The Week Ahead
January 12, 2026
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A week on Bainbridge Island rarely announces itself with grand gestures. More often, it unfolds through smaller gatherings—an afternoon spent shaping clay, an evening of shared laughter in a darkened theater, a community coming together to remember, reflect, and recommit. Taken individually, these events might seem modest. Together, they sketch a portrait of how this place continues to understand itself: curious, creative, and willing to pause long enough to be in conversation with one another.
This week’s events move across different moods and spaces, but they are connected by a shared emphasis on presence. At the Bainbridge Island, cultural life often happens not through spectacle but through participation—through showing up, listening, and taking part in something alongside neighbors. Whether that participation looks like pressing fingerprints into soft clay, responding to a punchline, or adding your voice to a collective remembrance, the throughline is engagement rather than consumption.
Art, in its many forms, plays a central role. A monthly sculpture class at the Senior Community Center invites people to slow down and work with their hands, drawing inspiration from museum exhibitions while remaining grounded in process rather than outcome. A stand-up comedy show at Bainbridge Performing Arts offers something lighter, but no less connective—an opportunity to laugh together at the familiar absurdities of everyday life, led by a local comedian who knows the rhythms and quirks of the island well. And the annual MLK Celebration brings art and expression into conversation with history and justice, using poetry, music, movement, and shared dialogue to grapple with questions that are both deeply local and nationally urgent.
What stands out is how these events resist easy categorization. None of them are just classes, or just shows, or just commemorations. They are hybrids: part social gathering, part creative exploration, part civic practice. They make room for people to arrive as they are—experienced or new, confident or tentative—and to leave having been shaped, even slightly, by the time spent together.
There’s also a noticeable balance between reflection and forward motion. The sculpture class looks to the life and work of an artist whose story complicates conventional narratives about who gets to make art. The comedy night acknowledges the value of humor as a release and a mirror, especially in uncertain times. The MLK Celebration insists that remembrance without action is incomplete, and that hope must be actively cultivated. Each event, in its own way, asks participants to consider how creativity, laughter, and justice are sustained not by abstraction, but by repeated, shared effort.
In a week like this, Bainbridge Island reveals something essential about itself. Culture here isn’t confined to galleries, stages, or annual observances. It lives in community centers, performance halls, and gathering spaces where people are willing to sit together, make things together, and wrestle—sometimes quietly, sometimes joyfully—with what it means to belong to a community. These three events offer different entry points into that ongoing conversation, inviting residents to take part in the simple but meaningful act of showing up.
Featured Events:
Community Art at Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center
Each month, a quiet room at the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center becomes a place for looking closely, working with the hands, and spending a few unhurried hours making art together. The Community Art program invites participants to gather on the second Tuesday of the month for a guided class led by a museum educator, with each session shaped by what’s currently on view at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA).
This Tuesday’s session centers on sculpture, using air-dry clay as both a practical and expressive material. The class draws inspiration from the life and work of Dr. James W. Washington Jr., a Northwest artist whose sculptures are on exhibition at BIMA through September 17. Washington, who spent much of his life working as a janitor at the University of Washington while maintaining a prolific art practice, is known for works that balance strength and introspection. His sculptures often suggest figures, guardians, or presences that feel both personal and symbolic.
Rather than attempting to replicate specific artworks, the class offers a chance to respond to Washington’s approach—his attention to form, gesture, and inner life—through hands-on making. Air-dry clay is an accessible medium: it’s forgiving, easy to work with, and doesn’t require specialized tools or a kiln. Participants can focus on shaping ideas as they emerge, whether that leads to an abstract form, a small figure, or something in between.
The atmosphere of the program is intentionally low-pressure. This is not about producing a finished or polished piece, but about the process of noticing, experimenting, and learning alongside others. Some attendees may come with years of creative experience; others may be trying sculpture for the first time. Conversation tends to flow naturally, with time to work quietly or talk as much—or as little—as feels comfortable.
By situating these classes at the Senior Community Center, the program also emphasizes accessibility and connection. It brings museum-inspired learning out of the gallery and into a familiar neighborhood space, making contemporary art feel less distant and more woven into everyday life on the island.
The sculpture class runs from 1:00 to 3:00 pm and is part of an ongoing monthly series that continues through February. Registration is handled through the Senior Community Center, and each session stands on its own, making it easy to drop in for a single afternoon or return month after month.
