The following events are open to the public and free unless otherwise noted:

Art

Now – March 1: “Contemporary Art from the Latin World,” a Shain Library exhibit of art work from the collection of the Latin Network for the Visual Arts (LNVA). The exhibit features paintings, photography and sculpture from artists in Spain, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Peru. A talk and reception is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9, at 4:15 p.m. The exhibit is sponsored by Connecticut College’s Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Department of History. For Shain Library hours, visit http://www.conncoll.edu/is/10318.htmNow – Feb 24: “Centennial Alumni Exhibition,” featuring sculpture, photography, drawings, ceramics and video by six alumni artists. The exhibition is in the galleries of the Cummings Arts Center, which is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. The exhibition is sponsored by the Department of Art.Dance

· Feb. 8: “HOLD,” the opening night performance of the American College Dance Festival Association New England Conference, featuring choreography by Keith Hennessy, Darrell Jones and Victoria Marks, along with a work by guest artist Nicholas Leichter (a 1994 Connecticut College graduate), 8 p.m., Palmer Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors. For tickets, call (860) 439-ARTS.

· Feb. 11: American College Dance Festival Association New England Conference Gala Performance, featuring student and faculty works selected by the conference adjudicators, 8 p.m., Palmer Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors. For tickets, call (860) 439-ARTS.

· Feb. 23-25: Dance Club Spring Performance, featuring choreography by Connecticut College students, 7:30 p.m. each night, Martha Myers Studio Theater, College Center at Crozier-Williams. Tickets are $6 for general admission and $4 for students and seniors. Film

Feb. 23: “New London Calling,” a screening of this award-winning short film produced by Robert Richter, Connecticut College’s director of arts programming, as part of the College's Dayton Artist-in-Residency program, 3:30 p.m., Evans Hall, Cummings Arts Center.Feb. 23 and 24: “Culture, Diaspora and Citizenship: International Research Film Festival.” This two-day event, hosted by the Department of Anthropology, is part of an annual international multi-sited festival featuring subtitled films and documentaries in French, English, Spanish and Portuguese. In addition to film screenings, visiting film makers and artists will participate in panel discussions. The event is Thursday, Feb. 23, from 6-8:30 p.m. and Friday, Feb. 24, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb 26: BANFF Film Festival, 3-10 p.m., Palmer Auditorium.Music

Feb 1: Alex Brown Jazz Quartet, featuring Grammy-nominated pianist Alex Brown, bassist Zach Brown, drummer Eric Doob and acclaimed Cuban-born saxophonist Yosvany Terry Cabrera, 7 p.m., Fortune Recital Hall, Cummings Arts Center. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students and seniors and free for Connecticut College students, faculty and staff. The musicians will conduct a free master’s class at 4:30 p.m., also in Fortune Hall.

Feb 4: “Centennial Chamber Music Recital - Then and Now,” featuring adjunct professors of music Thomas Labadorf on the clarinet, Rebecca Noreen on the bassoon and Daniel Lee on the violin, with guest performer Annette Shapiro on the piano, 7:30 p.m., Evans Hall, Cummings Arts Center. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students and seniors and free for Connecticut College students, faculty and staff.

Feb 12: “Le Nuit Romantique: Avec Violoncelle,” a faculty concert featuring adjunct instructor of music Alvin Wong on the cello and Lucas Wong on the piano, 7:30 p.m., Fortune Recital Hall, Cummings Arts Center. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students and seniors and free for Connecticut College students, faculty and staff.

Feb 17: onStage at Connecticut College presents the Brentano String Quartet’s “Fragments: Connecting Past and Present,” 8 p.m., Evans Hall, Cummings Arts Center. Tickets are $22 for general admission; $20 for seniors and Connecticut College faculty and staff; and $11 for students. For tickets and information, call (860) 439-ARTS or visit http://onstage.conncoll.edu.Feb 18: “An Afternoon of Brass with The New London Brass Quintet,” 1 p.m., Evans Hall, Cummings Arts Center. A reception will follow. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 seniors and students, and free for Connecticut College students, staff and faculty. Feb 26: Music Recital featuring senior Erik Calderone on the guitar, noon, Harkness Chapel.

Other EventsFeb. 1: Office of Volunteers for Community Service (OVCS) Spring Fair, with information about volunteer opportunities throughout the region, 3-5 p.m., Cro’s Nest, College Center at Crozier-Williams.

Feb. 2: “Family Photo Albums and the Holocaust: The Dis-/Appearance of the Perpetrators on German Stages,” a lecture by Kerstin Mueller-Dembling, visiting assistant professor of German studies at Connecticut College, 4:20 p.m., Blaustein Humanities Center Room 201.

