We’ve made it to the first spring weekend of the year. Enjoy it with options from “Honky Tonk” sounds to a film festival gathering.

Humanities Festival

Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, a co-production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and The Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon University, is Friday through Sunday. The headliners include “The Legacy of Women in Hip Hop” with Monie Love, DJ Perly, Juliandra Jones, & Teena Marie Custer and “An Evening with Ira Glass: Seven Things I’ve Learned,” both on Friday.

“The Legacy of Women in Hip Hop” is at 8 p.m. at the Trust Arts Education Center, Downtown, and “An Evening with Ira Glass” is at 8 p.m. Friday at the Byham Theater, Downtown. Glass is host and creator of the public radio program “This American Life,” which was the first program awarded a Pulitzer Prize for audio journalism. Tickets start at $32.

“The Legacy of Women in Hip Hop” celebrates the contributions, experiences, and legacy of women in hip-hop culture over the past 50 years. Tickets start at $20.

Throughout the weekend there are 14 additional events, which guests can have access to for $10 ($5 for students). The festival comprises a curated selection of conversations with community leaders, artists, academics and change-makers from Pittsburgh and beyond discussing politics, history and cultures while exploring what it means to be human.

Every presentation includes a question and answer segment.

Details: trustarts.org

Blake Shelton

Country music star Blake Shelton will perform at 7 p.m. Friday at PPG Paints Arena, Uptown. Pittsburgh is one of 18 stops on his “Back to the Honky Tonk Tour.” Joining Shelton will be CMA Female Vocalist of the year Carly Pearce and up-and-coming artist Jackson Dean.

Shelton’s latest single, “No Body,” has been rising up the country radio charts. Shelton has won five Academy of Contemporary Music Awards, three American Music Awards, 10 Country Music Association Awards, 11 Country Music Television Awards and seven People’s Choice Awards.

Shelton is also a coach for the show “The Voice” on NBC. This is his last season.

Tickets start at $36.25.

Details: BlakeShelton.com

Can't believe we only have one of these left.. what a weekend!!!! #BackToTheHonkyTonk pic.twitter.com/Y5z4cgO8ZF

— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) March 19, 2023

Empty bowls

The annual Empty Bowls event will run from 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Oakland.

The event plans to serve 1,900 people to help end hunger across the region. The meal includes soup and bread and benefits Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Just Harvest, an organization that works to promote a just system of food access. Attendees will select a ceramic bowl made by local artisans to take home as a reminder of people facing hunger.

There will be seating from 1 to 3 p.m., 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. There is also a takeout option.

Tickets are $30, $25 in advance, and free for children under 3.

Details: pittsburghfoodbank.org

Courtesy of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank The annual ”Empty Bowls” event is from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on March 26 at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Oakland.  

Take in a movie

Pittsburgh Sound + Image, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, screenings and education, will bring Psychodrama On Film: William Greaves’ “In the Company of Men” to the Eberle Studios & Gallery in Homestead at 8 p.m. Friday.

The movie illustrates Greaves’ decision to use film as a consciousness-raising tool to depict and affect prejudice between white factory foremen and Black workers. He brought a psychodramatist into an auto plant so that both sides could improvise common interactions.

The film will be screened from an original 16mm print from the collection of the University of Pittsburgh. There will be a discussion after the showing.

Tickets are $10.

Details: pghsoundandimage.com

Film festival

The Carnegie Mellon University Film Festival continues this weekend with “Woman on the Roof” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Harris Theater, Downtown.

Based on a true story, it is described as “an incisive critique of womanhood in Poland.” At 60 years old, Mirka is struggling to find direction as she enters her twilight years. She stages a sudden act of defiance – an attempted bank robbery.

There will be a virtual discussion with the director, Anna Jadowska, moderated by Jolanta Lion, assistant director of the Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon, and Pawel Lewicki, associate director of the European Studies Center at Pitt.

This year’s theme is “Faces of Change” and is dedicated to the late Paul Goodman, a world-renowned filmmaker, psychologist and Carnegie Mellon professor.

Tickets are $10, $5 for seniors.

Details: cmuiff.com

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