What's happening at Penn State? Here's a look at some of the cultural events — both in-person and virtual — taking place at the University this weekend and next week:
Performances
"Together, Alone" — Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m., via livestream. Daryl Durran will perform on bassoon as part of the School of Music's livestreamed solo faculty recital series. Free.
Events
Alumni Blue Band Association’s Virtual 5K — Oct. 22-24, virtual format. The event benefits the Blue Band Legacy Fund, which helps to secure the long-term financial needs of the Blue Band.
Poetry aware ceremony and reading — Oct. 22, 1 p.m., via Zoom. Kwame Alexander, Newberry medalist and two-time winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, will receive his second national children’s poetry honor, speak about his writing and read from “How to Read a Book.”
“Voices of Power in Women’s Activism” Marathon Read — Oct. 22, 10 a.m.–10 p.m., virtual format. Marathon Read will celebrate the work of female writers and activists to expand political, social and economic equality for women with a 12-hour virtual reading.
Halloween at Home: Museum House of Horrors — Oct. 29, 6–8 p.m., via Zoom. This Palmer Museum of Art event will feature a talk about the odd, creepy and surprising objects in the museum's collection and storage facilities. Starting at 7 p.m., participants can enjoy art games and a costume contest.
Lectures
Rhetoric in America: Then & Now — Oct. 22, 7 p.m., via Zoom and Facebook Live. Four authors will speak, including Stephen Howard Browne, author of "The First Inauguration: George Washington and the Invention of the Republic"; William Keith and Robert Danisch, authors of "Beyond Civility: The Competing Obligations of Citizenship; and Lisa A. Flores, author of "Deportable and Disposable: Public Rhetoric and the Making of the 'Illegal' Immigrant."
What’s Become of Civility and the Common Good? — Oct. 28, 7 p.m., virtual format. Harvard political philosopher and bestselling author Michael Sandel will investigate the question, “What’s Become of Civility and the Common Good?” Free, but registration requested.
Communicating Climate in a Complex World — Oct. 28, 3:30 p.m., via Zoom. Four leading experts — an atmospheric scientist, an archaeologist, a coral reef biologist and a professor of media studies — share their diverse perspectives on what needs to be most urgently communicated about climate change now. Free, but registration requested.
Climate Dynamics seminar series: "Old Biases Die Hard" — Oct. 28, 11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m., via Zoom. Mingyu Park, doctoral candidate in meteorology and atmospheric science, will discuss “The impact of climate model bias on future projections: Old biases die hard.” Free.
"Who Tells the Story" — Oct. 28, 7 p.m., via Zoom. As part of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications' Journalism Speakers Forum, Daniella Zalcman will share some of her long-form reporting projects and talk about why we need to spend more time thinking about who is responsible for telling our collective stories.
Addressing bullying and school violence — Oct. 29, 3:30–5 p.m., via Zoom. Bullying-prevention expert Dorothy Espelage will deliver a virtual lecture titled “Addressing Bullying and School Violence and Promoting School Connectedness."
Exhibits and Virtual Tours
"Celebrating the ADA: The Legacy and Evolution of Disability Rights & Lived Experience at Penn State" — Online. The University Libraries explores the first 100 years of national disability rights legislation and the movement's impact on the Penn State community. Free.
"CARE. not convenience" — Through Nov. 20, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. Created entirely with salvaged plastic, this collaboration between an artist, designer and an environmental sciences researcher aspired to shed light on society's dependence on, careless overuse and thoughtless disposal of plastic. Free.
"Hostile Terrain 94" — Through Nov. 20, Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. "Hostile Terrain 94" is a participatory art exhibit occurring in nearly 150 cities around the globe that highlights the lives claimed by the U.S./Mexico border since the 1990s. Free.
"African Brilliance: A Diplomat's Sixty Years of Collecting" Online Catalogue — Online. A digital catalogue of African works collected by retired U.S. ambassador Allen C. Davis, including text entries, high-resolution 360-degree images and contextual videos at the Palmer Museum of Art. Free.
"African Brilliance" Virtual Tour — Online. Explore an interactive tour created with teachers, students and families in mind. The tour includes installation images, pictures of selected works, videos for guided viewing and related art-making activity suggestions. Free.
"Drawing on a Legacy: Highlights from the John Driscoll American Drawings Collection" — Online. High-resolution images, text selections and a photo gallery of works on paper donated by Penn State alumnus John P. Driscoll, including early landscape views and botanical sketches, animal scenes and still lives, and portraits and preparatory figure studies. The works include a number of well-known 19th-century American artists. Free.
"Illuminating Illusions" — Online. The Penn State Museum Consortium presents this exhibition that explores facets of illusions in science, art, literature and nature. Free.
"Photography=Abstraction" — Online. The Palmer Museum of Art's virtual pop-up exhibition is an interactive gallery with images, text and informational videos for selected works. Free, Google Chrome browser recommended.
Snowiss Gallery of American Art — Online. Tour the Palmer Museum of Art's first-floor Snowiss Gallery. Free.
"Women in Art: Activism and Resistance" virtual tour — Online. This self-directed, interactive online tour features a selection of objects by female artists in the Palmer Museum of Art's collection. In celebration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, this tour highlights artists working in a variety of media during the 20th and 21st centuries who have contributed to political, social and cultural change. Free.
"Human Expectations" — Through Jan. 31, 2021, Display Cases, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. Four artists explore the form of the human head in ceramic, neon and glass. Free.
"Border Exchange" — Through Jan. 31, 2021, Display Cases, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. The exhibition pairs two of artist Carlos Rosales-Silva's paintings with a site-responsive wall painting. Free.
"Small Planet" — Through January 2022, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. The HUB-Robeson Center has commissioned a site-specific wall painting located in the first-floor eateries by artist Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann titled "Small Planet." Free.