News Archive

A collaboration between Kent State University’s School of Fashion, School of Theatre and Dance and Focus Features will bring the final Downton Abbey movie to Kent for an early screening and period fashion show. The movie, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” will have a preview showing on Friday, Sept. 5, at the Kent Plaza Cinema, a week before it opens in theaters nationwide. 

The Kent State University Museum presents its fall exhibition, “A Meeting of Cultures: Fashioning North Africa,” from Sept. 5, 2025, through May 10, 2026. Displayed in the museum’s Broadbent Gallery, the exhibition features works by 25 contemporary North African designers and artists.

Named in honor of regional architect Thomas Schroth, whose global perspective framed creativity as a “window onto human experience,” the series has featured acclaimed guests including Tony Award winner Stephen Schwartz, the Grammy-winning Emerson String Quartet, minimalist icon Richard Tuttle, and fashion visionaries Ruben and Isabel Toledo.

Over the decades, Kent State’s Porthouse Theatre on the grounds of Blossom Music Center has produced more than 3,000 performances, entertaining nearly 400,000 patrons.

Acclaimed New York fashion designer Christian Siriano told Kent State University School of Fashion students to practice their craft with dedication, accept criticism and learn from it, but to remember that they will never please everyone.

"School of Rock: The Musical" by Andrew Lloyd Webber runs from July 18 through Aug. 3 at Kent State's Porthouse Theatre. 

The LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation is thrilled to announce “LeRoy Neiman: A Keen Observer of Style,” opening at Kent State University Museum on Oct. 24, 2025. 

As part of the Kent State University Museum's 40th Anniversary celebration, the museum will display the exhibition "Sparkle: The Style and Jewelry of Aileen Mehle" in its Higbee Gallery from July 18, 2025, through Aug. 23, 2026. 

This summer, artists from the region, Kent State and around the world came together for a transformative two weeks of Kent Blossom Art Intensives.

There's music in the summer breezes at Kent State as the annual Kent Blossom Music Festival welcomes students from the U.S. and abroad to study with world class musicians to campus. 

Kent State Youth Winds had the unique opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. this spring, giving meaningful performances alongside famous monuments and making lasting connections with renowned musicians.

The Crystal, a three-story, glass atrium and entrance to the Akron Art Museum, provided the perfect backdrop for these diamonds in the rough, a coming-of-age collection manifested in the proud work of multi-talented, middle and high school students from Akron participating in a program designed to illicit self-expression through poetry, art and virtual reality.

Kent State Opera Theatre's spring production featured scenes from a selection of famous operas with themes both natural and supernatural. 

Kent State's fourth annual Juneteenth Jubilee welcomed the community to celebrate the rich history of Black Americans with live music, dance performances, food trucks, vendors and more. 

An exhibit of rare Salvador Dalí paintings and a collection of garments designed by Kent State University School of Fashion students inspired by the Dalí artwork has opened at Peg’s Gallery in Hudson, Ohio. 

The annual Spring Faculty Dance Concert and Student Dance Festival, presented the Kent State School of Theatre and Dance is a highlight of the Spring Semester.

Sarah Spinner Liska, director of the Kent State University Museum, has been honored with the inaugural Artist Empowerment Award from Summit ArtSpace, recognizing her outstanding work in expanding access to the arts and championing inclusive creative spaces.

Thanks to a collaboration between Peg’s Foundation & Gallery, Scabal and Kent State University’s School of Fashion, Peg’s Foundation & Gallery will become the epicenter of international art, fashion and innovation this summer with the U.S. premiere of “Dalí Beyond Time: Fashioning the Future.” The groundbreaking exhibit will bring 12 Salvador Dalí paintings commissioned for Scabal to Hudson, Ohio – and to American soil – for the very first time.

What started as a simple conversation between a Kent State University School of Fashion student and the American head of the global luxury menswear and fabric brand Scabal touched off a series of events that will result in a group of rarely seen Salvador Dali paintings having their North American debut in Northeast Ohio on June 12.

It may seem like a simple question: What does peace look like?  

But the answers can be profoundly different depending on who is asked.