Cost, tickets and logistics:
Tuesday, January 13, 1-3pm | Every Second Tuesday
BI Senior Community Center, 370 Brien Dr SE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Full details here
Get tickets here
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Dan Rosenberg & Friends
On Friday evening, the lights come up at Bainbridge Performing Arts for a night of stand-up that leans more toward familiar laughter than big-city spectacle. Dan Rosenberg & Friends brings together Bainbridge Island’s own Dan Rosenberg and a rotating lineup of fellow comedians for a show that feels relaxed, current, and rooted in shared experience.
Rosenberg has become a recognizable presence on the island’s comedy scene, known for humor that draws from everyday observations, family life, and the particular rhythms of living in the Northwest. His “& Friends” shows aren’t built around a single headliner with an opening act so much as a collective evening of voices, each bringing a slightly different perspective to the stage. The result is a pace that keeps shifting—short sets, varied styles, and the sense that you’re hearing material that’s still alive and evolving.
Stand-up comedy works best when there’s a feeling of connection between the audience and the performers, and the BPA stage lends itself well to that kind of intimacy. The room is large enough to feel like a night out, but small enough that reactions matter. Laughter feeds the room, pauses land, and there’s space for moments that feel spontaneous rather than overly rehearsed. It’s the kind of show where a single offhand comment can turn into a running thread for the rest of the night.
While Rosenberg anchors the evening, the “friends” portion is what gives the show its unpredictability. These guest comics often bring different comedic approaches—some more story-driven, others quick and observational, others a bit absurd. You may recognize some names, or you may be hearing them for the first time, which is part of the appeal. The variety keeps the night from settling into one tone, and there’s usually at least one set that surprises people.
There’s also something distinctly local about seeing comedy in this context. It’s not about testing material for a massive tour or chasing viral moments. Instead, it’s about sharing humor in a room full of neighbors, friends, and familiar faces, with jokes that sometimes land a little closer to home.
Dan Rosenberg & Friends takes place Friday, January 16, with the show starting at 7:30 pm. It’s an evening designed for listening, laughing, and letting the week wind down—no big premise, just a group of comedians and a room ready to respond.
Cost, tickets and logistics:
Friday, January 16, 7:30pm
The Buxton Center for Bainbridge Performing Arts 200 Madison Ave N Bainbridge Island, 98110
Full details here
Get tickets here
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MLK Celebration 2026
On Saturday, January 18, community members across Bainbridge Island and beyond are invited to gather for the MLK Celebration 2026, a multi-part afternoon focused on reflection, connection, and shared responsibility. Organized by Kitsap ERACE Coalition, Living Arts Cultural Heritage Project, and other local partners, the event centers the enduring relevance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s work in a moment marked by uncertainty, division, and ongoing struggles for equity.
Rather than framing Dr. King’s legacy as something finished or historical, the celebration asks participants to consider what it means to continue that work today. Organizers describe the gathering as a space to name history honestly, honor those who came before, and “harvest hope” through collective action and creativity. The tone is both reflective and forward-looking, emphasizing dignity, justice, and unity not as abstract ideals, but as ongoing community practices.
The afternoon begins with the Social Justice Social, running from 12:30 to 2:15 pm and open to all without registration. Presented by Kitsap ERACE Coalition, this portion of the event is intentionally informal. It offers space for people to meet one another, share resources, exchange ideas, and build relationships across organizations and generations. The focus is on conversation and connection—recognizing that social justice work is sustained not only by policy and protest, but also by camaraderie and mutual support.
Following a short break, the Community Celebration takes place from 2:30 to 5:00 pm. Registration is required for this portion, which brings people together through artistic expression. Poetry, music, dance, and participatory art projects create multiple entry points for engagement, allowing attendees to listen, reflect, and contribute in different ways. Rather than positioning art as performance alone, the event treats it as a shared language for processing history and imagining more just futures.
Throughout the day, the emphasis remains on participation rather than spectatorship. This is not a single program to observe, but a series of moments designed to invite presence—whether that means learning about local efforts, adding your voice to a conversation, or simply sitting with others in a spirit of remembrance and resolve.
The MLK Celebration 2026 offers a reminder that Dr. King’s vision of a “beloved community” is not a finished chapter, but an ongoing project. By gathering across differences and committing time to one another, the event makes space for both honest reckoning and collective hope, rooted firmly in the local community.
Cost, ticket, and logistics:
Sunday, January 18, 12:30-5pm
Frank Buxton Auditorium, Bainbridge Performing Arts 200 Madison Ave N, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Full details here
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