The Old Whaling Church in Edgartown will ring to the rafters with the sounds of Livingston Taylor, Graham Nash, Loudon Wainwright 3rd and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The Tabernacle and Performing Arts Center will play host to Aimee Mann, Aretha Franklin and Pink Martini, courtesy of the MV Concert Series, now in its second year.

At the Yard, the Chilmark dance colony that owes its existence to its visionary late founder Patricia Nanon, there will be a return to focus on modern dance with a lineup that includes break-dancer and Guggenheim fellow Raphael Xavier, the Ragamala Dance Company of Minneapolis, Paul Taylor’s touring company, Taylor 2, and the perennially popular Cuban troupe Malpaso Dance Company.

At the Vineyard Playhouse, plays new and old will be performed on the Patricia Neal stage, including Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Driving Miss Daisy and Who You See Here, a new comedy by Matt Hoverman.

And at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, the bruising election year just past will provide a springboard for argument and discussion at the annual summer institute lecture series, with speakers that include Kenneth Adelman, John Kerry and Henry Louis Gates Jr.

This is just a small sampling of the rich lineup of arts and culture for the Island this summer.

The Vineyard is of course known for its unspoiled beaches, clean ocean water and sea air, but with concerts that rival Tanglewood, dance that rivals Jacob’s Pillow and workshops in just about every discipline you could name, many of them avant garde, the Island has earned its rightful place as a thriving summer arts colony.

Visual arts are also flourishing, with galleries dotting the landscape from Edgartown to Aquinnah. Evening art strolls are the latest trend in the down-Island towns.

Of course the Island has long been a haven and a retreat for artists and writers, making it well suited to grow into a destination for the arts. It’s good for the Vineyard economy and good too for the spirit to attend a stimulating lecture or concert, or perhaps browse a rustic building hung with watercolors and photography before heading out for dinner with a friend or a quiet walk at sunset on an empty stretch of west-facing shoreline.

It all comes in a rush, beginning this month as concert halls and performance venues fill up with events. (It’s true, the Gazette calendar editor never sleeps.)

Welcome to another summer of the arts on Martha’s Vineyard. Along with the sun and sand, time to soak it up.