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North State Arts JournalSeason by season in the North State arts
A main street in autumn light seen from the middle of the road: brick storefronts and awnings on both sides, gallery windows, people walking between the parked cars, a big tree, and a mountain at the end of the street.
North State Arts Journal · first page

North State Arts Journal: Chico and Redding Arts Calendar

By the North State Arts Journal editorial team Editorial desk, Chico and Redding · Published September 16, 2026 Corrections: contact@schoolofthearts-csuchico.com

Concert seasons, theatre productions and gallery exhibitions across the North State, in and around Chico and Redding. Every page starts with the hall rather than the poster, because in this valley the same programme often plays twice: once in Chico, once in Redding.

A downtown main street in autumn light, storefronts and awnings on both sides. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the street.
The four halls

Where the season is decided

Read the room before the programme. Laxson Auditorium, the Harlen Adams Theatre and the Rowland-Taylor Recital Hall in Chico, and the Cascade Theatre in Redding: four rooms carry most of what happens between the two cities, and each publishes its own listing.

The two-night pattern, Chico first and Redding later
Laxson Auditorium, Chico First night. Ticketed, one published price band, the larger house.
Cascade Theatre, Redding Second night. Same programme, a smaller house and a band the season page leaves open.

The table below takes the four rooms one by one: what each one is used for, and where its own page is read.

Reference halls of the North State season
VenueCityWhat plays thereGuide
Laxson AuditoriumChicoSymphony, choral and touring concert programmesLaxson, hall by hall in the venue guide
Harlen Adams TheatreChicoTheatre productions, dance and audition callsThe Harlen Adams stage in the venue guide
Rowland-Taylor Recital HallChicoRecitals, chamber work and organ programmesThe Rowland-Taylor recital room in the venue guide
Cascade TheatreReddingTouring productions and the Redding date of the seasonThe Cascade in Redding in the venue guide

Prices, capacities and opening times are published by each hall on its own page. This table repeats only what those pages print.

The wall

Fourteen pages, hung by hall

Each piece carries the room it belongs to, the date it was published, and a caption for what the image shows.

  • A theatre lobby in autumn light with a wooden bench, a coat rack holding a single coat, a tall window and a potted plant, bare walls with nothing written or hung, and no paper visible anywhere.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 1, 2026

    How the North State Arts Season Is Laid Out

    Month by month, from autumn openings to the spring finales.

    A theatre lobby in autumn light, a wooden bench and one coat on a rack. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A concert hall stage seen from the middle of the house, chairs and music stands waiting in a half circle in front of a tall red curtain, the heads and shoulders of a seated audience in the dark foreground.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 2, 2026

    Concert Music Season: Symphony, Choral, Band, Jazz and Organ

    The strands that carry the concert year.

    A hall stage set with chairs and music stands, seen over the heads of a seated audience. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A bare wooden stage floor seen from the wings, a dark red curtain hanging at the edge, a single work light standing near the wall, dust in the beam and no lettering or signs anywhere in view.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 4, 2026

    Theatre and Dance Season in the North State

    Campus stages, touring shows and the audition calls that precede them.

    A bare stage seen from the wings, one work light at the edge. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A quiet gallery room with framed works hung on pale walls, a polished concrete floor catching the light, and a single low bench standing empty in the centre of the room.
    Trinity Hall, ChicoSeptember 7, 2026

    Gallery and Exhibition Season in the North State

    Rotating shows and the rooms that hold them.

    A quiet gallery room with framed works and a single bench. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A folding table with programmes stacked in neat piles just inside an open gallery door, visitors filtering past in the background, and daylight from the street falling across the white papers on the table.
    Janet Turner Print Museum, ChicoSeptember 10, 2026

    Free Concerts, Gallery Openings and Talks to Plan For

    The dates that cost nothing to attend.

    A folding table of programmes just inside an open gallery door. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A lectern with a microphone in a small auditorium, rows of empty seats rising behind it, and a projection screen at the side showing a blank white field with nothing projected.
    Zingg Recital Hall, ChicoSeptember 9, 2026

    Public Lectures, Talks and Artist Conversations

    Talks hung beside the concerts and the shows.

    A lectern and empty seats in a small auditorium before a talk. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • Large rolled posters leaning in the corner of an office beside a flat file cabinet and a roll of masking tape on the floor, with the paper edges shadowed and unreadable.
    Janet Turner Print Museum, ChicoSeptember 13, 2026

    Season and Production Posters as an Archive of the Year

    The paper each season leaves behind.

