Step into the tranquil world of Bob Ross with this unique exhibition highlighting a collection of his beloved cabin paintings.

Step into the tranquil world of Bob Ross with this unique exhibition highlighting a collection of his beloved cabin paintings. Each work on display features cozy cabins—often the only sign of humans in his work—nestled in serene landscapes. This exhibition offers a look at both the familiar and the unexpected in Ross's celebrated artistic legacy.

It's that time of year again! Come get a unique, handmade glass pumpkin at the annual sale! Event made possible by the Ball State Glass Alliance and Minnetrista Museum and Gardens.

The Farmers Market is the perfect place to discover fresh produce, baked goods, plants, eggs, meats, and more! Connect with local vendors and experience what our community has to offer.

Every Saturday through October

9 a.m.–Noon

Location:  Main Parking Lot

Free Community Event

Snap, Snap Double Up, and eFMNP (WIC FMNP and SFMNP) are accepted at participating vendors, making it easy for everyone to enjoy local treasures. Stop by our Minnetrista info booth at the market to swipe your SNAP/EBT card to get your vouchers for the amount you’d like to spend. We will match up to $20 in SNAP credits ($40) total.  To learn more about this program, please refer to Double Up Indiana. Don’t miss out on this delightful experience!

The outdoor market season is presented by 3Rivers Federal Credit Union.  

This is a Weekly Recurring Event

Runs from Aug 2, 2025 to Oct 25, 2025 and happens every:

Saturdays: 9:00am - 12:00pm Timezone: EDT

Visitors will feel like they are stepping into a beloved children’s storybook as they encounter whimsical scenes and engaging sensory activities in this nature-inspired experience. Designed to help build confidence and cultivate scientific curiosity, children will discover and learn about animals that emerge in their neighborhoods and local forests after the sun goes down.

June 7 through November 2, 2025

Location: Center Building, Gallery 1 & 2

Cost: Included with your admission ticket

Good Night Forest is organized and produced by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, with support from Ball Brothers Foundation and George and Frances Ball Foundation.

This is a Weekly Recurring Event

Runs from Jun 7, 2025 to Nov 2, 2025 and happens every:

Wednesdays: 9:00am - 12:00pm Timezone: EDT

Thursdays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Fridays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Saturdays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Sundays: 12:00pm - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Bring your little ones to Storytime Saturday! Join one of our experience guides for a cozy storytime perfect for children 5 and under and their families. Each month, we’ll feature a special seasonal story that celebrates the time of year.  

Saturdays; 11:30 a.m.

Location: Betty’s Cabin

Free Community Activity

Betty’s Cabin Activities are presented in partnership with Patterson Block Muncie.

This is a Weekly Recurring Event

Runs from Aug 2, 2025 to Dec 27, 2025 and happens every:

Saturdays: 11:30am - 11:50am Timezone: EDT

Ages 8-13 are invited to join us for a fun and creative painting workshop where they'll learn Bob Ross's signature "wet-on-wet" technique! Guided by our instructor, young artists will explore the world of oil painting and create their very own beautiful masterpiece, just like the iconic painter himself. No experience necessary—just bring your creativity and let your imagination flow!

Pre-registration is strongly preferred; limited walk-in tickets may be available—please call ahead.

This workshop is in partnership with Ball State Public Media and Bob Ross Inc.

Celebrate artistry and joy at Happy Little Fest, honoring the beloved Bob Ross, his lasting legacy, and his famous “happy little” approach to art. Spend the day surrounded by all things Bob—watch live painting demos, view original Bob Ross masterpieces, and test your knowledge with Bob Ross trivia. Hop on a shuttle to explore WIPB’s studio at Ball State University, where later seasons of “The Joy of Painting” were filmed, then refuel with refreshing drinks and delicious bites from local food trucks. Enjoy live music from local artists and take part in the Bob Ross Look-Alike Competition!

Want to paint like Bob? Purchase a $55 ticket for one of our Bob Ross Painting Workshops—kids paint at 1 p.m. and adults at 3 p.m.—and create your own “happy little” masterpiece to take home. No experience necessary—just bring your creativity and let your imagination flow! Preregistration is strongly preferred for painting workshops; limited walk-in tickets may be available—please call ahead.

Please note: Your Happy Little Fest ticket covers admission to Minnetrista Museum & Gardens ticketed exhibitions (including the "Bob Ross Experience").

Happy Little Fest is presented in partnership with Ball State PBS, Bob Ross Inc., and Minnetrista Museum & Gardens.

This event is made possible by the generous support of Bob Ross, Inc., Masters Insurance, Dillman's Furniture and Mattress, and Parker Electrical Service.

