ART EXHIBITS

• “First Friday” on Oct. 4 features studio tours and receptions at local galleries throughout metro Peoria.
• Nina Gospodin’s “Uninsulated” is on display at Bradley University’s Heuser Art Center until Nov. 26.
• “The Hope Chest” by artist Barbie Perry and “This Beautiful Mess” by artist Constance Estep are now at the Contemporary Art Center until Oct. 18.
• Media artist, writer, performer and disability advocate Andy Slater will be featured Oct. 24 as part of Bradley’s “Visual Voices” series at the GCC Horowitz Auditorium.

SPECIAL EVENTS

• “Maybe an Art Show” is Oct. 5 at the Zinger Zanger Shop of Curiosities & Contemplation in Germantown Hills.
• The final blacksmithing demonstration at Wheels O’ Time Museum is scheduled for Oct. 12.

• “Portraits of Peace,” a musical commemoration of the centennial of the birth of Civil Rights icon and one-time Peorian C.T. Vivian, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 19 at St. Paul United Church of Christ in Pekin.
• Also Oct. 19, starting at 6 p.m., the Romain Art & Culture Center on NE Jefferson is staging “Around the World with ART Inc: Harlem Renaissance,” featuring poetry, music, appetizers and performances recalling the talents of Josephine Baker, the Brown Beauties, Cab Calloway and others.
• ArtsPartners hosts “Celebrating the Arts in Greater Peoria” on Oct. 30 at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

MUSIC

• The Symphonic Winds and Symphonic Band will perform at Bradley University’s Dingeldine Music Center on Oct. 3.
• Illinois Central College’s concert choir presents its fall performance on Oct. 17 in ICC’s Lecture/Recital Hall.
• “Decade of Decadence,” an ’80s rock party, comes to Five Points Washington on Oct. 19.
• The Bradley Symphonic Orchestra will appear at Dingeldine Music Center on Oct. 20.
• Central Illinois Jazz Society presents the Derel Monteith Trio on Oct. 20 at Trailside Event Center.

THEATER

• “Waitress” at Eastlight Theatre continues through Oct. 5.
• Peoria Players presents “The Color Purple” on Oct. 4-6 and Oct. 10-13.
• “The Cake” performs Oct. 9-13 at ICC’s Performing Arts Center.

CLASSES & LECTURES

• Stanford University professor Curtis Frank’s lecture “A Rainbow of Materials: Historical Pigments and Dyes” will be presented by the Fine Arts Society at the Peoria Riverfront Museum on Oct. 10.
• Lawyers for the Creative Arts presents the Bill and Gale Rattner Nonprofit Start-Up workshop on Oct. 10.
• The Peoria Art Guild offers a Palette Knife Painting class Oct. 2, a Paper Quilled Cards class Oct. 5, a Cocktails and Collage class Oct. 10, Silver Spinner Ring class and a Needle Felted Pumpkin class on Oct. 12, and a Plein Air Painting class on Oct. 19. Also at Peoria Art Guild, a four-week Preschool Art Fun class will begin Oct. 3.

OTHER

• Comic Chelsea Handler will perform at the Peoria Civic Center Theater on Oct. 24.

— For more information and details, check out the full calendar at artspartners.net.

SCREENS

Oct. 2 — In its 50th season PBS’ “Nova” will examine the solar system in five 60-minute episodes at 8 each Wednesday evening.

Oct. 2 — “The Last Days of the Space Age” is an eight-part dramedy showing how a power strike, a Miss Universe pageant and the crash of the Skylab space station affected Australia in 1979. Disney+.

Oct. 4 — Joaquin Phoenix returns as DC’s best-known villain in “Joker: Folie a Deux.” Lady Gaga co-stars as Harley Quinn in an interesting “musical psychological thriller.” Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener are featured.

Oct. 7 — The final season of “Superman & Lois” on the CW starts with the episode “The End & The Beginning.” Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch star.

Oct. 10 — The atmospheric horror series “Teacup,” inspired by Robert McCammon’s novel “Stinger,” will have two episodes a week through Halloween on Peacock.

Oct. 11 — A behind-the-scenes romp about the premiere of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” brings to theaters an interesting cast, with Matt Wood as John Belushi, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Matthew Rhys as George Carlin and J. K. Simmons as (yes) Milton Berle. In theaters.

Oct. 17 — “Brothers” is an action comedy starring Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage as not-quite estranged siblings with challenging back stories on a road trip/heist of sorts. The Amazon Prime show co-stars Brendan Fraser and Glenn Close.

Oct. 18 — “Happy’s Place” stars Reba McEntire as a woman who inherits her dad’s tavern (along with a half-sister she never knew) and an assorted collection of colorful characters, on NBC.

Oct. 21 — A similar new sitcom, “Poppa’s House,” stars Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. as a divorced talk-radio host trying to be a parent. Think “George Lopez” crossed with “Frazier.” On CBS.

Oct. 27 — “The Marlow Murder Club” adapts Robert Thorogood’s novel for a four-part series on PBS’ “Masterpiece,” with amateur sleuths investigating a local killing.

— Bill Knight