Despite my anxiety over the events of recent weeks, I’m so excited for Inauguration Day and for the history that will be made with our first woman vice president. It has me feeling hopeful and excited in ways I haven’t felt for years now.

So what better way to channel this excitement than by experiencing the arts? As usual, Columbus artists and arts organizations are amazingly busy with concerts, exhibitions, film, theater performances. Here’s what I’ve found on ColumbusMakesArt.com:

• This Monday the King Arts Complex kicked off a new virtual exhibition titled M(Art)in Unites, featuring some really stunning work by local artists. Check it out through early March.
• The Abbey Theater of Dublin livestreams a performance of the new one-person play Diary of Recovering Daughters on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. After the initial stream, it’s available on demand through Jan. 27.
• This week Sunday, Jan. 24 is the culmination of the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Let's Talk About Race: One Book – One Community efforts, where they’ve encouraged the community to read and discuss Ibram X. Kendi’s and Jason Reynolds’ Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism and You. This Sunday, Reynolds will lead a virtual discussion about the book.
• You can see Sean Christopher Gallery’s latest exhibition, John A. Sargent III: Allusions to Other, either in-person or virtually on their website.
• The Columbus Symphony performs part two of its Russian Winter Festival this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 22-23, with limited in-person seating at the Ohio Theatre.
• Otterbein University opened a new gallery space, the Joanne Miller Stichweh ’67 Gallery, and currently they’re running a show titled The Journey to Freedom, a collection of 20 drawings by Valentino Dixon, a man who was wrongfully incarcerated. See it in person through Jan. 29.
• Speaking of Otterbein, the Miller Gallery is featuring an exhibition called The Forgotten Class: A 2020 Senior Art Exhibition through Feb. 12, while the Fisher Gallery just opened a show (running through early May) by Andrew Ina titled Unintended Consequences.
• The Nest Theatre performs a virtual longform improv show on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m.
• There’s plenty to stream through the Wexner Center, including A Place to Breathe through Jan. 29
• And finally, this Sunday, Jan. 24, CAPA brings some live music back to the Lincoln Theatre with Classic Albums Live: Led Zeppelin I

Nick is marketing, communications, & events administrator for the Arts Council. He’s also a food/travel writer penning works for Columbus Monthly, Ohio.org, Ohio Magazine, Experience Columbus and on his own site breakfastwithnick.com. Welcome, Madam Vice President!