The local community is invited to join Hesston College in celebration of diverse backgrounds, cultures and religions in keeping with the year’s campus theme of immigration and diversity during the college’s Arts Week Nov. 5 to 11.

Students, faculty, alumni and local and national artists will present visual art, music, theatre and nature as a glimpse into the ways diversity affects all people.

“Arts week is a chance for our students to engage with a variety of artists in our community and have opportunities to be creative on campus,” said First-Year Experience leader Marissa King.

Arts Week begins at 3 p.m. Nov. 5, with a prairie exploration of the plains at the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains led by arboretum staff member Brad Guhr.

At 3:30 p.m. Nov. 5, Hesston alumnus Delmar Reyes of Hugoton, Kan., will present his artwork reflecting his Latino heritage and traditions in the Smith Center lobby. Reyes will be joined by students enrolled in Drawing I and II, who will present homage drawings of celebrated artists from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s. Sophomore Ashish Pathak of Katmandu, Nepal, will also unveil his latest website creation.

From 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 6, Drawing I and II classes will do an exercise in creating immigrant portraits from trash with art faculty member Lois Misegadis in Friesen Center 108.

Events on Nov. 7 include an 11:30 a.m. concert and presentation exploring immigration’s influence on music in Northlawn 109 with Fred Carpenter and Tim May. Carpenter and May are a singer-songwriter duo from Nashville whose debut album charted them as the number one artist with the number one album at folk radio.

“Portraits of Change,” an art exhibit by local artist Micala Gingrich-Gaylord, director of the Newton Expressive Arts Center, will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 7 in Smith Center 105. The exhibit will show again from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8 in Smith Center 105.

Ceramics faculty member and local artist Hanna Eastin will demonstrate clay art techniques from 7 to 9 p.m. Nov. 7 in Friesen Center 111.

Nov. 9 marks the opening night of the Hesston College Theatre Department’s performance of “Green Card,” which explores America as an immigrant and refugee society. The show will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Northlawn Studio Theatre. Ticket prices are $9 for adults and $6 for students and senior citizens (65+). Tickets can be purchased in person at the Hesston College Bookstore, online at books.hesston.edu or by phone at 620-327-8105. A talk-back session led by the Mennonite Church Immigration Task Force will follow the performance. Other performances of the play are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10, 16 and 17 and at 3 p.m. Nov. 18.
The Campus Activities Board will host a coffeehouse at 9 p.m. Nov. 9 in the Erb Hall Larks Nest where students, faculty and staff will perform music, poetry and other art in reflection of diversity.

The concluding event for the week will be a concert by Turtle Island Quartet as part of the Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts series. The string quartet will perform their own original work and the music of Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane in a fusion of classical music tradition and contemporary American styles at 3 p.m. Nov. 11, at Hesston Mennonite Church. Single tickets are available for $20 or $25. Discounts are available for students and senior citizens. To purchase tickets, call 620-327-8158 (Hesston College) or 316-284-5205 (Bethel College) or visit the HBPA website at www.hesston.edu/hbpa.