Poet and performer Sierra Nelson, who reads from her new book of poetry at Hugo House on March 20
Poet and performer Sierra Nelson, who reads from her new book of poetry at Hugo House on March 20 Portrait by Steve Korn

Spring is right around the corner and a new spring edition of The Stranger's Art and Performance Quarterly is on the streets! Seattle has a vast array of cultural offerings, and we've got you covered for the season, from now through the second week of June.

Winter was a season of hilarious interruptions at the symphony and the opera. Meanwhile, the whole city was gripped by the drama of live drag competitions. Plus, did you know that Bellevue Arts Museum is... like, cool now? Christopher Frizzelle, Chase Burns, and Jasmyne Keimig examine these Seattle arts scene trends.

Nina Simone died in 2003, but Seattle Repertory Theatre is bringing her back to life, sort of, in a play directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton: Nina Simone: Four Women. As Charles Mudede writes, the bombing of black girls made the jazz singer a radical.

There’s a new music venue in town called Octave 9, tucked inside Benaroya Hall. The room is designed to create “a multisensory experience,” with a 360-degree projection surface, a honeycombed ceiling, and bold programming. Dave Segal investigates.

Rich Smith talks to poet and performer Sierra Nelson, who recently published her debut full-length book, The Lachrymose Report. She’s also the founder and curator of the Cephalopod Appreciation Society, a multidisciplinary art project that celebrates the predatory mollusk.

Jasmyne Keimig breaks down the components of a piece by Jeffrey Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and a half Cherokee whose sculptures involving punching bags at Seattle Art Museum also express a love for dance clubs, music, ancestral spirits, and adornment.

And finally, Stranger critics have put together their top picks for the upcoming season, which are presented amid the Things To Do staff's near-comprehensive calendars for the same timespan, this week through early June: visual art exhibits at local museums and galleries; performances (theater, dance, cabaret and burlesque, comedy, drag, live podcast tours, and more); book and poetry readings, talks, and events; concerts (opera, classical music, jazz, and world music); festivals of all varieties; and film series, releases, and festivals.

So ... go out and do something!