The arts have the power to inspire people of all ages and backgrounds, opening our minds to the world beyond our daily routines. But for many college students, community members and families in Central Florida, the cost of attending arts events can be a barrier to these transformative experiences.
That’s why the UCF College of Arts and Humanities is proud to present UCF Celebrates the Arts, an annual festival offering dozens of free events for everyone to enjoy. From innovative performances to thought-provoking exhibitions, the festival is a testament to the belief that the arts should be accessible to all. This year’s festival takes place from April 2 through April 15 at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
Jeff Moore, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, encourages community members to use the festival as an opportunity to try something new.
“UCF Celebrates the Arts was created nine years ago with accessibility in mind. It is an opportunity for everyone to experience the arts and humanities – to try different things, to learn something new, to share an experience with friends,” says Moore. “Half of our events and all of the exhibits are free, and it is my sincere hope that anyone who has ever wanted to visit Dr. Phillips Center takes advantage of this opportunity UCF is providing to the Central Florida community.”
Below, check out a list of free events held at this year’s UCF Celebrates the Arts festival, ranging from performing arts, to visual arts, humanities, kid-friendly events and more.
Free Family-Friendly Events
From live music to scavenger hunts, expose your kids to a variety of cultural experiences while having fun.
National Young Composers Challenge Composium
Sunday, April 2, 12:00 p.m. at Steinmetz Hall
Hear Central Florida’s finest musicians perform music written by the next generation of star composers for the stage and screen.
The National Young Composers Challenge Composium is part concert, part masterclass. Here’s how it works: young composers from across the United States submit original compositions to the challenge. Then, a panel of judges chooses the top three orchestral and top three ensemble compositions to be performed and recorded by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Wilkins, at this event.
After the performance, everyone is invited to share refreshments and mingle with musicians, judges, the composers and their families as well as Maestro Wilkins. Learn more about the National Composers Challenge here.
Reserve your spot for the free event here.
Mind Matters: New Plays for Teens
Thursday, Apr 13, 2023, 6:30 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
During the 2022-23 school year, Theatre UCF, Orlando Repertory Theatre, UCF Department of Psychology and Orange County Public Schools teamed up with playwrights around the nation to create twelve new plays for high school students to explore mental health and wellness, supported by curriculum for use in the theatre classroom.
Join this session to hear readings of three “Mind Matters” plays, performed by high school theatre students. Paired with a panel discussion from educators, students, and artists involved in this exciting and relevant program, we’ll explore how theatre can be used to explore mental health and wellness with youth.
Reserve your spot for the event here.
Inclusive Knights Concert Series Featuring the UCF Concert Band: Terrific Beasts and Mythical Creatures
Friday, Apr 14, 2023, 11:00 a.m. at Walt Disney Theatre
The UCF Concert Band provides an entertaining musical journey for people of all abilities and needs, introducing different creatures and animals, while music education students serve as guides to the experience.
This young person’s concert provides a safe and welcoming environment for people who may not typically be able to attend live concerts. Support will be offered for families and members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities, people on the autism spectrum and with intellectual disabilities, and the Central Florida community at large. The musicians and staff expect that people may need to get up, move about or leave during the performance. Balloons, visual representations and opportunities to move will be provided to support the enjoyment of music. Patrons are encouraged to bring hearing protection, fidget toys, manipulatives, cushions and support objects to the concert. This free program is open to any and all members of the community to experience and enjoy.
Reserve your spot for the event here.
WONDERLAND: A Scavenger Hunt Adventure
Saturday, Apr 15, 2023, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at lobbies and public spaces throughout the center
The Mad Hatter is up to his antics again, and this time he’s leading Alice through another wild adventure in Wonderland. Participants will journey through a digital scavenger hunt, using creative drama activities, to unlock the Mad Hatter’s box of tea party supplies. This activity is suitable for children ages 5 and up and their grown-ups.
This event is a demonstration of the Jeanette M. Gould Traveling Theater, which brings joy through theatre to young people in pediatric hospitals. The JMG Traveling Theater is a partnership between Theatre UCF and the UCF College of Nursing, made possible through the generosity of the Gould Family.
Reserve your spot for the event here.
Play! A WUCF Salute to Fred Rogers
Saturday, Apr 15, 2023, 9:00 a.m.-12 p.m. at Seneff Arts Plaza
The front yard at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts will be filled with yard games including the all-new Donkey Hodie: A Hee-Hawesome Adventure. The playscape is an unstructured, free experience and encourages families to engage with each other, because just like Fred Rogers said, “play is serious learning.”
Reserve your spot for the event here.
PBS Kids! A Conversation with Sonia Manzano
Saturday, Apr 15, 2023, 1:00 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
Join us for a panel discussion on early childhood education featuring Sonia Manzano, author and Sesame Street actress, who will discuss the importance of family involvement in childhood.
