On Screen/In Person Film Series: And So I Stayed – FREE

An award-winning documentary about survivors of domestic violence who are unjustly incarcerated for killing their abusers in self-defense. These women paid a steep price with long prison sentences, lost time with loved ones, and painful memories.

Note: This film contains mature themes and depictions of violence. Viewer discretion is advised.

6:15 PM | Pre-show Community Panel with Whitney Barbusca, MSW, LSW Social Worker, Penn Medicine (LGH); Mandy Billman, Director of Sexual Assault Prevention & Counseling Center, YWCA; Fai Hammond, Outreach Coordinator, Domestic Violence Services; and Dr. Heather Givin, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Millersville University.
7:00 PM | Film screening
Post-show | Q&A with survivor-advocate Kim Dadou Brown

In the Lyet Lobby, “Silent Witness” will be on display. “Silent Witness” is a visual memorial to victims of Family and Intimate Partner Violence. The Silent Witnesses are red, life-size silhouettes. Each one bears a shield on which is written the story of a woman, child, or man who was killed by an abusive partner. The silhouettes also memorialize bystanders who were killed in attacks on an intimate partner. The Silent Witness Display is a collaboration between Domestic Violence Services and the Victim Witness Services – Office of the District Attorney and Penn Medicine.

On Screen/In Person Film Series: Code of the Freaks – FREE

A radical reframing of the use of disabled characters in film, gathering hundreds of clips from over a century of Hollywood favorites – viewed with a fresh perspective by on-the-ground disability activists, artists, and scholars. Taking its title from Tod Browning’s 1932 classic, Code of the Freaks counters formulaic “inspiration porn” with a powerful corrective, daring to imagine a cinematic landscape that centers the voices of disabled people.

Panel Discussion @ 6:15 PM | Film Screening @ 7:00 PM | Post-Show Q&A with Director Salome Chasnoff

ACCESSIBILITY • ASL interpretation is available upon request. Please use this form to request accessibility services at least two weeks prior to the performance.

Presented in partnership with the MU Disability Film Festival & MU Learning Institute.

On Screen/In Person Film Series: Kaddish – FREE

A candid portrait of a father who survived the Holocaust by hiding in a hole in a forest for six months, and a young Jewish activist—his son—who comes to terms with his father’s traumatic history.

Panel Discussion @ 6:15 PM | Film Screening @ 7:00 PM | Post-Show Q&A with Director Steve Brand

In partnership with the MU Holocaust & Genocide Conference.

Covering the Vote: Journalists Examine the 2024 Election

A panel discussion featuring local, state and national reporters sharing their experiences and observations from the 2024 election and what they see going forward.

Colby Itkowitz
National Politics Reporter
The Washington Post

Brett Sholtis
Investigative Reporter, Democracy
LNP | LancasterOnline

Carter Walker
Pennsylvania Reporter
VotebeatUS

Katie Bernard
Reporter
Philadelphia Inquirer

The mission of the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund is to support, protect, and expand local journalism in and for Lancaster County by promoting investigative and public interest journalism and media literacy. These efforts will ensure the people of Lancaster County continue to be informed, engaged, and empowered by independent local journalism. https://lancjournalismfund.org/

Piano Pete & a Poet Meet

The event will feature a unique, collaborative set designed and performed by musical artist Piano Pete, a New York City pianist, and Dana Kinsey, Lancaster City Poet Laureate, actor, and spoken word artist. The performance will feature original poems in communion with songs composed or adapted by Piano Pete. The set will include some narrative as well as a few special guest artists.

On Screen/In Person Film Series: Preschool to Prison – FREE

A compelling examination of the U.S. public education system and its disparate outcomes for children of color and children with special needs. Those affected by the school-to-prison pipeline, fueled by zero-tolerance policies used to justify suspension and arrests, discuss the generational impact of this system.

6:15 PM • Pre-show community panel discussion
Post-show • Q&A with director Dr. Karen Baptiste

Presented in partnership with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Millersville University Department of Criminology, Sociology, & Anthropology.

On Screen/In Person Film Series: Life After – FREE

A gripping personal investigation that exposes the tangled web of moral dilemmas and profit motives surrounding assisted dying. Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport uncovers shocking abuses of power while amplifying the voices of the disability community fighting for justice and dignity in a matter of life and death.

6:15 PM • Pre-show community panel discussion
Post-show • Q&A with director Reid Davenport

Presented in partnership with the MU Disability Film Festival.

Homestead Village’s Thriving & Inspiring Talk – Speaker: Jim Davidson

Adventure Seeker Jim Davidson has been chosen as the speaker for Homestead Village’s second annual 2025 Thriving & Inspiring Talk. He has written two best-selling books about his life-changing experiences mountain climbing and has cheated death more than once. His message of survival, facing your fears, and resilience will have you on the edge of your seat and inspire you to conquer any challenges that come your way.

Ticket Prices:
General Admission: $25.00

Holocaust Conference Keynote Lecture by Dr. Norman Naimark, Stanford University “Never Again? Genocide in the 21st Century”

Dr. Norman Naimark is one of the most well-known international scholars on genocide. He is a professor of East European Studies at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Dr. Naimark is an author of such widely recognized books as Fires of Hatred: A History of Ethnic Cleansing and Stalin’s Genocides.

This event is made possible by the continued generous support of P. Alan and Linda Loss.

We The People First Fridays Presents: Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project – FREE

Four Native American women standing proudly in a field with mountains in the background. .

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project

Friday, November 4, 2022 | 6:30 P.M.

Steinman Hall | Ware Center

FREE

The Jingle Dress Project takes the healing power of the Ojibwe jingle dress across the nation. Through the project’s travels, dance and images of the spiritual places our ancestors once walked, it unites and gives healing hope to the world through art, dance and culture.

ART: Eugene Tapahe Photography

Friday, November 4

Opening Reception | 6-8 P.M.

Lyet Lobby | Ware Center

On display November 4 through 29

ART: The Woodcut Portraits of Dan Miller

Friday, November 4

Opening Reception | 6-8 P.M.

Regitz Gallery | Ware Center

On display November 4 through 29

At age 94, Lancaster County woodcut artist Dan Miller still makes the train commute to Philadelphia for his full-time professorship at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) where he has taught for nearly 60 years.

A well-known artist in the galleries of Philadelphia, Miller is holding his first-ever show in Lancaster at 6 PM on (First) Friday, November 4 at the Ware Center.

Miller discovered the woodcut during visits to Japan in the early 1950s. Later, during his studies as a painting major at PAFA, he gradually drifted toward the medium for its directness of process and expressive strength.

You can learn much more about Miller’s life and process from a film by one of his former students, “The Reward of Art.”

ARTIST STATEMENT

The woodcut conceived in China in the 9th Century as a simple illustration of religious text has, over the centuries, achieved multiple levels of expression. Unlike other art forms in need of patronage approval, the graphic artist has been free to give voice to the personal and the controversial. The woodcut’s independence of spirit has been its power. My own introduction to the woodcut began with visits to Japan in the early 1950s, but no efforts on my part were made until 1955 with my entrance into the Pennsylvania Academy as a painting major. I gradually began drifting toward the woodcut because of its directness of process and its expressive strength. The world of wood, printing ink and paper became a way of life. There seemed no better way to give voice to a needed desire to search for content and meaning.