It's been the talk of the town this week. Due to major budget cuts, the University of Texas recently announced that in August, it is closing the Cactus Cafe, a beloved music venue hosted in the student's Texas Union building. At the same time, it will shut down the school's informal classes program.

The cafe opened in 1979 and has hosted everything from local to international artists, and helped launch the careers of many popular musicians. It featured concerts from Alison Krauss, the Dixie Chicks, Townes Van Zandt, Ani DiFranco, Lucinda Williams, and Shawn Colvin.

The informal classes program opened in 1971 and allowed non-UT professionals to offer classes to the public in courses ranging from wine pairing to fencing to graphic design. Some were one-time classes; others had a series of meetings. The courses were inexpensive, and most were hosted at the Texas Union. According to the Statesman, about 10,000 people took formal classes last year, most of which were not UT students.

The Statesman says these cuts will save the university around $122,000 a year. According to the school, these decisions were "made to minimize the impact of budgetary reductions on students and to protect student core services."

Most Austinites are outraged. Facebook groups have been created to try to save the Cactus Cafe. Locals are Tweeting about it. People are begging the school to let the students decide what to do. Statesman columnist John Kelso encouraged UT football coach Mack Brown to save the music venue with a fraction of his $5.1 million annual salary.

What do you think? Are the Cactus Cafe and informal classes worth saving?

When most of us think about opera, we imagine dark melodramas. Austin Lyric Opera's new production of The Star defies the stereotype and brings a more comical and fantastical show to the stage.

Emmanuel Chabrier created this operetta in French and made it light, silly, and humorous. According to the Austin Lyric Opera's artistic statement, The Star contains bantering dialogue and uses parody and satire as a means to entertain its audience. ALO says it represents "opera bouffe," a genre truly meant to entertain, which was created by Offenbach in the mid-19th century. The Star features a variety of characters, from quirky royalty to a wishful peddler to a court astrologer.

The opera will be held at The Long Center, and performances are on 1/30, 2/3, 2/5, and 2/7. You can buy tickets online.

On Monday, there were multiple Haiti benefit events in Austin. This Sunday, there will be another one, which is going to be huge. This event is called Help Austin Help Haiti, and it is benefiting The Clinton-Bush Fund and OXFAM.

The event takes place at Austin Music Hall and runs from 2 p.m. to midnight. You can buy your ticket online for $28 or pay $33 at the door. The following bands are scheduled to play, and it is anticipated even more will sign up:

• Asleep at the Wheel
• Band of Heathens
• Bob Schneider
• Bruce Robison
• Charlie Sexton
• The Flatlanders
• The Gourds
• Guy Forsyth
• Jack Ingram
• Joe Ely Band
• Kelly Willis
• Kinky Friedman
• Patricia Vonne
• Paula Nelson
• Ray Wylie Hubbard
• Reckless Kelly
• Robert Earl Keen
• Shawn Colvin

I have also noticed that Whole Foods has boxes next to the registers where you can drop in cash or coins. I think it's fantastic that Austinites and Austin businesses are being so generous. What are you doing to help?

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The whole world has been shaken by the devastation in Haiti after a massive earthquake. Several Austin businesses are throwing benefits to help the victims. All of the following events take place on Monday, January 18. Note that FREEBIRDS and Dominican Joe Coffee Shop are next door, so you can easily participate in both.

• Haiti Disaster Relief Fundraiser: Dominican Joe Coffee Shop's partner organization, Makarios, is a non-profit in the Dominican Republic, just hours from the earthquake's epicenter. They have mobilized their resources to provide aid, so Dominican Joe's is holding a benefit to help them provide even more relief to Haiti. Twenty percent of Dominican Joe's sales will be donated this day. There will be free chair massage from 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Sweet Leaf Tea will be giving out drinks in exchange for donations of money or supplies, and there will be live music throughout the day.

• FREEBIRDS World Burrito's South Congress location is having a benefit to raise $50,000 for Thirst No More, a local non-profit that is going to send Primary Assistance Kits (PAKs) to Haiti. The PAKS contain survival items such as cooking pots, utensils, rice, beans, water, towels, soap, flashlights, etc. The restaurant will have live music, free appetizers and soft drinks for anyone who comes in and donates to the cause. The event is from 1-4 p.m.

• Hope for Haiti: This is a benefit concert event at The Parish, and will be benefiting Real Hope for Haiti. Aaron Ivey, Matt McCloskey, Miranda Dodson, Kevin McKinney, and Courrier will be performing. Tickets are $10 and doors open at 7 p.m. All ages welcome.