Oil of Olay? No: Oil on canvas, painted by second-time solo Ivester Contemporary exhibitionist Denise Prince as part of her new show kicking off this Saturday, March 1. These works dig into our current relationship to beauty as seen through product advertisements - you know, the big glossy images scattered throughout fashion mags you read in a salon waiting room - and test those visual limits. How beautiful can a flower remain through the process of abstraction? Are the colors, the softness, the mere hint of shiny jewels enough to satisfy the human desire for aesthetics? You've got until the show closes on April 5 to make your call. - James Scott
Monday 3 - Thursday 6, Downtown Austin
If you're looking to ease into the forward-thinking schmoozefest that is SXSW, the citywide conference's little sibling focuses on innovation in the education space. (Yeah, I said "space." I know the lingo.) Panel discussions, breakout sessions, films, keynotes, and more help you get inspired for another year of teaching. Until we can implant book learnin' directly into the brain (is that a thing yet?), let's find out the best ways to make sure future generations are no dummies. - James Renovitch
Monday 3, Hyperreal Film Club
Natasha Lyonne is the gayest straight actor to ever exist, so obviously her star-making turn was as the gayest closeted cheerleader to ever exist. Lesbian films have become mighty ponderous and mostly period-piece-y in recent years, so harkening back to a time when gay panic was more camp is a real treat. RuPaul cameos as a conversion camp director where Cathy Moriarty tries and fails to stop Clea Duvall from fully seducing Lyonne in this Pepto-pink fairy tale. For the afters, Hyperreal offers a lesbian mingle/movie bingo for real heads hosted by Sapphic Singles, with chainmail prizes from Desired Objects. - Lina Fisher
Monday 3, We Luv Video
One of the screwball greats, The Lady Eve has all the hallmarks of the genre - on a cruise. Barbara Stanwyck plays what she plays best, a gorgeous con girl wooing a bumbling Henry Fonda as the clueless heir to an ale fortune. Stanwyck, her equally conny father, and her famous wiles shake up inexperienced nerd Fonda - but she might have to compete both with the other broads aboard the boat and the soft feelings she may have faked a little too well toward him as the scheme comes to a close... - Lina Fisher
Tuesday 4, Violet Crown Cinema
While his partner John Watson enters the new year as a sexy Morris Chestnut type doctor on CBS, this upcoming Texan-led production imagines a less glamorous journey for ol' detective Sherlock Holmes. Taking particular dark details from Arthur Cohen Doyle's original short fictions - re: drugs and drinking - the CJ Goodwyn-directed, -written, and -starring feature "pays homage to the gritty, human vulnerabilities often glossed over in traditional adaptations." The locally made movie screens twice this Tuesday, once at 7 and a half-hour later, with a cast & crew meet-up as well as post-screening Q&A planned. - James Scott
Tuesday 4 - Sunday 9, Bass Concert Hall
Nobody's gonna rain on the parade of the irrepressible Fanny Brice, the comedian and showman immortalized in the 1964 musical starring Barbra Streisand. This touring production, part of the Broadway in Austin program, isn't a carbon copy of the movie your mom definitely has memorized; it uses Harvey Fierstein's revised book from the 2022 revival. But you can bet everything you love about the original production - the wisecracking but vulnerable heroine, the rakish troublemaker she falls for, the can-do spirit and expert hoofing, the sweetly soppy "People" - is all still very much intact. - Kimberley Jones
Tuesday 4, Windsor Park Branch Library
Gladly gone are the days when women dropped their voices to a whisper to talk about "the change." But the era we're in now - of influencers and celebrity-endorsed startups scrambling to monetize menopause - can be confusing too. What you want is a source you can trust - say, a board-certified OB/GYN like Dr. Margaret Whitney, who'll lead this discussion about menopausal symptoms, and other conditions that might present similarly. No whispering here about what's going on with your body, though you are going to want to use your indoor voice - this is the library, after all. - Kimberley Jones
Wednesday 5 & Thursday 6, Ruiz Branch Library
