ETSU hosting variety of events for the community in March

Jennifer L. Hill March 5, 2025

The spring semester marches on at East Tennessee State University, and the lineup of entertaining and educational activities for the campus and community is jam-packed in the month of March. 

A live album recording by a Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band, student and Broadway theatrical productions, a visit by friends from Sesame Street, a chance to hear the words of a World War II tank commander from Erwin from his letters, a performance of ETSU musicians and vocalists with the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra, a square dance and a comic festival are just a few of the “can’t miss” events coming up this month!

The following listing includes events that are open to the public and are free unless otherwise noted:

Music

Faculty Recital: Alena Carhart, Garrett Thomas and Marissa Mathia
March 7, 7:30 p.m. – Powell Recital Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
Alena Carhart, Garrett Thomas and Marissa Mathia of the ETSU Department of Music faculty will present their recital, featuring music by Alex Zhang.

‘Fortune & Fate’: ETSU Department of Music with Johnson City Symphony Orchestra
March 8, 7:30 p.m. – ETSU Foundation Grand Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
The ETSU Orchestra and Choirs perform alongside the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra in a program that includes the repertoire of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” Tickets are $40. 

Studio Recital: Percussion
March 9, 2 p.m. – Powell Recital Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
This recital features percussion students from the studio of Dr. Christian Swafford and Dr. Logan Ball.

Guest Artist Recital: Philip Snyder
March 9, 5 p.m. – Powell Recital Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
Dr. Philip Snyder, flute, will perform in a Guest Artist Recital. Snyder is an educator, flutist-composer and administrator working as an instructor of flute at the University of Mississippi and an associate producer at Spoleto Festival USA.

Square Dance Extravaganza with Hogslop String Band
March 12, 7 p.m. – Ballroom, D.P. Culp Student Center
This event featuring foot-stomping, fast-paced fun led by one of the best old-time bands around is open to all skill levels. ETSU’s Twin Taters will give an opening performance. Free for ETSU students and employees; public tickets are $20 at the door.

Studio Recital: Jazz Guitar
March 13, 7:30 p.m. – Powell Recital Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
This Jazz Guitar studio recital features students from the studio of James West.

Faculty Recital: Dr. Max Geissler
March 14, 7:30 p.m. – Powell Recital Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
Cellist Dr. Max Geissler, co-artistic director of the mixed instrumentation new music ensemble Latitude 49, will perform in recital.

Faculty Recital: ‘Living Legacy: Exploring Music of John Stevens’
March 26, 7:30 p.m. – Powell Recital Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
Dr. Steph Frye-Clark, tuba/euphonium, will perform works by John Stevens in this Faculty Recital.

Blue Highway: 30th Anniversary Retrospective Live Album Recording
March 27-28, 7 p.m. both nights – Powell Recital Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
The multi-award-winning bluegrass band Blue Highway will record its next album live in concert at the Martin Center in commemoration of the band’s 30th anniversary. Tickets each night are $35 for general admission or $70 for a VIP experience.

ETSU Orchestra and BucsWorth Send-Off Concert
March 27, 7:30 p.m. – ETSU Foundation Grand Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
This concert showcases the ETSU Orchestra and the men’s ensemble BucsWorth before their guest performance at the Tennessee Music Education Association All-State in Nashville. Tickets are $12. 

Greyscale Concert
March 28, 7:30 p.m. – ETSU Foundation Grand Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
Greyscale, ETSU’s mixed a cappella ensemble, presents “From Greyscale, With Love.” This performance features love songs from different eras, blending timeless jazz standards, heartfelt ballads and contemporary favorites into a musical journey capturing the joy, passion and complexity of love. Tickets are $15. 

Studio Recital: Vocal Duets
March 31, 7:30 p.m. – Powell Recital Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
Students from the studios of Karen Smith and Linda Barnett will perform vocal duets in this recital.

Theater/Cinema

‘The Wolves’
March 6-8, 7:30 p.m., and March 9, 2 p.m. – Bert C. Bach Theatre, Martin Center for the Arts
The ETSU Department of Theatre and Dance presents this play by Sarah Delappe that depicts a girls soccer team navigating big questions and waging tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $10 for students. 

Bud Frank Cinema: Friday Film
March 7, 7 p.m. – Bud Frank Theatre
Join the Bud Frank Cinema for its First Friday film screening. Title TBA.

Broadway at the Martin: ‘Hadestown’
March 10-12, 7 p.m. – ETSU Foundation Grand Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
This winner of multiple Tony Awards and a Grammy Award intertwines two mythic tales – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone – as it invites you on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Tickets are $88.66-$113.04.

East Tennessee Treasure: The Creative Legacy of Ross Spears and the James Agee Film Project
March 27, 4-8 p.m. – Reece Museum and Bud Frank Theatre
This celebration of the life, work, and cultural contributions of Johnson City’s own Ross Spears begins with a reception and special program with music and poetry at the Reece Museum, followed by a screening at the Bud Frank Theatre of “Agee,” Spears’ documentary on James Agee, a native of Knoxville who became a noted American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic.

‘Sesame Street Live! Say Hello’
March 30, 2 p.m. – ETSU Foundation Grand Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster and their friends from Sesame Street are coming to the neighborhood to say hello! Bring the family to sing, dance and play alongside their furry friends while following Elmo’s puppy, Tango, in a game of hide-and-seek. Tickets range from $42.95-$109.39.