Image: Lamar Richcreek (American, 1947–2018), Untitled from the Series Ideal Farm, 2004, chromogenic color print, gift of Jean Richcreek, 2024.006.011.

September 18 – December 19, 2025

Ball State alumnus Lamar Richcreek (1947–2018) earned a degree in business administration in 1969. After a 24-year career in banking, he launched a second career in photography. In his 50s, he returned to school, earned an MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and taught for 20 years as an adjunct professor of photography at the Herron School of Art + Design in Indianapolis. His success as a fine art photographer resulted in a solo exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2002.

Like the pastoral genre in literature, art, and music, Lamar Richcreek’s photographs often present nostalgic visual stories of Indiana’s agricultural landscape inflected by his business perspective. He once wrote in an artist’s statement, “My views of the landscape, agriculture and the family farm are romanticized ones, originating from childhood experiences and visits to my grandfather’s farm in Central Indiana. In the aftermath of World War II and during the Cold War years, the Midwest saw the creation of global markets for farm products and the development of technological advances that were invented to increase production for improved and insured profitability, all of which transformed American farming. These transformations favored agri-businesses and multi-national corporations, thereby altering the viability of the traditional family farm. This change occurred over time without my realizing its impact.”

Lamar Richcreek’s photography testifies to the effects of the post-war economic-agricultural boom in the Midwest through his images with surreal settings, witty juxtapositions, and sublime scenery. A recent donation of art from his wife, Jean Richcreek (1948–2025), to the David Owsley Museum of Art allows subsequent generations to view the corporatization of farming in Indiana through Lamar Richcreek’s creative lens. We are also grateful to Ball State alumnus Thomas Murphy (‘69) for his recent philanthropic investment in DOMA in memory of Lamar and Jean Richcreek.  

Image: Pierre Daura (American, born Spain, 1896–1976), designs for Cercle et Carré logo, 1929. Pen and ink on paper, 9 3/4 × 6 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Martha Randolph Daura. 2011.125.

September 18 – December 19, 2025

Hours: 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (Tuesday–Friday)
           1:30–4:30 p.m. (Saturday)

In Paris in 1929, Belgian painter and critic Michel Seuphor (1901–1999), Uruguayan painter and theorist Joaquín Torres-García (1874–1949), and Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura (1896–1976) founded an influential but short-lived artistic group named Circle and Square, after the geometric shapes fundamental to abstract art.  The group attracted more than eighty international artists including Jean Arp (1886–1966), Le Corbusier (1887–1965), Alexandra Exter (1882–1949), Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), Nadia Khodasevich Léger (1904–1987), Fernand Léger (1881–1955), and Sophie Täuber-Arp (1889–1943), among other famous and lesser-known personalities in the Parisian art world. Cercle et Carré and the International Spirit of Abstract Art showcases more than sixty works by thirty of Cercle et Carré’s participants, as well as outlines the formation of the group and its artistic legacy.

The exhibition was organized by the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, with the addition of works from the collection of the David Owsley Museum of Art. Generous support for the exhibition was provided by the Daura Foundation.

Learn Bob’s signature “wet-on-wet” technique from an experienced Certified Ross Instructor® and paint at Minnetrista! Just bring yourself, and we will provide everything you need to have a wonderful time. Just like Bob said, “Let’s get crazy!”

This workshop will take place in the Cantina, a ground-level, fully accessible space. Pre-registration is strongly preferred. Limited walk-in seating may be available, so please call ahead. Painting workshops are open to participants ages 14 and up.

Please note: Admission to the Bob Ross Experience exhibition is not included with workshop registration. All attendees must be registered to participate. Contact our front desk at 765.282.4848 for more information.

This workshop is in partnership with Ball State Public Media and Bob Ross Inc.

Saturdays: Oct. 18, 25 at 3:30 p.m.
 

Develop an understanding of the danger of space junk and humanity’s Moon exploration while following adventurous cat astronauts that fly to the Moon!
Best suited for families and groups with kids ages 6+; all ages are welcome.

Plan Your Visit to the Planetarium
 

Please Note: Programs start promptly at the advertised time. Doors close once full or 15 minutes after showtime, and no entry is permitted after that time.

Fridays: Oct. 17, 24 at 5:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.
Saturdays: Oct. 18, 25 at 5:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.
 

Think Halloween is just candy and costumes? Discover its astronomical roots as a “cross-quarter day” and find out what stars and planets will light up your Halloween sky!
Suitable for all ages 8+; all ages are welcome.

Plan Your Visit to the Planetarium
 

Please Note: Programs start promptly at the advertised time. Doors close once full or 15 minutes after showtime, and no entry is permitted after that time.

