Downtown Ithaca

Benjamin Garcia & Matthew Morris – A Reading and Conversation
2025-02-28 16:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
Buffalo Street Books is excited to host Benjamin Garcia and Matthew Morris for a reading from their books Thrown in the Throat and The Tilling.
About the Books:
With language that arrives equal parts regal and raucous, Thrown in the Throat shines brilliant with sweat and an iridescent voice. “Sometimes even a diamond was once alive” writes Garcia in a collection that National Poetry Series judge Kazim Ali says “has deadly superpowers.” And indeed these poems arrive to our hands through touch-me-nots and the slight cruelty of mothers, through closets both real and metaphorical. These are poems complex, unabashed, and needed as survival. Garcia’s debut is nothing less than exactly the ode our history and present and our future call for: brash and unmistakably alive.
“The tragic mulatto,” wrote the African American poet Sterling Allen Brown in a 1933 meditation on stereotype, “is a victim of a divided inheritance”: pulled this way and that, belonging nowhere. In 10 lyric essays shifting keys from Virginia, where he grew up, to Tucson, his first home as a young man, Matthew Morris sounds the depths of that embodied cliché: its fracturing simplifications, its (partial, mixed) truths. The light-skinned son of an African American father and a white mother, he asks after the skin-housed present by way of the rooted past, considering his late grandmother, a painter whose grandparents left Due West, South Carolina for Evanston, Illinois in the decades before her birth; the twice-made film Imitation of Life, which in its first iteration starred the light-skinned actor Fredi Washington; and the quiet gradations of color in an untitled Rothko print. Ever-searching, The Tilling is an excavation of identity and a reflection on the beginnings of life and love—a (sometimes soft, others chippy) biracial coming of age. The Tilling was chosen for the Seneca Review Books’ 2024 Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize.
About the Authors:
Benjamin Garcia’s first collection of poems, Thrown in the Throat, was selected for the 2019 National Poetry Series by Kazim Ali. He is a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow, was the 2017 Latinx Scholar at the Frost Place, and was a 2018 CantoMundo Fellow at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival. His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Best New Poets 2018, Crazyhorse, Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, and New England Review. Garcia received his MFA from Cornell University and currently works as a sexual health and harm reduction educator in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
Son of an African American father and a white mother, Matthew Morris writes through questions of race, identity, family history, and love. His nonfiction has been published in Seneca Review, Fourth Genre via the Steinberg Memorial Essay Prize, and Mid-American Review through the AWP Intro Journals Project, and he has received a scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. His essay “Tidal Wave,” published in apt, was cited as “notable” in Best American Essays 2020. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona MFA program and is pursuing a PhD in English at the University of Missouri –Columbia.

27th Annual Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-Off
2025-03-01 12:00 - 16:00 | Downtown Ithaca, United States
Warm up your winter with the 27th Annual Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-Off, a signature event in the heart of the Commons! Join us for a day filled with delicious chili creations, live entertainment, and community fun as chefs and restaurants from across the region compete for top honors.
Taste your way through a diverse selection of chili offerings, including savory meat options, bold vegan and vegetarian recipes, and unique chili-inspired dishes. Sample beverages from local craft breweries, cideries, and wineries that perfectly complement the flavors of the day. With options for every palate, this family-friendly event promises a fun and tasty experience for everyone.
Chefs will compete in several categories, including Best Meat Chili, Best Vegetarian/Vegan Chili, Best Chili-Inspired Dish, and the highly coveted People’s Choice Award, where you get to vote for your favorite creation! Entertainment will be provided throughout the event, featuring live music and performances that capture the energy and excitement of Ithaca’s winter season.
The Chili Cook-Off is a perfect way to celebrate the community, support local businesses, and enjoy the best comfort food Ithaca has to offer. Bring your friends, family, and appetite to this one-of-a-kind festival!

