The Austin Chronicle

New Cocktail Bar Nica on 4th Expands a Local Jazz Empire • The Austin Chronicle When Austin multi-reedist Kris Kimura opened Parker Jazz Club in the Warehouse District, he created a showcase for local and touring jazz musicians. Then he and longtime friend, business partner, and ...

New cocktail bar on Fourth Street from the team behind Parker Jazz and Elephant Room expands a local jazz empire.

How TreeFolks Is Keeping Austin Green • The Austin Chronicle Austin is home to a million people and a sprawling urban landscape. Despite the high-rise buildings and self-driving cars, the city is also defined by its lush greenery and parks. That balance between...

From planting trees and sharing seeds to restoring land after disasters, TreeFolks understands nature is central to Austin’s identity. www.austinchronicle.com/features/the...

Put It in a Book Knows the Value in Seeing Yourself in the Books You Read • The Austin Chronicle In the 2024-25 school year, Texas ranked No. 2 in the nation with over 1,700 book bans, according to free speech organization PEN America. Many of these books have themes of race, gender, sexuality, a...

As part of our Nonprofit Issue we spotlight Put It in a Book, a nonprofit that knows the value in seeing yourself in the books you read.

How Young Tomfoolery Set Up Lucas Zelnick’s Comedy Career • The Austin Chronicle As a Grade-A class clown, Lucas Zelnick always gunned for laughs. Chanting “asshooooole” at his gym teacher during a fourth grade kickball game and lining up scented eraser bits for roundtable snortin...

How youthful tomfoolery set up Lucas Zelnick’s comedy career.

Hamnet Review: Goodnight, Sweet Prince • The Austin Chronicle The how and why behind the death of William Shakespeare’s only son at age 11 is lost to history. But novelist Maggie O’Farrell plausibly imagined plague as the cause, a narrative choice that had unant...

MOVIE REVIEW: Hamnet imagines a child lost and his impact on England’s most celebrated drama.

“The Glorious Way She Moves” Honors Women Through Dance and Story • The Austin Chronicle When you enter the gallery for “The Glorious Way She Moves,” you are immediately enveloped in motion. Fabrics cascade from the ceiling, paint flickers across transparent panels, and hints of glitter c...

ARTS REVIEW: “The Glorious Way She Moves” honors women through dance and story.

Austin Nonprofit Elevating Artists with Disabilities Perseveres Despite Funding Cuts • The Austin Chronicle Like many American nonprofits, Art Spark Texas’ origins can be traced back to an American president. It was Jean Kennedy Smith – President John F. Kennedy’s sister – who launched the Very Special Arts...

As part of our Nonprofit Issue we spotlight Art Spark Texas which is elevating artists with disabilities and persevering despite funding cuts.

Beyond End-of-Life Care, Hospice Austin Supports Loved Ones in Bereavement • The Austin Chronicle Tucked inside the garden at Hospice Austin’s Christopher House, a blue telephone sits with a plaque reading: To say hello/ To say goodbye/ To say I miss you/ To say I love you. The “wind phone” doesn’...

As part of our Nonprofit Issue we spotlight Hospice Austin in its support of loved ones in bereavement.

The Austin Chronicle Presents People To Wave To, a Docu-Concert Series Spotlighting Local Bands • The Austin Chronicle If you spend enough time in Austin’s music scene, you eventually meet a band that feels like a long-running inside joke with amps. New Strangers – the post-punk trio of singer-guitarist Kyle Carpenter...

VIDEO: The Austin Chronicle presents People To Wave To, a docu-concert series spotlighting local bands. This month Kyra Bruce spends some time with local post-punks New Strangers.

Conversation Leads to Community for Immigrant Women Practicing English • The Austin Chronicle Once a week, in the crowded Zoom rooms of Ladies Let’s Talk, an Austin-based nonprofit, female refugees and immigrants living across the U.S. meet to practice English and build community. Here, Thanks...

Conversation leads to community for immigrant women practicing English. How Ladies Let’s Talk helps ease the transition to the U.S. through weekly chats and female friendship.

How Hope Austin Is Working to Address Youth Food Insecurity • The Austin Chronicle To address youth food insecurity, one local nonprofit chooses to remain invisible. That may mean delivering meal kits directly to schools each week, distributing snacks, or sourcing fresh produce – al...

As part of our Nonprofit Issue we spotlight how Hope Austin is working to address youth food insecurity.

What Texas Cannabis Consumers Have to Look Forward to (Eventually) • The Austin Chronicle Two weeks ago, I was the cannabis columnist for The Pitch Kansas City. I had just published an article regarding the unregulated hemp industry in Missouri, met with a local entrepreneur to highlight h...

What Texas cannabis consumers have to look forward to (eventually). We compare the established Missouri cannabis industry to the absent Texas market.

From the files of Mr. Smarty Pants: The nightingale got its name because it’s one of the few bird species where the female sings at night to attract a male.

Day Trips: Martinez Pottery, Marshall • The Austin Chronicle Martinez Pottery continues a tradition of manufacturing pottery in East Texas that stretches back to the Caddo people. The family-owned business 5 miles north of Marshall specializes in farmhouse chic...

DAY TRIPS: Family-run pottery factory continues East Texas stoneware tradition in Marshall.

