What's happening at Penn State? Here's a look at some of the cultural events taking place at the University this weekend and next week:
Performances
Tommy Igoe and the Birdland All-Stars — 7:30 p.m., Jan. 26, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. Jazz drummer Tommy Igoe will lead the band's first tour in five years, which will feature music by David Bowie, Steely Dan, the Police, Charlie Parker, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea.
Lana Del Rey — 8 p.m., Jan. 26, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. Singer Lana Del Rey will bring her "LA to the Moon" tour to Penn State.
Yamato: The Drummers of Japan — 7:30 p.m., Jan. 30, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The company celebrates its 25th anniversary by bringing its world tour of "Chousensha — The Challengers" to Penn State.
African American Music Festival — Feb. 1-3, various sites at University Park campus. The annual event celebrates the music of African Americans and African-American composers. Free.
Events
"Blind Date with a Book" — Jan. 22-Feb. 16, Franklin Atrium, Pattee Library, University Park campus. Shelves will be filled with both fiction and non-fiction books available for students to take on a reading date. Free.
SPA Day — Jan. 26, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. The Student Programming Association will host various events in the HUB-Robeson Center. Free.
Taiko Drum Workshop — 1 p.m., Jan. 28, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. The one-hour workshop will teach the art of Japanese drumming through a variety of hands-on activities. Free.
"A Wing and a Prayer" — 2 p.m., Jan. 28, State College synagogue, 620 E. Hamilton Ave., State College. The award-winning documentary telling the little-known story of World War II aviators who risked their lives and U.S. citizenships in 1948 to prevent what they viewed as a second Holocaust will have its first screening in State College. Free.
Lectures
Mae Jemison — 6 p.m., Jan. 25, Student Enrichment Center Theatre, Penn State Harrisburg. Astronaut, engineer, entrepreneur, physician and educator Mae Jemison visits the Harrisburg campus. Free, but online registration required.
"News and Today's College Students" — 6:30 p.m., Jan. 25, Schwab Auditorium, University Park campus. Celebrating the Student Newspaper Readership Program's 20th Anniversary Week, journalists from national, regional and campus news publications will discuss how technology and changing dynamics among students are impacting the news industry. Free.
Rolling Reading Series — 7:30 p.m., Jan. 25, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, University Park campus. Poet and Professor of English Shara McCallum will reader from her works. Free.
"Can the Criminal Justice System Ever Be Just?" — 6 p.m., Jan. 31, 112 Kern Building. James Forman Jr., professor of law at Yale Law School, will visit campus as part of the "Racial Disposability and Cultures of Resistance" Sawyer Seminar Series. Free.
"Finding Meteorites and Craters in the Erie Region" — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 1, 101 Otto Behrend Science Building, Penn State Behrend. Scott McKenzie, assistant professor of geology and paleontology director at Mercyhurst University, will discuss local craters and meteorites and how they can be found. Free.
Exhibits
"Practice What We Teach" — Jan. 9-31, Penn State New Kensington Art Gallery. Current and retired art educators from western Pennsylvania school districts showcase their work outside the classroom. Free.
"Pop at the Palmer" — Jan. 9-May 13, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Prints from the museum's permanent collection by Pop Art notables such as Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Free.
"Books Undone: The Art of Altered Books" — Jan. 11-Feb. 28, Madigan Library, Pennsylvania College of Technology. The exhibit features visually stunning reinventions of the printed page. Free.
"Deconstructing the Dream: At Whose Expense?" — Jan. 15-Feb. 28, Sidewater Commons, Pattee Library, University Park campus. Student poster entries from the annual contest to represent the 33rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week at University Park campus are on display. Free.
"Dox Thrash, Black Life and the Carborundum Mezzotint" — Jan. 16-May 20, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. The exhibit features Philadelphia-based artist Dox Thrash, who pioneered a new approach to printmaking known as the carborundum process in the late 1930s. Free.
"What Big Eyes You Have! Looking at the Wolf in Fairy Tales" — Jan. 16-May 13, Eberly Family Special Collections Library exhibition room, 104 Paterno Library, University Park campus. The exhibit takes a close look at historical depictions of the wolf in well-known and lesser-known fairy tales. Free.
"Pedestrian Rules" — Jan. 25-March 3, Woskob Family Gallery, 146 S. Allen St., State College. Photographic and time-based works by Haigen G. Pearson, Tyson Washburn and Barbara Weissberger which explore commonplace sights to speculate about the viewers' relationship with ambiguity in everyday experience. Free.
"Field to Front: Nittany Lions at War, 1917-1919" — April 23, 2017-April 30, 2018, the Penn State All-Sports Museum, University Park campus. The exhibit chronicles the contributions of Nittany Lion lettermen during World War I and follows their service from training in the U.S. to fighting in France and Italy. Free.
"Keith Lemley: A Theory of Everything" — Oct. 26, 2017-Sept. 30, 2018, Woskob Family Gallery, 146 S. Allen St., State College. Penn State alumnus and artist Keith Lemley will craft a new work that combines maple and neon and unify them through geometry and form. Free.