2nd Year of the Ithaca Experimental Film Festival
2025-03-01 14:00 - 16:00 | Cinemapolis, 120 W Green St, Ithaca, 14850
The Ithaca Experimental Film Festival (ITHEX) provides a platform for bold, unconventional films. From documentaries and animation to non-traditional narratives, we showcase work that pushes creative boundaries. Our mission is to create a space where filmmakers can screen their films, share ideas, and connect with a community that values diversity, experimentation, and DIY filmmaking.
Ithaca Experimental Film Festival presents, Short Block #1 In the Dark Corner of a Dream [80 minutes] Saturday, March 1st: 2pm – 4pm.
In the Dark Corner of a Dream — Lineup:
de julho — craig scheihing
Fainter Echoes — Brady Lewis
Echoes of Glass — Ezra Aydin, Robin Joyce, Anthony Zayneh
Incantation — Kalpana Subramanian
Another Sinking Sun — Tyler Rubenfield
Cricket Feet — Jake Nicastro
Vigile — Pierre Lefrançois Vérove
Small Vessels — Matt Feldman
Firestarter — Jacob Mark Shpall
Welcome to the Enclave — Sarah Lasley

2nd Year of the Ithaca Experimental Film Festival
2025-03-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Cinemapolis, 120 W Green St, Ithaca, 14850
The Ithaca Experimental Film Festival (ITHEX) provides a platform for bold, unconventional films. From documentaries and animation to non-traditional narratives, we showcase work that pushes creative boundaries. Our mission is to create a space where filmmakers can screen their films, share ideas, and connect with a community that values diversity, experimentation, and DIY filmmaking.
Ithaca Experimental Film Festival presents, Short Block #2 Love Letters [81 minutes] Saturday, March 1st: 6pm – 8pm
LOVE LETTERS — Lineup:
Tuesday Film — Kaylinn Duffy
Friends with Myself — Ella Freigang
The Year — Grace Mitchell
Forward Fast — Lorraine Sovern
Untitled, Jackson Heights — Armon Madhavi
Admissions of Desire — Becca Rieckmann
To Alexandra With Love — Deniz Berkin
Sometimes I Hear The Light Leak In Through The Corners of my Room — Jeremiah Carter
Trace on My Body — YUE Hua
Ceaseless Translation — Alejandra Saldivar
untld:fragmentsofableedingheart — G.D. Phoenix
Shapeless — Leonardo Severino
גִּלְגּוּל (Gilgul) — Gabi Rudin

FUNDAY!
2025-03-02 13:00 - 15:00 | Liquid State Brewery, 620 W. Green St., Ithaca
Family friendly music on vinyl spun by DJ Tuggle! Shake out the winter wiggles on Sunday March 2nd, from 1-3pm. Free and all ages welcome.

"The Shah of Texas" - Charlie Green
2025-03-04 17:00 - 19:00 | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
Join Charlie Green as he launches his first novel! The Shah of Texas is a broad political satire of the Iraq War, the Abu Ghraib scandal, American propaganda, and even novels. Imagine George Orwell’s 1984 and Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove mashed together, with a little bit of Airplane! and Jonathan Swift.
About the Author: Charlie Green is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literatures in English at Cornell University. His collection of poems, Feral Ornamentals, was published in 2021, and his writing has appeared in Image, The Southeast Review, and other venues.
Alex Gilvarry is the author of the novels From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant and Eastman Was Here. He is a visiting professor at Cornell University.

Kumiko Woodworking Exhibit at CSMA
2025-03-07 17:00 | Community School of Music and Arts, 330 East State Street, Ithaca
CSMA’s March gallery show is an exhibition of traditional Japanese woodworking by Hammerstone School founder, Maria Klemperer-Johnson! Known as “kumiko ( 組子),” this meticulous technique is used to create intricate patterns with small, interlocking pieces of wood. Join us for a hands-on demonstration of kumiko woodworking on opening night, March 7th, at 6:30pm.

In My Boots [Book Launch Party] – A Memoir of Five Million Steps Along the Appalachian Trail.
2025-03-07 17:00 - 20:00 | Library Place, 105 West Court St Ithaca, NY 14850, Ithaca, 14850
Join us in the community room at Library Place for a book launch party with author Amanda Jaros Champion, exhibiting Robert Champions artwork. Join us for a night to remember!
Reading starts at 5pm.