Fridays: Oct. 17, 24 at 5:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.
Saturdays: Oct. 18, 25 at 5:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.
 

Think Halloween is just candy and costumes? Discover its astronomical roots as a “cross-quarter day” and find out what stars and planets will light up your Halloween sky!
Suitable for all ages 8+; all ages are welcome.

Plan Your Visit to the Planetarium
 

Please Note: Programs start promptly at the advertised time. Doors close once full or 15 minutes after showtime, and no entry is permitted after that time.

Get ready for a night of soul, passion, and the timeless music of Marvin Gaye, brought to life by L. Young’s powerhouse vocals and dynamic stage presence. From the smooth grooves of Let’s Get It On to the soul-stirring messages of What’s Going On, expect to sing, dance, and celebrate the legacy of one of music’s greatest icons. Co-starring pop sensation Crystal Starr as Tammi Terrell.

This is one soul train party you don’t wanna miss!

Based on the stories by the Grimm Brothers
Adapted for the stage by Alison Gregory
Music by Hummie Mann
Directed by Donna Seage

Music Directed by Debbie Hill

Choreographed by Olivia Bullock

October 17, 18, 21-25 at 7:30 p.m. | October 19 at 2:30 p.m. | Korsgaard Dance Studio

When Billy the goat, Slim the pig, and Nell the cat overhear the Farmer and his Wife plotting to get rid of Donny the donkey, they rush to warn their friend. Dreamer that he is, Donny decides to escape and pursue his dream of becoming a famous musician in Brementown. Along the way, he’s joined by Minnie, a retired show dog, and later Nell, both eager to find a new future. As the mismatched group tries to make music together, their noisy efforts may not be music to the ears—but their journey is full of heart, humor, and second chances.

Produced by special arrangement with Plays for New Audiences.

Tickets

Tickets are available through the College of Fine Arts Box Office located at Sursa Hall in person, by phone at 765-285-8749, or online.

General Public: $15 in advance, $17 at the door
Faculty/Staff/Students/Seniors: $12 in advance, $14 at the door

Attention all ghosts and goblins,  ghouls and witches, the Muncie Eagles 231 is having a Halloween party that's sure to be more fun than any spell you could conjure up in your cauldron. Costumes optional,  but there's a best dressed contest. Karaoke and ice cold beverages will also be available. Open to the public, so bring your friends and come join us.

Visitors will feel like they are stepping into a beloved children’s storybook as they encounter whimsical scenes and engaging sensory activities in this nature-inspired experience. Designed to help build confidence and cultivate scientific curiosity, children will discover and learn about animals that emerge in their neighborhoods and local forests after the sun goes down.

June 7 through November 2, 2025

Location: Center Building, Gallery 1 & 2

Cost: Included with your admission ticket

Good Night Forest is organized and produced by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, with support from Ball Brothers Foundation and George and Frances Ball Foundation.

This is a Weekly Recurring Event

Runs from Jun 7, 2025 to Nov 2, 2025 and happens every:

Wednesdays: 9:00am - 12:00pm Timezone: EDT

Thursdays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Fridays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Saturdays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Sundays: 12:00pm - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Halloween Extravaganza

Join us for a spooktacular time at Muncie Children's Museum's annual 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐚 on Sunday, October 26th from 1pm-4:30pm! This family-friendly event offers Halloween games & crafts, face painting, cake walk, and trick-or-treat stations throughout the museum. Costumes are encouraged! 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.
𝑴𝑪𝑴 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔: FREE
𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏: $8 per person, children under the age of 1 are free.
𝑴𝑪𝑴 𝑨𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑨𝒍𝒍: $1 per person/$5 max per family. Visit our website to learn more about our reduced admission program: www.munciemuseum.com/mcm-access-for-all

Muncie Stitch n' Bitch meets every Sunday! 🧶 We meet weekly at The Cup at 3p. Everyone is welcome, with any kind of making! The Cup is in The Village, near the campus of Ball State University, at 1606 West University Avenue. Free parking is behind the café, enter the parking lot off of Dill Street by Be Here Now. Support our host venue with purchases from The Cup’s menu! ☕️🥯 Creativity and caffeine, that's our thing! 

Please join us for Cuplets, live “open mic” poetry at The Cup! 🎙️ Everyone is welcome! Read your words! Read the words of others! Come to enjoy others reading words! We are all looking forward to listening to everyone’s words! 

