Humanities Nebraska

Salt Creek Song Festival 2026
2026-05-21 12:00 - 13:00, 2026-05-21 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-05-21 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-05-22 12:00 - 13:00, 2026-05-22 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-05-22 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-05-23 12:00 - 13:00, 2026-05-23 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) and 1 more date | Downtown Ashland NE, Ashland, NE, 68003
Salt Creek Song Festival is a weeklong celebration of art and song in the heart of Downtown Ashland, NE. The festival begins with a Sunday afternoon event followed by coffee chats, open rehearsals, performances, and after hours events on Tuesday through Saturday.
All Festival Week events are free and open the public; however, space is limited, and RSVPs are strongly encouraged. Visit the Salt Creek Song Festival website for more information and to register.
Sunday, May 17

4-5 p.m. | My Ántonia | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
Salt Creek Song Festival opens its fifth festival week with the world premiere of My Ántonia, a new work by Philip Daniel inspired by Willa Cather’s beloved novel.

Tuesday, May 19
12-1 p.m. | coffee chat | Fariner Bakery, 120 N 14th St
A relaxed, midday conversation with Salt Creek Song Festival artists. These informal chats offer a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, upcoming performances, and the stories that inspire the music.
2-3 p.m. | open rehearsal – American Sonnets | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
7-8 p.m. | performance – American Sonnets | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
Two contemporary works explore identity, resilience, and the complexity of the American experience through bold, expressive music. The program includes Ice and Fire by Wendell Logan, performed by soprano Jen Townsley, baritone Brandon Bell, and pianist Zachary Peterson. This work is paired with American Sonnets by Carlos Simon, featuring Bell and Peterson, setting texts that reflect on history, race, and humanity in America.
8-9 p.m. | after hours | Willow Point Gallery, 1431 Silver Street
Wednesday, May 20
12-1 p.m. | coffee chat | Fariner Bakery, 120 N 14th St
A relaxed, midday conversation with Salt Creek Song Festival artists. These informal chats offer a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, upcoming performances, and the stories that inspire the music.
2-3 p.m. | open rehearsal – Empty Chairs | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
7-8 p.m. | performance – Empty Chairs | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
Empty Chairs offers a deeply moving and reflective evening of song centered on remembrance, loss, and the enduring power of storytelling through music. The program features Songs for Murdered Sisters by Jake Heggie, performed by baritone Jared Hiscock and pianist Zachary Peterson. This powerful work honors the lives of women lost to violence, giving voice to stories that are at once personal, urgent, and profoundly human. Due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter, adults may wish to learn more about the song cycle before choosing to bring young people.
Thursday, May 21
12-1 p.m. | coffee chat | Fariner Bakery, 120 N 14th St
A relaxed, midday conversation with Salt Creek Song Festival artists. These informal chats offer a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, upcoming performances, and the stories that inspire the music.
2-3 p.m. | open rehearsal – Borrowed Perspectives | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
7-8 p.m. | performance – Borrowed Perspectives | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
Borrowed Perspectives invites audiences into an intimate exploration of how we see one another and ourselves. Featuring Watching Glass by Douglas Knehans and Moments in Sonder by B.E. Boykin, this program weaves together themes of identity, empathy, and inner life. Performed by mezzo-soprano Noami Brigell and pianist Eva Nikolaidou, the evening offers a nuanced and deeply human musical experience.
8-9 p.m. | after hours | Willow Point Gallery, 1431 Silver Street
Friday, May 22
12-1 p.m. | coffee chat | Fariner Bakery, 120 N 14th St
A relaxed, midday conversation with Salt Creek Song Festival artists. These informal chats offer a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, upcoming performances, and the stories that inspire the music.
2-3 p.m. | open rehearsal – Genius Child | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
7-8 p.m. | performance – Genius Child | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
Featuring the song cycle Genius Child by Ricky Ian Gordon, set to poetry by Langston Hughes, the program captures moments of observation, imagination, and resilience one might witness from a city stoop, watching the world go by.
Saturday, May 23
12-1 p.m. | coffee chat | Fariner Bakery, 120 N 14th St
A relaxed, midday conversation with Salt Creek Song Festival artists. These informal chats offer a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, upcoming performances, and the stories that inspire the music.
2-3 p.m. | open rehearsal – Fields of Wonder | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
7-8 p.m. | performance – Fields of Wonder | St. Stephen’s Episcopal, 1501 Adams Street
Featuring Two Landscapes by Srul Irving Glick and Fields of Wonder by Robert Owens, this final concert of the week explores the connection between place, memory, and imagination through lyrical and expressive song. Performed by tenor Sam Grosby and pianist Stacie Hanline, the evening offers a reflective and uplifting conclusion to the festival.