First Friday Gallery Night featuring URBAN CANVAS
2025-03-07 17:00 - 20:00 | CAP ArtSpace, 110 N Tioga st, Ithaca, NY, 14850, United States
Downtown Ithaca is alive with creativity—come experience it at CAP ArtSpace! This month’s featured exhibit, Urban Canvas, showcases the talented muralists and street artists who have transformed our city into a vibrant, open-air gallery. Curated by Ithaca Murals, this show brings their bold, dynamic work indoors for a limited time.
Kick off your weekend with art, community, and inspiration at First Friday Gallery Night! See the creativity that makes Ithaca unique and meet the artists shaping our city’s cultural landscape. 🎭🔥
#GalleryNightIthaca #UrbanCanvas #IthacaMurals #ArtsUniteTompkins #CommunityArtsPartnershipTompkins #VisitIthaca #DowntownIthaca

OPENING for 20 artist group show "March Mad Lust" at MIX Art Gallery on the Ithaca Commons, Friday March 7th 5-8 pm
2025-03-07 17:00 - 20:00 | MIX Art Gallery, 156 E. State Street, Ithaca, 14850
MIX Art Gallery is excited to host a very diverse and gorgeous group exhibition opening March 7th from 5-8 PM. “March Mad Lust!” This is a collection of 20, mostly local, artists showing a variety of media – and the art is for sale! We have sculptural art from John & Jif Dowd, Bella Sloan and Jill Ausfeld; photography from Joe Ziolkowski, Maxwell Harvey-Sampson, Jenna Petrone, Gloriana Allnatt, Noah Felix Klett and Wendy Gherity; paintings by Julie Waltz-Stalker, Rafe Harpending, Linda Fazzary, Josh Parrott, Nathan Dann, Basil Bakhshi, Ginny O’Brien; collage by Makayla Bunce; fiber art paintings by Sarah Lopez; and mixed media works from Aiden Paddlety, John & Jif Dowd, Amy Hauer and Ginny O’Brien. Wow! You don’t want to miss this one. It will be on view from March 7th-29th. We are open Thursdays and Fridays 3-7, Saturdays 12-6, and any other day by appointment.
You can also browse MIX Art Gallery’s online store if you please. View the works in the “March Mad Lust” web-store, www.mixartgallery.com/shop-march-mad-lust and dream big! These pieces may only be around for March, so don’t wait! The favorites go fast. Need more art than that? There are 15 additional talented and diverse artists represented in MIX Art Gallery’s online store at the moment, so we’ll bet you find something you like… and also, something you love… and possibly, something you “March Mad Lust” after!!!

Registration for spring classes opens at CSMA!
2025-03-08 | Community School of Music and Arts, 330 East State Street, Ithaca
Spring classes are blooming at CSMA! Registration for classes in art, music, theatre, and dance for all ages begins March 8th, with most classes beginning the week of April 8th. Visit us at www.csma-ithaca.org to view our course catalog and join our creative community! Be sure to check back often, as we’ll be adding even more classes as details are finalized.

Watercolor Spring Flowers Workshop
2025-03-08 10:30 - 13:30 | Community School of Music and Arts, 330 East State Street, Ithaca
Watercolor Spring Flowers Workshop – Instructed by Jennifer Gibson
Saturday, March 8 from 10:30 am-1:30 pm at CSMA
Ages: Teens & Adults
Celebrate the beauty of spring by painting spring floral arrangements in watercolor! This workshop introduces essential watercolor techniques such as wet-on-wet, dry brush, layering, and color blending. We will work from life, using fresh spring flowers as our inspiration, while exploring composition, light, and texture.
All levels of experience are welcome! Just bring your creativity and a willingness to explore! More advanced students are also welcome to refine their skills and experiment with new approaches. The instructor will provide you with a materials list.

