Five Free, Fun Things at Duke in January
Triangle artists, concerts, film screenings and more on the events calendar this month
As we hit the ground running with New Year’s resolutions, some 2015 goals could be exploring more of the Durham art scene or attending more Duke campus concerts. Ring in the New Year by taking advantage of all that Duke has to offer through our monthly list of free and fun events in January.Sunday, Jan. 11 – A concert pairing piano and violin
Eric Pritchard, the first violinist within the Ciompi Quartet, a 50-year-old group of Duke professor-musicians, will play with pianist Greg McCallum. The concert begins at 4 p.m. in Baldwin Auditorium, and the musicians will play works by Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss and Bill Robinson. Can’t make the Jan. 11 program? Discover more of Duke Music on Jan. 16, when the department presents a rare music concert, “Music for Two Baroque Violins,” and on Jan. 25, when the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, a group that originated from Greensboro, plays in Baldwin Auditorium. Friday, Jan. 16 – Documentary screenings and Afghanistan exhibit
Scenes of partially rebuilt Jada-e-Maiwand, a neighborhood near the center of Kabul, Afghanistan, are on display in the American Tobacco Campus Power Plant Gallery until Feb. 20. The exhibit photos, taken by documentary filmmaker James Longley, show the effects of Afghanistan’s civil war. In partnership with the Center for Documentary Studies, the Power Plant Gallery is hosting screenings of Longley’s films, “Portrait Of A Boy With Dog,” about a Russian boy who lives in a children’s home in Moscow, and “Gaza Strip,” about the Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation that began in 2000. The film screenings will be held in the American Tobacco Campus’ Full Frame Theater on Jan. 16, beginning at 7 p.m. Free tickets must be reserved in advance.Sunday, Jan. 18 – Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration service
The Rev. Dr. William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP and graduate of Duke Divinity School, will serve as the Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration keynote speaker at Duke Chapel on Jan. 18. The service, which is open to the public, starts at 3 p.m. and will remember, honor and celebrate the work of King. To learn more, visit mlk.duke.edu.Saturday, Jan. 24 – New Nasher exhibit, Area 919Peruse the works of more than 10 Triangle artists in the Nasher Museum of Art’s new exhibit, Area 919, which opens Jan. 24. The exhibit’s opening event will be held 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Many of the featured artists contributed to the Nasher Museum’s first decade of exhibitions, artist talks and events. Duke employees receive free admission to the Nasher and can view Area 919 during regular visiting hours by showing their DukeCard ID.Wednesday, Jan. 28 – A reception remembering John Hope Franklin Duke commemorates what would have been the 100th birthday of John Hope Franklin, a history and legal history professor at Duke and widely known scholar of African-American history, during a reception that’s open to the public. Starting at 6 p.m. in the Von der Heyden Pavilion, civil rights activist Vernon Jordan will share how Franklin changed American history in the 20th century. Photos and documents remembering Franklin are now on display in Perkins Library, next to the Von der Heyden Pavilion.