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Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham Arts: Art Scene in Birmingham

Discounts

A major focal point of the Civil Rights movement, Birmingham is a modern Southern city that has taken great pains to rebound from its difficult past. Birmingham plays host to a solid roster of performing arts offerings including the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Alabama Ballet, and is also home to the Birmingham Museum of Art, an impressive visual arts complex featuring over 24,000 pieces in its permanent collection.

Birmingham Arts Information

  • activeculture.info — An events calendar, arts directory, and more from the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham
  • Birmingham Art Association — Membership organization for artists, their supporters, and all who appreciate the fine arts

 

Art Museums

Birmingham Museum of Art

The Birmingham Museum of Art has firmly established itself as one of the Southeast’s most comprehensive and well-appointed museums in the six decades since its 1951 founding. The BMA has a permanent collection containing over 24,000 paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, video, and decorative arts from around the world and spanning thousands of years; holdings of particular note include the Asian art collection, considered the Southeast’s most comprehensive, and the …more…

Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art

Named after founder Jonathan (“Jack”) Westervelt Warner, this museum constitutes one of America’s major collections of post-colonial art. Westervelt Warner , a veteran of World War II and a third-generation CEO of the Gulf States Paper Corporation, began his collection of American art in the 1950’s with a number of Audubon prints…Over the decades the collection grew to include over 500 items, with pieces by all of America’s important artists, ...more...

Theater

Birmingham Children’s Theatre

Since its founding in 1947, BCT has become one of the nation’s largest professional theaters for children. The company performs on three stages at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex, producing eight shows a year (four of which subsequently go out on tour). ...more...

Birmingham Festival Theatre

Birmingham Festival Theatre Information

Public Transportation: Good (a 2-minute walk from BJCTA buses 12, 14, 31, 39, 42, and 72 at 20th Street South/11th Street South)
Handicapped Accessibility: Good
Performances/Programs: 6 shows per season. Each show runs three weeks
Ticket Prices: Adult $20; Student (w/ID) $15. Second Thursdays are Pay-What-You-Can-Afford nights (minimum $7)
Group Discounts: Groups of 10 or more receive discounted tickets for $15 (reservation and prepayment required)
Subscriptions: Full season subscriptions are …more…

City Equity Theatre

City Equity Theatre was founded in the summer of 2006 as a professional company in which members of Actors’ Equity Association can work and non-members who are pursuing professional careers in acting or stage management can eventually gain membership to the union, through contract employment or an EMC candidacy program. CET’s productions of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, Frank McGuinness’s Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan, and Brian Friel’s Faith Healer …more…

Red Mountain Theatre Company

In 1979, a stock company named Summerfest was created to present shows as part of the University of Alabama in Birmingham’s Town and Gown Theatre’s academic year. With its own Cabaret Theatre in the heart of downtown Birmingham, plus summer mainstage productions performed at the Virginia Samford Theatre (formerly Town and Gown), Summerfest soon grew into a year-round professional company that brought both local talent and nationally known performers to its stage. …more…

Classical Music

Alabama Symphony Orchestra

With nearly 150 performances each year, the venerable Alabama Symphony Orchestra provides its audiences with tremendous musical variety. Naturally, the symphony plays programs of classical masterpieces, but there are also the POPS! and Family Concerts series and frequent performances with Opera Birmingham and the Alabama Ballet. Special holiday shows celebrate everything from New Year’s Eve to Mother’s Day, and the ASO also offers over 15 free concerts annually. The ASO is also …more…

Opera

Opera Birmingham

Since its formation as Birmingham Civic Opera in 1955, Opera Birmingham has staged more than 50 different works. With two productions every season – usually in January and March – tried-and-true is usually the fare. Thus Aida – complete with elephant and camel – was performed in 2005 and again five years later…The Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition has been a fixture in late spring for more than 30 years. The program ...more...

Jazz

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame

The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame was founded in 1978 with a mission to propagate jazz music and its history in Birmingham, and to accentuate Alabama’s contributions to one of America’s truly original art forms.

In addition to providing a physical center for jazz awareness in Birmingham, the Hall of Fame presents performances throughout the city at various venues, and organizes performances by local musicians in public schools.  The Hall of …more…

Dance

Alabama Ballet

The company of the Alabama Ballet includes 21 professional dancers from all around the world who perform in both classical and contemporary ballets. The Alabama Ballet School, which offers a variety of classes (ballet, jazz, pilates, etc.) for people of all ages and skill levels, is now a member of the Royal Academy of Dance. ...more...

Alabama Dance Festival

(January) Held each year at the end of January, the Alabama Dance Festival strives to expand and inspire artistic awareness in local communities. Presented in Birmingham, the Festival highlights visiting dance companies, local professional and semi-professional companies and individual dancers, and classes for those just beginning as well as pre-professionals and professional level artists.

Sponsored by the Alabama Dance Council, the Festival is designed to expose Alabamans to the widest …more…

Venues

Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center

The Alys Stephens Center (as it is more simply known) is located on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and plays an important part in the school’s arts curriculum and cultural life. It contains four separate venues, the Jemison Concert Hall (1330 seats), Sirote Theatre (350 seats, proscenium-style), Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall (170 seats), and the black box Odess Theatre…All manner of performing arts are featured here, including ...more...