The Power of Birds to Transform Conservation with Amanda Rodewald
2025-03-20 19:00 - 20:00 | Cinemapolis, 120 W Green St, Ithaca, 14850
Friends of Stewart Park invites you to
The Power of Birds to Transform Conservation with Amanda Rodewald
Thursday March 20, 7:00 PM, Cinemapolis
$20 Suggested Donation
$15-$50 Sliding Scale per Ticket
Proceeds Benefit an Interpretive Sign for the Fuertes Bird Sanctuary Overlook in Stewart Park.
This event kicks of the Ithaca Native Landscape Symposium.
In her talk, Amanda will discuss how birds give us a powerful lens through which we identify and implement strategies to conserve biodiversity and address global challenges facing people and the planet. She illustrates how eBird, a global participatory science project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, can facilitate the development of flexible, adaptable, creative, and economical approaches to conservation. More information and tickets at www.stewartpark.org/events

The Octogenarian Tour - Ketu Oladuwa
2025-03-22 12:00 - 14:30 | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
The OctoGenarian Tour: Celebrating Poetry that Liberates Community-Building Dialogue.
Join us for a conversation with Dr. Nia Nunn, Lushima Lumumba, and Ketu Oladuwa.
From Ketu Oladuwa:
“Join the celebration of 80 cycles around the sun by getting back to our human rootz with poetry, music, and engagement with artists and their communities.
Poetry is more than words on a page; it’s a catalyst for transformation, a bridge between personal healing and collective liberation. I’m Omowalé-Kétu Oladuwa, a Poet, cultural worker, and lifelong learner. My OctoGenarian Tour celebrates Connection, employing poetry, storytelling, and communal gathering.
Emerging from a journey of survival, resistance, and self-discovery—including five years on death row for a murder I did not commit—I found liberation through poetry in death’s house. My work testifies to the resilience of the hueman spirit, and the power of art to heal and lift consciousness to face our inhibiting traumas, and confront the institutions that threaten to erase us.”

“Baking with Baddies” Zine Launch Party
2025-03-28 17:00 - 19:30 | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
Join us to celebrate the launch of Via Carpenter’s zine – Baking with Baddies: How to Succeed in Business, from a Multidimensional Cookie Creative. There’ll be cookies, of course!
About the Author: Via Carpenter is an activist, baker, public speaker, entrepreneur, and artist. She founded her company, Via’s Cookies, from the ground up in college and has grown it into a smooth Ithaca NY based operation that gives to struggling university students across the U.S. She stresses honoring your passions, fighting for the collective, and taking advantage of life’s pleasures- such as cookies and dismantling capitalism.
About the Zine:
For bakers, business owners, and budding entrepreneurs, this zine gives you a step-by-step guide to small business success. Based on the author’s experience starting her own cookie company and giving back to her community, this zine is full of sound advice that can be applied to all kinds of small business and start-up situations. From refining your mission to networking, getting tax help to dealing with burnout and discrimination, this zine is jam-packed with tools, examples, suggestions, and strategies for building a true-to-you business that thrives.

Fairy Fest
2025-03-29 10:00 - 15:00 | Downtown Ithaca, United States
For the fourth time, fairy magic is coming to Downtown Ithaca! Dress as your favorite fairy, elf, imp or magical creature and come enjoy a day of crafts and family fun inside your favorite downtown businesses. All ages welcome!

Faerie Market!
2025-03-29 11:00 - 17:00 | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
Happy Faerie Fest, Ithaca! Join us for a day of crafts, festivities, and goods from your favorite local makers!
With: Julian Plum Illustration, The Mushroom Circle, Snail Boat Studio, Mycelia Herbals, Guppy Moss, Priscilla Dahl Pottery, Pam’s Arts and Crafts, Fleece & Thank Ewe Fiber Worx, John Vorstadt Ceramics, Heath & Hollow, Viva Acres, Lunaria, The Grey Moon, Kosha Studio, Gorges Wire Design, & Sheepy Hollow.