Cuplets is for fellowship, not critique. We all clap at all the poems and we want to make friends. You CAN sit with us, every 4th Sunday at 5p. The Cup is in The Village, near the campus of Ball State University, at 1606 West University Avenue in Muncie, Indiana - parking is in the back. Please support our host small business venue with your purchase from their menu as admission to Cuplets! ☕️ 🥯 

∙ Cuplets has a YouTube Channel! 🍿 Check it out:

YouTube.com/Muncie.Cuplets

∙ Cuplets Facebook Group:

Facebook.com/groups/1596819023887658

∙ The Cup is on Instagram:

Instagram.com/TheCupInTheVillage

Image: Lamar Richcreek (American, 1947–2018), Untitled from the Series Ideal Farm, 2004, chromogenic color print, gift of Jean Richcreek, 2024.006.011.

September 18 – December 19, 2025

Ball State alumnus Lamar Richcreek (1947–2018) earned a degree in business administration in 1969. After a 24-year career in banking, he launched a second career in photography. In his 50s, he returned to school, earned an MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and taught for 20 years as an adjunct professor of photography at the Herron School of Art + Design in Indianapolis. His success as a fine art photographer resulted in a solo exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2002.

Like the pastoral genre in literature, art, and music, Lamar Richcreek’s photographs often present nostalgic visual stories of Indiana’s agricultural landscape inflected by his business perspective. He once wrote in an artist’s statement, “My views of the landscape, agriculture and the family farm are romanticized ones, originating from childhood experiences and visits to my grandfather’s farm in Central Indiana. In the aftermath of World War II and during the Cold War years, the Midwest saw the creation of global markets for farm products and the development of technological advances that were invented to increase production for improved and insured profitability, all of which transformed American farming. These transformations favored agri-businesses and multi-national corporations, thereby altering the viability of the traditional family farm. This change occurred over time without my realizing its impact.”

Lamar Richcreek’s photography testifies to the effects of the post-war economic-agricultural boom in the Midwest through his images with surreal settings, witty juxtapositions, and sublime scenery. A recent donation of art from his wife, Jean Richcreek (1948–2025), to the David Owsley Museum of Art allows subsequent generations to view the corporatization of farming in Indiana through Lamar Richcreek’s creative lens. We are also grateful to Ball State alumnus Thomas Murphy (‘69) for his recent philanthropic investment in DOMA in memory of Lamar and Jean Richcreek.  

Image: Pierre Daura (American, born Spain, 1896–1976), designs for Cercle et Carré logo, 1929. Pen and ink on paper, 9 3/4 × 6 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Martha Randolph Daura. 2011.125.

September 18 – December 19, 2025

Hours: 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (Tuesday–Friday)
           1:30–4:30 p.m. (Saturday)

In Paris in 1929, Belgian painter and critic Michel Seuphor (1901–1999), Uruguayan painter and theorist Joaquín Torres-García (1874–1949), and Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura (1896–1976) founded an influential but short-lived artistic group named Circle and Square, after the geometric shapes fundamental to abstract art.  The group attracted more than eighty international artists including Jean Arp (1886–1966), Le Corbusier (1887–1965), Alexandra Exter (1882–1949), Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), Nadia Khodasevich Léger (1904–1987), Fernand Léger (1881–1955), and Sophie Täuber-Arp (1889–1943), among other famous and lesser-known personalities in the Parisian art world. Cercle et Carré and the International Spirit of Abstract Art showcases more than sixty works by thirty of Cercle et Carré’s participants, as well as outlines the formation of the group and its artistic legacy.

The exhibition was organized by the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, with the addition of works from the collection of the David Owsley Museum of Art. Generous support for the exhibition was provided by the Daura Foundation.

Image: Lamar Richcreek (American, 1947–2018), Untitled from the Series Ideal Farm, 2004, chromogenic color print, gift of Jean Richcreek, 2024.006.011.

September 18 – December 19, 2025

Ball State alumnus Lamar Richcreek (1947–2018) earned a degree in business administration in 1969. After a 24-year career in banking, he launched a second career in photography. In his 50s, he returned to school, earned an MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and taught for 20 years as an adjunct professor of photography at the Herron School of Art + Design in Indianapolis. His success as a fine art photographer resulted in a solo exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2002.

Like the pastoral genre in literature, art, and music, Lamar Richcreek’s photographs often present nostalgic visual stories of Indiana’s agricultural landscape inflected by his business perspective. He once wrote in an artist’s statement, “My views of the landscape, agriculture and the family farm are romanticized ones, originating from childhood experiences and visits to my grandfather’s farm in Central Indiana. In the aftermath of World War II and during the Cold War years, the Midwest saw the creation of global markets for farm products and the development of technological advances that were invented to increase production for improved and insured profitability, all of which transformed American farming. These transformations favored agri-businesses and multi-national corporations, thereby altering the viability of the traditional family farm. This change occurred over time without my realizing its impact.”

