Sep 17 Thursday
Come learn what the new fall semester of OLLI at Texas Tech University Abilene has in store for you and friends. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute will be introducing its Fall 2026 course offerings in this informal setting. Experts from various fields have agreed to serve as course instructors, and you can meet many of them. Snacks and beverages will be served. Join us for a fun opportunity to meet other lifelong learners and register for courses. The event is come-and-go.
Latin Dance Night is back by popular demand for the 6th year! To kick off Hispanic Heritage Month right, we invite the community to dance the night away to Latin hits played by DJ Manteca in our beautiful Grace Courtyard. We’ll have some free snacks and encourage you to grab dinner from La Aguila food truck parked beside the Museum. The Ice House at LSDG will host a cash bar (so bring your ID)!
We also invite you to explore the Museum while you’re here – all at no cost!
Sep 18 Friday
They’ve graded the papers, survived the staff meetings, and lost their last ounce of patience… and now they’re taking it out on stage!
Bored Teachers is BACK with brand-new jokes, bigger laughs, and the most relatable teacher comedy you’ll ever hear. For nearly a decade, Bored Teachers has been the #1 voice of teacher humor—racking up over 1 billion views, amassing 10 million+ followers, and hosting the #1 teacher-comedy podcast on the planet.
Since 2022, they’ve performed for 200,000+ teachers worldwide, and sold out 200+ theaters across 49 states, 5 countries, and 3 continents. Their BRAND NEW “Is It Friday Yet?!” Tour starting January 2026 is more than a comedy show—it’s the ultimate night of laughter and solidarity for anyone who’s ever worked in education, taught a lesson, or just survived parent-teacher conferences.
Get ready to laugh until you cry as the funniest teacher-comedians in the world share their side-splitting stories, savage truths, and hilarious classroom confessions. Whether you’re a teacher, a parent, or just someone who’s been in school, this show will have you nodding, clapping, and hollering, “That’s SO TRUE!”
Warning: May contain PG-13 language, teacher truths, and uncontrollable fits of laughter.
Sep 23 Wednesday
This month we will meet on the third floor and look at the Beginnings: Early History of Abilene High School and Lincoln Middle School exhibition. Guests will explore garments and artifacts from decades past and enjoy recalling memories sparked by the pieces on display.
Sep 24 Thursday
Inspired by our current history exhibition, We’ve Got Spirit: School Pride, class participants will be guided by a Grace art instructor in making your own felt pennant flag.
No experience necessary. Grace Studios make art FUN in a no-pressure environment. BYO snacks and drinks to enjoy while you work. Bring a friend or come make a new one
Celebrate local music with KACU at Tiny(ier) Desk, the official kickoff to our Fall Fundraiser!
Join us September 24th from 6 to 9 at 7 & 1 Bookstore as we showcase local bands in an intimate, Tiny Desk-inspired setting.
Come support local music and your local public radio!
Sep 26 Saturday
Join us at this free event to see a showcase about all things aviation! From guest speakers, to pop-up activities, to readings and reenactments – there’s something for everyone. We are excited to partner with the National WASP World War II Museum and the Abilene Public Library. Come learn and have fun with us!
Since his early teens, photographer Larry Smith has honed his technical skills, making them second nature, which has allowed him to focus on thoughtful observation and intuition. In doing so, he seizes on compositional opportunities many others dismiss or are oblivious to. Nothing is overtly spectacular about Smith’s chosen subjects. In fact, they are scenes, scenarios, and places we likely encounter every day. What is remarkable is his ability to glean from the ordinary an image worthy of consideration.
Smith’s knack for being in the right place at the right time coupled with his ability to recognize, compose, and capture an image in a fraction of a second is a combination that takes decades to perfect. His black and white photographs record what it is to be human—documenting the simple pleasure of family and friends, isolation in a world filled with others, moments of melancholy, and the monotony that fills the gaps.
BioLarry Smith (b. 1951) has lived in Abilene, Texas his entire life, but his photographs capture a broad range of subjects and locations. He first became interested in photography while helping his older brother develop high school yearbook photos. As an adult, he worked at Keaton Kolor, the Abilene photo lab, from 1973-1990, but never pursued fine art photography as a profession. With the exception of a solo show at the Center for Contemporary Arts in his hometown in the mid-1970s, Smith has not exhibited his work. For him, the act of creating is motivation enough.
McKee Frazior treats the internet as physical material—not metaphorically, but structurally. He is interested in the infrastructure beneath the surface: latency, entropy, network protocols, and the ephemera that accumulates through use and neglect. He considers himself a hypermedia artist, which is a real thing he did not make up. His works are rarely static. They adapt to prior interactions and states, making the audience an integral part of the process whether they consented to that or not. His current obsessions include QR codes and the internet as a substrate that decays, forgets, and occasionally apologizes without meaning it. Themes of awkwardness, play, mild anxiety, and systems failing gracefully permeate his output.
Frazior was born in 1979 at Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has yet to reach his life expectancy. While working toward that goal, he attended the University of Texas at Austin (BFA 2002) and SMU Guildhall (Graduate Certificate in Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development, 2005), receiving papers from both. He has exhibited himself and others across Texas, never receiving a citation for doing so. He holds an MFA in New Media from Texas Christian University (2025). He exists geographically, mainly in the DFW area, playing with internet infrastructure, QR codes, drawing, software, sound, video, text, interactivity, and the space between wards.
Our 76th season opens with Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, a work that changed the course of classical music forever. Joining us for this special opening night is David Childs, a euphonium virtuoso whose artistry has captivated audiences the world over – a truly unforgettable way to launch our season.
🎵 Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture 🎵 Jenkins Euphonium Concerto 🎵 Beethoven Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”