NIU Today

The NIU Community School of the Arts has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund, administered by the DeKalb County Community Foundation. Wurlitzer Foundation grants provide financial assistance to further music education, music appreciation and performance to organizations and schools serving DeKalb County and the Chicago metropolitan area. “It is...

The Northern Illinois University Art Museum and the Office of the President are celebrating NIU’s artistry and talent from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, at a public reception in Altgeld Hall. Visitors will see recent work by faculty and teaching staff from the NIU School of Art and Design exhibited at the Art...

The Northern Illinois University School of Theatre and Dance Fall 2015 Dance Concert will showcase the training and many talents of the student dancers in the school’s dance performance program. Opening Thursday, Nov. 19, the concert will feature six performance pieces with multiple styles of dance each of the four consecutive nights. “Classical dancing mixed...

The Northern Illinois University School of Theatre and Dance upcoming Studio Series play, “Measure for Measure,” by William Shakespeare, is a dark comedy written by the most important playwright of the English Renaissance, according to its director, Alex Gelman. “It’s one of the greatest,” Gelman says, “written by one of the greatest ever.” Opening Thursday,...

David Teng Olsen, an artist of indefatigable energy, will speak at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in Room 111 of the Visual Arts Building. Olsen’s work merges the worlds of mural painting, printmaking, animation, interactive digital media and performance. He has created site-specific installations across the country, and has collaborated on numerous animation projects; his...

The CSA Youth Sinfonia performs the music of Wagner and Dvořák at its first concert of the season, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall of the NIU Music Building. On the program, which is free and open to the public, is “Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”...

NIU’s Jack Olson Gallery, part of the School of Art and Design, will host its annual High School Invitational from Monday, Oct. 26, through Sunday, Nov. 8. The exhibition in Room 200 of the Visual Arts Building showcases works by high school students from northern Illinois. In conjunction with the exhibition, the School of Art...

Attention, parents and kids ages 4 to 12: Do you want to create art together? Are you curious to learn more about world cultures? Sign up for “Cultural Exploration through Making Art,” which begins Saturday, Oct. 31. This is a fun, artistic and creative class for both children and parents to explore cultures together through...

NIU’s Doug Boughton, a world leader in the advocacy of “visual culture” curriculum for art education, has been named the 2015 Illinois Higher Education Art Educator of the Year. The award, given by the Illinois Art Education Association, recognizes the exemplary contributions, service and achievements of one outstanding IAEA member annually. Chosen for his outstanding...

“It’s about an old world dying and a new one being born,” Director Patricia Skarbinski says about the NIU School of Theatre and Dance upcoming play, “Three Sisters,” by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Opening Thursday, Oct. 22, “Three Sisters” tells the story of the Prozorov sisters – Olga, Masha and Irina – and their brother,...

Gregory Barrett, professor of clarinet in the NIU School of Music, performed a recital of works by composers from Finland at the 2015 FinnFestUSA. Barrett’s concert took place Oct. 11 in Buffalo, N.Y. Among the notable members of the audience was Kirsti Kauppi, ambassador of Finland to the United States. Musicians and academics from Finland...

NIU’s Fareed Haque, a professor of guitar in the NIU School of Music, is the featured performer this weekend on WYCC PBS Chicago’s “Music on the Mayne Stage” program. The premiere broadcast is scheduled for 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, with encore presentations at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, and midnight Sunday, Oct. 18. “Music...