Happy New Year!

2017 is already promising to be a busy year, but it's off to a great start! Over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, One Voice Mixed Chorus performed "The Man Behind the Dream," honoring the life and work of openly gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, for almost 2,000 people. Then, on Jan 19, Park Square Theatre was one of more than 100 theatres around the country that participated in the Ghostlight Project. Inspired by the theatrical tradition of keeping a “ghost light” on in a darkened theatre, participants created light for the challenging times ahead and vowed to provide brave spaces where all can gather.

Here's what else is coming up this year:

Currently on stage at Park Square Theatre is Big Money, a new play presented and created by Sandbox Theatre playing through Jan 28, as well as a co-production with Mu Performing Arts of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song playing through Feb. 19. Next month, Nina Simone: Four Woman is back by popular demand, playing Feb 7 - 26 after gracing many of the year-end "best of" lists for 2016.

This weekend, Jan 28 - 29, the Twin Cities Winter Jazz Festival returns to downtown Saint Paul, now with two days of music, film, and special events. The 2017 summer festival dates are also set for June 22 - 24. Stay tuned for headliners to be announced soon!

On Sunday, March 5, JazzMN Orchestra presents NextGen Jazz a concert devoted to jazz's future with guest artists from LA's Urban Renewal Project as well as all-star jazz students from the Minnesota Youth Jazz Bands and the Dakota Jazz Combo.

Also in March, One Voice Mixed Chorus returns to the Ordway on March 18 for Well-Versed, a celebration of LGBTQ youth and an evening of choral music, strings and poetry with New York’s hottest string quartet, Well-Strung, and youth poets from RECLAIM.