Events

For this year's current cultural event schedule
at Wayne State College please click here.

Visiting Scholars and Sculptors
Created in the fall of 2002, the School of Arts and Humanities, in partnership with one of the School departments and individual School faculty members, annually hosts visiting scholars for 2-3 day campus visits. The visiting scholars interact extensively with our students and faculty, providing guest class lectures and at least one campus-wide public presentation as part of the visit, providing greater insights into non-Western and non-majority cultures. We have been pleased that we have attracted a wide variety of guests since the program’s inception, including visiting scholars from Howard University, George Washington University, the University of Iowa, and other noted institutions. For a listing of previous press releases about these guests please click here.

In 2003, the School of Arts and Humanities created a Visiting Sculptor program in order to expand the existing full annual schedule of exhibitions in the Norstrand Visual Arts Gallery, and to provide an outdoor exhibit on loan for 1-2 years from each visiting sculptor. The first sculpture exhibited was “Time Sails” by sculptor Leslie Bruning, installed in the spring of 2004 and renewed in the spring of 2005. In the fall of 2005, a work from the “Jupiter’s Trees” series of sculptures by noted sculptor John Hachmeister was installed on campus. To read the press releases about these works, and view images, click here.

Exhibitions
Artists from the Plains region are invited each year to campus to exhibit their work as visiting artists in the Nordstrand Visual Arts Gallery. The exhibition space provides a forum for these guest artists to share with students their developmental processes and their philosophies of art. The Nordstrand Visual Arts Gallery also provides exhibit opportunities for student work, and for annual faculty shows.

Musical Performances
The Wayne State College Department of Music provides rich musical experiences for all interested WSC students, and each year presents dozens of programs by faculty and student performers.

Theatrical Productions >>view photos
The Wayne Sate College Theatre program produces 4- 5 fully mounted productions each year. These include a wide range of genre from the classics of Shakespeare to cutting edge modern drama, and have recently included productions of Steel Magnolias, School for Husbands, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Beauty and the Beast, The Tempest, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Mad Adventures of Mr. Toad. The annual Children’s Theatre production, presented each April as a unique outreach service to the broader community, is annually attended by approximately 5,000 pre-school through fifth grade children. To view images from recent WSC theatrical productions please click on the heading above.

Black and Gold Performing Arts Series
For over fifty years the Wayne State College Black and Gold performing arts series has presented cultural programming to serve the northeast Nebraska region. Annually presenting full-scale opera and theatre productions, dance performances, orchestras, chamber music, Emmy-winning actors, and the annual President's Holiday Gala Concert, the series strives to enlighten, educate, and entertain. All performances of the series now take place in the renovated 700-seat Ramsey Theatre of the Lied Performing Arts Center.

Poetry Slam
The Poetry Slam is a semi-annual competition and public event for students. Student poets read their original work to an audience and a panel of judges. Through four rounds of readings, poems are judged on literary merit and the strength of the performance, and the top winners collect cash prizes. The Slam is usually held in conjunction with the Plains Writers Series (see Guest Lecturers, below).

"Hot Papers"
Initiated in 2001, the Hot Papers competition stimulates and displays the best academic writing at Wayne State College. The competition is open to all College students, and the winning papers are published in a journal format.

Guest Lecturers

• Plains Writers Series
  The Plains Writers Series was established as a means for bringing. contemporary poets and writers to campus for readings and workshops.
  
  Since its inception the series has brought over one-hundred noted poets to Wayne State College to interact with students and faculty, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Rita Dove, Nebraska State Poet William Kloefkorn, Utah Poet Laureate David Lee, William Matthews, Cary Waterman, Lyn DeNayer, William Kittredge, Barbara Schmitz,David Long, Dan Chaon, Ron Block, CarolAnn Russell, Albert Goldbarth and Matt Mason. Beginning in 1999 the Series has focused on the work of promising poets and writers near the beginning of their careers.
  

• Professional Speakers Series
  Several times each year the mass communication program brings to campus professional communicators to speak with WSC students. The program, initiated in the early 1990s, brings professionals from diverse fields, including print and electronic journalism, marketing, and the motion picture industry. The goal of the program is to help build bridges between the students’ academic experience and the professional world. This helps students better appreciate the content of their communication courses and better prepares them for the realities of the workplace.