On August 21, East Central College will be a part of history! The Great American Eclipse will occur around 1:15 p.m. at the Union campus, but we'll be celebrating throughout the day! Festivities in the Donald Shook Student Center lawn will begin at 11:00 a.m. and will include games, vendors, educational activities and more! Classes will be put on hold from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in order to let students enjoy the historic event. The East Central College Library has created an amazing re...

Auditions will be held August 22-23 at 6:30pm in the Performing Arts Center at East Central College. Please see ecctheatre.com for audition selections and more information.

Enjoy an afternoon of musical selections taken from the pages of the great American songbook performed by soprano Tammy Campbell and pianist Annette Burkhart. Works by Copland, Gershwin, Foster and Sondheim will be featured.

Reception:  September 21, 2017   5:00 p.m. - 7 p.m. Jenn Brown and Sara Weininger, Washington University Graduate Student Show, "In Between" Jenn Brown Statement “There’s a space between an inner discomfort that is good, challenging, and the type that is enfeebling. When you are so uncomfortable within your own headspace, with your own sense of “otherness,” it becomes a constant check of emotions, a consistent questioning of your own stability. It can be very easy to get trapped within ...

Consisting of two jazz and two classical musicians, The 442’s are an acoustic instrumental group exploring the boundaries of jazz, classical, folk, and rock music. Joining them is renowned St. Louis vocalist, Erin Bode, with her bell-like voice. Don’t miss this unique collaboration combining outstanding musicianship, group singing, and inventive improvisation, in a performance of innovative and inspired music.

Hailed for their outstanding musicianship, the Arianna String Quartet has firmly established itself as one of America’s finest chamber ensembles. Garnering national attention, the ASQ is now world-renowned – performing, collaborating, teaching, and recording in this country and abroad. Come see, “how technical excellence, in alliance with imagination and the human heart, can come to create something truly transcendent.” – Fanfare Magazine

October 5 - 7 at 7 p.m. October 8 at 2 p.m. A man has just stood trial for the fatal stabbing of his father. “He doesn’t stand a chance,” mutters the guard as the 12 jurors are taken into the bleak jury room. It looks like an open-and-shut case—until one of the jurors begins opening the others’ eyes to the facts. By: Reginald Rose     Directed by: Chris Swanson Buy tickets now!

Reception: October 19, 5 - 7 p.m. The Theatrics of Storytelling is a powerful aspect of culture and is a means to create another reality that stretches beyond our ordinary lives. Kerra Taylor’s paintings are embellishments of personal experiences with family. By putting them in these normal settings with such unusual circumstances, she creates her own stories, both familiar and fantastic at the same time. It is in these extraordinary situations that we find the stories that are more worth tel...

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes is a film about the prison in which we never see a penitentiary. Instead, the film unfolds as a cinematic journey through a series of landscapes across the USA where prisons do work and affect lives. A presentation about the Missouri Public Defender system will precede the film.

My Vietnam Your Iraq tells the stories of Vietnam veterans and their children who have served in Iraq. Their stories examine the pride, challenges, fears, and the myriad of emotions they have experienced during and after deployment. A guest speaker about veterans and PTSD will precede the film.

The FBBB takes classic New Orleans brass tunes and gives them a twist, in the style of Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rebirth and Bonerama. But don’t be surprised if you also hear some Motown, Southern rock, Memphis soul, Chicago blues and St. Louis R&B in the mix. The band has been voted Best Funk/Soul Band by the Riverfront Times Music Awards for four of the past five years.

The Early Music trio La Petite Brise presents a recital of intimate chamber music for baroque flute, baroque cello and theorbo. The program features music by composers famous for their flute playing including Jacques Martin Hotteterre and Johann Joachim Quantz. In addition, the trio will offer works by two of the eighteenth-century’s greatest rivals—George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini--including Bonocini’s famous sonata for solo cello.

Reception: November 17, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Mid-Missouri Fine Arts Society, an organization of local artists, annually presents their artworks at ECC. Members work in a variety of media, including pastels, graphite, watercolor, oil paint, photography, and ceramics. The Mid-Missouri Fine Arts Society began in 1974 to promote and contribute to the interest in fine arts. Members of this local organization are active artists and art enthusiasts.  

Guest speakers, film screenings, activities throughout the week

The Saint Louis Wind Symphony is the premier wind ensemble in the St. Louis area, dedicated to the quality performance of the finest literature for wind groups of all sizes. Concerts each year draw hundreds of listeners to a variety of venues and include compositions from classic and contemporary wind band composers. No matter what your favorite genre, join us for a musical selection that is sure to please.