Lamar Richcreek’s photography testifies to the effects of the post-war economic-agricultural boom in the Midwest through his images with surreal settings, witty juxtapositions, and sublime scenery. A recent donation of art from his wife, Jean Richcreek (1948–2025), to the David Owsley Museum of Art allows subsequent generations to view the corporatization of farming in Indiana through Lamar Richcreek’s creative lens. We are also grateful to Ball State alumnus Thomas Murphy (‘69) for his recent philanthropic investment in DOMA in memory of Lamar and Jean Richcreek.  

Image: Pierre Daura (American, born Spain, 1896–1976), designs for Cercle et Carré logo, 1929. Pen and ink on paper, 9 3/4 × 6 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Martha Randolph Daura. 2011.125.

September 18 – December 19, 2025

Hours: 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (Tuesday–Friday)
           1:30–4:30 p.m. (Saturday)

In Paris in 1929, Belgian painter and critic Michel Seuphor (1901–1999), Uruguayan painter and theorist Joaquín Torres-García (1874–1949), and Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura (1896–1976) founded an influential but short-lived artistic group named Circle and Square, after the geometric shapes fundamental to abstract art.  The group attracted more than eighty international artists including Jean Arp (1886–1966), Le Corbusier (1887–1965), Alexandra Exter (1882–1949), Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), Nadia Khodasevich Léger (1904–1987), Fernand Léger (1881–1955), and Sophie Täuber-Arp (1889–1943), among other famous and lesser-known personalities in the Parisian art world. Cercle et Carré and the International Spirit of Abstract Art showcases more than sixty works by thirty of Cercle et Carré’s participants, as well as outlines the formation of the group and its artistic legacy.

The exhibition was organized by the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, with the addition of works from the collection of the David Owsley Museum of Art. Generous support for the exhibition was provided by the Daura Foundation.

Visitors will feel like they are stepping into a beloved children’s storybook as they encounter whimsical scenes and engaging sensory activities in this nature-inspired experience. Designed to help build confidence and cultivate scientific curiosity, children will discover and learn about animals that emerge in their neighborhoods and local forests after the sun goes down.

June 7 through November 2, 2025

Location: Center Building, Gallery 1 & 2

Cost: Included with your admission ticket

Good Night Forest is organized and produced by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, with support from Ball Brothers Foundation and George and Frances Ball Foundation.

This is a Weekly Recurring Event

Runs from Jun 7, 2025 to Nov 2, 2025 and happens every:

Wednesdays: 9:00am - 12:00pm Timezone: EDT

Thursdays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Fridays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Saturdays: 9:00am - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Sundays: 12:00pm - 5:00pm Timezone: EDT

Step into a hauntingly evocative journey through time on a guided tour of the Minnetrista Heritage Collection with Archivist Susan Smith and Collections Manager Mindy Price. This immersive experience takes you behind-the-scenes to explore where the boundaries between medicine and mortality intertwine. Examine artifacts not currently on public display and learn more about funerary traditions and medical marvels of the past.

This tour is best suited for guests ages 13 and older and includes standing, stairs, and exposure to loud HVAC noise. Pre-registration is strongly preferred; limited walk-in tickets may be available—please call ahead. If you need accommodations, please notify us in advance.

About

Enjoy a concert of standard jazz favorites and original compositions with the Ball State University Jazz Ensembles. The ensembles are under the direction of Mark Buselli.

Learn more about the Ball State University Jazz Ensembles.

Tickets

Tickets available through the College of Fine Arts Box Office located at Sursa Hall starting August 1. 

Prices

• General Public: $8 in advance / $10 at the door
• Seniors: $5 in advance / $7 at the door
• BSU Faculty/Staff: $5 in advance / $7 at the door
• Students: free* in advance / $5 at the door
  *One (1) free student ticket per ID is available in advance (before 5 p.m. on the night of the concert) at the College of Fine Arts Box Office

Purchase Options

• ONLINE
• Phone: 765-285-8749
• In person: Monday through Friday from Noon to 5 p.m., or starting 1 hour before the performance

**Please note: As part of our commitment to sustainability, all College of Fine Arts tickets are paperless and are accessible via email confirmation. Your confirmation email contains your digital tickets which can be scanned at the door from your mobile device, or you can print your digital tickets at home to be scanned. There is no need to visit Will Call prior to the performance.

Parking

Parking is available in the McKinley Parking Garage (entrance on Ashland Avenue) located immediately south of Sursa Hall. Metered parking is available on the first floor of the garage until 7 p.m. at which time parking is free.