everyone – longing tunes and pop anthems with a slight neurotic edge? You should totally come to this party (just make sure to put your hands up). – Cat McCarrey

On top of June’s nationwide Pride festivities, Austin queers are blessed with two summertime opportunities for celebration. Prior to the official city parade, Cheer Up Charlies teams up with music discovery platform Women That Rock for a stacked showcase of queer, femme, and gender nonconforming musicians. Guitar-slinger Barb specializes in bittersweet indie rock, while singer-songwriter Grace Gardner delivers gut-punch lyrics with a gentle touch. Neo-soul wiz KindKeith is sure to please with dancy recent drop “So Lonely,” as well as throwback psychedelia from The Past Lives. DJ Dragonqueen keeps the good vibes flowing past midnight. – Genevieve Wood

Timed to the release of new documentary Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, AFS Cinema revisits three of the duo’s very best. They’re all consumed with crazy, in their own bewitching ways: 1948’s The Red Shoes, about a ballerina torn between art and love; 1947’s Black Narcissus, about a sect of nuns in Nepal going a little mad (from the isolation? the altitude? their suppressed sexual urges?); and 1945’s perfectly wonderful romance I Know Where I’m Going!, about a pragmatic woman in danger of derailing her best laid plans when bad weather puts her in the path of a charming naval officer. Catch one or all of ’em – you can’t go wrong. – Kimberley Jones

Every second Thursday of the month, BookWoman hosts a virtual, Zoom-only poetry reading. This month’s features Saba Husain, a Pakistani-American poet from Houston, who will be reading from her debut collection, 2023’s Elegy for My Tongue. “The timeline of colonialism and Partition may seem linear to an outsider, but inhabiting Husain’s poems is to live inside all time at once, to enter a world in which the diaspora is a perspective, a way of making everywhere and nowhere home, of infusing a single moment with all the past and future it carries,” writes Cait Weiss Orcutt of the collection. “Through her eyes, we see Karachi, Mecca, and Katy, Texas as vibratingly alive.” The event will last from 7:15 to 9pm, and Husain’s reading will be followed by an open mic. – Lina Fisher

Hoo-wee! Does anything feel better than a dip in the pool during a hot Texas summer? While some among us may be privileged to own private watering holes, most of us get to enjoy the great Austin PARD’s work at the 44 public aquatic facilities to choose from this summer. You’ve got regional, neighborhood, and community pools; a wading pool; splash pads; and the crown jewel: Barton Springs. Check austintexas.gov/pools-splashpads for up-to-date info on which pools are open, what their entry fee is, and whether you have what it takes to be a public pool lifeguard. Now, outta the way if you don’t wanna get wet: I’m gonna do a cannonball! – James Scott

Thanks to Seventies funk band War, the word “lowrider” often calls to mind the unforgettable sax riff of the band’s 1975 No. 1 single. But lowrider can mean a snazzy customized car with hydraulics or a person who works on such a vehicle, and the culture around these cars has strengthened Mexican American communities in the Southwest since the Forties. Learn more about them at this exhibit featuring an interactive touchscreen mural, cars and bikes on display, and stories about the people who make lowriding a community. A member reception takes place May 18. – Kat McNevins

Carole King is one of those once-in-a-generation songwriters, the kind who absolutely deserves not just a jukebox musical, but this type of theatrical biography on stage. A lot of folks know her seminal album Tapestry and her collaboration with longtime platonic soulmate James Taylor. But she had a thriving songwriting career beforehand. Beautiful tracks her stunning girl group anthems (“One Fine Day” or “Loco-Motion,” anyone?) and her fraught relationships with male collaborators. Can they keep this “natural woman” down? Of course not, but watch her rise while grooving to King’s victorious anthems.

Taylor Davis might have the coolest job description I’ve ever heard. She’s an independent curator (dream) and a landscape designer. So basically, she finds beauty in everything she touches. For “Bending Light,” Davis has accumulated work by four BIPOC artists, multidisciplinary masters “illuminating the nuanced experiences and collective memories of queerness and femininity in Black cultural production,” to quote the exhibit description. A weighty task, but one the artists – Kaima Marie Akarue, Ciara Elle Bryant, Catherine Martinez, and Chandrika Metivier – pull off with fascinating aplomb. Through mediums including but not limited to sculpture, video, collage, and photos, the viewer glimpses unique experiences. It’s a fresh reflection of this world. – Cat McCarrey

Three Anglican nuns attempt to transform a Himalayan palace into a convent, but in addition to the physical challenges of the landscape, they are constrained by their own emotional demons.

That's right: Cap City Comedy Club, the longtime cornerstone of Austin's comedy scene for nearly four decades is at a new venue in the Domain. And here's Valerie Lopez with a closer look at what's in store for the scene via the venue. Click for details!

Traveling in Mexico, you frequently encounter changarritos – portable food carts or tienditas run by hardworking entrepreneurs. The carts usually operate outside of any formal regulation and, in that way, mirror the resilience and creativity of Mexican culture. In 2005, artist Máximo González appropriated the concept of the changarrito as a way for artists to take their work directly to the people. The idea came to Austin’s venerable Mexic-Arte Museum in 2012, with dozens of artists displaying art and interacting with the public outside the Downtown gallery. The concept is back and will run through August. – Brant Bingamon

Art and … math? Not as improbable as it may seem, especially when seen through the veil of fantasy. And that’s exactly what artist/gallerist/therapist Deanna Miesch does. Compiling works inspired by 1800s mathematician Edwin A. Abbott’s imaginary world of Flatland (with touches of fellow mathematician Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland, of course), Miesch presents reality with a fanciful twist. Her visuals show our world, blurred or tilted a little askew. It’s easy to see portals to another world in every line and angle. What dimensions will you discover? – Cat McCarrey

The first of two Summer Stock Austin productions this summer (stay tuned for Guys & Dolls on August 2), Disney’s The Little Mermaid revives Hans Christian Anderson’s enduring tale of a sea-maiden who dreams of life on land and enlivens it with standout music and lyrics by Disney Renaissance dream team Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. High school and college students make up the cast, but don’t confuse their youth with amateurishness: With 20 years under its belt, Summer Stock Austin knows how to put on a helluva show. – Kimberley Jones