Tallgrass Prairie Fiddle Festival 2026
2026-05-23 10:00 - 16:00 | Homestead National Historic Park, 8523 West State Highway 4, Beatrice, NE, 68310, United States
Music played a pivotal role in connecting homesteaders to each other and the homes they left. By experiencing fiddle traditions, guests have a unique opportunity to connect to this important part of the homestead story. There will be fiddle competitions for juniors and seniors, a picking competition, and an acoustic band competition featuring stringed instruments. There’s also a free workshop. Fiddle music performances include statements about the origins of the pieces.
Festival Schedule
10 a.m. workshop led by Terry Keefe
11 a.m. jam session
noon competition begins
For more information, visit the festival website.

How We Celebrate
2026-05-23 10:00 - 2026-09-26 16:00 | Gage County Museum, North 2nd Street, Beatrice, NE, 68310, United States
The Gage County Museum will join the nation in commemorating 250 years of American independence with a special summer exhibition. This exhibit will highlight how our communities have celebrated patriotism, parades, and milestones across generations — connecting local traditions to the broader story of America.
Museum hours are Wednesday–Saturday, 10am–4pm, closed major holidays. Admission is free, but donations are welcomed.
The exhibition will be featured during two community events:
June 13, 2026 – America 250 Celebration
June 17-20, 2026- Homestead Days

Vietnam: Why We Went There and Why We Couldn’t Leave
2026-05-23 14:00 - 15:00 | Nuckolls County Museum, 612 East 6th Street, Superior, NE, 68978, United States
Speaker: David Wells
Sponsored by the Nuckolls County Historical Society

GPTC New Play Festival 2026
2026-05-24 09:30 - 20:30 | Metropolitan Community College, Fort Omaha Campus, Swanson Conference Center, 5300 North 30th Street, Omaha, NE, 68111, United States
May 24-30, 2026
The New Play Festival was founded in 2006 by Metropolitan Community College, and continues, now that the GPTC is its own nonprofit, as a vibrant community partnership between the two organizations. The Festival takes place each spring at the Swanson Conference Center on MCC’s historic Fort Omaha Campus.
Each year, the Festival helps to develop a group of new plays that are selected from a pool of around 1000 submissions. During the Festival, local and national playwrights, actors, directors, dramaturgs, designers and Omaha community members, share a week of stories, workshops, readings, meals, performances and celebrations. All public festival events are free to attend. Click here for more information, including links to the schedule and featured playwrights, artists, dramaturgs, and directors.

GPTC New Play Festival 2026
2026-05-25 09:30 - 18:45, 2026-05-26 10:00 - 20:30, 2026-05-27 10:30 - 20:30, 2026-05-28 10:00 - 17:30, 2026-05-29 10:00 - 20:30, 2026-05-30 09:30 - 21:30 | Metropolitan Community College, Fort Omaha Campus, Swanson Conference Center, 5300 North 30th Street, Omaha, NE, 68111, United States
The New Play Festival was founded in 2006 by Metropolitan Community College, and continues, now that the GPTC is its own nonprofit, as a vibrant community partnership between the two organizations. The Festival takes place each spring at the Swanson Conference Center on MCC’s historic Fort Omaha Campus.
Each year, the Festival helps to develop a group of new plays that are selected from a pool of around 1000 submissions. During the Festival, local and national playwrights, actors, directors, dramaturgs, designers and Omaha community members, share a week of stories, workshops, readings, meals, performances and celebrations. All public festival events are free to attend. Click here for more information, including links to the schedule and featured playwrights, artists, dramaturgs, and directors.