Virginia Samford Theater

Birmingham’s Virginia Samford Theater, opened in 1927, has had a long and storied history. On its opening it was called the Little Theater. It was a centerpiece in Birmingham’s cultural life, and the city’s theatrical tradition can be traced back to that opening in 1927…As the Second World War depleted the city’s pool of working actors and crew, the theater closed. After a decade of inactivity, the building was acquired ...more...

Art Museums

Birmingham Museum of Art

The Birmingham Museum of Art has firmly established itself as one of the Southeast’s most comprehensive and well-appointed museums in the six decades since its 1951 founding. The BMA has a permanent collection containing over 24,000 paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, video, and decorative arts from around the world and spanning thousands of years; holdings of particular note include the Asian art collection, considered the Southeast’s most comprehensive, and the …more…

Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art

Named after founder Jonathan (“Jack”) Westervelt Warner, this museum constitutes one of America’s major collections of post-colonial art. Westervelt Warner , a veteran of World War II and a third-generation CEO of the Gulf States Paper Corporation, began his collection of American art in the 1950’s with a number of Audubon prints…Over the decades the collection grew to include over 500 items, with pieces by all of America’s important artists, ...more...

Theater

Birmingham Children’s Theatre

Since its founding in 1947, BCT has become one of the nation’s largest professional theaters for children. The company performs on three stages at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex, producing eight shows a year (four of which subsequently go out on tour). ...more...

Birmingham Festival Theatre

Birmingham Festival Theatre Information

Public Transportation: Good (a 2-minute walk from BJCTA buses 12, 14, 31, 39, 42, and 72 at 20th Street South/11th Street South)
Handicapped Accessibility: Good
Performances/Programs: 6 shows per season. Each show runs three weeks
Ticket Prices: Adult $20; Student (w/ID) $15. Second Thursdays are Pay-What-You-Can-Afford nights (minimum $7)
Group Discounts: Groups of 10 or more receive discounted tickets for $15 (reservation and prepayment required)
Subscriptions: Full season subscriptions are …more…

City Equity Theatre

City Equity Theatre was founded in the summer of 2006 as a professional company in which members of Actors’ Equity Association can work and non-members who are pursuing professional careers in acting or stage management can eventually gain membership to the union, through contract employment or an EMC candidacy program. CET’s productions of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, Frank McGuinness’s Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan, and Brian Friel’s Faith Healer …more…

Red Mountain Theatre Company

In 1979, a stock company named Summerfest was created to present shows as part of the University of Alabama in Birmingham’s Town and Gown Theatre’s academic year. With its own Cabaret Theatre in the heart of downtown Birmingham, plus summer mainstage productions performed at the Virginia Samford Theatre (formerly Town and Gown), Summerfest soon grew into a year-round professional company that brought both local talent and nationally known performers to its stage. …more…

Classical Music

Alabama Symphony Orchestra

With nearly 150 performances each year, the venerable Alabama Symphony Orchestra provides its audiences with tremendous musical variety. Naturally, the symphony plays programs of classical masterpieces, but there are also the POPS! and Family Concerts series and frequent performances with Opera Birmingham and the Alabama Ballet. Special holiday shows celebrate everything from New Year’s Eve to Mother’s Day, and the ASO also offers over 15 free concerts annually. The ASO is also …more…

Opera

Opera Birmingham

Since its formation as Birmingham Civic Opera in 1955, Opera Birmingham has staged more than 50 different works. With two productions every season – usually in January and March – tried-and-true is usually the fare. Thus Aida – complete with elephant and camel – was performed in 2005 and again five years later…The Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition has been a fixture in late spring for more than 30 years. The program ...more...

Jazz

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame

The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame was founded in 1978 with a mission to propagate jazz music and its history in Birmingham, and to accentuate Alabama’s contributions to one of America’s truly original art forms.

In addition to providing a physical center for jazz awareness in Birmingham, the Hall of Fame presents performances throughout the city at various venues, and organizes performances by local musicians in public schools.  The Hall of …more…

Dance

Alabama Ballet

The company of the Alabama Ballet includes 21 professional dancers from all around the world who perform in both classical and contemporary ballets. The Alabama Ballet School, which offers a variety of classes (ballet, jazz, pilates, etc.) for people of all ages and skill levels, is now a member of the Royal Academy of Dance. ...more...

Alabama Dance Festival

(January) Held each year at the end of January, the Alabama Dance Festival strives to expand and inspire artistic awareness in local communities. Presented in Birmingham, the Festival highlights visiting dance companies, local professional and semi-professional companies and individual dancers, and classes for those just beginning as well as pre-professionals and professional level artists.

Sponsored by the Alabama Dance Council, the Festival is designed to expose Alabamans to the widest …more…

Venues

Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center

The Alys Stephens Center (as it is more simply known) is located on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and plays an important part in the school’s arts curriculum and cultural life. It contains four separate venues, the Jemison Concert Hall (1330 seats), Sirote Theatre (350 seats, proscenium-style), Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall (170 seats), and the black box Odess Theatre…All manner of performing arts are featured here, including ...more...

Virginia Samford Theater

Birmingham’s Virginia Samford Theater, opened in 1927, has had a long and storied history. On its opening it was called the Little Theater. It was a centerpiece in Birmingham’s cultural life, and the city’s theatrical tradition can be traced back to that opening in 1927…As the Second World War depleted the city’s pool of working actors and crew, the theater closed. After a decade of inactivity, the building was acquired ...more...