Sewanee Event Highlights

Oct. 9, 5 p.m.
Carlos Gallery

Dan Reidy’s Recent Work frames large scale oil paintings, sculptures, video and poetry filled with imagery that references stories that become oddly familiar. Visual references ranging from art history to pop culture co-mingle with objects and images from Reidy’s personal history. He is interested in overlapping narratives and how collision points between them speak to a shared humanity with fascination. 

Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m. 
Guerry Auditorium

Join the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Mario Alejandro Torres, for a special concert. Commemorating 500 years since the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and 150 years since the passing of Georges Bizet, the concert will trace a musical journey from sacred Renaissance devotion to Romantic exuberance.

Oct. 8 - 11, at 7:30 p.m. 
Oct. 12, at 2 p.m.
Studio Theatre, Tennessee Williams Center

The Oresteia by Ellen McLaughlin, and directed by Assistant Professor Sarah Lacy Hamilton, is based on three plays by Aeschylus—Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. They are among the oldest plays in the Western canon and are the only surviving trilogy from the ancient Greek theatre. Register for free tickets here.

Aug. 27 - Oct. 15 
The University Art Gallery

In all of her installations, McKelvey explores her relationship with the land and the environment. Indigo Hallow is not a portrait of Shakerag Hollow, but an intuitive and poetic response to that place. Visitors are invited to share in McKelvey’s response, and also to consider the meanings and implications of materials, of process, and of the act of representation itself. 

Sept. 1, 2025 - Jan. 30, 2026.
William R. Laurie University Archives and Special Collections

An Exhibition curated by introduction to Museum Studies Students, Easter 2025

Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. EDT
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Associate Professor of Art and Chair of Art, Art History and Visual Studies Jessica Wohl will be showing“I Dreamed You Were Here”, transforming the Hunter Museums's mansion stairwell with layered textile banners sourced from found garments, linens, and discarded household items. She uses the softness of the material and the intricately stitched text to communicate with the viewer, inviting them to join her in a quiet revolution against exploitation and oppression. Her exhibition will be on view through February 2027.

Oct. 8, 6 p.m. 
Blackman Auditorium

Join us for our International Film Series. Gather to watch this month's feature film, Found. After DNA tests reveal them to be cousins, three girls adopted by different American families travel to China in hopes of meeting their birth parents. Enjoy a popcorn bar while connecting with friends and classmates. These film nights are a chance to share stories, discover traditions, and build community together.

Oct. 8, 5 p.m.
Naylor Auditorium

Join award-winning children's author Christina Soontornvat and Keri Lambert, vice president of the Rutherford County Library Alliance, to discuss how we can all support the right to read and learn how to push back against efforts to ban books in our communities. Soontornvat is an award-winning author, engineer, and STEM educator. Lambert is a founding member and vice president of the Rutherford County Library Alliance (RCLA), which formed in August 2023 in response to Murfreesboro’s “Decency Ordinance,” which caused their library board to begin restricting access to information. In April 2024, RCLA was presented with the Tennessee Library Association’s (TNLA) Intellectual Freedom Award. 

Oct. 4, 9 a.m.
Manigault Park

The 5K Color Run also welcomes walkers, rollers, and the like. Whether you're a seasoned runner or just looking for a fun day out, everyone is welcome, including community members, students, staff, and faculty. The Greek organization, student organization, or athletic team that gets the most people registered will get a special shoutout. Feel free to walk, or just come and enjoy seeing everyone get splashed with purple color! The purpose of this Title IX event is to raise awareness and show support for those affected by domestic violence. Register here

Oct. 2, 4:30 p.m. 
Torian Room in duPont Library

The Babson Center for Global Commerce is pleased to host Alex Harris, C’11, as a Bryan Viewpoints Speaker for the Advent semester. Harris is vice president in the Private Credit – Americas Direct Lending group within Goldman Sachs Asset & Wealth Management, where he focuses on originating transactions in the middle and upper middle market. His work centers on corporate lending to multigenerational family and founder-owned businesses across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.

Oct. 1, 2 p.m. 
17 Lake O'Donnell road

The community is invited to attend an open house and ribbon cutting for the Sewanee Welcome Center. Light refreshments will be served. Currently, the site serves as the trailhead for the Mountain Goat Trail in Sewanee, a new Welcome Center, and headquarters for the rangers of Tennessee’s newest state park. This event is co-hosted by the Sewanee Civic Association, the University of the South, the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance, and the Sewanee Business Alliance. RSVP by Monday, Sept. 22.

Sept. 29, 5:15 - 7 p.m.
Convocation Hall 

Dinner & Dialogue brings together students, seminarians, and colleagues for a meal and structured conversation about what we hold dear. Join us to consider what it means to live into a tradition of honor at Sewanee. Guests are invited to RSVP in pairs, bringing a guest not like themselves. RSVP by Sept. 26.

Sept. 24, 5 p.m.
Guerry Auditorium

Join us as Baggs McKelvey speaks about her UAG installation Indigo Hallow. In all of her installations, McKelvey explores her relationship with the land and the environment. Indigo Hallow is not a portrait of Shakerag Hollow, but an intuitive and poetic response to that place. Reception afterward.

Sept. 21, 4 p.m.
All Saints' Chapel

The University Choir and All Saints' Chapel invite everyone to this reflective service of music, prayer, and scripture. Including music by Richard Ayleward, Herbert Brewer, and Herbert Sumsion sung by the University Choir under the direction of Organist and Choirmaster Dr. Geoffrey Harris Ward and accompanied by Stephanie Yoder, assistant organist. The service will be livestreamed for our alumni and friends unable to attend in person.

Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Convocation Hall

Please join our guests from the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, Executive Director Patrick Weems and Special Projects Coordinator Jessie Jaynes-Diming for a conversation and presentation. The Emmett Till Memory Project is a response to the ongoing and often violent resistance to the commemoration and remembrance of the life and lynching of Emmett Till and the courageous Civil Rights legacies of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. 

Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m. 
St. Luke’s Chapel

The musicians Earl White, Victor Furtado, and Tray Wellington will perform songs in the oldtime, folk, and bluegrass tradition. White, Furtado, and Wellington are all acclaimed bluegrass performers, with Grand Ole Opry appearances and International Bluegrass Music Association awards among them. With White on fiddle and Furtado and Wellington banjo, the group will share songs first recorded by the Warren County trio of Gribble, Lusk, and York back in the 1940s. This concert and discussion—co-sponsored by the Deptartment of Music, Roberson Project, and the Office of Community Building and Connections—gives listeners a chance to learn more about such music and have fun doing it! Admission is free.

Aug. 7 - Sept. 15
TheCaverns.com/SingOff

Auditions now open for the Sing Off, a vocal competition inviting local talent of all ages from across the South Cumberland region until Sept. 15. The concert will take place on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, inside The Caverns’ underground concert hall and is free to the public with advance RSVP required for limited seating for residents of Tennessee’s South Cumberland region. Free tickets will be available to community members to reserve starting Oct. 15 at TheCaverns.com.

Sept. 13, 6 p.m. Tour, 6:30 p.m. Concert
Shapard Tower

Meet inside of All Saints' Chapel at the iron gate at the front and climb Shapard Tower for a tour of the carillon and view the campus from the parapet of Shapard Tower. Stay afterwards or come at 6:30 p.m. to listen to a carillon concert on the Quad as evening comes and the day is done.

Sept. 13, 4 p.m.
Breslin Tower 

Join Raymond Gotko for a tour of the University's clock and change ringing bells with a demonstration.