In the summer of 2022, Leah Mueller, a State College local and former State College Area School District performing arts teacher, purchased the local musical theatre training studio Singing Onstage. While the match was a great fit, the timing wasn’t perfect. Mueller was about to start her last year as a graduate student in Indiana University’s MFA in Acting program. Upon her graduation from the program in May 2023, Mueller will be returning to State College to begin teaching at Singing Onstage full-time.

The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts is pleased to introduce Pamela Snyder Etters as the organization’s new Executive Director.

R. Thomas Berner is co-author of “We Had Ink in Our Blood,” a retrospective on newspapers in Central Pennsylvania, but to be fair, he carries a good bit of Pennsylvania dirt in those veins too. He can trace his Pennsylvania roots back to 1733, and his Happy Valley ties to college days in 1968. After a stint in New Mexico, he says he and his wife moved back, gladly. Here’s why.

“How did I land in State College? Boy, that’s a wild story.”

Jeff Brown is the Morning Drive personality at 99.5 The Bus and broadcasting instructor and general manager of CommRadio at Penn State. He’s been in radio all his life, and radio is what introduced him — unintentionally — to his favorite place to live.

Singers from Penn State, local high schools and a historically Black university will celebrate the influence and inspiration of human-rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 21, 2023 in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Shopping for holiday gifts? Come to the Palmer Museum store! Holiday merchandise is 50% off and increasing to 75% off on Tuesday, December 13! Also, check out the soon-to-close exhibits, Looking at Who We Are: The Palmer at Fifty and The Art of Remembering: A Selection of Gifts, before December 18!

Following a hugely successful touring season in 2022, performing in front of more than 300,000 people in 80+ tour markets, GRAMMY® winning multi-platinum group Casting Crowns has announced plans to extend The Healer Tour to 33 more U.S. cities in the spring of 2023. Presented by Compassion International, the Spring 2023 Healer Tour will visit the Bryce Jordan Center Friday, April 7. The spring leg of the tour features special guests We Are Messengers and Ben Fuller.

Don't let the pride in Penn State sports fool you--Happy Valley also boasts a thriving arts and culture scene, thanks to university-based resources and a local culture that promotes creativity and appreciates and fosters talent in arts. The area is a regular stopping point for major acts, including musicians, comedians and production tours thanks to local venues on campus and in the community.

Come out to Tempest Studios this December and January! There are many events beginning in December, Winter Classes start in January, and we hope to see you in the studio over the holiday season.