Arts & Culture

The African Film Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary with award-winning films from South Africa, Morocco, Cape Verde, Sudan and other nations from March 27-29 in WashU’s Brown Hall. Admission is free.

Alumna Erin Blumer brings her distinct artistic sensibilities to WashU’s growing Medical Campus.

Filmmaker Ava Farrar brings a fresh approach to Midwestern storytelling, finding inspiration close to home.

As St. Louis continues to rebuild following a massive tornado in May 2025, ­ Linda C. ­Samuels considers what matters most for successful recovery.

In their acclaimed chamber opera “The Tongue and The Lash,” composer Damien Sneed and librettist Karen Chilton imagine a conversation between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. following their iconic 1965 debate. WashU will present a performance at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 19, in Graham Chapel.

Pianist and composer Conrad Tao, an artist of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” (The New York Times), will perform Sunday, March 1, as part of the WashU Department of Music’s Great Artists Series.

The Performing Arts Department will present Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Our Town” in Edison Theatre beginning Feb. 20. Though familiar to generations of audiences, the play’s pastoral setting can disguise its formal inventiveness, says director Andrea Urice.

In his new book, “Michelangelo & Titian: A Tale of Rivalry & Genius,” WashU’s William Wallace explores a mutual admiration, and simmering competition, that unfolded over decades.

Shot on WashU’s campus, the 110-year old film “The Maid of McMillan” is one of 25 films the Library of Congress added to the National Film Registry. 

James Baldwin Review, the preeminent peer-reviewed journal dedicated to Baldwin’s life and legacy, which is co-edited by WashU’s Dwight A. McBride and Justin A. Joyce, has been named Best Special Issue of 2025 from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.