    Rolled posters leaning in a corner beside a flat file. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A campus quad with a small outdoor stage, folding chairs in loose rows across the grass, and student volunteers setting up sound equipment under a line of poplar trees at the edge of the lawn.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    Multi-Arts Festival Programming in the North State

    One week, several art forms, one campus.

    A campus quad with a small outdoor stage and loose rows of chairs. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • An usher straightening a row of seat cushions in an empty auditorium before the doors open, house lights half up, and rows of vacant seats receding toward a closed curtain at the far end.
    Cascade Theatre, ReddingSeptember 15, 2026

    A Guide to North State Arts Venues

    Which hall holds what, and how it is priced.

    An usher straightening seat cushions in an empty auditorium. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • An office desk at the end of the afternoon, seen from the side: a closed laptop, one blank sheet of paper lying flat, a pen and a cup of coffee, with nothing written on the page.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 11, 2026

    How Arts Organisations Announce a Season

    How a year is put in front of an audience.

    An office desk at the end of the afternoon, a blank sheet of paper. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A rehearsal room with a double bass standing upright beside its open case, a row of empty music stands on tripod bases and two plain chairs, with low sunlight across a bare wooden floor and blank walls.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    How a Regional Symphony Season Is Built, and Why a Programme Plays Twice

    The season page, the two-night pattern and the band it prints.

    A double bass and empty music stands in a rehearsal room. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A church hall at night set out for a rehearsal: rows of folding chairs with coats over the backs, a thermos standing on the windowsill and a stack of blank unprinted folders on a wooden table, nobody in the room.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    How an Adult Joins a Choir, a Band or a Jazz Ensemble in the North State

    Where an adult finds a group that is taking members.

    Folding chairs and coats in a hall set up for a rehearsal. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A loading dock in the afternoon with road cases stacked against a brick wall, a flight of concrete steps up to an open stage door and a hand truck leaning beside them, no lettering anywhere in the frame.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    A Student Production or a Touring Show: What Changes on the Night

    Two kinds of evening, read from the room outward.

    Road cases and a hand truck at a loading dock. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
  • A gallery wall before opening, with a row of framed works lying face up on foam pads, a pencil and a small level on the concrete floor and a stepladder standing in the corner.
    Janet Turner Print Museum, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    What a Juried Student Exhibition Is, and How the Work Is Chosen

    Who chooses, and what reaches the wall.

    Framed works waiting on pads against a gallery wall. Illustration created with AI, not a photograph of the hall.
Dated entries

What was added, and when

Seventeen pages, seventeen dates, in the order they were written.

  1. A concert hall stage seen from the middle of the house, chairs and music stands waiting in a half circle in front of a tall red curtain, the heads and shoulders of a seated audience in the dark foreground.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 2, 2026

    Concert Music Season: Symphony, Choral, Band, Jazz and Organ

    The strands that carry the concert year, and the halls that book them.

  2. A bare wooden stage floor seen from the wings, a dark red curtain hanging at the edge, a single work light standing near the wall, dust in the beam and no lettering or signs anywhere in view.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 4, 2026

    Theatre and Dance Season in the North State

    Campus stages, touring productions and the dance programme.

  3. A quiet gallery room with framed works hung on pale walls, a polished concrete floor catching the light, and a single low bench standing empty in the centre of the room.
    Trinity Hall, ChicoSeptember 7, 2026

    Gallery and Exhibition Season in the North State

    How a year of rotating shows is put together.

  4. A lectern with a microphone in a small auditorium, rows of empty seats rising behind it, and a projection screen at the side showing a blank white field with nothing projected.
    Zingg Recital Hall, ChicoSeptember 9, 2026

    Public Lectures, Talks and Artist Conversations

    Talks that sit beside the concerts and the exhibitions.

  5. A folding table with programmes stacked in neat piles just inside an open gallery door, visitors filtering past in the background, and daylight from the street falling across the white papers on the table.
    Janet Turner Print Museum, ChicoSeptember 10, 2026

    Free Concerts, Gallery Openings and Talks to Plan For

    The published dates that cost nothing to attend.

  6. A rehearsal room with a grand piano at the wall, a music stand holding a blank sheet of music seen at an angle, rows of folding chairs, and daylight coming in from tall windows.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 12, 2026

    How Auditions for a Production Are Announced and Run

    What a call for singers and players actually contains.

  7. A visitor pausing before a large abstract canvas in a bright gallery, notebook in one hand and a tote bag over the shoulder, seen from behind and slightly to the side.
    Janet Turner Print Museum, ChicoSeptember 14, 2026

    Planning a Gallery Visit in Chico and Redding

    Exhibition runs, opening hours and how to time a trip.