Feb 2: “Where's the Change? Why Neither Obama nor the GOP Can Solve America's Problems,” a discussion with syndicated talk radio host Rob Redding Jr. Redding will also discuss the impact of talk radio on the 2012 presidential election, 4:30 p.m., Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room, Shain Library.

Feb 3: “When Justice Has a Body: A Symposium on Reproductive Rights.” This event, hosted by the Connecticut College Women’s Center, will provide members of the community an opportunity to explore the history and contemporary issues related to abortion and reproductive rights in America, 11:45 a.m.-5 p.m., Ernst Common Room of Blaustein Humanities Center. Registration is free with a Connecticut College ID and $5 for others. To register, visit womenscenter.conncoll.edu. A portion of the registration fees will go to V-Day: The Vagina Monologues, a movement that supports anti-violence organizations throughout the world.Feb. 6: “Gender, Performance and the Politics of Space: Germany and the Veil in Popular Culture,” a lecture by Maria Stehle, assistant professor of modern languages and literatures at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, 4:20 p.m., Blaustein Humanities Center Room 203. Feb 6: “When Black Becomes White: A History Racial Passing in American Life,” a lecture by Allyson Hobbes, assistant professor of American history at Stanford University, 4:30 p.m., Blaustein Humanities Center Room 210. Feb 6: “Black History Month Convocation,” an annual event featuring performances and speakers. This year’s speakers are freshman Metika Ngbokoli, senior Tonesha Hunt and Catherine (Cay) Young, a 1975 Connecticut College graduate and airport manager at the Groton-New London Airport, 7 p.m., 1941 Room, College Center at Crozier-Williams. Feb 8: “Willy Shakes is Totally Funked Up,” a performance by and discussion with The Q Brothers, who unite their love of hip hop and Shakespeare in bawdy, electrifying "hip-hoptations" of Shakespeare's plays. This event is part of the Sustainability and the Arts series sponsored by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, 4:30 p.m., Cro’s Nest, College Center at Crozier-Williams. Feb. 9: “Yoko Tawada's Writing Machines,” a lecture by Suzuko Knott, visiting assistant professor of German at Bradley University, 4:20 p.m., Blaustein Humanities Center Room 201. Feb 15: “Forests, Fire and People: Two Decades of Landscape Change in the Mexican Yucata,” by Marco Millones, a visiting professor and researcher at Clark University, 4 p.m., Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room, Shain Library. Feb 20: “Black Civic Activism and Counter Narratives of Africa in the Early Cuban Republic,” a lecture by Melinda Pappademos, assistant professor of history at the University of Connecticut, 4:30 p.m., Silfen Auditorium, Bill Hall.Feb 21: "Going Organic: A Widening Circle," a Department of Anthropology lecture, 4:30 p.m., Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room, Shain Library. Feb. 21: “Peptide Structure and Reactivity in the Gas Phase,” a chemistry seminar by Elaine Marzluff, associate professor of chemistry at Grinnell College, 4:30 p.m., Brown Auditorium, Hale Laboratory. Feb 23: Student Poetry Reading, 4:30 p.m., Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room, Shain Library.Feb. 25: “Slavery in Our Backyard: A Call to Action,” a state-wide conference to raise awareness of and discuss effective solutions for contemporary slavery, 1-6 p.m., Cummings Arts Center. This event is sponsored by Operation 21st Century, a Connecticut College student group dedicated to raising awareness about human slavery and trafficking, in partnership with the Provenance Center of New London and the Not For Sale Campaign in Connecticut.Feb 25: “Spoken Identities,” a Black History Month spoken word event, 6 p.m., Cro’s Nest, College Center at Crozier-Williams. Feb. 28: “C-C and C-N Bond Formation via Oxidative C-H Functionalization and Contrast Agents for MR Molecular Imaging,” a chemistry seminar by Brenton DeBoef, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Rhode Island, 4:30 p.m., Brown Auditorium, Hale Laboratory.

Feb 28: “Hip Hop Theater and Sustainability: Keeping Past and Present Voices Alive,” with theater director, choreographer, educator and dialogue facilitator Daniel Banks, 4:30 p.m., Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room, Shain Library.

Feb 29: "Community, Water and the Being of Human," a lecture by ecological sculptor Jackie Brookner, 4:30 p.m., Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room, Shain Library. Brookner, who designs living water filtration systems that double as art, will discuss our instrumental relationship to water, how we imagine our own bodily boundaries and how we define ourselves as individuals and as a species.