Arts & Culture

“Something is Happening,” the 2025 WashU Dance Theatre performance, will take place Nov. 14-16 in Edison Theatre. The evening-length concert will feature original works by visiting choreographers Ron K. Brown and Xi Zhao, by faculty choreographers Elinor Harrison and David Marchant, and by graduate student Liz Lloyd.

Aki Ishida has been named the Sam and Marilyn Fox Professor in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. A lecture and reception to celebrate her appointment were held Sept. 25 in Steinberg Hall.

As study-abroad students at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU), WashU seniors Marielle Morrow and Cole Bernstein wrote, directed and edited “A Bird in the Field.” The movie screens at the St. Louis International Film Festival Nov. 15.

Dan Butler, a political scientist in Arts & Sciences, brings civic lessons to life through Lego bricks. He created a series of stop-motion videos that turn pop culture into lessons on the U.S. government for high school students.

A mysterious plant revives a Skid Row flower shop. But with success come gruesome appetites. Welcome to “Little Shop of Horrors.” WashU’s Performing Arts Department will present the celebrated musical in Edison Theatre Oct. 24 to Nov. 2.

Global (Un)Conference 2, a meeting of the Urban Humanities Network, will take place around St. Louis Oct. 16-18. Featuring both academic and public-facing events, the conference is hosted by WashU’s “Engaged City” initiative, a Mellon-funded project that highlights the city’s cultural legacy.

Provost Mark D. West has appointed a 15-member search committee to identify candidates for the position of dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

Lana Lin’s “The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam” has been longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for nonfiction. The book is published by Dorothy, an independent publishing project co-founded by WashU’s Danielle Dutton and Martin Riker.

The Sam Fox School has announced the launch of Design Openings. Created in collaboration with the Kranzberg Arts Center and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, this multiyear initiative invites interdisciplinary St. Louis design teams to animate public life in the Covenant Blu Grand Center neighborhood.