By: Will Bonfiglio     Directed by: Grace Austin                                   I Love New York explores the quest for external validation and perfection by juxtaposing source material from Tripadvisor Forums on New York City and historic Ellis Island immigrant diaries. Exploring a variety of motifs such as transportation, food, accommodation, and culture, the result is simultaneously hilarious and deeply revealing. A world premiere event, written by local St Louis playwright and actor Wi...

The Annual MLK Celebration, co-hosted by Neighbors United Undoing Racism and ECC's Civic Engagement Committee, recognizes Martin Luther King Jr.'s continued legacy.  

Join us as ECC's outstanding music faculty perform a recital, sure to please any set of ears!

Reception: February 15, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Investigations of materials, imagery, and content from graduate students in the Art Therapy Graduate program at SIU-Edwardsville.    

I Am Not Your Negro is a documentary based off James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript, which was a personal account of the life and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. A guest speaker will address James Baldwin's legacy preceding the film.

Join Dr. Michael Tsalka as he masterfully interprets keyboard masterpieces from every golden age of music. Dr. Tsalka, an internationally renowned pianist, is critically acclaimed for his versatility at the keyboard, having recorded 20 CD’s for labels such as NAXOS, Paladino, Brilliant Classics, and many more. He is bringing this talent of versatility to the ECC stage for a moving evening of baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary works.

February 15 - 17 at 8 p.m. February 18 at 2 p.m. By: Alan Menken and Howard Ashman     Directed by: Grace Austin Music Direction by: Colin Healy              A Broadway and Hollywood sci-fi smash musical, Little Shop Of Horrors is one of the most popular musicals in the world. When meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names “Audrey II” - after his coworker crush, the fast talking plant promises unending fame and fortune to the down and out...

Area musicians will celebrate Black History Month with a musical showcase of African American spirituals and gospel music.

Reception: March 9, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. From photography to drawing, from digital art to painting, from sculpture to ceramics, ECC Art Faculty inspire students and the community with their view on the world. Visit the gallery to see the world through our art faculty’s eyes.

The Academy Award-winning film Thelma & Louise (1991) follows two women--a waitress and a housewife--on a weekend trip that turns awry. The classic film will be followed by a discussion in honor of Women's History Month.

Come hear St. Louis Symphony Concertmaster David Halen and acclaimed SLSO Cellist Bjorn Ranheim for an evening of pristine chamber music, joined by pianist Jennifer Judd.

Reception: April 13, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Come see the best of this year’s artwork from our area high schools!

2018 Riverside Short Film Festival Sponsored by Downtown New Haven, Inc. Walt Theatre, Downtown New Haven, Mo http://www.rsfvfestival.com/

April 12 - 14 at 8 p.m. April 15 at 2 p.m. By: Colin Healy     Directed by: Grace Austin     Music Direction by: Colin Healy               It’s 1968 and almost-eighteen-year old Jane Horn wants to be on the next train out of Colchester, Illinois — if only it stopped there. Meanwhile, the promise of a highway brought people to town, but when the state reneges on that promise, her brother Jack, and unwitting cohort Neal Gamm, decide that the only solution is to secede. To them, it’s ...

Guest and student poets will read original poetry. Co-hosted by the English Department in celebration of National Poetry Month.

From deep lows to dazzling highs, fiery passion to silly slapstick, come hear Bass Timothy Schmidt, Tenor Christopher Goeke, Contralto Leslie Jones, and Soprano Lori Shaffer perform the best of songs, arias, and musical theatre favorites in this concert highlighting the full range of voice from faculty members at Southeast Missouri State University – it’s the Full Spectrum!

Reception: May 3, 5 -7 p.m. End the school year by visiting this showcase of our ECC art and design students’ work. Chosen from numerous entries, the works in the show were selected because of the quality of the works and the ideas engaged in the work. Come join us to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of our students!

What do you get when you combine a St. Louis jazz legend and a rising jazz recording artist? An enchanting evening of jazz by Ronald Carter and the Bryan Carter Trio. But this is not just any evening of jazz – this is an opportunity to experience a dynamic father/son duo performing the music they love best, as only those who have played with the jazz greats can. Rediscover the rich tradition and heritage St. Louis has fostered, as these musicians share their passion for jazz.

Southeast Missouri State University faculty members Jacqueline Wilson and Gabrielle Baffoni team up with Kelly Austermann and Jennifer Judd of ECC for a performance of woodwind duos and trios.

July 19 - 21 at 8 p.m. July 22 at 2 p.m. BY: Roger Bean    Directed by: John Anglin SH-BOOM! Take another trip to Springfield and meet Denny and the Dreamers, a fledgling doo-wop singing group preparing to enter the Big Whopper Radio contest to realize their dreams of making it to the big time! Trouble comes in the form of Lois, who arrives to put some polish on the boys. Denny falls in love, Wally falls in line, Eugene falls apart, and along comes handsome heartthrob Skip to send t...