Even though many arts events have been cancelled or postponed in response to COVID-19 (coronavirus), being stuck at home doesn’t mean you have to go without your culture fix. The UO offers hours and hours of entertainment, lectures and information at your fingertips.

View art exhibitions at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, browse historic images of campus or revisit your commencement. From music, film and sports to lectures and comprehensive interviews with UO faculty members, staff and students, there’s something for everyone. Two great content repositories include UO Libraries and the UO Channel archives. Or, check out the video section of the UO’s YouTube channel for an assortment of Oregon media.

Library

The UO Libraries site offers a gold mine of resources, starting with its Unique Collections. Want to experience the sights and sounds of the Oregon Country Fair circa 1971 or view a behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of “Animal House”? Special Collections and University Archives holds a variety of archival moving image collections in all formats and genres, including feature films, documentaries, educational films, home movies, television and TV news focusing primarily on Oregon-related films and filmmakers. View a sampling on the Knight Library YouTube channel.

Check out several co-sponsored UO Libraries-Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art digital exhibits, including “The March,” a documentary by filmmaker James Blue chronicling the 1963 March on Washington; the Yokai Senjafuda exhibition, which focuses on tiny slips of paper—senjafuda—that depict Japanese ghosts and monsters; and “The Artful Fabric of Collecting,” which introduces viewers to Chinese textiles.

Watch, learn and discover nine cool library things you can explore from home using your library’s membership.

Access library leased award-winning documentaries and theatrical releases through the library's online video streaming service, Kanopy. Log in to the UO with your student or staff ID and password and get access to a variety of interesting content.

Finally, peruse the Special Collections and University Archives Unbound blog for content and news and updates about collections, discoveries and exhibitions. If you’re interested in 16-millimeter films, be sure to check out 16MM Lost & Found, a comprehensive blog that collects and organizes information on the UO’s archive of 16 mm films, which include a variety of nontheatrical films, features and rare educational and experimental films.

Art

Even if you can’t attend a lecture, the UO channel’s College of Design category features tons of talks from their Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Peruse similar lectures and art-related videos at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art YouTube channel, where you’ll find content like the recent Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective exhibition featuring the work of the legendary “gonzo” artist, or spend an hour hearing from the artist himself: Skype with Steadman.

Cinema

The UO Channel also offers an array of films and documentaries of interest. Below is a sampling of some of what you can find in the archives:

Ed’s Co-ed

Silent film made at the UO in 1929, which follows the college adventures of a freshman named Ed.

UO documentary recruitment film

This documentary film reel, circa 1934, proves a snapshot of the campus shortly after the Great Depression.

Andy Warhol at UO, 1968

Pop artist Andy Warhol discusses how he sent an imposter to campus in 1967 and no one realized it wasn’t him.

Adventure Playground

A short documentary about postwar Europe in which a playground designer found that children had more fun with the trash and rubble left behind by bombing than conventional playground equipment.

Music and dance

The UO School of Music and Dance offers a variety of digital performances, including:

BE Cultura, Hip-Hop Concert

Hip-Hop artist, producer, activist and scholar Olmeca performs in this BEseries.

“Kunqu” Chinese Opera performance and demonstration

Oregon String Quartet Faculty Artist Series Concert 1, Beethoven’s string quartets, including Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3, Quartet in F Major, Op. 135 and Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2; and Oregon String Quartet Faculty Artist Series Concert 2, Beethoven’s string quartets, including Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5 and Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1.

Watch:

• The University of Oregon Chamber Choir’s award-winning set at the Grand Prix of Nations choral competition in Gothenburg, Sweden on Aug. 9, 2019.
• The UO Jazz Ensemble plays Bob Brookmeyer’s “Seesaw” at the Vienne Jazz Festival in France on July 11, 2018.
• The UO Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble, featuring Tony Glausi on flugelhorn, perform the George Gershwin classic “Summertime.”
• The UO Chamber Choir performs Moira Smiley’s arrangement of the Huddie Ledbetter spiritual “Bring Me Little Water Silvy” at the King’s Garden at the Royal Mint in Segovia, Spain, on July 23, 2017.
• UO Gospel Singers in China, Dec. 12, 2014.

Check out similar School of Music and Dance performances on the UO Music and Dance YouTube channel.

Museum of Natural and Cultural History

Take a virtual tour of the collections vault at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History. From intricate and colorful works by Métis beaders to an extraordinary collection of Pacific Northwest Native American masks, the museum offers more than 30 online galleries.

Looking for some fascinating video content? The museum’s got that, too. Head to its YouTube channel and explore talks about jazz and the civil rights movement, drag and art theory, and the finer points of gay rodeo.

You can also find a selection of fascinating museum lectures and talks on the UO Channel.

Theater

If you missed this year’s recent UO Russian Theater performance of Frog Princess, you can tune into the live and full UO Russian Theater Performance of “Chekhov Love and All That” from 2018. Part of the UO’s Identity Project, catch this theatrical reading of “The Race Card Project,” which touches on ideas of identity and race in America.

Lectures

The Oregon Humanities Center offers hundreds of intellectually stimulating interviews and lectures on its UO Today YouTube channel.

—By Sharleen Nelson, University Communications