As chaos in government reigns, it's more important than ever to learn about and use your legal rights. About half of us in Austin are renters, and nonprofit BASTA - Building and Strengthening Tenant Action - was established by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in 2016 to build tenant power and educate renters about their rights. At this seminar, they'll go over the eviction process, the right to repairs, and the right to organize, which BASTA has helped tenants across the city do successfully to avoid evictions and improve quality of life. Join the English seminar Wednesday or in Spanish on Thursday, both at 6:30pm. - Kat McNevins
Wednesday 5, Hotel Vegas
Look: You and I both know the Democratic Party can do a heck of a lot better than they've been performing. The only way the party improves is with our help, so take action in attending this block party that's all about celebrating the Dems' grassroots supporters. If the chance to directly chat with party members about taking more direct, sustainable actions against far-right fascist movements isn't enough to get you in the door, consider that there'll be live music, special guests, and that Hotel Vegas is really close to Domo Alley-Gato Tatsu-Ya, which has really good rice bowls and cocktails. Yay politics! - James Scott
Wednesday 5 - Thursday 6, online
Nonprofit funding is in a precarious place thanks to freezes from the Trump administration, but Amplify Austin has helped us keep each other funded since 2013. For 24 hours, Central Texans are welcome to participate in the biggest giving event in the region, which has raised over $112 million for over 1,500 nonprofits. Choose your favorite org (or find a new fave!) via the AmplifyATX.org website, powered by I Live Here, I Give Here. They've helpfully set it up so you can search by keyword, cause, or location to narrow down who gets your generous donation: about 40 options for LGBTQ causes, 80 for homelessness, but a staggering 201 for cats. Meeeow! - Kat McNevins
Wednesday 5 - Sunday 9, B. Iden Payne Theatre
UT's Dance Repertory Theatre constantly explores the possibilities in movement and storytelling. Equinox keeps this up with an explosive celebration of spring's imminent arrival. Both local choreographers and dance-denizens from farther sides of the globe have crafted works specifically to spark a sense of wonder and newness. It's dance made, in DRT's words, to "question our sense of self, identity and connection." Emerge from that wintry cocoon and glory in life. - Cat McCarrey
Wednesday 5, the Paramount Theatre
In college, my friends and I would load up on carbs from the dining hall, rush back to our dorm, and watch Whose Line Is It Anyway on some saint's YouTube account, where they'd uploaded full episodes for free. Those were the days, you know. Along with instilling in me a distinct love for improv comedy - a blessing or curse, I'm not sure - Whose Line introduced many a classic Nineties comic to my pop-culture reference log. Four of those folks hit the Paramount stage this week for a live performance of the classic improv show: Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, and Joel Murray. Laugh as much as me and my fellow then-19-year-olds did as the Whose Live cast combines audience participation with their famous improv games - which is to say, a lot. - James Scott
Thursday 6, Hyperreal Film Club
Low-budget queer cinema is The Best: a statement I feel most Austin-area LGBTQ community members understand but is still a little hard for our more cis-het sisters (gender-neutral) to get. Take 'em to this gay-ass Hyperreal screening - or is that phrase redundant? - as the scrappy cinema shows Robert Dillinger's $2,000 shot-on-video thrill-ride. Also known as James Robert Baker, the novelist-turned-filmmaker treats the camera as a sword he buries in Reagan-era conservatism - or maybe it's better to compare his lens to the gun protagonist Tammy wields as she "descends into a hedonistic spree of drugs, crime and murder." (Thanks, Letterboxd!) Whatever the case, you and yours will have a gay ol' time turning back the clock at this queer feature freak-out. - James Scott
Through March 30, Wally Workman Gallery
One of abstract art's many beauties is that ideas of macro and micro can change depending on the beholder or even coexist in the same mind. So it is with the work of Joyce Howell. The frequent exhibitor at Wally Workman creates without a clear image of the finished work, giving her paintings a sense of passing time. Floral palettes create what could be a single bloom or an entire French garden ... or something altogether different. - James Renovitch