MIX Art Gallery Closing Reception for March Mad Lust with music by Johnny Dowd ~ Saturday March 29th 4-6PM
2025-03-29 16:00 - 18:00 | MIX Art Gallery, 156 E. State Street, Ithaca, 14850
Join us for the 20-artist, mixed media Group Show “March Mad Lust” Closing Reception with music by Johnny Dowd on Saturday, March 29th, from 4-6 pm at MIX Art Gallery, Ithaca. There will be live music, libations, and nosh… and of course, art, art, and more art!
“The work is not complete until you are here to experience it ~ we’ll see you soon at MIX!”
MIX Art Gallery is located on the Ithaca Commons (next to American Crafts by Robbie Dein) at 156 E. State Street, a 2nd-floor walkup.
MIX Contemporary Art Gallery featuring urban to upscale, thoughtful to cool, art for you. Artists, both local and beyond showing mixed media. All artwork is for sale. Visit www.mixartgallery.com for more details.
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WHAT: MIX Art Gallery presents: Closing Reception for March Mad Lust Group Show with music by Johnny Dowd
WHEN: Saturday, March 29th, 2025 4-6 PM
WHERE: MIX Art Gallery, 156 State St. (2nd Floor) “On the Commons” Ithaca, NY 14850

Drag Story Hour
2025-03-30 12:00 - 14:00 | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
Parents and kiddos – our queens Ms. Cordata and Ms. Chardonay are back for Drag Story Hour! Sit in our beautiful butterfly room and enjoy a reading from two of Ithaca’s very best storytellers.

"In My Boots" - Amanda K. Jaros
2025-03-30 14:00 - 16:30 | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
Join us for a reading from In My Boots: A Memoir of Five Million Steps Along the Appalachian Trail with local author Amanda K. Jaros.
About the Book: When Amanda K. Jaros learns about the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail after college, she walks away from a sheltered life dominated by an angry and volatile father and does something unexpected: spends six months backpacking. Alone. She expects to pass the time in the solitary and peaceful wilderness, reflecting on her life’s direction. Instead, she finds herself part of a community ripe with stinky socks, buckets of ice cream, and trail magic. What matters on the trail is not a hiker’s past or parents, her fears or failures, but rather, what matters is the connections we make with each other.
In My Boots recounts a challenging physical journey following the trail over the windy balds of the South, through snowstorms in the Smoky Mountain National Park, and above the tree line to the alpine zones of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The journey is also emotionally transformative as this twenty-three-year-old leaves behind the compliant and scared girl she once was. With each step away from her damaged childhood, each new friend, each stop in another rural trail town, she comes to understand that to succeed on the trail, and in life, it turns out, the path she walks must be her own.
About the Author: Amanda K. Jaros is the editor of Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology and author of 100 Things to Do in Ithaca Before You Die. Her essays on nature and family have appeared in Flyway, Appalachia, Terrain.org, Stone Canoe, and elsewhere. When not writing, she can be found on a trail somewhere, and has hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, several trails in Australia, and is currently working toward completing hikes of the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks. She lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband and son, where she recently took up kayaking and serves her community as a county legislator. Learn more at amandakjaros.com and Instagram @amandajaroschampion.

First Friday Gallery Night at CAP ArtSpace
2025-04-04 17:00 - 20:00 | CAP ArtSpace, 110 N Tioga st, Ithaca, NY, 14850, United States
Join the Community Arts Partnership for First Friday Gallery Night and experience Threads That Bind, a powerful solo exhibition by local artist L.A. Amira. This vibrant collection of acrylic paintings and mixed media explores themes of identity, resilience, cultural representation, and digital influence through bold color, intricate African patterns, and layered textures.
Blending traditional artistry with contemporary themes, Amira invites viewers to reflect on marginalized voices and to engage in conversations that challenge perceptions and celebrate unity.
Come meet the artist, enjoy the artwork, and take part in Downtown Ithaca’s monthly celebration of creativity.

