Venü

Now that the boom-boom dance clubs up and down the strip have mostly gone the way of the dodo, Chippewa's newest identity is as a venue for live music. Opened in 2018 in the former The Lodge nightclub, Rec Room is a mainstay of this transformation. The place is owned by Chris Ring, the mastermind behind the sadly missed Waiting Room on Delaware Avenue, and it's pretty much the same deal here as at the old place — mostly mid-tier punk, hardcore, and heavy metal bands with a few clubbier acts thrown in from time to time — in a classed-up ambience lit with Instagrammable neon art fixtures. If you've arrived early or the opening act is boring, there's also a game room upstairs with dartboards, electronic basketball, and arcade marchines.

Named for the Rotary Club whose $500,000 donation made its construction possible, the Rotary Rink has, since 1991, provided city residents with a unique opportunity to ice skate outdoors in an urban setting just steps from the Theater District, Chippewa Street, and downtown hotels and attractions. Skating at the Rotary Rink is very popular during winter events downtown such as the Christmas Tree Lighting, the New Year's Eve ball drop, and Winterfest, with the rink open extended hours during those times.

This Theater District mainstay started out as a small jazz club but has branched out into roots, rock, soul, R&B, and world music with an emphasis on mid-level national acts as well as local bands.

Located in a dazzlingly ornate former movie palace that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Shea's Performing Arts Center has been the cornerstone of downtown Buffalo's Theater District since the late 1970s, when its opening thwarted plans by civic leaders to demolish the grand old building. Today, Shea's is Buffalo's premier venue for lavish Broadway-style musicals such as Dreamgirls, The Lion King, and Wicked, as well as live music and performances such as Sesame Street Live and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The Mighty Wurlitzer organ, installed in the theater in 1926 to provide musical accompaniment to silent movies, is also occasionally dusted off for performances of various types.

Located in the historic and architecturally stunning Market Arcade in the Theater District and funded by CEPA members as well as charitable foundations, the CEPA Gallery's mission, according to its website, is "to present contemporary photo-related art, to support working artists, and to promote a greater understanding of photography and its associated aesthetic and cultural issues", with a particular focus on the work of local photographers as well as those who come from groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the field. To that end, exhibitions of work by CEPA members and others are frequently held in the gallery space.

Founded in 1985, Squeaky Wheel is a nonprofit, grassroots, artist-run media arts center that periodically screens locally-produced independent and avant-garde film and video projects.