Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards move to Bluffs venue

The red carpet will roll out at the Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center in Council Bluffs on Sunday for the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards.

The ceremony returns to an in-person event this year for the first time since 2020. Awards will be presented to local visual artists, musicians and performers in various categories.

Lifetime Achievement Awards will be given to painter, paper artist and installation artist Susan Knight, drummer and R&B musician Curly Martin and actor Cork Ramer. BFF (Benson First Friday) Omaha and its founder, Alex Jochim, will receive a cultural stewardship award.

Hosts will be poet and performer Zedeka Poindexter and actor and producer Kerron Stark.

The evening will begin when McCormick’s 1894 Bar opens at 5 p.m. for pre-ceremony drinks and food by Chef Around the Block. Visitors can also tour the Anne & John P. Nelson Gallery at that time.

The ceremony starts at 6:30 and will include several live performances.

Tickets are $20 for general admission and $25 for reserved seating. They are available at paceartsiowa.org or 712-890-5601. Food and drink are extra.

The Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center is located at 1001 S. Sixth St. in Council Bluffs.

Traditional Chinese instrument musicians and Yue Opera artists from Los Angeles will take the stage Saturday night at the Orpheum Theatre, 409 S. 16th St., for a Lunar New Year Gala.

The Nebraska Chinese Association is sponsoring the event to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. They promise a dazzling program that highlights Asian culture and history through performances, spectacular costumes, exciting dances and beautiful music.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. they range from $30 to $60 and are available at ticketomaha.com or 402-345-0606.

Composer John Williams was nominated for an Oscar this week for his score to Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical film “The Fabelmans.”

This weekend, you can hear selections from some of his other film scores at “Maestro and the Music of John Williams,” an Omaha Symphony Movie Series concert.

The program, conducted by Music Director Ankush Kumar Bahl, will include the overture from “The Cowboys” and selections from “Star Wars,” “ET,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jurassic Park” and more .

The concert premieres Saturday night at 7:30 and repeats Sunday at 2 p.m. Both will be at the Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St.

Tickets range from $20 to $99 and are available at omahasymphony.org.

Tickets are still available for Wednesday night’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra concert with Wynton Marsalis.

The program will include ‘Meditations on the Middle East with Naseer Shamma’ in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Festival.

The orchestra includes 15 of the leading jazz soloists and musicians currently playing. The band is led by trumpet virtuoso Marsalis, who is its director and artistic director. He has a large repertoire that includes everything from historical works to commissioned pieces to classics by artists such as Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman and many others.

The concert at 7:30 p.m. is at the Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St. Tickets range from $60 to $80 and are available at ticketomaha.com or 402-345-0606.