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
Mwenso and the Shakes — Feb. 3-10, via livestream. Jazz band Mwenso and the Shakes will be featured as part of the Center for Performing Arts' Fierce Urgency Festival. Free.
Events
Black History Month — Through Feb. 28, various campuses. The University celebrates Black History Month with events and opportunities running throughout the month of February. Free.
25th annual African American Music Festival — Feb. 4-7 via livestream. The School of Music will present a variety of concerts, lectures and presentations. Free.
Palmer Museum of Art reopens — Beginning Feb. 10, University Park campus. The Palmer Museum of Art reopens its doors to visitors. Free.
Lectures
Smith Creative Writers Reading Series: Erin Pringle — 6 p.m., Feb. 4, via Zoom. Erin Pringle, author of the novel "Hezada! I Miss You" and two short-story collections, will be featured. Free.
"Weed It or Eat It: The Art of Planting and Foraging" — 6 p.m., Feb. 4, via Zoom. The Penn State Student Farm will host a discussion about identifying and using edible and medicinal plants that are often considered weeds. Free, but registration required.
Stuckeman School Spring Virtual Lecture Series: Jake and Pum Lefebure — 1:30 p.m., Feb. 5, via livestream. Jake and Pum Lefebure, co-founders of the 2020 PRINT magazine Agency of the Year Design Army, will be featured. Free.
"Research in the Time of COVID-19" — 4 p.m., Feb. 5, via Zoom. Jacqueline Vadjunec, professor of geography at Oklahoma State, will discuss the positive and negative consequences of the current pandemic from a geographical research perspective. Free.
"Queering Romantic Engagement in the Postal Age: A Rhetorical Education" — 6 p.m., Feb. 8, via livestream. A panel of leading scholars on rhetoric and queer studies will discuss the recently published book "Queering Romantic Engagement in the Postal Age: A Rhetorical Education." Free, but registration required.
"Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution" — 10 a.m., Feb. 9, via livestream. Disability rights activist Judy Heumann commemorates the Americans with Disabilities Act with a virtual watch party of the documentary "Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution." Free.
"Breathe Together" — 5:30 p.m., Feb. 9, via livestream. The HUB-Robeson Galleries presents a virtual workshop to remind people of the importance of taking deep breaths through the power of dialogue, mindfulness and creative expression. Free, but registration required.
Journalism Speakers Forum: Daniel Victor — 7 p.m., Feb. 10, via Zoom. New York Times reporter and Penn State alumnus Daniel Victor will participate in a question-and-answer session. Free.
"New Opera as Art and Social Discourse: A Conversation with the Creators of 'A Marvelous Order'" — 7:30 p.m., Feb. 10, via livestream. Joshua Frankel and Judd Greenstein will discuss their multimedia opera, 'A Marvelous Order,' which explores the epic struggle between Robert Moses, master builder, and Jane Jacobs, self-taught oracle of urban insight, over the fate of New York City in the mid-20th century. Free.
Food Insecurity in Centre County — Noon, Feb. 11, via livestream. The Student Farm at Penn State will host a panel discussion on community-based efforts to reduce food insecurity. Free, but registration required.
Exhibits
"Anxiety Project" — HUB-Robeson Galleries and online through March 14. Works by William Doan, professor of theatre, focused on mental health, are on view. Free.
THON logo exhibition — Online. The THON website is featuring a virtual gallery showcasing logos from previous events, as well as profiles of each student designer. Free.
"Celebrating the ADA: The Legacy and Evolution of Disability Rights and Lived Experience at Penn State" — Online. The University Libraries virtual exhibit explores the first 100 years of national disability rights legislation and the movement's impact on the Penn State community. Free.
"African Brilliance: A Diplomat's Sixty Years of Collecting" Online Catalog — Online. A digital catalog 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.
"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 II" — Through June 20, Display Cases, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus, and online. The work of five artists embody a search for expression and experience through material. Free.
"Border Exchange" — Through Feb. 15, 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.
"When the Bough Breaks" — Through April 30, Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Galleries, University Park campus. Nine different artists address the issue of climate change through a unique representation of trees. Free.
"Something Means Something Else" — Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus. This three-part mural by artist Tamara Gayer focuses on the intricacies of the current moment in sexual and gender identity. 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.