Nationally known folk singer and songwriter Si Kahn will give a concert March 24, 2012, at IUP as part of the 35th annual Appalachian Studies Association national conference, March 23–25, on the IUP campus.
The concert, open to the public, is at 8:00 p.m. in the IUP Performing Arts Center's Fisher Auditorium.
Concert tickets, $15 for adults and $8 for students, will be available starting February 20 in the Hadley Union Building or by calling 724-357-1313. They will also be sold immediately before the concert at the box office next to Fisher Auditorium.
Kahn, originally from State College, has worked for more than 45 years as a musician and civil rights, labor, and community organizer.
He has released 16 albums, including a collection of traditional labor, civil rights, and women's songs recorded with folk musician Pete Seeger and blues artist Jane Sapp. The Folk Alliance honored Kahn as 2010's top folk artist based on worldwide airplay statistics.
In 1980, Kahn founded Grassroots Leadership, a Southern-based national organization that works to end the privatization of prisons, jails, and detention centers. He has served as its executive director for 30 years. Kahn is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, a national organization that aims to influence public debate and catalyze change.
In addition to the pubic concert, Kahn will deliver the keynote address at the Appalachian Studies Association conference, focusing on the history of community and labor organizing in Appalachia.
This is the first time the association's national conference will be held north of the Mason-Dixon Line. IUP faculty members Jim Dougherty, Sociology Department, and Jim Cahalan, English Department, are coordinating the conference. Dougherty is the director of IUP's Center for Northern Appalachian Studies.
Conference presentations will cover topics including Marcellus shale, the Appalachian literature of Pennsylvania, the impact of the Civil War along the Mason-Dixon Line, and the food of the region.
Registration for the conference is required, though Kahn's concert is open to the general public. Early registration for the conference is $125 for adults and $75 for students, which includes all conference activities and a one-year membership to the Appalachian Studies Association. After March 2, registration will be $150 for adults and $100 for students.
Concert tickets, $15 for adults and $8 for students, are available in the Hadley Union Building, by calling 724-357-1313, or at iuptickets.com.
—Emily Weber, student writer