MIX Art Gallery’s OPENING RECEPTION for artist Tia Eytina – Friday, April 4th, 5-8pm
2025-04-04 17:00 - 20:00 | MIX Art Gallery, 156 E. State Street, Ithaca, 14850
Throughout April 2025 MIX Art Gallery is proud to welcome back mixed-media abstract artist Santia Eytina, “Tia” for short, who is presenting her new series “Uncharted Realities,” opening on April 4th and on view through April 26th. In her first show at MIX in October 2024, Eytina’s artwork was sold to collectors and art lovers from Ithaca to New York City and even made the journey to a new home in France. It was a captivating show, and so, we are thrilled to see her back at MIX. Join us Thursdays and Fridays 3-7, and Saturdays 12-6 to experience Tia’s Uncharted Realities!

Hands Off Ithaca - National Mobilization to Fight Back
2025-04-05 13:00 - 15:00 | Bernie Milton Pavilion, 100 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY, 14845
Hands Off Ithaca – National Mobilization to Fight Back
Saturday April 5, 1-3 pm
Gather at Bernie Milton Pavilion and march to Meadow Street
Host: Indivisible Tompkins
For more info: indivisibletompkins.org, indivisibletompkins@gmail.com
To register: https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/event/766521/

Silent Reading Party III
2025-04-06 14:00 - 17:00 | Liquid State Brewery, 620 W. Green St., Ithaca
A Fundraiser in Support of Tompkins County Public Library. The fundraiser gives people a space to enjoy quiet reading time, delicious drinks and snacks, and the opportunity to mingle with other booklovers while also supporting the right to read!
Each ticket costs $35, with proceeds benefiting the TCPL Foundation. Each ticket holder receives:
• 1 seat at the party
• 1 Beverage (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)
• Silo Food Truck’s famous fries and dipping sauces
• Snacks and desserts from Kiely’s Cooking
• A book to borrow from a curated selection of TCPL’s collection (or bring your own book!)
Tickets are available at https://tinyurl.com/srpiii
Event sponsored by Carol Bushberg at Warren Real Estate

WenDo Women's Self Defense: 5 Week Series!
2025-04-08 17:30 - 20:00 | Henry St. John Building, 301 S. Geneva Street, Ithaca, 14850
WenDo Women NY is thrilled to offer an amazing and empowering 5 week series of self defense for those who live and identify as women/girls (trans and cis) or AFAB Enby (10+). We’ll be creating space to connect with others and celebrate our power through a WenDo Women’s Self Defense Basic Course over 5 sessions.
This is a 5 week series being held on Tuesday’s from 5:30-8pm beginning April 8th and ending May 6th. Registrants must attend all sessions!
Wen-Do Women’s Self Defense is Canada‘s oldest women’s self-defense program designed and taught by women for women/girls 10+ and I’m thrilled to be bringing it to our community! WenDo Programs are presented from a feminist, anti-oppression and empowerment framework. Techniques are designed for women of all ages, fitness levels, body types, and abilities including women or girls who use assistive devices. Courses offer a combination of discussion, with practical physical skills resulting in an integration of mental and physical preparedness while expressly rejecting victim blaming or “rule setting”.
This Comprehensive Self Defense Series and will include:
*Verbal Self Defense & Yells
*Strikes with hands, feet, & elbows
*Blocks and releases from body holds
*Defense when on the ground or in bed
*Defense against multiple attackers and those with weapons
*Discussions on: Awareness and avoidance, relationship abuse, sexual assault, and harassment

Wednesday Open Mic Night at The Nocturnal Café
2025-04-09 19:00 - 22:00 | The Nocturnal Café, 103 S. Geneva St., Ithaca, 14850
The Nocturnal Café (formerly Sacred Root Kava Lounge & Tea Bar) welcomes you to experience our weekly Open Mic Night hosted by a rotating cast of talented local artists. Come on down to share your song or story! Let’s cultivate shared creativity! Showcase your talents and enjoy the experience of creative connection with a welcoming and supportive audience at Ithaca’s only alcohol-free nightlife destination.

