The West Virginia University Creative Arts Center turns 40 years old this year, and the College of Creative Arts is celebrating with a freethank youconcert for the community at 2 p.m. Saturday (April 25) in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre.

The concert will be held on the same day as the original dedication of the Creative Arts Center in 1969. A celebration of the arts, it will feature music, theater, dance and art exhibitions.

No tickets of any kind are required, and we hope our friends will come out and help us celebrate this unique building and its involvement in our Morgantown community since 1969,said Bernie Schultz, dean of the College of Creative Arts.

The program will include piano professor JamesDocMiltenberger, the WVU Percussion Ensemble and the WVU African Music and Dance Ensemble. There will also be a dance segment titledMozartperformed and choreographed by dance students; a performance by violin students in the WVU Community Arts Program; and selections from the current WVU Theatre production ofUrinetown, the Musical.

In addition, faculty and student artwork will be on display in the Mesaros Galleries and the Douglas O. Blaney Lobby.

Special guests for the celebration include Phil Faini, music professor and dean emeritus, who was among the first faculty members in the Creative Arts Center in 1969; Lynne Schwabe, daughter of Richard Duncan, the first dean of the center; and Kacy Wiedebusch, professor emerita of dance and former director of the Orchesis Dance Ensemble, who was a faculty member at WVU for more than 50 years.

For more information about the 40th anniversary celebration and other events going on at the Creative Arts Center, visit http://www.ccarts.wvu.edu/ or call 304-293-4841 ext. 3108.