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Five Free, Fun Things at Duke in April

From a movie-themed concert to an Earth Day celebration, jump into spring with free events

The Duke Wind Symphony will perform a
The Duke Wind Symphony will perform a "Movie Night in Baldwin" concert on April 9. Photo by Steven Bryant

Celebrate the arrival of spring and flowering Durham by watching a movie during the Full Frame Film Festival in Durham Central Park, eating barbecue on the Center for Documentary Studies’ front porch and learning sustainability tips at Duke’s Earth Day celebration. Here are five free, fun things to enjoy this month around Duke campus and in Durham. Thursday, April 9 – Listen to live film scores by the Duke Wind SymphonyEnjoy the popular music of Frozen, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, The Incredibles, The Dark Knight Rises and other films reimagined by the Duke Wind Symphony at “Movie Night in Baldwin.” The concert will be held at 8 p.m. in Baldwin Auditorium.Friday, April 10 – Watch a free movie in the parkThe Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is this month, and on April 10 at 8:30 p.m., the community is invited to a free film screening in Durham Central Park in Durham. No ticket is required. The featured film will be “Love is All,” a montage of clips from more than 75 fiction films, documentaries, home movies and newsreels that capture love and courtship in the 20th century. Monday, April 13 – Learn about art and the brain How do our brains perceive color, and how can that lead to different interpretations of art? The Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, along with Bass Connections: Brain & Society and the Nasher Museum of Art, is hosting a free, all-day symposium on April 13, “Seeing Color: Art, Vision, & the Brain.” The event is open to the public, and registration is required. The symposium will be held in the Nasher auditorium, and topics include color blindness and art, light and color through the eyes of Claude Monet, and more.  To register and see a full schedule, visit the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences website. Friday, April 17 – Spend Earth Day at the Nicholas SchoolGo green this month when the Duke Nicholas School of the Environment hosts its annual family-friendly Earth Day celebration. While Earth Day falls on April 22, the Duke community will celebrate in advance from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 17. Enjoy live music, free food and more in the Nicholas School Levine Science Research Center Courtyard and in Duke Environment Hall. During the event, Sustainable Duke will announce the winner of the campus-wide Unpark Yourself Challenge and present him or her with an ELF, a recumbent bike-electric vehicle hybrid.Sunday, April 26 – Celebrate local documentary projectsSupport eight Certificate in Documentary Studies students who are undergraduates at Duke as they present a selection of work from their final projects. On April 26, the Center for Documentary Studies will host a free exhibit reception and barbecue on its front porch, beginning at 5 p.m. An exhibit of the students’ work, one large print per student, will be installed in the CDS’s University Gallery the week of April 20. The projects explore what it means to be a Quaker, a female student at Duke, an adult trying to learn to read, a survivor of Japanese internment camps, and other perspectives. For more Duke events, visit the calendar.