Events Calendar

In a world where data flows faster than ever, cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue—it’s personal. From your phone to your finances, the risks are real and increasingly global. But what can you do to protect yourself and your community?

Join us for the second session of our new Global Connections series: Global Threats, Local Risks – Protecting Your Data in a Connected World, led by Michael Sylvester, Chief Strategy Officer at AT-NET. With decades of experience at the intersection of technology and security, Michael will break down today’s digital threats in a way that’s clear, actionable, and relevant to your everyday life.

Following the successful kickoff of this quarterly series, this session continues our mission to explore complex global issues in a welcoming, down-to-earth setting. Hosted by Upstate International and the European American Chamber of Commerce, Global Connections brings together expats and locals for expert-led conversations—paired with a glass of wine or a cup of artisan coffee at Old Europe Coffee in Simpsonville.

Whether you’re concerned about cybercrime, curious about how international threats affect your own backyard, or just looking to connect with globally minded neighbors, this event is for you. Come for the insights, stay for the community.

Let’s turn complex global issues into meaningful local conversations—one cup at a time.

An unexpected road trip across America brings a family together, in this raucous and moving new novel from the bestselling author of Nothing to See Here. Fans of Emma Straub and Frederik Backman do not want to miss Books Over Drinks with Kevin Wilson for his new book, Run for the Hills!

Sturgill Simpson presents Who the F**k is Johnny Blue Skies? tour, coming to Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville on May 20-21, 2025.

Bob Ray (b. 1952) works in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and even correspondence and performance. Born in Warrensburg, Missouri, just east of Kansas City, he now lives with his wife in the small town of Washington in eastern North Carolina.

Guest-curated by Mark Sloan, Bob Ray: Suit Yourself features a selection of the artist’s most recent paintings and drawings. Inspired by the Abstract Expressionist painters, Ray also draws from the Dada and Fluxus movements. Each of Ray’s artworks offers evidence of its own evolution. Erasures, false starts, notes, scribbles, overpainting, and tentative asides are visible on the layered surfaces. The artist incorporates household substances into his work, including housepaint, tar, masking tape, coffee, butter, tea, and collaged fragments of previous works.

Ray was the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship in 2015, and he has had recent shows at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina; Lump Gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina; and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

The GCMA has published an exhibition catalog of Ray’s works that includes a commissioned collaboration with California poet Allison Benis White, which will be available for purchase.

The Johnson Collection presents Art of the Athlete at TJC Gallery, located at 154 West Main Street in downtown Spartanburg. TJC Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, 12 to 4 PM, with free admission. This exhibition celebrates the twin expressions of human excellence—art and athletics—each requiring creativity, elegance, and mastery of form. Just as art can reflect as well as shape the culture around it, sports provide powerful community bonds and a sense of identity. Art of the Athlete highlights the artistry inherent in athleticism and showcases the many dynamic connections between art and sport.
On display are artworks showing the remarkable breadth of the world of sport, spanning not only familiar professional forms such as baseball and football but also fishing, hunting, and racing. In certain cases, the connection between art and athletics can be quite personal and literal, as in the case of Ernie Barnes, who not only played in the National Football League himself, but became the official artist of both the NFL and the 1984 Olympic Games.

In this series of classes learn about tree health care and maintenance.

By cultivating and protecting healthy diverse habitats for pollinators, for wildlife, for healthy flora and fauna, we benefit the individuals who live in and enjoy these spaces and for our community, as a whole. By creating natural areas in your yard and leaving the leaves each fall you can benefit many kinds of insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals which depend on the native plants and their fallen leaves and seeds for shelter, food and habitat.

Join Steve Pettis, Henderson County Commercial and Consumer Horticulture Agent and host of the Gardening in the Mountains Radio Show and Podcast to learn how we can do things better!

May 22, 2025, 1:00-3:00pm.

Piedmont Natural Gas Downtown Alive presented by Spectrum benefiting Metropolitan Arts Council, kicks off the weekend every Thursday night with music at NOMA Square on Main Street. FREE ADMISSION. More than 45,000 people attend this event annually. The event serves as the single largest fundraiser for the Metropolitan Arts Council. Piedmont Natural Gas Downtown Alive opens at 5:30 p.m. and closes at 8:30 p.m. Bands play two sets at 5:50 p.m. and 7:20 p.m

Uncensored expression: anyone is invited to step up to share song, music, poetry, comedy, rants & raves!

The most eclectic open mic around, in a welcoming gallery setting! 6 pm signup, perform 6:30-8:30 pm.

Building Connections, Building Your Network!

The 6th annual NASPA-SC Drive-In conference will be Thursday, May 22, 2025, at the University of South Carolina-Upstate located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Our conference theme will be “Building Connections, Building Your Network!”. Our aim is to offer a conference filled with resourceful breakout sessions, guest speakers and engagement opportunities for higher education professionals to discover resources and insights that can be beneficial now as well as in the future.

