Bia Ferreira describes her music as “MMP: Música de Mulher Preta,” or “Black woman music.” The Brazilian singer, songwriter, and activist began her career in 2017 with “Cota Não é Esmola,” a song about systemic inequality and the importance of quotas in ensuring minority access to higher education.
Jump to 2025, and Ferreira has amassed over 40,000 monthly Spotify listeners and millions of YouTube views for her music, which her website describes as fusing “funky beats, reggae and soul ballad grooves.” Ferreira takes the stage on Friday for PLAYlist, Durham Central Park’s free concert series. Her set starts at 7:30 p.m., but you’ll want to get there early and stay out late—it’s preceded by a mix from DJ Travis Gales and followed by a community-wide dance party. —Daneen Kahn
Uproar Festival of Public Art is a testament to tenacity: When Tropical Storm Chantal blew through Orange County, it damaged and destroyed local infrastructure and arts spaces like the Eno Arts Mill, where festival organizers, the Orange County Arts Commission (OCAC), keep studio space. Nevertheless, the OCAC is carrying on with the festival, which places sixty outdoor installations and murals by Southern artists across the county.
The August 1 kickoff party takes place at Eno River Brewing, with live music by 10-piece band Liquid Pleasure and food trucks, an artist parade, printmaking activities, and a local photo booth. Bring your kids and make an evening of it—and a month of visiting and marveling at each respective installation. —Sarah Edwards
It’s a festival for cute cat videos. Need I say more? You’ve probably staged your personal cat video festival from your couch, via Instagram Reels, but this international event is a chance to be around other feline lovers. The event includes 75 minutes of family-friendly footage, animations, music videos, and more content highlighting the cutest (and possibly some of the dumbest) cats you’ve ever seen. Durham’s Carolina Theatre, Raleigh’s Alamo Drafthouse, and the Cary Theater are all participating in this far-flung project to bring the joy of silly feline content to the big screen. Each location is also donating a portion of ticket sales to local shelters and organizations dedicated to cat welfare. Ticket prices and showtimes vary. —DK
August 2 marks a special occasion: the Triangle Native American Film Festival, a first of its kind, and a chance to see “a curated selection of Native-made short films from around the world,” including the 98-minute “2025 Sundance Institute Indigenous Short Film Tour,” per the program notes. The program includes screenings of two shorts by North Carolina Lumbee filmmakers: historian Malinda Maynor Lowery’s Lumbeeland and Eric Michael Hernandez’s Courage.
The event, which runs until 9 p.m., includes a panel with filmmakers, producers, and actors, food trucks that feature local Native chefs, and a filmmaking tutorial from the Indigenous Imagination Lab. The event is also an opportunity to learn more about the event’s organizer, the Triangle Native American Society, which dates back 40 years and serves Native communities across Wake, Orange, Durham, Johnston, and Chatham Ccounties. Ticket prices start at $38.50. —SE
“I was born to run away / working my whole life to stay / separate cars to the same place / I’ll be right behind,” goes the song “Baby Blues” by Dissimilar South, the band project from Durham singer-songwriter Maddie Fisher. The band’s 2022 debut, Tricky Things, was chock-full of similarly keen, emotionally savvy songwriting and soft twangs; since then, the band has released two more (very strong) singles. At this Cat’s Cradle Back Room show, Dissimilar South is joined by musician Anne-Claire, who has been delivering infectious, no-holds-barred tunes to the Triangle for a decade now. Come close out the week with an evening of soulful Southern tunes. —SE
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