Fine Arts

‘Positive/Negative 40: National Juried Art Exhibition’
Continuing through March 14, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday – Slocumb Galleries
This annual competitive exhibition features 40 contemporary American artists whose innovative works spark critical conversation and reflection. A closing awards reception and juror’s talk by Nandini Makrandi, chief curator of the Hunter Museum of American Art, will be held March 12 from 5-7 p.m.

‘Pat Mink: Layered’ Exhibit
Through April 4, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays – Reece Museum
This exhibit features works by Patricia Mink, an award-winning fiber artist and professor emerita of the ETSU Department of Art and Design. Mink’s current work explores traditional layered quilt forms, employing new digital techniques for weaving and printing fabric. A reception will be held Thursday, March 6, from 5-7 p.m.

‘Layered Influence’ Exhibit
Through April 4, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays – Reece Museum
Select works of 14 former students of Patricia Mink, professor emerita, ETSU Department of Art and Design, are featured in this exhibit showcasing exploratory approaches to fibers and ideas of fiber. A reception will be held Thursday, March 6, from 5-7 p.m.

‘Held On by a Thread’: MFA Exhibition by Annie Hutchins
March 6-28, various hours – Tipton Gallery, 126 Spring Street
Annie Hutchins, a fiber and printmaking artist from Raymond, Mississippi, presents her MFA exhibition of works dealing with the loss of memories, family artifacts, and craft art passed down from generations. A First Friday opening reception will be March 7 from 6-8 p.m. Tipton Gallery is open Thursdays and Fridays from 5-7 p.m. with extended hours for receptions and by appointment.

Public Talks and More


Rare Book and Map Event
March 4-5, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. each day – Quillen Conference Room, Sherrod Library
Participants are invited to take a self-guided tour through ETSU’s incredible collection of rare books, maps and historical imagery. The exhibit includes rare poetry books, topographic maps of Tennessee, drone imagery of areas affected by Hurricane Helene, and blueprints of the Nolichucky Dam.

Book Talk: ‘Appalachia to Dessau: Letters of a Tank Commander in World War II’
March 6, 4 p.m. – Archives of Appalachia, room 422, Sherrod Library
Sandy Laws, assistant archivist in ETSU’s Archives of Appalachia, will share uncensored and emotional letters following Erwin resident and World War II tank commander John Goodin’s transformation from a rookie soldier to a seasoned and celebrated veteran. 

Basler Chair Lecture Series: ‘Campaign Finance in the USA and Why It Matters’
March 7, 3 p.m. – Forum, D.P. Culp Student Center
“Where Does All the Money Come From? Campaign Finance in the USA and Why It Matters” will be addressed by Dr. Anthony Nownes in this lecture. Nownes, who holds ETSU’s Wayne G. Basler Chair of Excellence for the Integration of the Arts, Rhetoric, and Science this semester, will describe campaign finance laws and their importance.

‘Cherokees, Creeks, and Frenchmen: Mapping Indigenous Coalescence in the Colonial Southeast’
March 11, 7 p.m. – Rogers-Stout Hall auditorium
In this talk, Casey Price, an ETSU graduate and Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, will explore how the evolution of the Indigenously-sourced geographic information appearing on French colonial-era maps may provide historians a means of peeking behind the colonial façade and provide clues about the active coalescence of Cherokee, Creek and other Southeastern Indigenous peoples amid increasing colonial pressure.

Global Year: Scotland Lecture by Drs. Qian Huang and Britany Stahnke Joy

March 13, 4:30 p.m. – Forum, D.P. Culp Student Center
Drs. Huang and Stahnke Joy will discuss their research using both geographic information systems and qualitative instruments to understand health differences between Scotland’s urban and rural landscapes, and to make comparisons between Scotland and Appalachia.

Appalachian Highlands Economic Forum

March 14, 8 a.m. – ETSU Foundation Grand Hall, Martin Center for the Arts
This third annual event hosted by ETSU’s College of Business and Technology provides updates on topics from economic conditions to the housing market and real estate in the region. Dr. John Silvia, founder of John E. Silvia, Dynamic Economic Strategy, is the keynote speaker. Free registration is required. 

Planetarium Show: ‘The Origin of Time’

March 20, 7 p.m. – Hutcheson Hall planetarium
‘The Origin of Time’ will be explained in this planetarium show. 

ETSU-Con 2025

March 29-30, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. – D.P. Culp Student Center
Fans of anime, comics, cosplay and more will enjoy entertaining panels, a vendor hall, gaming tournaments, food, cosplay contests, meeting favorite voice actors and more in this two-day event. Tickets range from free to $35.

Basler Chair Lecture Series: ‘Are Interest Groups Good or Bad?’

March 31, 7 p.m. – Rogers-Stout Hall auditorium
Dr. Anthony Nownes, chairholder of ETSU’s Wayne G. Basler Chair of Excellence for the Integration of the Arts, Rhetoric, and Science this semester, will describe the activities of interest groups in the United States in his third of four free public lectures this semester.

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To learn more about these and other events at ETSU, visit the university’s online calendar at etsu.edu/calendar/default.php. For disability accommodations, contact Disability Services at (423) 439-8346. 

 


East Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 with a singular mission: to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. Through its world-class health sciences programs and interprofessional approach to health care education, ETSU is a highly respected leader in rural health research and practices. The university also boasts nationally ranked programs in the arts, technology, computing, and media studies. ETSU serves approximately 14,000 students each year and is ranked among the top 10 percent of colleges in the nation for students graduating with the least amount of debt.

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