What's happening at Penn State? Here's a look at some of the cultural events — both in-person and virtual — taking place across the University:
Performances
OcTUBA 24: TUBAWEEN — 7:30 p.m., Oct. 24, Recital Hall, University Park campus. Directed by Velvet Brown, the Penn State Tuba Euphonium Ensemble will perform works by composers such as Leonard Bernstein, Jack Day, Yasuhide Ito and Jiaojiao Liang. Come in costume to celebrate TUBAWEEN!
Penn State Glee Club 135th anniversary concert — 7:30 p.m., Oct. 26, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. One of the University's most beloved and longest-standing traditions will mark a milestone anniversary with a celebratory concert featuring musical excellence, camaraderie and Penn State pride.
“Haunt of Last Nightfall – Percussion at Penn State” – 7:30-9 p.m., Oct. 30, School of Music Recital Hall, University Park campus. The Penn State Graduate Percussion Group and percussion faculty member Lee Hinkle will present a concert of spooky contemporary works for percussion, including David T. Little's “Haunt of Last Nightfall (A Ghost Play in Two Acts).”
A Day to Remember – 7 p.m., Oct. 30, Bryce Jordan Center, University Park campus. A Day To Remember will continue its North American tour, “Couple More Shows.” The multi-platinum Florida rock juggernaut will visit Penn State with support from August Burns Red and Stand Atlantic.
Ex Machina / Robert Lepage and Cirque Flip Fabrique: "Slam!" – 7:30 p.m., Oct. 30, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. Ex Machina / Robert Lepage and Cirque Flip Fabrique will tackle the acrobatic world of arena wrestling with “Slam!” The hyper-theatric and kinetic spectacle will feature a gallery of characters in and out of the ring, while the audience cheers its heroes and boos its villains.
Events
LGBTQ+ History Month — Multiple events at various locations throughout October. October marks a month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history as well as the larger queer rights movement. Penn State’s Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity is hosting several activities celebrating LGBTQ+ history throughout the month.
Plant Powered PSU — 5 to 7:30 p.m., Oct. 24, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, downtown State College. Hosted by the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm at Penn State, the annual, open-house style event will feature plant-based food samples, educational stations and interactive activities. Free.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: French Bistro Classics — Oct. 24, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: Big 10 Bites: A Culinary Championship — Oct. 30, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Art After Hours: 5th Annual Halloween Spooktacular – 5-8 p.m., Oct. 31, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Visit the Palmer for ghostly games, monster music, and other fiendish fun. Join a Zombie Adventure Tour through the galleries and find your way out of an escape room or compete for prizes in the costume contest.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: Retro Diner Revival: Classic Comfort Food Reimagined — Oct. 31, Café Laura, Mateer Building, University Park campus. Students in HM 430 Advanced Food Production and Service Management prepare a series of themed dinners throughout the semester to be served in the student-run Café Laura restaurant. Reservations required.
Lectures
Emily Dickinson Lecture featuring poet Ilya Kaminsky — 6 p.m., Oct. 24, Paterno Library's Foster Auditorium, University Park. An award-winning poet and author of “Deaf Republic” and “Dancing In Odessa," Kaminsky will deliver the 24th annual Emily Dickinson Lecture. Free and open to the public.
"Exoplanets and the Search for Life Beyond Earth" — 7 p.m., Oct. 29, Freeman Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present the joint Science Achievement Graduate Fellows-Russell Marker Lecture in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
In-person exhibits
“Familiar Strands” — Through Oct. 24, McLanahan Gallery, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. Ivyside Juried Art Exhibition winner Zoraye Cyrus uses vintage photographs as the foundation for drawings that utilize personal experiences, family relationships and her Afro-Caribbean American heritage to delve into the intricate connections between belonging and identity. Free.
“Color Intaglio: Fauna, Flora, Figures” — Through Oct. 25, Sheetz Gallery, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A body of work by Ivyside Juried Art Exhibition winner Yuji Hiratsuka reflecting on everyday human conditions such as wryness, satire, whimsy, irony, paradox or mismatch. Free.
Philadelphia Watercolor Society’s 124th International Exhibition of Works on Paper — Through Oct. 29, The Henry Gallery, Great Valley campus. This exhibition will feature a diverse range of styles and techniques, from delicate landscapes to bold abstracts, to evoke emotion, challenge perception and celebrate the beauty of the medium of paper.
"Synergies in Art and Science" — Oct. 28-Nov. 15, Borland Project Space, 125 Borland Building, University Park campus. The exhibition, curated by adjunct researcher Cynthia White, showcases collaborations at the intersection of microbial science and artistic innovation.
“Made in PA” – Through Dec. 1, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. An ambitious show highlights post-1945 paintings, sculpture, mixed-media assemblages and installations by artists who hail from Pennsylvania or who have made their homes and sustained their careers in the Keystone State.
“Photography of Protest” — Oct. 31-Dec. 3, Friedman Art Gallery, Wilkes-Barre campus. From 2016 through 2020, photographer Michael Mirabito had opportunities to photograph many protests, marches and other events and their participants; these are the main focal points of his exhibit. The photographs in the exhibit at Penn State Wilkes-Barre are focused mostly on marches in Pennsylvania.
“Re/Collecting the Andes: Andean Art, Science, and the Sacred at Penn State” — Through Dec. 8, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. “Re/Collecting the Andes” tells the story of more than 10,000 years of agricultural, cultural, intellectual and religious innovation in the Andes region of South America. It also narrates how the Incas and their surviving Andean subjects reclaimed that legacy after Spain's invasion, through museums, science and art.
“Re(de)fining Landscape” — Through Dec. 13, Abington Art Gallery, Abington campus. Bonnie Levinthal’s work is rooted in the exploration and re-presentation of landscape, incorporating methods and mediums that connect process with content to create a visual record of her experiences in response to place. This exhibition showcases three bodies of work alongside artist’s journals, reflecting Levinthal’s response to place through a sampling of artworks completed at home and abroad.
"Stickloon Contemporary: Still Life" — Through Dec. 20, Art Space, Student Community Center, Schuylkill campus.
"Caretelling: Stories to Sustain Ourselves" — Through December, Woskob Family Gallery, University Park campus. This interdisciplinary group exhibition explores the intersection of storytelling and caregiving through collaborative art-making, video installations and graphic narratives.
"Patterning with Heat and Water: Knitted Responsive Tension Structures" — Through December, Woskob Family Gallery, University Park campus. The exhibition showcases the responsive textile work of Felecia Davis, associate professor of architecture in the Penn State Stuckeman School’s Department of Architecture, and Delia Dumitrescu, director of the Smart Textiles Lab at the Swedish School of Textiles.
"Unknown Forest" — Through Jan. 27, Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. The exhibit features paintings and drawings by New York-based artist, Avani Patel, whose cultural background has had a profound impact on forging her identity as an artist. Indian culture is the starting point of her work.
"Myth, History, and the Written Word: Manuscript and Print Culture in Latin America" — Through Feb. 7, 2025, Special Collections exhibition space, 104 Paterno Library, University Park campus. The rare and distinctive Latin American collections held by the Eberly Family Special Collections Library are the focus of this exhibition, curated by Manuel Ostos, librarian and curator of Romance Language and Latin American Collections. Free.
"Reunion" — Through March 4, HUB Gallery and Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. The exhibit by New Mexico-based contemporary artist Cannupa Hanska Luger is an immersive, multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring sculpture, regalia and digital media. The selection of works presented in this iteration makes up a spectrum of possibilities and sheds light on historical truths to tell a narrative of complexity in the act of survival.
“Biomachine” — Through Spring 2025, Hite Lobby, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. A collaboration between Daryl Branford and Talley Fisher of Huck SciArts offers a glimpse into the microscopic world of viruses and is a reaction to how humanity must learn to coexist with them.
"I Am a Penn Stater: Nittany Lions in World War II" — Through June 2025, Penn State All-Sports Museum, Beaver Stadium, University Park campus. Timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the conflict, "I Am a Penn Stater" chronicles the contributions of Nittany Lion varsity lettermen and Women’s Recreation Association athletes during the conflict and follows their service from training in the United States, to fighting on battlefields around the globe, to their postwar occupations. Free.
Virtual exhibits
In addition to in-person events, a number of virtual exhibits are available through University departments. The Palmer Museum of Art and University Libraries offer a rotating selection of historical and artistic collections to view online.