  8. An usher straightening a row of seat cushions in an empty auditorium before the doors open, house lights half up, and rows of vacant seats receding toward a closed curtain at the far end.
    Cascade Theatre, ReddingSeptember 15, 2026

    A Guide to North State Arts Venues

    The halls, their sizes, and the band each one publishes.

  9. A campus quad with a small outdoor stage, folding chairs in loose rows across the grass, and student volunteers setting up sound equipment under a line of poplar trees at the edge of the lawn.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    Multi-Arts Festival Programming in the North State

    One week of talks, concerts and exhibitions on one campus.

  10. A rehearsal room with a double bass standing upright beside its open case, a row of empty music stands on tripod bases and two plain chairs, with low sunlight across a bare wooden floor and blank walls.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    How a Regional Symphony Season Is Built, and Why a Programme Plays Twice

    The season page, the two-night pattern and the band it prints.

  11. A wooden counter in daylight with a green desk lamp on a jointed arm, a pen on a chain, a small stack of blank envelopes and closed wooden shutters behind, and no printed paper in view.
    Laxson Auditorium, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    What a Concert Ticket Costs, from the Student Rate to the Premium Seat

    One band per programme, and the rate a page leaves off it.

  12. A church hall at night set out for a rehearsal: rows of folding chairs with coats over the backs, a thermos standing on the windowsill and a stack of blank unprinted folders on a wooden table, nobody in the room.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    How an Adult Joins a Choir, a Band or a Jazz Ensemble in the North State

    Where an adult finds a group that is taking members.

  13. A loading dock in the afternoon with road cases stacked against a brick wall, a flight of concrete steps up to an open stage door and a hand truck leaning beside them, no lettering anywhere in the frame.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    A Student Production or a Touring Show: What Changes on the Night

    Two kinds of evening, read from the room outward.

  14. A costume rail in a backstage corridor holding long tunics and coats on wooden hangers, a pair of soft leather boots on the floor and a work lamp on a cable, with bare brick and plaster walls.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    Why Regional Stages Keep Returning to Shakespeare and the Classics

    Why the classics keep a place in a season.

  15. A dance studio with nobody in it: a wooden barre fixed along the mirrored wall, a scuffed wooden floor, a pair of worn slippers by the baseboard and a folded towel on a bench.
    Harlen Adams Theatre, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    Where Dance and Movement Work Happen on North State Stages

    The rooms and the weeks that carry movement work.

  16. A gallery wall before opening, with a row of framed works lying face up on foam pads, a pencil and a small level on the concrete floor and a stepladder standing in the corner.
    Janet Turner Print Museum, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    What a Juried Student Exhibition Is, and How the Work Is Chosen

    Who chooses, and what reaches the wall.

  17. A print studio table in daylight: a plain carved woodblock carrying a geometric pattern and no letters, an ink brayer beside it, a stack of dry cotton paper and a magnifying loupe in the foreground.
    Janet Turner Print Museum, ChicoSeptember 16, 2026

    Which Printmaking Techniques a Visitor Can Recognise in the Gallery

    The marks that tell one process from another.

What this journal refuses to do

Three things are left out on purpose, and one of them is the reason this page exists.

Here is what we refuse to do: print a price we have not seen published. Season pages in the North State often list a single price band and leave the student rate, the senior rate and the Redding date out. When that happens you will read it here in plain words, under the heading What the page does not say, instead of a number we guessed. We would rather send you to the box office with one question than with a wrong figure.

  • No price that the presenting organisation has not published itself.
  • No date that a hall has not printed on its own season page.
  • No recommendation, and no ticket sold on anyone's behalf.
The North State Arts Journal editorial team
The three strands

Three ways into the season

The journal follows the published windows of each art form rather than a single calendar.

How the North State arts season is laid out month by month matters more than any single concert, and the season calendar hub is where that structure sits. From there the coverage splits into three strands: the concert music season, the dance season in the North State, and the gallery exhibition season, with multi-arts festival programming gathered separately because a festival week cuts across all three.

  • Concert music

    Symphony, choral, band, jazz and organ programmes, read hall by hall.

  • Theatre and dance

    Campus productions, touring shows and the audition calls that come first.

  • Galleries and print

    Rotating exhibitions, works on paper and the rooms that hold them.

Repertoire

Every page on the wall

Twenty pages of record and three service pages, listed once so nothing is hard to find.