In this week's comics, Tom Tomorrow checks in on just how great America has been made.
Read all the Sunday funnies: austinchronicle.com/comics

Zootopia 2 Review: Hopps and Wilde, Back on the Beat • The Austin Chronicle Aesop got it. You can use cute talking animals to teach important life lessons. So when Disney once again opens the gates to a city filled with conversational critters for Zootopia 2, you know there’s...

MOVIE REVIEW: Disney Animation’s unlikely partners return for a fun and funny story of marginalized communities in Zootopia 2.

Wake Up Dead Man Review: Believe in Benoit Blanc • The Austin Chronicle So who did the dastardly deed? Was it the local doctor (Jeremy Renner)? Was it the groundskeeper (Thomas Haden Church)? The local lawyer (Kerry Washington) or the aspiring politician she claims is her...

MOVIE REVIEW: Rian Johnson enlists A-listers and rising stars for another Knives Out mystery.

Different Stages’ Classic Christie Adaptation • The Austin Chronicle I grew up down the street from a local community theatre. I never did as many productions as I wanted to – there’s a reason I write about theatre instead – but the atmosphere of the building is ingrai...

THEATRE REVIEW: Different Stages’ solid take on Hercule Poirot feels like home.

Shop Holiday Wares at These Festive Fairs • The Austin Chronicle Armadillo Christmas Bazaar Daily Dec. 13-21, 11am-9:30pm. 900 Barton Springs. armadillobazaar.com The holiday season is all about traditions, and keeping them going is this market’s mission. What bega...

Shop holiday wares at these local markets and bazaars to spread locally made cheer near and far.

The Austin Chronicle’s 2025 Nonprofit Wish List • The Austin Chronicle Every year The Austin Chronicle’s annual Wish List offers readers a guide to charitable giving with the purpose of helping local nonprofits meet their needs to keep serving our city and its many commu...

Local orgs let you know what they need during the giving season in our Nonprofit Wish List.

Surgeons, Artists, and Kids Are Austin’s Diplomats Through Sister Cities • The Austin Chronicle Christian Schmitz has long had his heart in two cities. The first has been his family’s home for several generations now, but that’s a blink of an eye in Rhine-time.  Romans founded his hometown of Ko...

Surgeons, artists, and kids are Austin’s diplomats through sister cities.

Manos de Cristo Gives Working Class Families Something to Smile About • The Austin Chronicle Having nice pearly whites can be a total confidence booster, but a trip to the dentist is not something everyone can afford. That’s where Manos de Cristo steps in. Manos de Cristo helps people who str...

As part of our Nonprofit Issue we spotlight Manos de Cristo which gives working class families something to smile about.

David Byrne Colors in Human Quandaries on Who Is the Sky? Tour • The Austin Chronicle In “Moisturizing Thing,” off David Byrne’s new album recorded with Ghost Train Orchestra, Who Is The Sky?, the Talking Heads songwriter imagines an anti-aging lotion that restores his face to toddler-...

David Byrne delighted at Bass Concert Hall yesterday on his Who Is the Sky? Tour.

Our nonprofit issue is on stands now. Read about local organizations helping our neighbors in all sorts of ways. Also, check out our Wish List for donation requests from local nonprofits if you're in the giving spirit. Learn more: austinchronicle.com/issues/novem...

The Week’s Biggest News in Brief • The Austin Chronicle AISD Employees Detained by ICE: This past week, a handful of AISD employees were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to reporting from the Austin American-Statesman. The employe...

GOP map restored until Supreme Court weighs in, budget cuts following Prop Q’s defeat, and more of the week’s headlines.

AISD Board Approves School Closures and Turnaround Plans • The Austin Chronicle At close to 2 o’clock in the morning on Friday, Nov. 21, after hours of debate, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted to close eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and International High Sch...

AISD Board approves school closures and turnaround plans with 11 schools set to close, and five schools to “restart.”

City Council’s Budget Reflects a New Fiscal Reality • The Austin Chronicle Austin City Council finally passed its new austerity budget. Approved on an 11-0 vote last Thursday, the budget removes close to $100 million in spending on public safety, homelessness, and other serv...

City Council’s budget reflects a new fiscal reality, but advocates aren’t giving up.

Making the Moss Grow on Zootopia 2 With UT Grad Jay Jackson • The Austin Chronicle The city of Zootopia isn’t built with bricks. It’s built with environments, and those are the responsibility of Austin native, UT graduate, and Disney animator Jay Jackson. Having previously worked on...

Behind the animated scenes of Zootopia 2 with UT grad Jay Jackson.

Texas Dive Bar Encyclopedia Tours Sticky Barstools and Storied Watering Holes • The Austin Chronicle Down the sidelong steps of the cream-brick Victorian known as the Goodman building is Raf Miastkowski’s favorite Austin dive bar. His recommendation carries some weight, as the author of the recently ...

Texas Dive Bar Encyclopedia tours sticky barstools and storied watering holes.

The Kimberly Is Made for Spendy Date Nights • The Austin Chronicle “Fine dining” in Austin always feels like a strange concept. Our city obviously features a sizable number of chefs with top-tier credentials and plenty of restaurants serving dishes made with premium ...

RESTAURANT REVIEW: American bistro from the J. Carver’s and Red Ash team features beautifully prepared beef and a lot of truffle.