The Gilford Community Band will begin rehearsals on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. in preparation for the 2009 annual "Christmas In The Village" concert. The band will rehearse each Tuesday up to the concert date of Dec. 20 at 3 p.m.

The Greater Lakes Region Handbell Festival will be held at Laconia High School Gymnasium on Saturday. This all day event culminates with a 4 p.m. concert to which the public is cordially invited.

Jack McCarthy calls himself a "stand-up poetry guy." Others have called him a "legend." Poet Stephen Dobyns calls him, "one of the wonders of contemporary poetry." The Boston Globe said, "In the poetry world, he's a rock star."

Haydn was 65 years of age when he undertook the great work of his life that took him two years to complete. When urged to bring it to a conclusion more rapidly, he replied, "I spend much time over it, because I intend it to last a long time."

Poet Liz Ahl will be at the Moultonborough Public Library on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. for a poetry reading.

The Music Department of Newfound Regional High School would like to invite area singers to be a part of a community based Christmas concert, which will again be held this Christmas season.

On Monday, Nov. 23 and Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m., The Winni Players will be holding auditions for "The Laramie Project" which will be their adult winter community theatre offering.

The Gilford Performing Arts Department is presenting the musical "Anything Goes" for the next two weekends, Nov. 13-14 and 20, and 21 at 7 p.m. in the Gilford High School Auditorium.

The Streetcar Company, the Lakes Region's oldest continuously operating community theatre company, presents the Disney classic "Beauty and the Beast" on stage at the Inter-Lakes High School Community Auditorium Nov. 20-22.

Tickets have gone on sale for Streetcar Theatre Company's presentation of Disney Theatrical Production's "Beauty and the Beast" are available at the Innisfree Bookshop in the Mill Fall's Marketplace in downtown Meredith and the Sundial Shop in downtown Laconia.

Beginning Friday, the Winni Players will be presenting the 1950s comedy "Father of the Bride" by Caroline Francke. The award-winning community theatre group is resident at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Weirs Beach.

John Sebastian, former lead singer and songwriter of The Lovin' Spoonful, and David Grisman, a virtuoso mandolinist who spearheaded an acoustic music revolution with "Dawg" music — a unique blend of swing, bluegrass, Latin and other musical influences — will combine their talents for a...

This weekend, the Inter-Lakes High School Senior Class will perform the senior play "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

The annual All New England Band Festival, featuring 176 high school musicians, will culminate in a performance at 7 p.m. Monday at the Silver Center for the Arts on the Plymouth State University Campus.

Innisfree Bookshop will hold a book signing for master storyteller Fritz Wetherbee this Sunday from 2-4 p.m.

Patrick's Pub & Eatery will hold its 16th Annual Halloween Dance Party this Friday to benefit the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry. The evening features a costume contest, music and dancing to the sounds of one of Patrick's favorite bands, "Hot Damn," featuring Eric Grant on vocals and guitar.

Kevin Young is widely regarded as one of the leading poets of his generation, one who find meaning and inspiration in African-American music and the history of Black America.

Plymouth State University Professor of Music Carleen Graff will present a program with works by German composers including Beethoven, Clara Schumann and Boris Blacker at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Smith Recital Hall at the Silver Center for the Arts.

Laconia artist Irene Goddu has once again had her work accepted at the Whistler House Museum of Art for the 2009 Annual Juried Member Exhibition in Lowell, Mass.

New Hampton School's Galletly Gallery will feature works by Marcia Litchfield Zamzow, Monique Sakellarios, Marilene Sawaf, and Harriett Winchester, all longtime members of the Nashua Art Association in Nashua.

In 1984, Ellwyn Hayslip, an art professor at then Plymouth State College, had an idea. Start a group of senior citizen artists with the goals of continued learning, helping each other, and socializing with others who had a common interest. They named the group Over the Hill Artists.

The Lakes Region Art Association will hold its November meeting and demonstration on Monday at the Woodside Building Conference Center at the Taylor Community, 435 Union Avenue, Laconia. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.

Nineteen Plymouth State University Department of Art faculty have their work on display in the Karl Drerup Art Gallery during the 2009 Faculty Exhibition, running now through Dec. 9.

New Hampshire and Vermont artists represented by Two Rivers Printmaking Studio have works on display at Lamson Library and Learning Commons on the campus of Plymouth State University now through Jan. 29.

Elaine Morrison is a New Hampshire artist from the Lakes Region, where she has lived most of her life. Art has always been an integral part of her identity. As a special-education teacher and artist she combined the two passions and formed a small business entitled Bird on the Wing artworks.

Hideaki Miyamura is on a quest that is as spiritual as it is technical.