Beginner’s workshop lesson at 7:30 P.M., then 8-11 P.M. Contra Dance with Country Waltzing at the break and the final dance. This is a partner dance but it’s not necessary to come with a partner. We have different live bands and callers.

Join us for our monthly drop in wine tasting event! We’ll have two authors present with their books: Lori Gold with Romantic Friction and Stephen G. Eoannou with After Pearl.

Bob Ray (b. 1952) works in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and even correspondence and performance. Born in Warrensburg, Missouri, just east of Kansas City, he now lives with his wife in the small town of Washington in eastern North Carolina.

Guest-curated by Mark Sloan, Bob Ray: Suit Yourself features a selection of the artist’s most recent paintings and drawings. Inspired by the Abstract Expressionist painters, Ray also draws from the Dada and Fluxus movements. Each of Ray’s artworks offers evidence of its own evolution. Erasures, false starts, notes, scribbles, overpainting, and tentative asides are visible on the layered surfaces. The artist incorporates household substances into his work, including housepaint, tar, masking tape, coffee, butter, tea, and collaged fragments of previous works.

Ray was the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship in 2015, and he has had recent shows at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina; Lump Gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina; and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

The GCMA has published an exhibition catalog of Ray’s works that includes a commissioned collaboration with California poet Allison Benis White, which will be available for purchase.

The Johnson Collection presents Art of the Athlete at TJC Gallery, located at 154 West Main Street in downtown Spartanburg. TJC Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, 12 to 4 PM, with free admission. This exhibition celebrates the twin expressions of human excellence—art and athletics—each requiring creativity, elegance, and mastery of form. Just as art can reflect as well as shape the culture around it, sports provide powerful community bonds and a sense of identity. Art of the Athlete highlights the artistry inherent in athleticism and showcases the many dynamic connections between art and sport.
On display are artworks showing the remarkable breadth of the world of sport, spanning not only familiar professional forms such as baseball and football but also fishing, hunting, and racing. In certain cases, the connection between art and athletics can be quite personal and literal, as in the case of Ernie Barnes, who not only played in the National Football League himself, but became the official artist of both the NFL and the 1984 Olympic Games.

Celebrate the last day of school with an afternoon of fun at Haywood Mall’s School’s Out Bash!

Enjoy a mall-wide scavenger hunt, inflatables, face painting, and games that are sure to keep the celebration going. The first 100 kids will receive a free gift bag filled with summer essentials, awesome freebies, and exclusive discounts from mall favorites like Chick-fil-A, Auntie Anne’s, Journeys Kidz, and more.

It’s the perfect way to kick off summer break—don’t miss it!

Wind up the work week at Greenville Heritage Main Street Fridays presented by Pepsi, listening and dancing to the best in musical entertainment on the Spectrum Stage. FREE ADMISSION

This weekly music series on Main Street at NOMA Square opens at 5:30 p.m. and closes at 9:30 p.m., with bands playing two sets at 5:50 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. NOMA Square chairs go fast, so bring a tailgating chair if you are not arriving early.

Head on out to the ballgame at Fifth Third Park. Spartanburg is taking on Rome. Game starts at 7:05pm.

Storytelling is not just entertainment: it’s a fundamental part of being human. Ales & Tales is a live storytelling open mic, akin to The Moth, but without the competitive aspect. Tellers take the mic to share personal stories, true-as-remembered, in six minutes or less with no notes. There are few rules: beyond the time limit and truth requirement, stories must follow the night’s theme, which is typically a one- to two-word prompt with LOTS of flexibility (like Dirt, Winter, Sunshine or Rigid).

Stories don’t have to be funny, but they can be. Stories should have an arc – a beginning, middle, and end – and perhaps a lesson snuck in there, too. Food and drinks, including alcohol, will be available for purchase; and the crowd is always friendly. Come relate to strangers, and turn them into pals!

Bob Ray (b. 1952) works in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and even correspondence and performance. Born in Warrensburg, Missouri, just east of Kansas City, he now lives with his wife in the small town of Washington in eastern North Carolina.

Guest-curated by Mark Sloan, Bob Ray: Suit Yourself features a selection of the artist’s most recent paintings and drawings. Inspired by the Abstract Expressionist painters, Ray also draws from the Dada and Fluxus movements. Each of Ray’s artworks offers evidence of its own evolution. Erasures, false starts, notes, scribbles, overpainting, and tentative asides are visible on the layered surfaces. The artist incorporates household substances into his work, including housepaint, tar, masking tape, coffee, butter, tea, and collaged fragments of previous works.

Ray was the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship in 2015, and he has had recent shows at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina; Lump Gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina; and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

The GCMA has published an exhibition catalog of Ray’s works that includes a commissioned collaboration with California poet Allison Benis White, which will be available for purchase.