Art Darlings

WED 4/27
Like the NFL draft, another April event focused on college seniors, the BFA Exhibition lets observers speculate on promising prospects. At the H&R Block Artspace (16 East 43rd Street) until May 14, the exhibition showcases the Kansas City Art Institute’s 2005 class. In one cheeky display, graduate Burak Duvenci frames his diploma and attaches an $86,000 asking price. Other highlights include Ascot J. Smith’s “Triple Threat,” a split-screen short film that alternates between a damaged relationship and channel-surfing chaos; James Ramirez’s “Binary Conversations,” which plays like a broken-connection chat with a videophone robot; and Jessica Devon McClanahan’s “When We Were and How I Was,” which rests an ornate, letter-pressed book on a similarly patterned antique chair.

Find out what it takes for these aspiring artists to succeed at a public panel discussion at the school’s Epperson Auditorium (4415 Warwick) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Practicing professionals such as Marcus Cain and Seth Johnson play career counselors, advising about issues such as self-promotion and selling works. Call 816-561-5563. — Andrew Miller

Life and Times

4/22-4/23
As the son of Edgar Masters, the poet who wrote fictional postmortem epitaphs in Spoon River Anthology, Hilary Masters learned all about the crushing lows and terrific highs of the literary life. He combines both in the recently reissued Last Stands: Notes From Memory, which includes reminiscences of a childhood split between living with maternal grandparents in KC and spending summers with his parents at New York City’s Chelsea Hotel. He pays loving attention to the former — recounting the time he spent listening to stories of the U.S. Cavalry and soldiers of fortune — while detailing the increasing distance he felt from his father. He discusses the memoir at 7 p.m. Friday at the Writers Place (3607 Pennsylvania, 816-753-1090) and gives a writing workshop from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Maybe it will help curb the current glut of autobiographies written about lives no more interesting than, well, our own.— Christopher Sebela

Televised Evolution

SAT 4/23
A ferret moonwalking to “Billie Jean.” A Dalmatian playing three-card monte. A fat tabby eating dinner with a fork. These are but a few of the pets we’d like to see arrive at Saturday’s tryouts for The Late Show with David Letterman‘s Stupid Pet Tricks. But don’t feel left out if you lack a Fluffy or Fido. Stupid humans and their tricks can come, too, when KCTV Channel 5 videotapes at Broome Chevrolet (555 West 103rd Street) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Late Show producers will contact those who make the cut — so don’t start giving autographs yet. Call 913-677-5555 — Rebecca Braverman