Year of Design celebration central to UW-Stout's spring 2026

Year of Design celebration central to UW-Stout's spring 2026 event schedule

Community invited to exhibitions, civic and literary conversations, film screenings and performances

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 11, 2026

Menomonie, Wis. – As University of Wisconsin-Stout steps into spring semester and continues its Year of Design, community members are invited to myriad civic talks, film screenings and literary conversations, art and design exhibitions, and performing arts events for everyone on campus and throughout the community. Events are open to the public; some events require tickets.

UW-Stout’s Year of Design celebrates the innovation, leadership and impact central to Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University. Upcoming signature events include:

• Saturday, April 11, 7 p.m.: Fashion Without Fabric, the Midwest’s premier unconventional fashion runway shows.
• Saturday, May 2, 4 p.m.: WEAR Fashion Show, showcasing innovative capstone collections from fashion design and development seniors.
• Tuesday, May 5: Research Day, celebrating the research and creative work of students, faculty, and staff from all fields.
• Thursday, May 7, 6 p.m.: Stout Game Expo (SGX), western Wisconsin’s largest game developer exhibition.
• Friday, May 8, 6 p.m.: SOAD Senior Show, graduating seniors take over Micheels Hall and the Applied Arts building.
• Saturday, May 9, and Sunday, May 10: 4th Annual Unspooled Film & Animation Festival, dedicated to showcasing the very best in independent filmmaking.
• Wednesday, June 24, to Sunday, June 28: Murals in Menomonie, featuring the Walldogs, is a collaborative group of community organizations bringing in some of the world’s best mural artists.

Art & Design Exhibitions

Furlong Gallery opens its spring 2026 schedule with the School of Art and Design Faculty Exhibit, on view through Saturday, March 6. This exhibit brings together a wide range of interdisciplinary work by more than 25 SOAD faculty artists and designers.

Friday, March 13, to Thursday, April 23

• North Gallery: SOAD Studio BFA PAC invited exhibition
• South Gallery: Simon Ungless, founder and designer of When Simon met Ralph, and former textile designer at Alexander McQueen

Monday, May 4, through September

• North Gallery: End of the Year Juried Exhibition
• South Gallery: Bud and Betty Student Artist in Residence Exhibition, featuring SAIR recipients Ainsely Violet and Eli Koltanowski

​Gallery 209​ rotates exhibits on a weekly basis. Located in the Applied Arts building on the second floor, exhibits are reserved for Senior Thesis Exhibitions, as well as master’s in design students, design and fine art classes and student organizations. An Advanced Printmaking exhibition will be held in Gallery 209, April. 10-12, Destination Weekend.

​The Library Art Lab​, on the first floor of the Robert S. Swanson Library & Learning Center, showcases student artists, faculty and campus collaborations. Exhibitions include applied research, capstones, clubs and classwork. There are two exhibitions each semester. 

Civic dialogue

UW-Stout’s Center for Applied Ethics will host guest speaker J.P. Messina, professor of philosophy at Purdue University. Messina will present on “Workplace Censorship” from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11, in the Memorial Student Center Ballroom A. He will discuss the legal environment that protects employers’ rights to fire employees, even while exercising freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment. And if employer censorship becomes widespread, how discourse can suffer as people withhold their views from the public sphere.

The center also hosts Philosophers’ Cafés, informal, friendly conversations on contemporary issues. Meetings are open to all and are led by UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire faculty. Upcoming conversations will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays, at Brewery Nønic in Menomonie:

• Feb. 11: What Responsibility Does Society Have Toward Children?
• March 11: Perceptions of Law and Its Discontents
• April 8: Can Wartime Dehumanization Be Avoided?

The Center for Applied Ethics, Office of Student Opportunity & Excellence, and the Freedom of Expression Committee are hosting a series of events, “Enhancing Campus Culture: Free Expression and Civil Discourse,” funded by the Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue and the Menard Center.

Forty to 60 students will participate in four discussion dinners over the course of the year. Each dinner will center around a controversial moral or political issue, with tables facilitated by faculty. 

The non-partisan, non-ideological Menard Center is dedicated to the study and discussion of civil liberties and related institutions and innovations through scholarly inquiry, educational activities and community outreach. 

Film screening and literary discussions

Continuing with Reading Across Campus’ focus on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” the Literature Committee will host a film screening and discussion from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 18, in Harvey Hall Theatre. A short discussion led by professors Joan Navarre and Kristin Risley will follow the film.

Featured author Dasha Kelly Hamilton, a former Wisconsin Poet Laureate, will present on her most recent novel, “A Line Meant,” from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 20, in Harvey Hall Theatre. Hamilton has worked with incarcerated populations, helping groups write and publish poetry. Her talk is co-sponsored by the College of Arts & Human Sciences and will connect to the theme of “Helping Humanity Flourish.”

University Theatre

University Theatre will present “Something Rotten,” directed by Audric Buhr, at Harvey Hall Theatre. Set in the 1590s, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as “The Bard.” When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theater involves singing, dancing, and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s very first musical. But amidst the scandalous excitement of opening night, the Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self, and all that jazz.

Performance dates and times are:

• Friday, April 10, 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, April 12, 2 p.m.
• Thursday, April, 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, April 18, 7:30 p.m.

“Something Rotten” has received several Best Musical nominations and was hailed by Time Out New York as “the funniest musical comedy in at least 400 years.”

Tickets will be available at uwstout.universitytickets.com.

Musical performances

• Stout Choirs, directed by Jean Enyeart and Jonathan Campbell, while Jerry Hui is on sabbatical: Saturday, April 25, 7 p.m., at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 910 9th Street E., Menomonie. The spring choral program, “Questions,” will be a musical exploration of “why?” As graduates move on to build a better world, they will be faced with many uncertainties. Questions come in many forms: rhetorical, spiritual and intellectual. Fear, awe and wonder lead to different kinds of questions.
• The Symphonic Band, directed by Erika Svanoe: Sunday, April 26, 2 p.m., in the Memorial Student Center Great Hall. “Elements of Nature” will feature music about our national parks, the wilderness and the great outdoors, including “Diamond Tide” by Viet Cuong, “Wilderness” by Cait Nishimura, and a music and video presentation of “National Park Suite” by Ryan Fraley. The concert will also feature a new piece by Svanoe titled “Winds Across the Water.”
• Blue Devil Jazz Orchestra, directed by James Anderson: Saturday, May 2, 7 p.m., at Harvey Hall Theatre. Come hear, groove and tap your toes to jazz classics, such as Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing!,” Charles Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus,” Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade,” as well as some new favorites, too.

Tickets will be available at uwstout.universitytickets.com.

UW-Stout, a member of the Universities of Wisconsin, is Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, with a focus on applied learning, collaboration with business and industry, and career outcomes. Learn more via the FOCUS2030 strategic plan.