The Olympia Funk Festival returns for its fourth and biggest year, January 29 to 31, 2027. The 4th Annual Olympia Funk Festival, sometimes known as Funk Off!, is a lineup of acts that will get you out of your seat and get your brittle, PNW-chilled body moving. Olympia will be packed to the gills with music that is not only funk-indebted, but that leans more into the global sphere.
Molly Gilmore “Arts Aficionado” #19 — November 04, 2026
Dance and film — including local talent — are in the spotlight
— Ballet Victoria’s ‘Alice’
— New works by local choreographers
— OFS hosts local films and rock-climbing drama
You might label the Capitol Theater an indie and art-house film venue, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But insiders know the Capitol Theater is so much more. From late fall 2026 through the end of the year, the Capitol Theater will host a public film club, serve as a live-music venue, and showcase regional filmmakers. Then, in December, it becomes a concert hall and cinema at once.
Molly Gilmore “Arts Aficionado” #9 — August 26, 2026
— Sleater-Kinney Rockin’ the Block
— Art on the Farm
— ‘Improbable Peck of Plays’ returns
— ‘Broadcast News’ on Big Screen
https://olyarts.org/arts-aficionado-week-of-august-26-2026/
These two films depict the Pacific Northwest in two radically different times. In Robert Altman’s classic revisionist Western, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Warren Beatty moves into a mining town in 1900s Washington, trying his best to become a big shot in the middle of a boom period. Michael Sarnoski’s new classic, Pig, explores the fringes of modern-day Portland, with Nicolas Cage starring as a reclusive former chef whose truffle pig gets stolen. The films – showing at Capitol Theater November 15 & 16 – showcase the Pacific Northwest’s natural wonders as an overwhelming force that has to be bent to, not conquered; and both films have an elegiac atmosphere that hangs over them.
The Funk Fest is seen by the organizers, Ecstatic Sound Collective, as “more than just music—it’s a celebration of community and culture.” To that end, downtown Washington Street will be transformed into a lively street party. This 2nd annual Olympia Funk Festival is an incredible lineup of talent coming to three Capital City venues—the Olympia Ballroom, the Olympia Center, and the historic Capitol Theatre!
The operatic scale of “The Phantom of the Paradise,” with that awful scarred hero-villain, his teeth metal and his eyes mad, screaming into the night as he watches the seduction of the woman he loved … if all of this is getting your midnight cult classics motor revving, there might not ever be a better time to see it than on November 8th at the Capitol Theatre, where for its 50th anniversary it will be accompanied with a live band and an actor-adjacent performance on the stage.
“It is a great honor to have such prominent authors [Willow Catelyn Maclay and Caden Mark Gardner] meet remotely with our community. They are lauded as two of the best film writers working today, and their new book is poised to become a foundational text about cinema and queer history.” Trans Film Festival and library Zoom event with authors.
Homegrown Olympia music makers and nationally acclaimed headliners from Seattle and Portland and around the country will enliven downtown Olympia with a weekend of music and dance, February 2-4, when the inaugural Olympia Funk Festival known as “Funk OFF!” ignites the city with three days of non-stop dancing and exciting and innovative music.
Capital City Pride 2023 – Embracing Sustainability, Diversity and Community Growth – invites individuals from all walks of life to gather at the Tivoli Fountain on the Capitol Campus at 9 a.m. July 1 for a day of solidarity and positive protest.