From movies to paintings, theater and music, artists are banding together for national tours of swing states, are releasing themed albums, organizing benefits for local causes and staging performances of such politically charged plays as The Crucible.

Several events will hit local stages, galleries and screens within the next month, many of them urging you to vote, both on the presidential election, and, closer to home, to repeal Article XII, a charter measure that prohibits the city from taking special steps to prevent discrimination against gays.

One of the most high-profile tours, Vote for Change, will bring Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Keb' Mo' to town Saturday, the night Babyface and John Mellencamp perform in Columbus and Dave Matthews, Ben Harper and My Morning Jacket play Dayton.

On top of all this, you can still check out the Contemporary Arts Center's yearlong Crimes and Misdemeanors: Politics in U.S. Art of the 1980s, a survey of how artists such as Karen Finley, Guerilla Girls, Keith Haring, Jeff Koons and Robert Mapplethorpe reacted to the political and social conflicts and changes of that decade. The exhibit runs through Nov. 5.