Community Calendar

Join us for our December concert!
Be the Light
Saturday, December 6 at 3pm
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 830 N Annie Glidden Rd DeKalb, IL

Our December concert will feature songs of light, hope, miracles, dreams, and some “light” holiday season fun songs.

Lea Morris was inspired by Amanda Gorman’s powerful poem, “The Hill We Climb” to create her own anthem to “Be the Light.” It is upon this beautiful piece that we created a program of music to inspire us all to be the light, hold on to hope, believe in miracles, and keep dreaming. We’ve chosen music that will touch deeply, comfort those who may be facing grief or loss during the holidays, and lift spirits with love and laughter like only singing can. There will be songs of the stars and moon, of one child that can change the world, and of the true meaning of the holidays. Building bridges between all beliefs and traditions, we hope our voices will remind you that you are never alone in the dark. Please join us for an evening of harmony, warmth, and light.

All of our concerts are free will donation. Donations this semester will go toward the Bread & Roses Festival Fund to help chorus members defray costs associated with attending the Sister Singers Network Festival in Chicago this July.

Step into the glow of Candlelight Carols, an intimate and richly woven tapestry of holiday music from around the world. This year’s program spans centuries and continents, with carols from Austria, Mexico, Spain, France, Norway, Japan, Wales, England, Germany, Sweden, and the U.S. Featured artist is guitarist Goran Ivanovic.

The St. Charles Singers, led by founder and music director Jeffrey Hunt, will be joined by virtuoso Chicago guitarist Goran Ivanovic for the mixed-voice chamber choir's 41st annual Candlelight Carols program.

The program, themed “Celebrating A World of Carols,” embraces 16 seasonal songs, most of them new to the St. Charles Singers repertoire, by composers and arrangers from the UK, continental Europe, and the US, including the greater Chicago area.

Audiences will hear seven works for choir and guitar, including world and local premieres.

“Guitar brings a beautifully delicate sound to the program,” choirmaster Hunt says. “It’s spare and elegant, almost like the harp, but exciting in its own way.

“Each year, I’m looking for sparkling new musical Christmas ornaments to surprise and delight our audiences,” Hunt says. “This year, many of these ornaments take the shape of the guitar.”

Croatian-born guitarist Ivanovic has been hailed as an artist whose “stirring style incorporates jazz, traditional Balkan, flamenco and classical styles” (Chicago Sun-Times) and as “a multiculti wunderkind” (New City).

The Next Picture Show is pleased to welcome back the Winter Scenes & Holiday Dreams Art Exhibition. Winter Scenes & Holiday Dreams captures the beauty and magic of the holiday season. From snowy paths to fresh pine and the glimmering lights of the season, artists were encouraged to submit both 2-D and 3-D work that captures the whimsy of winter.

The opening reception and artist award ceremony will be held on November 21 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. We will provide light refreshments and a cash bar.

This exhibition is sponsored by G&M Distributors.

“High Strangeness" is an exhibition that explores the intersection of the uncanny and the unknown, where the boundaries between reality and the surreal blur. Featuring a diverse array of photography, painting, and sculpture, this show invites viewers into realms of altered perception, mysterious phenomena, and the strange undercurrents of contemporary life. Each work in the exhibition engages with the concept of "high strangeness"—a term often used to describe encounters with the unexplained, the bizarre, and the otherworldly.

The Freeport Art Museum is thrilled to host Resilient Wonder, two solo exhibitions through Dec. 27. These exhibitions feature impressive works by Chelsea Bighorn from Chicago Illinois and Hattie Lee Mendoza from Peoria Illinois.

Chelsea Bighorn was born and raised in Tempe, Arizona, and is Lakota, Dakota and Shoshone -Paiute. Bighorn’s work is the result of her combining traditional Native American design with elements from her Irish American heritage. Using this process, she tells her personal history through her art. Bighorn has shown her work at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, SITE Santa Fe, Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, and The Center for Native Futures in Chicago, IL. She graduated from The Institute of American Indian Arts in 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts. Bighorn received her Master of Fine Arts in Fiber and Material Studies from School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2024. She currently resides in Chicago, IL where she is an artist in residence with Chicago Artist Coalition.

Hattie Lee Mendoza is a multi-disciplinary artist who grew up in Fowler, Kansas, and now lives in Peoria, Illinois. She has an MFA from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and a BA in graphic design from Tabor College, Hillsboro, KS. She is influenced by her Great Grandmother and namesake’s Cherokee heritage and stories, desiring to revive and continue that legacy within her family after generational loss of cultural connection. She spent three years living in Thailand, as well as traveling to various countries, while working with a non-profit organization on their fine art and media team. The experience gave her opportunities to interact and learn from many people groups and tribes in Asia and the Middle East. Afterward, she returned to the States and was motivated to connect to her own ancestral heritages. Her maternal grandmother’s frugal values, stemming from a depression era childhood, are also reflected in Mendoza’s practice by including repurposed and recycled personal, family and community items, as well as thrifted and found objects.

Chicago-based artist Michael x. Ryan gathers the quiet imprints we leave behind — from sidewalk stains and river paths to shower puddles and fallen tree limbs — and gives them form, weight, and voice. Through drawing, mapping, wood relief, and 3D printed objects, Ryan captures traces of human presence — the edge of a river, the imprint of a wet body, the marks on a street — and renders them as physical forms that evoke movement, memory, and place.

This exhibition brings together key installations spanning over four decades, from early works shaped by the Ox-Bow landscape to large-scale reliefs inspired by the streets of Chicago to one tree of interest on the family property in Woodstock, Illinois. By drawing attention to overlooked details, Ryan invites us to consider how our everyday movements shape the spaces we inhabit — and how those spaces, in turn, record and reflect our presence and passage through time.

Homecoming: In Color celebrates the reopening of Rockford Art Museum after a year-long renovation closure. This exhibition features a selection of popular pieces and hidden gems, showcasing the rich diversity of our revered collection. Come witness the power of art and community as we welcome you back to a vibrant space of creativity!

Select members of the Plein Air Painters Of Rockford (PAPOR) are exhibiting their interpretations of "The Thankful Path" to coincide with Klehm Arboretum's event by the same name. A selection of 24 original artworks is on display December 2 through mid-January 2026.

PAPOR posts their activities and Art results on their Facebook fan page - Plein Air Painters of Rockford

Friday 1:00–8:00p; Saturday & Sunday 10:00–4:00p

Step into a festive marketplace filled with the creativity of local artisans. Something About Merry brings together jewelry, pottery, fiber art, wood pieces, fine art, and other one-of-a-kind works — all thoughtfully made and ready to be discovered.

Savor a cup of holiday cheer or special treat while you browse, connect with the makers, and find meaningful gifts for everyone on your list (including yourself). It’s a joyful way to support local talent and complete your holiday shopping in a single stop.