Join WUCF for a behind-the-scenes discussion about your favorite PBS KIDS programs like Alma’s Way and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. Engage with special guests from PBS KIDS as they share insights into the making of children’s media. And we want to hear from you and your young learners! Share your perspective with national producers and leave with exciting ways to utilize PBS KIDS with your family.
Reserve your spot for the event here.
Free Visual Arts Events
Architecture Showcase and Awards
Wednesday, April 5, 5:30 p.m. at Devos Family Room
Are you or a loved one interested in architecture?
This event features a tour of Steinmetz Hall, a presentation from nationally known architect Brooks + Scarpa, a showcase of architectural work from UCF, UF and Valencia students, awarding of student scholarships, a gallery of student and local architects’ fine artwork and community design proposals on display for the Milk District, one of Orlando’s Main Streets programs.
This program is presented in partnership with the University of Florida, Valencia College and the Orlando Foundation for Architecture (OFA).
Reserve your spot for the free event here.
Creative Clash
Saturday, Apr 8, 2023, 5:00 p.m. at Seneff Plaza
Witness a thrilling competition where students and alumni from the UCF School of Visual Arts and Design put their skills to the test. During the event, they will be tasked with creating artwork in front of a live audience within a limited time frame. Be a part of the excitement and witness their creative process unfold before your eyes.
The theme for the artwork will be revealed seconds before the competition begins. After the artists have completed their masterpieces, you can join in and help select the winning design. The finished artwork will be on display throughout the center for the duration of the festival.
Reserve your spot for the free event here.
Graphic Design and Experimental Animation Showcase
Saturday, Apr 8, 2023, 6:30 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
Spend the evening networking and leave creatively inspired by the next wave of Orlando’s ever-growing design community as they showcase their creative works in the areas of graphic design and experimental animation. End the night with a special presentation from a distinguished guest speaking about their creative process and career path.
Reserve your spot for the free event here.
REALity of ARTificial Intelligence
Monday, Apr 10, 2023, 6:00 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
We are experiencing a revolution in the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and art. Are you ready to be part of the conversation?
Join us as we delve into the fascinating connection between these two fields and examine how they challenge our values around creativity and content. With discussions led by experts in ethics, computer science, and visual art, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of this rapidly evolving technology and how it impacts the creative process.
Before and after the talks, you’ll have the chance to witness demonstrations of visual art and written words created by AI. UCF student poster presentations will showcase cutting-edge work in this field.
This event is hosted by the UCF Center for Ethics in collaboration with the Center for Computer Vision and the School of Visual Arts and Design.
Reserve your spot for the free event here.
Character Animation/Visual Effects Premieres
Saturday, Apr 15, 2023, 5:00 p.m. at Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
Enjoy a series of award-winning animated short films from students in the graduate and undergraduate programs in the School of Visual Arts and Design.
Presented by the School of Visual Arts & Design (SVAD), visitors will view student-created animated films from the past three years of the Emerging Media BFA Character Animation track and the Emerging Media MFA in Animation and Visual Effects track. This two-part event also offers a Q&A with the animators.
Six short films that have already garnered hundreds of acceptances and awards in film festivals around the world will be screened first. These were created by students who earned a highly competitive BFA degree in Emerging Media: Character Animation.
These will be followed by screenings of the thesis works from students who have earned an Animation and Visual Effects MFA.
Free Humanities and Storytelling Events
Workshop: With More Than Words – Exploring Material Rhetorics and Social Change
Saturday, April 8, 1:00 p.m. at UnionWest Creative Village
Curious about what quilting, activists’ speeches, writing, and truth have in common?
On Saturday, April 8, a team of writing and rhetoric scholars will host a series of free and engaging community workshop sessions that will explore the intersections of storytelling, art and activism. Come to one session or stay for all four!
Reserve your spot for the free event here.
Film: The Biggest Dream
Friday, Apr 14, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
Experience the legacy of the Arecibo Observatory from the small island of Puerto Rico, past near-Earth asteroids, and to the deepest regions of space.
The Arecibo Observatory operated one of the world’s most powerful radio telescopes until its collapse in 2020. Now, experience the legacy of the iconic instrument on a 57-year journey that takes you from the small island of Puerto Rico, past near-Earth asteroids, and to the deepest regions of space. Directed by Andrew Hernandez Sepulveda. Watch the trailer at https://youtu.be/TEovDt6eci4
Reserve your spot for the free event here.
Writers Go Wild!
Friday, Apr 14, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
Do you love words, and the creative things writers can do with them? Then this event is for the books.
Writers Go Wild! showcases the work and talent of the Spring 2023 graduating students of UCF’s creative writing MFA graduate program.
This reading will feature works by Steven Archer, Brandon Bradley, Madison Brown, Kayla Cayasso, Wendy Dye, Alex Gurtis, Tammy Komoff, Ian Lindsay and Veronica Silva. Arrive early to enjoy a showcase of other projects from the English department, including:
- The Florida Review, UCF’s international literary journal
- The Cypress Dome, UCF’s undergraduate student literary journal
- Writers in the Sun, UCF’s visiting writers’ series
- Literary Arts Partnership at UCF
- Graduate Writers Association, the student organization that runs PARCELS, a monthly community-based student, faculty and alumni creative writing reading series.
Reserve your spot for the free event here.
Where Bright Thoughts Like Rivers Flow
Wednesday, Apr 5, 2023, 6:00 p.m. Online
This virtual presentation by Emily Legg will illustrate the participatory nature of Indigenous storytelling and the ways this serves as a lived and embodied act that builds and sustains a community of knowledge-makers across time and place.
Emily Legg is a Cherokee Nation citizen and an assistant professor of intercultural rhetoric at Miami University in Ohio. Her work centers on Indigenous methodologies of storytelling as a decolonial and materialist research practice in writing and rhetoric, and she brings these methodologies to her historiographic recovery work. Legg develops Indigenous storytelling methodologies and applies Cherokee cultural teachings to archival research on topics such as the Cherokee National Seminaries during the nineteenth century, in order to counter and resist narratives of assimilation.
Reserve your spot for the event here.
Book Discussion: When the World Turned Upside Down
Thursday, Apr 6, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
Over the past five years, the world has witnessed several “unimaginables” about which the author, Luis Martínez-Fernández, felt compelled to write.
UCF Pegasus Professor and nationally syndicated columnist Luis Martínez-Fernández talks about the period of momentous — some unimaginable — developments in the United States and across the world written about in his latest book, When the World Turned Upside Down: Politics, Culture, and the Unimaginable Events of 2019- 2022. The collection of 65 essays and opinion columns stands at the intersection between opinion journalism and history, its individual components offering a dialogue between past and present.
The talk will be accompanied by a visual presentation that includes a collection of editorial posters related to the book’s topics. A selection of those posters will be on display and Martínez-Fernández will sign copies of his book.
Reserve your spot for the event here.
First Look and Discussion of War Unfolding
Friday, Apr 7, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
“War correspondence is ‘America’s great undiscovered literature.’” – Andrew Carroll
Experience an exclusive “first look” at War Unfolding, a documentary currently in production. The film follows historian Andrew Carroll, who takes us on a journey around the world to find and preserve letters written during wartime. This personal and often emotional journey into war correspondence uncovers stories of profound loss and suffering, but also of our shared humanity.
Since 1998, the New York Times bestselling author Andrew Carroll has traveled to all 50 states and more than 40 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and (recently) Ukraine to seek out letters and emails by service members, their loved ones, and civilians caught “in the crossfire” of conflicts dating back to the American Revolution and up to the present day.
The documentary is directed by the award-winning filmmaker and professor John Benitz, who has also directed a play written by Carroll, “If All the Sky Were Paper,” based on his travels and what he has found.
Following the “first look” of scenes from the documentary, Carroll and Benitz will participate in a mediated discussion with the audience. There will also be live readings of selected letters by student actors from Theatre UCF.
Watch the preview: https://vimeo.com/636671275/b154167ed9
Reserve your spot for the event here.
Free WUCF Events
UCF Celebrates the Arts is hosting several events in partnership with WUCF, a listener-supported radio station of UCF, as part of their tenth anniversary celebration.
Behind the Scenes with PBS Masterpiece
Saturday, Apr 15, 2023, 1:00 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
Join us for a panel discussion on early childhood education featuring Sonia Manzano, author and Sesame Street actress, who will discuss the importance of family involvement in childhood.
Join WUCF for a behind-the-scenes discussion about your favorite PBS KIDS programs like Alma’s Way and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. Engage with special guests from PBS KIDS as they share insights into the making of children’s media. And we want to hear from you and your young learners! Share your perspective with national producers and leave with exciting ways to utilize PBS KIDS with your family.
Reserve your spot for the event here.
A Conversation with Judy Woodruff
Saturday, Apr 15, 2023, 2:30 p.m. at DeVos Family Room
Veteran broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff joins WUCF to share her successful career in broadcasting and how the journalism field has changed over the past few decades.
Drawing from major national and international stories, Woodruff will provide an inside perspective around current events and issues as well as provide an insightful take on the politics at play in today’s world.
Reserve your spot for the event here.
Free Ongoing Exhibitions
As always at UCF Celebrates the Arts, the lobbies will be filled with visual art exhibitions. This year, they include 3D sculptures inspired by the Dancing Houses of Amsterdam, a showcase of fashion from the late Harriett Lake, rain barrels painted by K-12 students for OUC – The Reliable One, architecture models, exhibits from UCF’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, work generated by incarcerated individuals through the Florida Prison Education Project, intricate narrative sculptures, emerging media designs and more.
Throughout the week, guests can interact with Dr. Hologram, a hologram patient simulation tool initiated by the College of Health Professions and Sciences through its Innovation Center. The researchers are collaborating with the arts and humanities to showcase how this technology might have an impact on the arts.