Appalachian State University

The Appalachian State University Playcrafters, a student organization affiliated with the Department of Theatre and Dance, is presenting the 2020 New Play Festival, a series of five short plays written, directed and performed by university students. This year’s festival features 22 actors from various class years and academic majors with different levels of experience who have been working on the festival since December.

No experience necessary! Bring your djembe if you have one. Diyé African Dance and Drum Ensemble is a new diversity/community outreach program of the Appalachian State University Department of Theatre and Dance and the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Directed by Sherone Price and Baba Khalid Saleem, the Ensemble is open to University students and Boone community members.

It’s everything you expect, but like nothing you’d imagine. A fusion of Ireland’s vibrant and longstanding dance form and elements of American innovation, Trinity Irish Dance Company (TIDC) dazzles audiences with its hard-driving percussive power, lightning-fast agility and aerial grace.

Meet passionate teenage innovators from around the globe who are creating cutting-edge solutions to confront the world’s environmental threats – found right in their own backyards – while navigating the doubts and insecurities that mark adolescence. Take a journey with these inspiring teens as they prepare their projects for the largest convening of high school scientists in the world, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) a program of Society for Science & the Public.

The American bluegrass/folk-rock band Trampled by Turtles brings their celebrated sound to Boone. The Duluth, Minn-based outfit credits Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan and Ralph Stanley as inspirations. Trampled by Turtles has played internationally and at many popular music festivals in the US, including Coachella, Bonnaroo, Bumbershoot, Pickathon, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Floydfest and Austin City Limits Music Festival.

A fog settles over a small town nestled on the banks of a pristine lake in Western Pennsylvania. As the play begins, the fog lifts over the lives of troubled 20-somethings, scrambling to escape the stifling weight of the past and leave naïve adolescent daydreaming for the hard work of creating lives that are meaningful.

W.E.B. Du Bois is often described as a lot of different things; scholar, activist, early founding figure in urban and community sociology, but what he isn't so often recognized as is a rural sociologist. In this talk, Dr. Joseph Jakubek describes how W.E.B. Du Bois is actually the very first rural sociologist in America and how he focused his rural research on social progress and development in rural Black communities at the turn of the 20th century.

2019-20 Rachel Rivers-Coffey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing Kayla Rae Whitaker returns following her fall residency to speak about her experiences in publishing and to read from her novel-in-progress.

Dear Climate artist Oliver Kelhammer will discuss his personal practice as an ecological artist, and the way that this work connects to the projects that he creates as part of the Dear Climate collective.

As part of a robust effort to improve our understanding and resilience to the impacts of climate change on mountain systems, from April to June 2019, National Geographic and Tribhuvan University conducted the most comprehensive single scientific expedition to Mount Everest in history. Featuring speakers and expedition members from National Geographic & Rolex’s 2019 Perpetual Planet Extreme Expedition to Mt. Everest: Dr. Baker Perry, Aurora Elmore and Alex Tait.

The symposium is designed to raise awareness of the importance of children’s and young adult literature. Author Meg Medina and author/illustrator Lauren Castillo will present keynote addresses. Medina and Castillo will lead break-out sessions that introduce approaches for using children’s literature to facilitate the language arts in educational settings. Lauren Castillo will lead participants in a foam printing illustration workshop.

Congratulations to Hayes School of Music Alum Jonathan Scales! Come hear him and his Fourchestra perform with the Steely Pan Steel Band in the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts.