Press Release Archive
2025
January
2024
August January
2023
September January
2022
September April March February
2021
November October August July February
2020
November October September August March February January
2019
November October September June May April March February January
2018

2017
October
2016
December October September August July June May April March February January
2015
December October August April March February
2014
December October July June March February January
2013
December November October July June April February January
2012
December November September August June May April March February
2011
December November October September August May February

2025

January

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2025 spring season
Playwright, actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith Hon. ’97—who launched her yearlong artist residency at Wesleyan with the first public staged reading of her new work "This Ghost of Slavery" in October 2024—will be in discussion with composer Samora Pinderhughes on January 24, 2025 about art, civic engagement, art’s role in healing the wounds of history, and the importance of intergenerational mentorship. Smith will return to campus to conclude her residency with a convening from April 9 to 12, 2025 exploring the power of art in building bridges to histories that help us understand and transform the present. Photo of Anna Deavere Smith by Mark Brendel of Perceptions Photography.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) announces the highlights of their 2025 spring season, including convenings with the campus community led by the CFA’s 2024–2025 artist in residence Anna Deavere Smith Hon. ’97; two complimentary concurrent solo exhibitions featuring a painting and installation by Parker Ito, and framed wall-based works and designed objects that recall domestic interiors by Chris Domenick; and the premiere of two commissioned works by composer Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton).

2024

August

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2024 fall season
Playwright, actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith presents the first public staged reading of her new work "This Ghost of Slavery" at the start of her year-long artist residency at Wesleyan on October 27. The Wesleyan reading is co-produced with the Long Wharf Theatre, and co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities. Photo by Jeff Riedel.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) announces the highlights of their 2024 fall season, including the first public staged reading of a new work by artist in residence Anna Deavere Smith, a work-in-progress showing by artist in residence Sunny Jain, two complimentary concurrent solo exhibitions featuring paintings and sound works by Justin Caguiat and sculptures by Grant Mooney, and the 48th annual Navaratri Festival celebrating the diversity of Indian music and dance.

January

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces the highlights of 2024 spring season
Scapegoat Garden, directed by Deborah Goffe MA ’19, will present the latest iteration of “Liturgy|Order|Bridge,” a participatory dance ritual that fuses sacred traditions and secular performance modalities to make porous the border between audience and performance, on Friday, February 9, 2024 at 7pm; and Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 2pm and 7pm. Photo by Peter Raper.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts continues the celebration of its 50th year with a spring semester featuring an anniversary exhibition and live performances by alumni, plus staged readings and workshops on campus.

2023

September

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2023 fall season
Saturday, September 23, 2023 from 2pm to 5pm on the Center for the Arts Green, 283 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut (Rain location: Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut). The Center for the Arts (CFA) opened in September 1973. Join us for an afternoon to celebrate 50 years of the iconic eleven-building complex and the interdisciplinary arts programming they continue to make possible. The afternoon kicks off at 2pm with a jubilant free outdoor concert by Brooklyn-based composer and dhol (double-headed drum) player Sunny Jain’s “Wild Wild East” (the band’s Connecticut debut) on the CFA Green. Photo of Sunny Jain by Ebru Yildiz.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) starts a celebration of its 50th birthday this month. The 2023-2024 season features live performances and exhibitions that reflect on the roots of the center while also bringing new artists and works to campus.

January

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2023 spring season
Linking below-the-surface mystery with above-the-surface climate issues, the Connecticut premiere of "Ocean Filibuster" puts audiences in the middle of a human/ocean showdown. “The Ocean” gets the chance to tell its side of the story in this new music theater experience from Assistant Professor of Theater Katie Pearl’s Obie Award-winning company PearlDamour in collaboration with the Center for the Arts, the Wesleyan Theater Department, the College of the Environment, and the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life. Performances on Friday, May 5, 2023 at 8pm; Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 2pm and 8pm in the CFA Theater, 271 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut. $25 general public; $15 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $8 Wesleyan students, youth under 18.
“The Center for the Arts is thrilled to be hosting several projects that consider, with such care, different scales of human existence, memory, and sense of belonging,” said Joshua Lubin-Levy '06, Director of the Center for the Arts. “From the urgency of ‘Ocean Filibuster,’ which takes up humanity’s relationship to the vastness of the ocean, to the intimacy of Carrie Yamaoka’s ’79 in situ artworks that refract the physical space of the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery—this spring we welcome visitors to join us in finding connections among a wide array of programs that each, in its own, instigates a new sense of what it is to share the world with each other.”

2022

September

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2022 fall season
Toshi Reagon will present a work in progress, "You're Having Too Much Fun So We're Gonna Have to Kill You," on Friday, October 7, 2022 at 8pm in the CFA Theater, 271 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut. FREE! Reservations required. Photo by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography from Toshi Reagon's residency at the Center for the Arts in July 2022.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces the highlights of their 2022 fall season, including the 46th annual Navaratri Festival celebrating the diversity of Indian music and dance, a work in progress showing by artist in residence Toshi Reagon, the East Coast premiere of “Queer Horror: Gravest Hits,” and five exhibitions featuring installations, drawings, video, photography, film, animation, and printmaking.

April

Wesleyan University's College of East Asian Studies Gallery presents "Strong Bodies for the Revolution: Pursuing Health and Power in the People’s Republic of China" through May 21, 2022
View of "Strong Bodies for the Revolution: Pursuing Health and Power in the People’s Republic of China." Image courtesy of John Groo, 2022.
"Strong Bodies for the Revolution: Pursuing Health and Power in the People’s Republic of China," an exhibition featuring a collection of propaganda posters donated by the family of Ruth and Victor Sidel and curated by faculty and students, is on display in the College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center, located at 343 Washington Terrace on the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown, Connecticut, through Saturday, May 21, 2022. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from Noon to 4pm. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.

March

Wesleyan University announces Embodying Antiracism Initiative Fellows
The Embodying Antiracism Initiative is being designed in collaboration with support from three organizational partners—Urban Bush Women, Junebug Productions, and The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond—whose innovative work actively engages in the practice of both unmasking and undoing racism. Image: Urban Bush Women rehearse the Connecticut premiere of their work "Walking with ’Trane" in the Center for the Arts Theater at Wesleyan University in March 2017. Photo by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.
Wesleyan University announces the inaugural cohort of Embodying Antiracism Initiative Fellows. The ten 2022-2023 Fellows include community members, faculty, and visiting guest artists who will receive financial support for their work and participate in a collective Think Tank, a central leadership component of the multi-year initiative.

February

Six free exhibitions on display this spring at Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery and the College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center
Dana DeGiulio's "Live or Die" is on display through Sunday, March 6, 2022 in the Main Gallery of the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, located at 283 Washington Terrace on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown, Connecticut. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday from Noon to 5pm. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.
Wesleyan University welcomes the general public to view six free exhibitions this spring in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery and the College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center.

2021

November

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces Toshi Reagon as 2021-2022 Artist in Residence
World-renowned singer, composer, musician, curator, activist, producer, and storyteller Toshi Reagon is Wesleyan University's 2021-2022 artist in residence, and will be joined by Nona Hendryx and Bill Coleman for an inaugural live-streamed improvisational performance at the start of her year-long residency on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 8pm. Photo by Flora Hanitijo.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces world-renowned singer, composer, musician, curator, activist, producer, and storyteller Toshi Reagon as their 2021-2022 artist in residence, and will partner with the Free Center to host an inaugural live-streamed improvisational performance at the start of her year-long residency on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 8pm. Reagon will be joined by two featured guests for an evening of music and conversation: vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress Nona Hendryx of Labelle; and artist manager, producer, remixer, music supervisor, performer, recording artist, writer, and DJ Bill Coleman. This collaboration will be streamed online for free from the Center for the Arts YouTube page.

Wesleyan University's College of East Asian Studies Gallery celebrates 25th anniversary of Japanese Garden (Shôyôan Teien) with exhibition on display through Friday, December 10, 2021
An exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of the College of East Asian Studies Japanese Garden (Shôyôan Teien) will be on display in the Mansfield Freeman Center, located at 343 Washington Terrace on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown, Connecticut, through Friday, December 10, 2021. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from Noon to 4pm. Stephen Morrell (pictured), a landscape architect specializing in Japanese-style gardens, designed, built, and continuously cares for the garden. Photo by Milly Hopkins ’25, edited by Olivia Drake.
Wesleyan University is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Japanese Garden (Shôyôan Teien) with an exhibition on display in the College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown, Connecticut, through Friday, December 10, 2021. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from Noon to 4pm. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public. The garden was designed, built, and is continuously cared for by Stephen Morrell, a landscape architect specializing in Japanese-style gardens. "The garden is a reflection of nature's beauty," said Morrell. "By design it encourages a peaceful intimate relationship where subjective and objective experience merge in present moment being. When that happens you become part of the garden."

October

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "The Language in Common" through Sunday, December 12, 2021
The exhibition "The Language in Common" featuring five artists whose artistic practices site language in the space between poetry, visual art, and their performance will be on display in the Main Gallery of the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery on the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown, Connecticut through Sunday, December 12, 2021. Image: Installation view of "The Language in Common," Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, 2021. Photo by Charles Benton.

"The Language in Common," a group exhibition curated by Associate Director of Visual Arts and Adjunct Instructor in Art Benjamin Chaffee, is on view in the Main Gallery of Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery through Sunday, December 12, 2021. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday from Noon to 5pm. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public. Upcoming related events, both virtual and on campus, include a poetry reading by Tanya Lukin Linklater as well as a conversation between her and composer, performer, and installation artist Raven Chacon; a performance and artist talk by Cecilia Vicuña; and an artist talk by Julien Creuzet.

August

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2021 fall season
The exhibition "The Language in Common" featuring five artists whose artistic practices site language in the space between poetry, visual art, and their performance will be on display in the Main Gallery of the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery on the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown, Connecticut from Tuesday, September 14 through Sunday, December 12, 2021. Image: Cecilia Vicuña, "Quipu Viscera," 2017. Installation with unspun wool. Dimensions variable. © Cecilia Vicuña. Image courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, London, Hong Kong and Seoul.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces the highlights of their 2021 fall season, including outdoor and virtual performances, artist talks and discussions, a dance workshop, a film screening, and three exhibitions featuring installations, sculpture, video, drawing, poetry, performance, photographs, and protest art.

The general public will be welcomed back to Wesleyan this fall to enjoy Center for the Arts outdoor programming and exhibitions in both the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery and the College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center. All patrons must adhere to and follow the University COVID-19 safety guidelines. Wesleyan requires all visitors to be fully vaccinated. All visitors will need to provide proof of having been fully vaccinated. Public health officials consider an individual to be fully vaccinated two weeks after their final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Masks are required in all University buildings regardless of vaccination status. Indoor performances as well as special events, including opening receptions in the galleries, will be open to Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff. Vaccinated visitors may attend outdoor events and outdoor activities unmasked. Patrons under the age of 12 are required to wear a mask at outdoor events. Due to current CDC age limits on vaccinations, individuals under the age of 12 will not be permitted at indoor exhibitions.

July

“Echoes of Attica” play to commemorate 50th anniversary of Attica Prison uprising with free outdoor preview performance in New York on Thursday, August 5, 2021
The exhibition “Behind Enemy Lines: The Prison Art of Ojore Lutalo" featuring prison protest art by Ojore Lutalo will be on display in the South Gallery of the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery on the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown, Connecticut from Tuesday, September 21 through Sunday, October 17, 2021. Lutalo will give an artist talk at the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 4pm.
Echoes of Attica, a play about the 1971 Attica Prison revolt, will be staged by formerly incarcerated actors and musicians to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the uprising, and to raise awareness about its relevance to the current outbreak of state violence against communities of color, on Thursday, August 5, 2021 at 3pm. The free outdoor preview performance will take place in the courtyard of the Quaker Meeting House, located at 15 Rutherford Place, New York, NY 10003. The event will be hosted by the Healing Justice Program of the American Friends Service Committee. The cast also features Wesleyan Assistant Professor of the Practice in Theater Edward Torres, who spent ten years working with men on death row while co-founding the award-winning theater company Teatro Vista in Chicago.

February

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2021 spring season
Comedian and writer Kristina Wong presents “Sweatshop Overlord” on Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 8pm. FREE! RSVP required for access to virtual event. Image by Tom Fowler.
Spring season to include virtual performances, artist talks and demonstrations, workshops, radio broadcasts, an exhibition featuring photographs, multimedia installations and video, and an outdoor performance of dance set to film.

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "Flames of My Homeland: The Cultural Revolution and Modern Tibet" Tuesday, February 23 though Thursday, April 1, 2021
Photograph by Tsering Dorje. Used by permission of Tsering Woeser.
The exhibition “Flames of My Homeland” brings together for the first time the work of the extraordinary father and daughter Tsering Dorje and Woeser which documents the ravages of Tibetan society brought by the Cultural Revolution and their ongoing effects in Lhasa today. Curated by Ian Boyden ’95, William Frucht, and Associate Professor of Religion and East Asian Studies Andrew Quintman.

Wesleyan University’s WESU Middletown 88.1FM to rebroadcast all episodes of “Party in the Bardo: Conversations with Laurie Anderson” Thursday, February 18 through Thursday, May 6, 2021
Wesleyan University’s WESU Middletown 88.1FM will rebroadcast all episodes of the radio show “Party in the Bardo: Conversations with Laurie Anderson,” created and hosted by writer, director, visual artist, and vocalist Laurie Anderson, from Thursday, February 18 through Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 10pm. Photo by Ebru Yildiz.
Radio show created and hosted by celebrated interdisciplinary artist Laurie Anderson features 24 hours of extended, intimate conversations with ten of her close friends and colleagues who share Anderson’s zeal to ask questions, explore, and understand the world: writers Jonathan Cott and Don Shewey, poet Paul Muldoon, artist Marina Abramović, and musicians Bruce Odland, Arto Lindsay, ANOHNI, Jason Moran, Kevin Hearn, and Christian McBride. Each guest supplies songs that fascinate, delight, and move them, and provide a jumping-off point for their wide ranging, free form conversations.

2020

November

Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance announces third round of Leadership Fellowship Awards
Candace Thompson-Zachery. Photo by Shoccara Marcus.
Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance has announced the third round of their Leadership Fellowship Awards, presented to Candace Thompson-Zachery, a recent graduate of the two-year Master’s program in May 2020, and generously funded by Anne Miller, continuing the legacy of ICPP program co-founder Sam Miller ’75, as well as the Ford Foundation.

October

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "A SCULPTURE, A FILM AND SIX VIDEOS" through November 22, 2020
"Americas: Veritas" by Renée Green '81 is the first video being screened as part of the exhibition "A SCULPTURE, A FILM & SIX VIDEOS" in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery from Tuesday, September 8 through Saturday, September 19, 2020. Gallery open to Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff. Image courtesy of Renée Green, FAM, and Bortolami Gallery.
"A SCULPTURE, A FILM & SIX VIDEOS," an exhibition of a sculpture, a film, and a survey of six recent large-scale video works presented in a nontraditional, temporal framework, curated by Associate Director of Visual Arts Benjamin Chaffee, also includes online programming: four artist talks, a performance, a reading, and four videos streaming via the website for the exhibition, www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/sixvideos, now through Sunday, November 22, 2020.

September

​Wesleyan University​’s ​Theater Department​ presents ​“Re-Evaluating the Ground on Which We(s) Stand(s): An Evening of August Wilson with Broadway’s Crystal Dickinson and Brandon Dirden"
Image under Creative Commons license: https://www.flickr.com/photos/huntingtontheatreco/6544711905/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Assistant Professor of Theater Maria-Christina Oliveras and Associate Professor of Theater, English, and African American Studies Rashida Z. Shaw McMahon will explore August Wilson’s work, featuring scenes and excerpts from his 1996 keynote address to the Theater Communications Group, "The Ground on Which I Stand," performed by acclaimed actors Crystal Dickinson ("Clybourne Park" and "You Can’t Take It With You" on Broadway; Showtime’s "The Chi") and Brandon Dirden (Martin Luther King, Jr. in "All the Way" starring Bryan Cranston and "Jitney" on Broadway; FX’s "The Americans;" Netflix’s "The Get Down").

August

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2020 fall season
Performance artist, comedian, and writer Kristina Wong performs her work “Kristina Wong for Public Office” on Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 7pm in a live broadcast from the artist’s home in Los Angeles. Her virtual residency also includes a Wesleyan Engage 2020 talk on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at 6pm; and noontime talks with Wesleyan students on Friday, September 11, 2020 and Tuesday, October 6, 2020. Image by Larry Sandez.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces the highlights of their 2020 fall season, including virtual performances, artist talks, workshops, video screenings, a sculpture, film, and virtual studio tour. "We are proud to share a preview of our fall season, and announce that all virtual activities open to the general public are free of charge," said Jennifer Calienes, Interim Director of the Center for the Arts. "We look forward to the day we can all return together in person on the Wesleyan campus."

March

All Spring 2020 Events and Exhibitions at Wesleyan Are Canceled
After Wesleyan University consulted with a variety of public health experts and other higher education institutions around the country, all on-campus events and exhibitions have been canceled until further notice. Anyone who purchased tickets in advance will be issued a refund from the box office starting the week of Monday, March 16, 2020 and artists who were scheduled to perform this spring will be compensated. Click above to read the full statement from Jennifer Calienes, Interim Director, Center for the Arts.

February

Wesleyan University's College of East Asian Studies Gallery presents “Guanyu (Gary) Xu: Temporarily Censored Home” February 6 through May 22, 2020
Guanyu (Gary) Xu, 徐冠宇, "Opened Closets," 2019, from "Temporarily Censored Home," archival pigment print.
"Guanyu (Gary) Xu: Temporarily Censored Home" is an exhibition featuring photography and video by the Chinese-born artist, currently based in Chicago, curated by Associate Director of Visual Arts Benjamin Chaffee and Exhibitions Manager Rosemary Lennox.

January

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "Diane Simpson: Cardboard-Plus, 1977-1980" January 28 through March 1, 2020
Diane Simpson with her installation at Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, 1979.
The exhibition presents Diane Simpson's large-scale cardboard sculptures and collaged constructions in their most comprehensive presentation since 1980. Curated by Associate Director of Visual Arts Benjamin Chaffee, these works represent a transition in the artist's practice from drawing and printmaking into sculpture.

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Appoints Interim Director Jennifer Calienes
Wesleyan University Center for the Arts Interim Director Jennifer Calienes. Photo by Victoria Dosch.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts has appointed Jennifer Calienes as Interim Director starting Monday, January 13, 2020. She will remain in the position until a successor is identified and begins work.

2019

November

Wesleyan University's Dance Department presents Winter Dance Concert "FREEDFORM" on December 6 and 7, 2019
Winter Dance Concert "FREEDFORM." Photos by Wesleyan graduate student Jasmine Stack.
Advanced student choreographers Jace Arouet '21, Gabrielle Baba-Conn '22, Zach Farnsworth '21, Abhishek Fakiraswamimath '20, Spenser Stroud '22, and Maren Westgard '22 present recent works, facilitated by Associate Professor of Dance Hari Krishnan.

October

Wesleyan University’s Theater Department presents “The Laramie Project” by ​Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project Friday, November 15 through Sunday, November 17, 2019
(Left to right): Beatrix Zander '23 and Matt Grimaldi '21 in "The Laramie Project" at Wesleyan University, Friday, November 15 through Sunday, November 17, 2019. Photo by Richard Marinelli.
Wesleyan University​’s ​Theater Department​ presents ​“The Laramie Project” directed by Assistant Professor of the Practice ​Edward Torres​, with set design by ​Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Andrew Holland, light and media design by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater ​Calvin Anderson, sound designed by ​Tye Hunt Fitzgerald, ​and twelve ​Wesleyan undergraduate students playing multiple roles.

There will also be a free conversation, "Talk It Out: 'The Laramie Project' - Centering Queer Voices: Documenting Trauma and Resilience" on Thursday, November 7, 2019 with guest artist Leigh Fondakowski, head writer and member of the original production team of the Tectonic Theater Project for "The Laramie Project;" Professor of English and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Christina Crosby; Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Calvin Anderson; Nathan Pugh '21, student dramaturg for the Wesleyan production; and Visiting Instructor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Michelle Memran.

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center presents "Into the Image: Art in Miniature Across the Centuries" October 11 through November 24, 2019
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669). "Man Drawing from a Cast," ca. 1641. Etching on cream laid paper. First state; shadow behind cast’s head barely distinguishable from shading on side. Plate: 93 x 63 mm (3.7 x 2.5 in.). DAC accession number 1947.D1.217. Gift of George W. Davison (B.A. Wesleyan 1892), 1947. Open Access Image from the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University (photo: R. Lee).
The exhibition "Into the Image: Art in Miniature Across the Centuries" curated by Miya Tokumitsu features miniature artworks—drawn entirely from the Davison Art Center collection—including objects made across several centuries, and pieces by Rembrandt van Rijn and Henri Matisse.

43rd annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan University Thursday, October 10 through Monday, October 14, 2019
GRAMMY Award-nominated sarod (19-stringed instrument) master Amjad Ali Khan will be joined by his sarod-playing sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash for "Sarod Trilogy" to conclude the 43rd annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan University on Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 3pm in Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut. Image by Suvo Das.
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces the 43rd annual Navaratri Festival celebrating traditional Indian music and dance, including the Connecticut debut of dancer Dr. Yashoda Thakore, and a performance by GRAMMY Award-nominated musician Amjad Ali Khan. This year, the India Arts Foundation, a long-standing supporter of the Navaratri Festival as well as other arts initiatives in Connecticut founded by Madhu Reddy and other artists, will generously match donations to Wesleyan University in support of the Navaratri Festival up to $50,000.

September

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents Brendan Fernandes' "Inaction" October 2 through December 8, 2019
Brendan Fernandes, “Free Fall: For Camera.” 2019. Video still. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.
"Inaction" is a new sculptural and performance-based installation by Brendan Fernandes in collaboration with the architecture and design firm Norman Kelley, co-curated by Associate Director of Visual Arts Benjamin Chaffee and Exhibitions Manager Rosemary Lennox in collaboration with Fernandes, featuring the first U.S. presentation of “Free Fall: For Camera,” a single-channel video developed from a project that honors the 49 victims of the Orlando shooting.

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts announces 2019-2020 Performing Arts Series
Taylor Mac will perform the Connecticut premiere of "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (Abridged)" on Saturday, September 21, 2019 at 7:30pm in the CFA Theater, 271 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut. Photo by Sarah Walker.
Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts announces the 2019-2020 Performing Arts Series including one New England premiere, four Connecticut premieres, and two Connecticut debuts.

Wesleyan University's College of East Asian Studies Gallery presents “The Imperial Ghost in the Neoliberal Machine (Figuring the CIA)” September 18 through December 8, 2019
A declassified document on former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi from the CIA digital archives.
The exhibition features works by artists Minouk Lim, Yoshua Okón, and Royce Ng, organized by Koichiro Osaka—curator, writer, producer and the founding director of Tokyo-based project space Asakusa.

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "Urban Space, Roman Couture, and A Living Past: Views of Pompeii and Pantheon - Marc Erwin Babej and William Wylie" September 10 through October 6, 2019
Marc Erwin Babej, "Mars, apud templum Romanum Martis Ultoris," 2016. Archival digital pigment print. 30 x 40 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
The exhibition “Urban Space, Roman Couture, and A Living Past: Views of Pompeii and Pantheon - Marc Erwin Babej and William Wylie” is curated by Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, Professor of Classical Studies and Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek.

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center presents "Entering Edo: A World of Pleasure" and "Find Me Unafraid" September 5-26, 2019
Lewis Wickes Hine (American, 1874–1940). "10 Yr. Old Picker on Gildersleeve Tobacco Farm," 1917. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Elizabeth Bobrick and Andrew Szegedy-Maszak (Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek and Professor of Classical Studies) in honor of Laurie and Peter Frenzel (former Professor of German Studies and FDAC President), 2015.14.1. DAC Open Access Image from the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University (copy photo: J. Giammatteo).
For "Entering Edo: A World of Pleasure," Wesleyan students enrolled in Assistant Professor of Art History and East Asian Studies Talia J. Andrei's "Curatorial Workshop: Images for the Floating World" selected fifteen Japanese ukiyo-e color woodcuts from the nineteenth century in the Davison Art Center collection. In the installation "Find Me Unafraid," the Davison Art Center, curated by Miya Tokumitsu, shows three works from the collection that speak to the themes raised in the book "Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum" by Kennedy Odede '12 and Jessica Posner '09.

June

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts summer series to feature free outdoor concert and street-theater style performance art
New Haven's experimental soul ensemble Phat A$tronaut will perform at Wesleyan on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 7pm.
Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts summer events include free outdoor concert featuring New Haven's Phat A$tronaut; free street-theater style performance art with Bread and Puppet Theater's "The Diagonal Life Circus;" "Creative Connections," a gathering of students and local creatives; free noontime talks by Douglas Lyons, Christopher Chenier, Bread and Puppet Theater, and Susan Russell.

May

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts to receive National Endowment for the Arts grant to support performance, residency by Netta Yerushalmy in October 2019
Netta Yerushalmy: "Paramodernities." Photo by Maria Baranova.
$15,000 grant part of NEA announcement of 977 grants and $23.9 million in funding nationwide.

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts Appoints General Manager Drew Gray
Prior to joining the Center for the Arts, Mr. Gray worked as an Associate Producer at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven.

April

Wesleyan University’s Davison Art Center presents "For Effect: Emphatic Bodies from the Renaissance to the Industrial Age" April 5 through May 26, 2019
Jacques Callot (French, 1592–1635). "The Two Pantaloons (Les Deux Pantalons)," 1616. Etching. Second of two states. DAC accession number 1971.18.1. Friends of the Davison Art Center, Theater Department, and purchase funds, 1971. Open Access Image from the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University (photo: M. Johnston).
The exhibition For Effect presents bodies exaggerated by their accoutrements, pose, and anatomical proportion from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries.

March

Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance announces second round of Leadership Fellowship Awards

Awards support mission of diversifying the workforce in arts organizations and expanding the curatorial perspectives in performing arts presenting.

February

Wesleyan University’s Davison Art Center presents “Bestiary” February 8 through March 7, 2019
Exhibition curated by Miya Tokumitsu takes its inspiration from medieval compendia of wondrous creatures, both natural and fantastic.

January

Wesleyan University's College of East Asian Studies Gallery presents “Sound of Korea” January 31 through May 25, 2019
Young-Il Kim, "Gaejanigol Vally in Jingogae," 2018. Archival pigment print. 60 x 79 inches.
Exhibition curated by Phoebe Junghee Shin features landscape photography, videos by artist Young-Il Kim.

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "Audible Bacillus" January 29 through March 3, 2019
Ed Atkins, "Warm, Warm, Warm Spring Mouths," 2013. Still from HD film with with 5.1 surround sound, 12 mins 50 secs. Courtesy the artist and Cabinet, London.
Exhibition curated by Benjamin Chaffee features over a dozen artists working in a range of practices and media including video, sculpture, poetry, and etching; fossils; and a performance by Los Angeles-based experimental music group lucky dragons

2018

Ford Foundation Grant to Support Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance

$150,000 grant to support efforts to advance diversity among participants and amplify graduate program's impact on the field of performance.

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents “A Body in Fukushima: Recent Work” January 25 through February 15, 2018
"Eiko in Fukushima, Tomioka Municipial Sanitation Plant, 26 June 2017, No 257," Photo by William Johnston.
Exhibition to feature haunting videos and photographs from 2016 and 2017 trips to Japan, and performance from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

2017

October

Wesleyan University to Offer Residency in April 2018 for Artists Impacted by 2017 Hurricanes
Proposals from artists in Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands due on Friday, November 17, 2017

2016

December

Sarah Curran Named Director of Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts
Sarah Curran. Photo by ToniBird Photography.

October

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "FLYING CARPETS: new paintings by David Schorr" October 27 through December 11, 2016

40th annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan University Thursday, October 27 through Sunday, October 30, 2016

New England debut of dance work "Hoo-Ha" by choreographer Darrell Jones at Wesleyan University November 18 and 19, 2016

New England debut by South African guitarist Derek Gripper at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts on Friday, November 4, 2016

September

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center presents William Earle Williams exhibition September 23 through December 11, 2016

Wesleyan University's College of East Asian Studies Gallery presents "Draw Yourself In" September 21 through December 9, 2016

August

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2016-2017 season
A Compagnia de' Colombari Production: "texts&beheadings/ElizabethR" by Karin Coonrod. Photo by Teresa Wood.

July

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Appoints Interim Associate Director Michelle Grove

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts and Music Department present Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Appoints Program Coordinator Ariana Molokwu

June

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Appoints Program Manager Rosemary Lennox

May

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts summer series to feature United States premiere of dance work, Grammy Award-nominated jazz group
Jimmy Greene. Photo by Jimmy Katz.

April

Second annual "Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter" festival to be held on Saturday, May 7, 2016

Wesleyan University to honor and celebrate Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah on Saturday, May 7, 2016

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center presents fifth annual "The Big Draw: Middletown" on Saturday April 16

March

Connecticut debut by Wu Man with the Shanghai Quartet at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts on Friday April 1

Wesleyan University to present Spring Faculty Dance Concert "Storied Places" April 15 and 16, 2016

Jay Hoggard Harlem Hieroglyphs Ensemble concludes 15th annual Wesleyan Jazz Orchesta Weekend on Saturday April 30

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center presents "Philip Trager: Photographing Ina" March 25 through May 22

February

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Appoints Interim Director Laura Paul

January

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Director Pamela Tatge Named New Executive Director of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

Syrian vocalist Gaida to perform Connecticut debut at Wesleyan University on Friday, February 5, 2016

2015

December

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "We Chat" January 26 through February 28, 2016

October

Wesleyan University's Theater Department presents "Marisol" by José Rivera Thursday, November 19 through Saturday, November 21, 2015

August

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "R. Luke DuBois: In Real Time" September 16 through December 13, 2015

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2015-2016 season

April

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Grant to Support Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance Scholarship Fund

Wesleyan University's Theater Department presents "The Bald Soprano" by Eugène Ionesco April 22-25, 2015

World premiere by Noah Baerman Resonance Ensemble concludes 14th annual Wesleyan Jazz Orchesta Weekend on Saturday April 25

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center presents fourth annual "The Big Draw: Middletown" on Saturday April 25

March

Wesleyan University to present film screening of "Music of Survival" on Sunday, March 29, 2015

February

Jazz quartet "Stanley Maxwell" to perform world premieres at Wesleyan University on Sunday, March 1, 2015

Connecticut Premiere of "Tari Aceh!" Music and Dance from Northern Sumatra at Wesleyan University February 27

2014

December

Wesleyan University's Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery presents "Picture/Thing" January 27 through March 1, 2015

Wesleyan University's Dance Department and Center for the Arts present Winter Dance Concert on December 5 and 6, 2014

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant to Support 2015-2016 Breaking Ground Dance Series

"A Body in Fukushima" exhibition opens February 3, 2015 at Wesleyan University

October

Eiko Otake Begins Three-Year Appointment at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University's Theater Department presents "In the Heights" Wednesday, November 12 through Sunday, November 16, 2014

Fall Faculty Dance Concert to feature premiere of "To Not Forget Crimea" by Katja Kolcio on October 24

July

"A World of Dreams: New Landscape Paintings by Tula Telfair" in Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery September 16 - December 5, 2014

Wesleyan University's ICPP and Danspace Project to present livestreamed panel on performing arts curation Friday, July 25, 2014

June

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts summer series to feature world premiere of jazz group, Connecticut premiere of dance work

Wesleyan University and Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance announce new Master of Arts in Performance Curation degree program

March

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center presents "Oral Fixations: Drawings by Julia Randall" March 28 through May 25

February

"Evan Roth//Intellectual Property Donor" February 5 - March 2, 2014 in Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery

January

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Awarded Grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Receives Association of Performing Arts Presenters Grant to Support the Muslim Women Voices Project during 2014-2015 Season