Camp Culture 2026 (registered students only)
2026-05-26 08:00 - 12:00, 2026-05-27 08:00 - 12:00, 2026-05-28 08:00 - 12:00, 2026-05-29 08:00 - 12:00 | Asian Community & Cultural Center of Lincoln, 144 N 44th St, Ste A, Lincoln, NE, 68503, United States
Asian Center staff and partners introduce campers to a wide variety of cultures represented in Nebraska through fun and engaging activities, music, crafts, and food. Campers spend the week diving into Latino, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, European, and Native American cultures to explore traditions, games, foods, and so much more!
REGISTRATION: Camper registration is $70 per camper, and $20 per camper for families on free or reduced lunch at school.
Questions? Contact Joy (joy@lincolnasiancenter.org).

Nebraska Poetry Society Workshop: Allison Adele Hedge Coke
2026-05-30 10:00 - 11:30 | Virtual Program
The Nebraska Poetry Society is offering monthly Saturday morning online poetry workshops. Registration is required, and registration information may be found on the Nebraska Poetry Society webpage. Free with annual membership; nominal fee for non-members. Students, minors and others for whom the registration fee is prohibitive may request a free membership.
Musicality and the Long Poem
Let sound guide your pen. In this workshop, explore rhythm, tone, and improvisation to create long-form poems that sing—expanding your sense of structure, continuity, and flow.
ALLISON ADELE HEDGE COKE is a Distinguished Professor University of California Riverside (2016–) and teaches for the Department of Creative Writing and the School of Medicine, where she directs the DE In Medical Health and Humanities. Hedge Coke was recently awarded the Thomas Wolfe Prize (& Lecture), UNC/Thomas Wolfe Society, the AWP George Garrett Award and was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. She served as the 2022 Mellon Dean’s Professor at UCR and the 2020 Dan & Maggie Inouye Chair in Democratic Ideals at the University of Hawai’i Mānoa, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Montenegro (2019). She formerly held the Paul & Clarice Reynolds Chair (University of Nebraska 2007-2012) and taught for the University of Nebraska MFA Program from 2007-2016, was a Visiting Distinguished Writer (University of Hawai’i Mānoa, 2014-15), an NEH Visiting Distinguished Chair (Hartwick College 2004), and was a Visiting Artist-Writer (University of Central Oklahoma 2012-2014).

History on Foot: Germans from Russia
2026-05-31 13:00 - 15:00 | T’Dance, 1400 W. A St., Hastings, 68901, United States
Join us as we take a walking tour of the western settlement of Germans From Russia. We’ll visit several homes, churches, and grocery stores as we take a closer look at the families that came to Hastings in the 1880s and 1890s. Sponsored by Hastings Museum.
Meet at T’Dance (1400 W. A St.)
May 31, 1-3 pm
June 16, 9-11 am

Free will donation appreciated.

2026 Loper Launch Summer Enrichment Camps (registered students only)
2026-06-01 07:30 - 13:00, 2026-06-02 07:30 - 13:00 | Kearney NE
The University of Nebraska at Kearney is excited to bring curriculum-based summer camps to our community. We invite students entering grades 1-8 to join us on UNK’s campus for enrichment camps that are not only fun and engaging, but also educational.
Loper Launch Campers (and their adults) can choose between our academies and our one-week themed workshops. Countdown Hour is also available for those needing an early drop-off option.

2026 Bright Lights summer camp (registered students only)
2026-06-01 09:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-02 09:00 - 16:00 | Lincoln – multiple locations, Lincoln, United States
Bright Lights provides unique, motivating, hands-on summer learning camps for K-8th grade students, including in humanities subjects like literature and writing, history, and world cultures and languages.
The camp application deadline is at least one week before each week’s camps begin (subject to availability). For details about camps, visit the Bright Lights camps list.

A Bad Man in the Good Life: Jesse James in Nebraska
2026-06-01 19:00 - 20:00 | Valley Fire Department, 401 E Meigs, Valley, NE, 68064, United States
Speaker: Jeff Barnes
Sponsored by the Valley Historical Society
