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
Bach's Lunch – 12:10 p.m., Oct. 31, Eisenhower Chapel, University Park campus. A weekly Thursday afternoon concert series during the school year. Concerts are approximately 30 minutes in length. This week's concert includes the preliminary auditions for "Sing Out!" — a scholarship competition for voice performance across theatrical genres.
Bassoween – 7:30 p.m., Oct. 31, Recital Hall, School of Music, University Park campus. Enjoy a spooktacular evening of music by the Penn State Bass Studio. Celebrate Halloween with haunting bass solos, quartets and ensembles. Don’t miss this unique blend of classic and contemporary music.
ROARS Fest Concert – 7:30 p.m.-3:30 a.m., Nov. 1, Esber Rehearsal Hall, School of Music, University Park campus. The ROARS ensembles will present a festival of varied music, including rock, indie, folk, punk and breakcore until the early morning hours. Free.
Sam Barber – 7:30 p.m., Nov. 7, Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park campus. Since 2021, Sam Barber has been performing stripped-down covers of country-roots hits for his fans on TikTok, but he made a name for himself when he made his Grand Ol Opry debut in September 2023.
"A Night of One-Acts" – 7:30 p.m., Nov. 7-8, Wolf Kuhn Theatre, Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, Altoona campus. “Fun,” by Howard Korder, and “Lives of the Great Waitresses,” by Nina Shengold, are directed by Leila McCrumb. “Hootie and the Good Pot” is written and directed by Aaron James with Adria "Jay" Schmidt serving as assistant director. Throughout these productions, casts and crews explore angst, coming of age and urban decay, all themes prevalent in the everyday lives of Pennsylvanians living in the Rust Belt.
Events
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.
Shaver's Creek Open House – 1-4:30 p.m., Nov. 2, Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, State College. Explore a wide variety of Shaver’s Creek programs, meet the staff, and have a fun day connecting with the local outdoors. From animal programs to live music to hands-on activities and more, there will be something for everyone to enjoy. Free.
34th annual Arts at Hayfield Homespun Holiday Craft Show – 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Nov. 3, Athletic Building and Student Commons Building, Wilkes-Barre campus. More than 100 crafters are scheduled to display and market their crafts, artwork, jewelry and more. The nonprofit organization strives to provide opportunities for local performers, musicians, crafters, artists and artisans and continues to form networks of individuals interested in helping promote the arts.
Yoga at the Palmer – noon-1 p.m., Nov. 6, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Join Latisha Franklin for free, drop-in yoga, mindful movement, and meditation classes at the museum. All bodies are welcome, and no experience is necessary.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: Opa Fusion: From Greece to the World – Nov. 6, 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.
WPSU Film Screening: Leonardo da Vinci – 6-7 p.m., Nov. 7, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. "Leonardo da Vinci" brings together the artist's personal notebooks, primary and secondary accounts of his life, and on-camera interviews with modern scholars, artists, engineers, inventors, and admirers. The film weaves together an international group of experts, as well as others influenced by Leonardo who continue to find a connection between his artistic and scientific explorations and life today. A reception will start at 5:30 p.m.
Palmer Museum: Creative Self-Care Studio Session – 5:30-7:30 p.m., Nov. 7, Palmer Museum of Art, University Park campus. Get creative, connect with others, move your hands, learn about self-care art techniques, and take time to relax and rejuvenate through art-making processes in these drop-in sessions. Sessions will focus on therapeutic art practices for self-care as well as provide a time and place to build community with other creative people. Free.
Women and Queer Night at the Bike Den – 6:15-8:15 p.m., Nov. 7, West Deck ground floor, University Park campus. In addition to creating a local community centered around cycling, this event provides an opportunity for underrepresented populations to connect and meet other cyclists whose biking experience ranges from beginner to seasoned cyclists and bike mechanics. Free. RSVP required.
Café Laura Theme Dinner: A Night in the Hamptons: Simple Elegance – Nov. 7, 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
“Invisible University for Ukraine: Essays on Democracy at War” – 4 p.m., Oct. 31, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park campus. IUFU directors Balazs Trencsényi and Ostap Sereda will visit Penn State to present a lecture on the Invisible University for Ukraine, an initiative of Central European University. The initiative started in spring 2022, just months after Russia’s initial invasion into Ukraine.
2024 Hankin Distinguished Lecture: "A Homebuilder's Journey to Carbon Neutral Construction" – 4 p.m., Nov. 6, Hintz Family Alumni Center, University Park campus. Gene Myers, owner and chief sustainability officer of Thrive Home Builders in Denver will deliver a talk on his company's efforts to create two all-electric communities in the Denver area and one all-electric and carbon neutral community in Breckenridge. Free.
"Why I Make Art: Contemporary Artists' Stories About Life & Work" – 4 p.m., Nov. 7, Woksob Family Gallery, State College. Brian Alfred, associate professor of art in the School of Visual Arts, will discuss his recent book, which features stories and works from 30 artists he has interviewed on his award-winning podcast. Free.
Dining in the Gilded Age – 7 p.m., Nov. 7, Great Valley campus. Author and food historian Becky Libourel Diamond will discuss how the American Gilded Age gave rise to a new elevated dining scene throughout the country, from private social clubs and restaurants that became the nexus for business deals to banquet dinners that could make or break a family's societal status.
In-person exhibits
"Synergies in Art and Science" — Through 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” — Through 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.