State of the Free Press - Mickey Huff
2025-04-10 16:00 - 19:00 | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
Join Mickey Huff for a conversation on State of the Free Press 2025 with Carolina Cedraschi and Elle Wilcox.
About the Book: In their new book, Project Censored highlights the vital stories that corporate media underreported, exposes rampant news abuse, and tracks emerging threats against the press from financial and political powers.
Every year, Project Censored publishes its State of the Free Press, which takes the pulse of the media and shares the 25 most important but underreported stories of the past year. In STATE OF THE FREE PRESS 2025 (The Censored Press & Seven Stories Press, December 3, 2024, paperback), editors Mickey Huff, Shealeigh Voitl, and Andy Lee Roth look back on a year in which significant news stories lost out to coverage of celebrities and non-events. Tragically, 2024 also stands out as the year that the corporate media failed to adequately cover Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people and the threat it poses to the whole world. With their gaze trained elsewhere, the powerful got a pass from the very institution that should hold them to account.
State of the Free Press 2025 comes at a time when trust in the media is at an all-time low. A 2024 Pew Research Poll found that a remarkable 73 percent of adult Americans believe a free press is either extremely or very important to the well-being of society—though only a third of those polled believe that US media are completely free to report news. Half of those surveyed believe that US news organizations are influenced a great deal by corporate/financial or government/political interests. Reporters Without Borders gave the US a score of 66.59 out of a possible 100 points in their 2024 World Press Freedom Index—a drop of nearly five points from 2023. Last year, the organization labeled US press freedom “satisfactory;” in 2024, they called it “problematic.”
MICKEY HUFF is director of Project Censored and president of the Media Freedom Foundation. To date, he has coedited sixteen volumes of Project Censored’s annual book and contributed numerous chapters to these works dating back to 2008. He is coauthor with Nolan Higdon of United States of Distraction: Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (And What We Can Do About It) [City Lights Books, 2019]; and Let’s Agree to Disagree: A Critical Thinking Guide to Communication, Conflict Management, and Critical Media Literacy (Routledge, 2022). He has taught social science, history, and journalism at Diablo Valley College since 2000. In 2019, Huff received the Beverly Kees Educator Award as part of the James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Society for Professional Journalists, Northern California. He is also the executive producer and host of The Project Censored Show, the weekly syndicated public affairs program that airs on more than 50 stations around the U.S. and originates from KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley, CA. Along with his work with Project Censored, Huff is the new Distinguished Director of the Park Center of Independent Media at Ithaca College and Professor of Journalism at the college’s Roy H. Park School of Communication

Poems by QWERTY - A Reading and Workshop with Carolyn Clark
2025-04-12 16:00 - 19:00 | Buffalo Street Books, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca
Poems by QWERTY, Carolyn Clark’s latest book, expands on her passion of composing lyric poems on an antique typewriter. The reading followed by a small workshop wherein anyone who would like to try their hand at spontaneous poem composition can have the opportunity. Bring your own typewriter if you wish, but another one or two will be available. The goal is to familiarize the local community of Ithaca with the merits of typewriter poetry. Each poem in this delightful new book is from a carbon copy – an artifact of something composed primarily at Ithaca Farmers Markets between in 2023 and 2024. Locally minted at our amazing resource, WordPro of Ithaca.

Dungeons & Dragons 101 (Lesson, Q&A, and Character Creation)
2025-04-12 17:00 - 20:00 | Riverwood, 116 E State St, ITHACA, N, 14850, United States
An awesome FREE opportunity (limited spots) to get into the world of Dungeons and Dragons for folks ages 16+! Have you watched so many live plays but never played yourself? Come on down to Riverwood to learn what the excitement is all about!
Please sign up at the link provided!

Collaborative Worldbuilding Workshop
2025-04-13 14:00 - 17:00 | Riverwood, 116 E State St, ITHACA, N, 14850, United States
Create a world collaboratively to be used for TTRPGs, your next novel, and more! During this workshop, we will work together to create a world from the ground up, and end up with a little universe of our own at the end. Supplies provided, but feel free to bring whatever creative materials you’d like.
We do not want financial barriers to keep folks from our events. Let us know if you want to attend but cannot afford it.
