The University of Iowa School of Art and Art History welcomes the public to enjoy an evening of fun and culture at 2014 ArtsFest, which will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 2, in the Studio Arts Building at 1375 Highway 1 West in Iowa City.

Approximately 200 middle school student members of the African American Awareness Program in Cedar Rapids will be on campus Thursday, May 1 to experience life as college students and participate in a book discussion.

Author Erin Hart and musician Paddy O’Brien will help the University of Iowa Libraries Conservation Lab kick off its 30th anniversary celebration on Thursday, May 1, starting at 7 p.m.

For more than 40 years, the University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts has presented an annual festival centered on producing, reading, and analyzing new scripts from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop. Iowa New Play Festival 2014 will take place Monday-Sunday, May 5-10, in the UI Theatre Building.

University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumni Jane Mead, Larissa Szporluk, and Heidi Johannesen Poon will read from their poetry at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a free performance by the UI Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union.

David Cassels Johnson, an assistant professor at the University of Iowa College of Education, has recently released a new book, "Language Policy." It explains critical theories, research methods and findings, while offering new ideas supported by empirical data collection on the topic.

Come celebrate “Hooray for May!” at the next University of Iowa Museum of Art First Friday on Friday, May 2, from 5 to 7 p.m. at FilmScene, on the downtown Iowa City Pedestrian Mall at 118 E. College St. First Friday is free and open to the public.

Engineering alumnus Nathan Horn will be the guest presenter at the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering “Grabbing the Globe” seminar Thursday, April 24, at 3:30 p.m. in 101 Becker Communications Studies Building.

A dynamic, new online flood preparedness tool which will help emergency managers improve flood warnings and response has been developed for the Winnebago River at Mason City, Iowa.

Rape Victim Advocacy Program (RVAP) staff are inviting individuals with an interest in reaching out to the community and raising awareness about different kinds of violence to help with the Clothesline Project. The event will be Tuesday, April 29, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Pentacrest lawn.

The University of Iowa Center for New Music will present Composers Workshop, a free concert featuring the work of composition students in the UI School of Music, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 27, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus.