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Fall 2026
Image credit: photography by Melinda McDaniel
Light and Transient Causes
September 1 – December 5, 2026
Meztli Castro Asmussen | Deborah Dancy | Sky Hopinka | Weihui Lu | Paul Akira Miyamoto
Wendy Red Star | Liz Roberts | Alisa Sikelianos-Carter | Jean-Marc Superville Sovak | Millicent Young
In the 250th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence, this exhibition takes its name from a line in the document that suggests that some grievances may prove too fleeting to justify revolution—and considers asymmetries of perception of what is deemed light enough to ignore, transient enough to postpone. This exhibition is curated by Marisa Espe, Director of Communications at the Albany Institute of History & Art and guest curator with River Valley Arts Collective.
For more detailed information on all these events see our Events Page here.
FRI Sept. 11, 6:00-9:00pm, Exhibition reception in conjunction with our Pop-Up Beer Garden
THURS Sept. 17, 7:00pm, Talk, Suketu Mehta, author of This Land is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto, will speak at Opalka Gallery in collaboration with the NYS Writers Institute in recognition of Constitution Day
SAT Sept. 19, 1:00-2:30pm, Kids’ Art Workshop Led by RSC MAT Art Education students. Free but registration required. Class size limited.
TUES Sept. 22, 6:30-7:30pm, Artist lecture. Come listen to artist Deborah Dancy speak about her work in the current exhibition Light and Transient Causes. Learn more about Deborah’s work here.
FRI Oct. 2, 6:30 to 7:30pm, FIRST FRIDAY Music from Buggy Jive. Fresh off his sweep of the 2026 Eddies Music Awards, Buggy Jive stops by Opalka for First Friday!
SAT Oct. 3, 1:00-2:30pm, This season, Albany Symphony revives a cherished tradition with the launch of a new Chamber Music Companion Series, bringing audiences up close and personal to the artists and ideas behind the orchestra’s celebrated commitment to exhilarating performances, music education, and adventurousness. Free but registration required.
RSVPs starting Sept. 30 and after may be standing room only
Event Details and Registration here: https://www.albanysymphony.com/upcomingconcerts/chambermusic
The series begins on October 3, from 1-2:30 at the Opalka Gallery with an intimate program featuring composer Celka Ojakangas, five Albany Symphony musicians, and a conversation led by Music Director David Alan Miller. The performance includes Ojakangas’ Toons, paired with the world premiere of her orchestral work Shuffle later that day on the Symphony’s opening-night program, Rome, Romance, and Rising Stars, alongside works by Rossini, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Henri Vieuxtemps. This free concert launches a season-long initiative designed to complement the Symphony’s mainstage concerts. Each event will explore the themes, repertoire, and creative voices featured throughout the season while advancing the Albany Symphony’s longstanding commitment to championing new music and building the future of our living musical heritage.
THURS Oct. 8, 6:30-7:30pm, Poetry Reading by Susan Comninos, Janet Bowdan, and Shira Dentz, contributors to The Color Wheel: Poems (Terrapin Books, 2026). This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
WEDS Oct. 14, 5:30-7pm, Member reception and private tour with Light & Transient Causes curator Marisa Espe. Become a member or renew your membership by Oct. 7 and join us for this special event.
THURS Oct 15, 6:30-7:30pm Ira Baumgarten, producer of the multi-media project Shapeshifters: Bodies Like Water, will be on hand to give a brief presentation on the project and will have copies of the book of the same name for purchase and signing. All proceeds will be donated to a local non-profit benefitting the LGBTQ community in Albany. Shapeshifters honors the deep connections between the body, land, and queer wisdom.
THURS Oct 22, 6:30-7:30pm, Stage and Stanza: Conversations with Creatives, hosted by Carol Durant and David Baecker, of RSC Theatre Institute. Special guests TBA
FRI Oct. 30, 6:30 snacks, 7:00pm talks, PechaKucha Night. Sponsored by Druthers Brewing and Honest Weight Food Co-op.
FRI Nov. 6, 6:30 to 7:30pm, FIRST FRIDAY music with Belle-Skinner
SAT Nov. 7, 2:00-3:00pm Poetry Reading by acclaimed poet and RSC alum Hajar Hussaini ‘19, recent recipient of a prestigious 2026 Whiting Award in Poetry and author of Disbound Poems (University of Iowa Press, 2022). This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
FRI Nov. 13, TIME TBA, A Culinary Experience
In dialogue with Opalka Gallery’s exhibition Light and Transient Causes, Dishing.Studio presents a ticketed culinary experience. Finding parallels in food x art, tastes reflect the lived experiences of immigrant artists and third culture culinary memory shaped by displacement, hybridity, belonging, identity, and the slow transmission of knowledge. Food as material. Flavor as connection. More info including time and ticket info to come!
FRI Dec. 4, 6:30 to 7:30pm, FIRST FRIDAY music with Sarah Claire Sings. Co-sponsored by the Music Performance Trust Fund, arranged by Local 14.
SAT Dec. 5, 2:00 to 4:00pm, Closing reception and tour for Light and Transient Causes
Read more about events here.
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