CULLOWHEE – Students from the Western Carolina University dance program will team up with the university’s own Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet to present a free concert of various musical and dance styles at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, in the Coulter Building recital hall.

The program will feature songs from several eras, including Strauss’s “Blue Danube Waltz,” the jazz standard “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “America” from the Broadway musical “West Side Story.” A wide range of dance styles also will be demonstrated, including bal let, swing and tango. Several pieces were choreographed especially for the students by Karyn Tomczak, WCU’s dance program director.

CULLOWHEE – The annual Spring Literary Festival at Western Carolina University will be held this year from Sunday, April 3, though Thursday, April 7, on the WCU campus.

The festival, in its ninth year, has a long tradition of bringing established and emerging literary talent to Western North Carolina. All Spring Literary Festival events are free and the public is invited. Unless otherwise noted, events take place in the theater of the A.K. Hinds University Center. Authors will sign works after each reading.

It’s a busy spring at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University, with exhibits, receptions and a sale of handmade items all in April. The annual juried exhibit of artwork by WCU students will run from Thursday, April 7, to Friday, May 6, at the museum. An opening reception and award ceremony for that exhibit will be held at 4 p.m. April 7 in the Star Lobby adjacent to the museum, located in the Fine and Performing Arts Center.

The Scottish Museum will celebrate “Tartan Day,” April 6th, commemorating the signing of the “Treaty of Arbroathe,” the document of Scottish Independence signed by the Scottish chiefs in 1320. The museum features a copy of the Treaty in its collection.

According to historian Arthur Herman, the Bishop of Abroathe sent the Treaty to the Pope, who was the strongest secular and religious leader in Europe at the time. The Treaty proclaimed separation from England and gave Scotland relief from English advances for several hundred years.