The Jason Cale Band plays in St. Paul; more …

Here are some of the top events around Southwest and Southside for the coming week. Check out our new events calendar. Got an event? You can add it there for free. Want to keep up with what’s happening? Sign up here for our free weekly events newsletter.

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Feb. 22 and beyond: Contemporary Appalachian art in Roanoke

A new art exhibit at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine celebrates the diversity of artists from Southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee. The show, “From These Hills: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands,” is on loan from the William King Museum of Art in Abingdon.

The exhibit displays ways that people are creating art in Appalachia, from wood turning to broom making and from paintings to 3D pieces.

An opening reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at 2 Riverside Circle in Roanoke. The exhibition runs until May 10. If you are not able to make it to the opening reception but would like to visit the exhibit, email Courtney Powell to make arrangements.

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Feb. 22: Black History Month lecture at Central Virginia Community College

Central Virginia Community College will host a lecture Thursday by Muriel Mickles as part of the college’s Black History Month celebrations.

Mickles recently retired as the college’s vice president of academics, students and workforce development after a 52-year career at the school. The lecture will cover Mickles’ personal and professional journeys and give insight into her vision for the future.

The lecture will be held from 11 a.m. to noon in Merritt Hall rooms 5145 and 5146.

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Feb. 23: Jason Cale Band in St. Paul

The Jason Cale Band will perform at 7 p.m. Friday at Lyric Theater in St. Paul in conjunction with Pro-Art’s W. Campbell Edmonds Concert Series.

The band from Virginia Beach blends soulful blues rock, New Orleans funk and jazz fusion elements into a style all their own. Tickets are $15 at the door. Children and students get in free.

Find more information and make reservations at proartva.org .

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Feb. 23: Tickets for Sara Evans

Tickets to see country music artist Sara Evans in Rocky Mount go on sale Friday.

Evans will perform May 17 and 18 at the Harvester Performance Center. Both shows start at 8 p.m.

Evans is one of the most-played female artists in country radio of the last two decades, with five No. 1 singles: “No Place That Far,” “Suds In The Bucket, “A Real Fine Place To Start,” “Born to Fly,” and “A Little Bit Stronger.”

Tickets start at $87 and go on sale at 10 a.m. at harvester-music.com .

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Feb. 27: Elizabeth Kolbert at Moss Arts Center

Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer and New Yorker journalist Elizabeth Kolbert will discuss some of the most critical environmental issues facing the world at 7:30 p.m. Feb, 27 at the Moss Arts Center in Blacksburg.

“An Evening with Elizabeth Kolbert” will be moderated by Carol Davis, the town of Blacksburg’s sustainability manager.

Kolbert’s book about mass extinctions, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” was a New York Times 2014 top 10 book of the year and is No. 1 on the Guardian’s list of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time.

Kolbert’s forthcoming book, “H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z,” grew out of essays originally published in The New Yorker and is slated to be released this spring.

Tickets for the event are $25 for general admission and $10 for students and youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased online ; at the Moss Arts Center’s box office, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours.

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Feb. 28: Rural Film Festival in Blacksburg

The second annual Rural Film Festival will be held Feb. 28 at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg.

The festival is a project of Virginia Tech’s Center for Rural Education and VT Engage: The Center for Leadership and Service.

Eight short films will explore themes of ecological justice and belonging in rural places. After the film showings, filmmakers will lead discussion about the rural issues and experiences explored in the films.

The featured films:

• “Leatherbritches” – Sarah Downer
• “Fallout” – Madison Hill
• “Caneboil” – Sammy Osmond
• “East Kentucky Flood” – Center for Rural Strategies
• “Golden Eagles: Witnesses to a Changing West” – Wild Excellence Films
• “He Lost His Legs” – The Daily Yonder
• “Everybody Loves Maako” – Yndiana Montes
• “Isom IGA: The Grocery Store that Love Rebuilt” – Center for Rural Strategies

Reserve free tickets through the Lyric. Tickets include free concessions. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., the films begin at 7 p.m., and the filmmaker panel will start at 9 p.m.

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