March 30, 2016

Southern Illinois University Arts and Cultural Events

April 4-23

This bi-weekly email brings together the highlights of arts and cultural events at SIU Carbondale. From music to art, film to dance, guest lectures to workshops and theater, you will find the information here. Event information is subject to change. 

HIGHLIGHTS

1-8 – Da Vinci Days. The nine-day event, which starts Friday, April 1, takes over where the annual Research Town Meeting left off, said Jim Garvey, interim vice chancellor for research. The activities each day will highlight various activities around campus with lectures, keynote addresses, music, demonstrations and more. Although many of the activities were planned separately, Garvey said placing them under this new banner helps underscore the talent of students at SIU. Here’s a schedule of events.

4 – The 2016 Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award is the most prestigious art award presented at SIU. It’s for graduating seniors only and just getting into the competition is competitive. Typically about a dozen students participate in the competition. School of Art and Design faculty are judges. The announcement is at 3:30 p.m. There might be more than one winner. The art is on display for the week, with an exhibit reception 5:30-7:30 p.m. on April 8.

8 – The School of Art and Design hosts “Art Education Conference: Create Tomorrow Today.” This event brings art teachers from the region together to learn about different forms of art, applications to the classroom and teaching methodologies. The keynote address is at noon with Joanne Kluba, an artist working with handmade books, including binding and artwork. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. and sessions begin at 9 a.m. The event will finish around 4 p.m. 

Here are other select upcoming events in list form:

APRIL 

4 – Edible Book Festival. Participants create an edible representation of a book, with extra attention to making a pun while they do it – for example, Snow White and the Seven Hors D’oervres or perhaps pudding dirt cups to represent Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth. There are several prize categories, including a new one for the youngest participant. The event is 3-5 p.m. in the first floor rotunda at Morris Library. 

4 – Reading. Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest Award Ceremony, 5 p.m. in the University Museum auditorium. This year’s judge is Sarah McCartt-Jackson, an SIU master of fine arts in creative writing alumna and author of several chapbooks of poems. She’ll read some of her poetry and so will the contest winners. 

4 – Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Kickoff event highlights the theme “Walk Together, Embrace Differences, Build Legacies.” 5 p.m. in the Student Center’s International Lounge. 

5 – Concert. The annual Stars of Altgeld concert at Shryock Auditorium features the winners of the School of Music Solo Competition. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. 

6 – Drama Daze. Theater workshops, presentations and fun for area high school students. Admission is $5 per student, accompanying teachers get free admission. A breakfast snack and pizza lunch round out the day. Events are at the McLeod Theater, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. 

6 – Shakespeare Day. April 6 is Shakespeare Day at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. One way to celebrate is to attend a short play, based on a scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but in Shakespeare’s style. Shakespeare Day begins at 9:30 a.m. in the John C. Guyon Auditorium of Morris Library with a welcome, coffee and pastries, and ends with a reception and mini-concert of Renaissance music at 3 p.m. with Katharine Reichenberger from the Department of English on piano. The event includes two keynote addresses from noted Shakespeare scholars: Mary Ellen Lamb and Curtis Perry, professor of English and Classics at the University of Illinois. An undergraduate research symposium begins at 11:15 a.m.; the play is part of it.

12 – SIU Debate Team Showcase. The team is always on the road, so they brought the argument home for a demonstration of what they do, how they do it, and why they win so often. The event is at 7 p.m. in the Student Center auditorium.

12 - Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Ka Mei Vivian Chen, a senior accounting student, and the Asian Business Association will host “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling” at 5 p.m. on April 12 in the Student Center’s Illinois Room. It will highlight the workplace stereotypes Asians often encounter, both positive and negative, how the label “model minority” affects Asians, and include real-life illustrations. 

14 – Africana Film Series. “Karmen Gei” screens at 7 p.m. in the University Museum auditorium. Popcorn and soda are free. “Karmen Gei” is a 2001 release and stresses the conflict between freedom and laws, conventions, languages and the human limitations that constrain the desire for freedom.

14-15 – Library event. Opening of the Peter London Papers and Art Education Symposium. London is an artist, professor emeritus from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and a Distinguished Fellow of the National Art Education Association. His professional and personal papers will become part of Morris Library and provide research value for students of art, philosophy and education. The event begins at 4 p.m. with a reception followed by a talk by London himself. The Art Education Symposium is 9 a.m. to about 11:40 a.m. with various speakers discussing art education, architecture, the Center for Dewey Studies at SIU, and the London Project.

14-15 – Little Grassy Literary Festival. This annual event brings up-and-coming writers to campus for readings, panels and book signings. All events are in the John C. Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library. Events both days run 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. with scheduled breaks. Watch SIU News for more information.

15 – FFA livestock judging at the Bull Test Station on Rowden Road. Between 700 and 800 high school students from all over Southern Illinois will compete to see which students best know how to evaluate livestock and how to explain their evaluations. Other events include horticulture judging. The event begins at 9 a.m.

16 – Southern Illinois History Fair. This daylong event concludes with performances representing Illinois history and awards for the posters, papers and other presentations exhibited that day. The event begins at 8 a.m., with the performances set to begin at 10 a.m. Events are in the Student Center ballrooms and adjacent Corker Lounge.  

19 – Delta Award Presentation and Reception. Mark J. Wagner, director of the Center for Archaeological Investigations and associate professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is the recipient of the Friends of Morris Library’s 2016 Delta Award. He will be the guest of honor and speaker at a special presentation and reception, and will deliver a talk about “The Land Between the Rivers: The History of Archaeology of Southernmost Illinois” at 6 p.m. in the library’s John C. Guyon Auditorium. 

20 – Concert. Southern Illinois Jazz Orchestra presents and end-of-year concert at 7:30 p.m. in Shryock Auditorium.

21 – Purchase Award reception. The Student Programming Council Visual Arts and the Student Center host an annual Purchase Award competition for SIU students of any major. The Student Center purchases the winning exhibits and displays them permanently in the Student Center. The reception for this exhibit and competition begins at 5 p.m. in the Student Center.

21 – Fashion Design and Merchandising Showcase. This Saluki fashion show highlights the work of a select number of designers who have created their final collections. The show includes an exhibit and a runway show. The show begins at 7 p.m. in the Student Center ballrooms.

23 – Concert. Earth, Wind and Fire Woodwind Quartet visits SIU for an event beginning at noon at the Old Baptist Foundation Recital Hall.