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Salem State’s Center for Creative and Performing Arts (CCPA) has announced highlights of its upcoming fall season, with performances, readings and exhibitions by guest artists, faculty artists and students in its arts programs.

“A trip up Lafayette Street to our campus reveals a world of diverse arts events, about 60 from September to May. Many are free and where a ticket is required, the top price is $15. All students, not just Salem State students, receive free admission with a valid ID,” said Karen Gahagan, director for the CCPA. “As a state institution, accessibility to these programs is a priority. There is truly something for everyone.”

The season opens on Sept. 26 at 7:30 pm with Fourth Dimension Tap. They are a Boston-based dance company known for their dynamic performances, as they seek to engage audiences and extend the reach of tap dance through new works. This company always expands the boundaries of this dance form with the unexpected.

Cambodian musician, human rights activist, and peace advocate Arn Chorn-Pond speaks September 30 at 7:30 pm. Arn will share his story as a child during the Khmer Rouge regime and how music saved his life and the role of the arts in transforming society on a wider scale. This program is presented in conjunction with SSU's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 

Carmen Maria Machado is an author, essayist and critic best known for her award-winning short story collection “Her Body and Other Parties” and bestselling memoir “In the Dream House.” Described as a literary revolutionist, Machado opens the Salem State Writers Series on October 8 at 7:30 pm.

The Winfisky Gallery features a photo exhibition by artist Greg Cook. “Visionary and Folk Art Sites Across the United States” will be on display, October 14 to November 8. Cook has traveled the country photographing these unique sites, curated to share stories ranging from UFO’s (South Carolina) to whirligigs (North Carolina), to the cultural power of African beads (Michigan), to the Winnie-the-Pooh House right here in Massachusetts.

Full of wonder, humor, and heart, playwright Lauren Gunderson's “Silent Sky” is the remarkable true story of Henrietta Leavitt, one of the pioneering women astronomers working at Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s. Leavitt took on the astronomy establishment and changed how we view the cosmos forever. Running October 18 -20 and October 25-27.

The Sixth Annual Veterans Play Festival features original works from playwrights across the country. Running November 8-10, the festival seeks to cultivate a supportive environment for creative exploration in and around the varied experiences that surround the military. 

Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches is the first of two stories that focus on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City during the 1980s. Kushner weaves real people with fictional figures who must confront love, loss and responsibility in concert with the politics and social failures surrounding the disease and its emergence in the United States. Running November 22 to 24 and December 6 to 8.

The semester wraps in December with free performances by student music ensembles and the Salem Dance Ensemble.

Visit for a complete calendar of fall events and additional information about event locations and ticket reservations where required.