Once a year, the Downtown Theatre on Allen Street in State College, Pennsylvania, becomes an art gallery and performance space devoted to alternative dialogues and difficult differences. Cultural Conversations was created in March of 2007 in order to foster and promote new works dealing with themes of local and global diversity. Cultural Conversations 2016 takes place Feb. 1-8. As part of the activities, Penn State School of Visual Arts (SoVA) students from Professor Robin Gibson's ART 240, Beginning Printmaking; Professor Jean Sanders ART 341, Intermediate Printmaking; Professor Tom Lauerman's ART 497, Multiples classes; as well as Kristina Davis, master of fine arts student collaborated to created the exhibition "Pandemic."
The exhibition, featuring relief prints, handmade paper, and fabric is on display from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily through Feb. 8, at The Downtown Theatre.
For playwrights, choreographers and visual artists, this festival is an opportunity to workshop and show new works. For Penn State students and faculty, this festival is an opportunity to work with national and international playwrights outside of our program, and for local community members, this festival affords the opportunity of participating in and/or witnessing conversations that define specific cultures. Cultural Conversations is the only university play festival in the United States devoted to bringing students, faculty, local and global artists, and community members together to discuss issues of local and global diversity through art.
Find out more about the week-long Cultural Conversations workshops and events at culturalconversations.psu.edu