Editor’s note: New for 2026 IOK is teaming up with local arts nonprofit Hellmouth magazine (check out my interview with the founders here) to bring you a curated monthly roundup of can’t-miss arts & culture events for the month ahead. Some might already be on your radar; others might surprise you. Some are downtown proper; the rest are within an 11-minute drive of Market Square. All reflect the depth and range of Knoxville’s creative scene. As always, keep an eye on our 10-Day Downtown-ish Planner for a complete, hand-compiled calendar of events. See you out there! – Leslie
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7
Author Talk
Requiem for Reconstruction: Author Talk w/ Dr. Robert Bland
3pm – 5 pm, The Bottom (2340 East Magnolia Ave. | East Knoxville | 7 min. from Market Square)
Pay what you can; $35 general admission & book
Newly published book, Requiem for Reconstruction, chronicles Reconstruction’s legacy by focusing on key Black figures who shaped postbellum Black America. Dr. Robert Bland will expound on this defining political movement which worked to preserve Black legacy by shaping local community counternarratives. With the Hellmouth teams’s personal connection to South Carolina, the region which this book focuses on, we highly recommend learning more about the rich history of this era and the hub of Black freedom, landownership, and activism.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7
Music Show
Hardcore & Stuff
Do Yourself In EP Release Show
7pm, Remedy Coffee (800 Tyson St. | North Knoxville | 5 min. from Market Square)
$15 entry
Recommended for any hardcore or metalheads out there –– this EP release by Retribution (a Kentucky-based hardcore group) is presented by Broken Oath Promotions and hosted in Remedy Coffee, aptly located next to Old Gray Cemetery. Hardcore music is a fast, aggressive, and intense subgenre of punk, manifested as a reaction against the commercialized punk wave that strips away traditional melody in favor of intensity. Perfect for those looking to let off a little steam.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15
Workshop
Cyanotype Workshop with The Big Camera
1pm–3pm, Ijams Nature Center (2915 Island Home Ave. | South Knoxville | 11 min. from Market Square)
RSVP, $30
Ever wondered how to make those gloriously rich and deep blue prints that feature wondrous floral ephemera? The Big Camera –– a traveling camera & photo classroom curated by local artists –– will be hosting a cyanotype workshop at Ijams to demonstrate the process that is made possible through chemicals and light. In demystifying the tip, tricks, and techniques of the process, the resultant cyanotype print is no less magical and awe-inducing.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19
Workshop
Sightseers: A Drawing Club for People Who Like Plants with Museum of Infinite Outcomes
6pm–8pm, Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum (2743 Wimpole Ave. | East Knoxville | 9 min. from Market Square)
No preregistration required, $10 suggested donation
It is only natural that this valley that slopes down from the beautiful Smoky Mountains harkens so many artists to draw inspiration from nature. Brought to you by the Museum of Infinite Outcomes, this monthly recurring rendezvous in the Botanical Gardens follows a tradition of en plein air drawing, a school of artistry that began in nineteenth-century France. This practice of observing light, form, color, and scale is meditative and observational, immersing students in the beauty of nature.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20
Music Show
Tennessee Terror Corps
8pm–late, Sassy Ann’s (820 N. 4th Ave. | Fourth & Gill | 6 min. from Market Square)
You all know how Hellmouth supports the local techno and EDM scene –– that’s because Knoxville continues to show up and astound. We recommend checking out this show brought to you by Tennessee Terror Corps to overwhelm the noise of the chaotic climate in America right now; as described by McKenzie Wark in her book entitled Raving, “Techno pounds the living shit out of my brain, freeing it from nagging worries about emails unsent.”
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Dance Performance
GO! Contemporary Dance Works presents Search for Persephone
Bijou Theatre (803 S. Gay St. | Downtown )
2pm–4pm & 7:30pm–9:30pm
$25 to $40 plus service fees
GO! Contemporary Dance Works will present The Search for Persephone, A Mythological Ballet, one of the company’s most beloved and endearing full length contemporary ballets. Featuring innovative contemporary ballet and aerial arts choreography, this performance at the Bijou will bring to life the captivating myth of the springtime goddess, Persephone, and her abduction by Hades, king of the underworld. Visit gocontemporarydance.com for more information.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20 & SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Opera
Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Knoxville Opera Company
Tennessee Theatre (604 S. Gay St. | Downtown)
Tickets starting at $30
Il Barbiere di Siviglia––translated as The Barber of Seville––is an opera buffa (comic opera) that originally premiered in Rome in 1816. Steeped in cultural history, the Knoxville Opera Company will perform this “riotous romp” at the Tennessee Theatre, singing in Italian with projected English translations. It features love, laughter, and exquisite music.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27
Art Exhibition
“Reasonable Doubts” @ Relay Ridge
Solo Exhibition by Guen Montgomery
Relay Ridge (4124 McKinley St. | North Knoxville | 11 min. from Market Square)
6–9 pm
Guen Montgomery is an artist and performer whose work investigates identity through studies of gender, regional narrative, and family mythology. Her work from her series Crawl Space will be curated and on display at Relay Ridge, conceptually driven from her family’s experience of generational poverty in Rural Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau and materially driven by tactile mediums, such as sewn & printed furry-pelts transformed into sculptural installation work.
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