Collecting for pets

Transportation, Mail and Fleet Services staff members are holding their annual Paws for the Season drive, collecting pet food and supplies through Dec. 17 for local animal shelters.

Needed items include food, toys, collars, leashes, bedding, cat litter, paper towels, hand sanitizer and latex gloves. Donations will be tallied and loaded for distribution to shelters Dec. 20.

Donation boxes have been set up at several locations, including Day Hall. A full list of collection locations is available online, or contact transportation@cornell.edu for more information.

Christmas Vespers

The Department of Music presents Christmas Vespers in Sage Chapel, Sunday and Monday, Dec. 2-3, at 7:30 p.m., with the Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club, conductor John Rowehl and organist Annette Richards. Free and open to the public.

The candlelit Lessons and Carols services, an annual holiday tradition on campus, will feature traditional readings by members of the Cornell community, with audience participation on familiar Christmas hymns.

Rowehl also conducts the Cornell Chorale in "Winter Light," Nov. 30, 8 p.m. in Sage Chapel; featuring Persichetti's "Winter Cantata," the premiere of Niccolo Athens' "How the Winter Breezes Blow" and Morten Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna." Free and open.

Photo shoot

The second annual Pet Holiday Photo Shoot will be held Sunday, Dec. 2, from noon to 3 p.m. in Schurman Hall's James Law Lobby.

There is a $5 sitting fee per photo. Personalized holiday cards are available for an additional fee. Scenes include Christmas, Winter Wonderland and Hanukkah. A selection of accessories will be available, and owners are welcome to bring props.

Owners are asked to ensure before coming to the shoot that their pet has an up-to-date rabies vaccination, in accordance with New York state law. Presented by the professional veterinary fraternity Omega Tau Sigma and the Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Information: cbs259@cornell.edu.

Farm living

Author Kristin Kimball will speak about farming, food and the transition from city to country life, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. in Kaufmann Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Free and open to the public.

Kimball and her husband, Mark, founded Essex Farm in Essex, N.Y., in 2004 as a year-round, full-diet community-supported agriculture farm. She documents her journey from Harvard-educated freelance writer to full-time farmer in her 2010 book, "The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food and Love."

Presented by the Farmers' Market at Cornell; co-sponsored by the CALS Advisory Board and Ithaca College.

Cinema changes

Cornell Cinema's Dec. 2 program of student films has been canceled; Steven Soderbergh's "Magic Mike" will be shown instead at 7:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre.

New and recent student films will screen Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. The program features narrative and documentary work by students of film instructor Jeff Palmer. Tickets are $5-$8.

Cornell Cinema also presents "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (2012), Nov. 30-Dec. 2, in its "Alums Make Movies" series (Kathryn Schubert '05 is assistant editor on the film); "Anchorman" with Will Ferrell, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. (students $3); and an encore screening of the anti-fracking concert film "Dear Governor Cuomo," Dec. 5 at 7:15 p.m. The film features Joan Osborne, Natalie Merchant, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Horse Flies, and actors Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo. The screening will be followed by a Q-and-A with a representative from the Finger Lakes Clean Waters Initiative.

Andy Gillis

From left, Zoe Jackson '16, George Moujaes '14 and Rose Sosa '15 are among the featured dancers in the Mini-Locally Grown Dance Festival, Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

Dance and musical

The Department of Performing and Media Arts presents the Mini-Locally Grown Dance Festival, Nov. 29-30 and Dec. 1 at 8 p.m., in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts' Class of '56 Dance Theatre.

The fall dance concert will feature diverse work by student and faculty choreographers and is directed by Jumay Chu.

The Schwartz Center also hosts the last two performances of the musical "Adding Machine," Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Kiplinger Theatre.

Tickets are $5 each for the dance festival shows, $10 students and senior citizens and $12 general for "Adding Machine," available at the Schwartz Center box office, 430 College Ave. (open 12:30-4 p.m. weekdays), http://www.schwartztickets.com or by calling 607-254-ARTS.