Arts: Best Bets

Not exactly as cutthroat as Shark Tank or even The Voice, but this month, Kress Gallery downtown begins a new series to help bourgeoning local artists find out if they have what it takes. Called Artists’ Critique & Conversation, the event helps local artists develop their marketing skills and has their work sized up by panelists. The event is set for every fourth Tuesday of the month, January to April.

Curator Christopher Turner will lead the critiques, along with two guest panelists, and a mingle will follow the panel review.

Kress Gallery is changing its format to develop more frequent events and programs. “Right now, the gallery is kind of something you might stumble upon downtown,” Turner says. “My goal is to have it become a destination in 2013.”

In January and February, the gallery will showcase new works by four African-American artists from Louisiana—Randell Henry, Eric J. Brown, Taufeeq Muhammad and Turner. The show, with an opening Jan. 18 at 6 p.m., will be a nod to the Kress building’s history in the civil rights movement as the site of the city’s first sit-in at its lunch counter in 1960.

The first Artists’ Critique & Conversation will be Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. Check out Kress Gallery at facebook.com/KressGallery.

JAN. 6: The first Sunday of the month (and the new year) means several downtown museums will be open and free to the public. Check out the LSU Museum of Art, the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, the USS Kidd and the State Museum.

STARTING JAN. 18: Baton Rouge Little Theater begins its production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?­, following two of the stage’s most famous characters through a darkly funny evening where their relationship unravels in front of two younger guests. The show runs until Feb. 13. brlt.org

ENDING JAN. 20: Train memorabilia from the Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s collection is on view as a celebration of the museum’s 50th anniversary and historic use as a railroad depot. lasm.org

JAN. 25-27: Of Moving Colors hosts its fourth annual community production, Kick It Out, with more than 50 children from across the area performing with the company dancers at the Manship Theatre. ofmovingcolors.org