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Receives Arts Catalyze Placemaking Grant from Connecticut Office of the Arts

2013

December

Wesleyan University's Dance Department and Center for the Arts present Winter Dance Concert on December 6 and 7, 2013

November

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Receives Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Grant Award for Adaptability

October

Connecticut debut of London's Juice Vocal Ensemble at Wesleyan University on Saturday, November 9, 2013

Vieux Farka Touré at Wesleyan University on Friday, October 25, 2013

37th annual Navaratri Festival to be held at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts October 10-13, 2013

July

The Alumni Show II: September 6 - December 8 in Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts summer series features New England premieres in dance, theater

June

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts announces highlights of 40th anniversary season in 2013-2014

April

Wesleyan University Theater Department presents "Peony Pavilion" April 25-27

Wesleyan University Dance Department to Honor Artist in Residence Urip Sri Maeny May 2 and 3

A Conversation with Hugh Masekela on Saturday, April 20, 2013

MiddletownRemix: Hear More, See More - A Festival of Art and Sound to be held on Saturday, May 11, 2013

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center presents second annual "The Big Draw: Middletown" on Saturday April 20

February

14th annual DanceMasters Weekend Showcase Performance to feature Armitage Gone! Dance, Ballet Hispanico, ODC/Dance on Saturday March 9

Wesleyan University to present "Innovations: Intersection of Art and Science" Symposium Feb. 28 and Mar. 1

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Receives Dance/USA Engaging Dance Audiences Award to Support 2013-2014 Breaking Ground Dance Series

January

First Connecticut Performance of "Glass Guignol: The Brother and Sister Play" at Wesleyan University on Saturday February 16

New England Premiere of "Music at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello" on February 1 at Wesleyan University

2012

December

FOOD-WATER-LIFE---LUCY and JORGE ORTA January 25-March 3 in Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery

Wesleyan University Creates Madhu Reddy Endowed Fund for Indian Music and Dance

November

Wesleyan University's Dance Department and Center for the Arts present Winter Dance Concert on December 7 and 8

World Premiere of Rinde Eckert's "The Last Days of the Old Wild Boy" at Wesleyan University November 15-17

Dither Electric Guitar Quartet to Perform World Premiere of "Mi-Go" by Joshua Lopes on November 16

September

Music and Public Life: a year-long exploration to include concerts, workshops, gatherings, courses at Wesleyan University and in Greater Middletown, CT

New England Premiere of "Voices of Afghanistan" at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts September 28

New England Premiere of Anonymous Ensemble's "Liebe Love Amour!" at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts September 22

August

September 14 and 15: Connecticut premiere of ZviDance's "Zoom" at Wesleyan University

June

New England Premiere of "Big City" by Brian Brooks Moving Company at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts on July 12 and 13

May

Tickets On Sale May 15 for Summer Events at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts

April

"work divided by time" sound installation by Paula Matthusen at Wesleyan University May 2-13

Wesleyan University's Theater Department presents Gertrude Stein "Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights" Thursday April 26 through Saturday April 28

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts presents Fernando Otero Quartet on Saturday April 14

March

Australian dance company Chunky Move at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts on March 30 and 31

Jay Hoggard Quartet concludes 11th annual Wesleyan Jazz Orchesta Weekend on Saturday April 28

13th annual DanceMasters Weekend Showcase Performance to feature Pilobolus, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, and Garth Fagan Dance on Saturday March 10

February

Spring Faculty Dance Concert to feature U.S. Premiere of "Quicksand", World Premiere of "Nine" by Artist-in-Residence Hari Krishnan March 2 and 3

"SPILL" directed by Leigh Fondakowski - Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26 at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts

2011

December

"Passing Time" January 27­ - March 4, 2012 in Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery

November

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts and the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) announce the 2012-2013 Professional Certificate Program in Curatorial Practice in Performance

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant to Support 2012-2013 Breaking Ground Dance Series

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts presents cellist Joshua Roman on Friday November 18

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts presents Bebe Miller Company: "History", November 18 and 19

October

35th annual Navaratri Festival to be held at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts October 26-30, 2011

September

Premiere of "Recycling Pain", A Play by Ron Jenkins - Free Reading at Wesleyan University on September 28

August

World Premiere of Asphalt Orchestra Commission at Wesleyan University's Feet to the Fire Common Moment on September 2

"Mixed Signals: Artists Consider Masculinity in Sports" September 9 - October 23 in Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery

U.S. Premieres of Two Works by Italian Experimental Theater Company Dewey Dell at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts September 9, 10 and 16

May

Tickets On Sale May 17 for Summer Events at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts

February

Crowell Concert Series concludes with Minneapolis Guitar Quartet on Friday February 18