Ohio University announces the fourth annual Global Arts Festival, April 1–6

Ohio University will host the fourth annual Global Arts Symposium from April 1-6, 2024, on the Athens campus. The weeklong, high-energy celebration will highlight global, visual and performing arts, as well as research and scholarship. Events throughout the week include an international fashion show, evening concerts, film screenings, art exhibitions, a variety of workshops and the highly anticipated World Music and Dance Concert on the evening of April 5.

A few more highlights of the festival include an evening concert by the Ohio University Percussion Studio, a dance night hosted by Factory Street Dance Studio, an International Fashion Show on April 3 from 7-9 p.m. hosted by the School of Dance, a world languages showcase hosted by the Center for International Studies and the Office of Global Affairs, a film screening night hosted by international graduate students in the School of Film, and the fourth Global Arts Symposium featuring guest scholars, artists and performers.

This year’s symposium will be presented April 4-5 in Walter Hall Rotunda, featuring lectures and presentations on the topic of Performing and Visualizing the Arts: A Global and Interdisciplinary Perspective, and featuring keynote speaker, Kofi Agawu, Distinguished Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Agawu is a Ghanaian musicologist and music theorist who has taught at Princeton University, Yale University, Cornell University, King's College London, Duke University, Haverford College, and the University of Oxford.

The symposium is currently seeking submissions of creative research, teaching, and production and performance for this year’s program; interested individuals can find out details and submit to the call for papers online.

The week of international arts experiences will culminate in a memorable night of music and movement with the World Music and Dance Concert featuring guest artists from around the globe and student ensemble performances on April 5 at 7:30 p.m.in Memorial Auditorium. This year’s concert features, among other guests, the acclaimed dancer, choreographer and director of Chimera contemporary dance company, Malgorzata Nowacka-May (Toronto) and the Kashtan School of Ukrainian Dance (Cleveland) alongside other guest artists and skilled student performers.

Event details, guest artists and other Global Arts Festival news will continue to be added ahead of the festival. Please check the festival website for updates here: ohio.edu/fine-arts/global-arts-festival.

For questions and inquiries please contact festival co-directors, Paschal Yao Younge at youngep@ohio.edu and Zelma Badu-Younge at badu-you@ohio.edu.