The University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Physics will open its doors from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18, for its fifth annual Physics Fair.

The family-friendly event, free and open to the public, will feature laboratory tours, hands-on activities, demonstrations and displays. Visitors are invited to chat with scientists and play with exhibits in the Ingersoll Physics Museum.

The event coincides with the 29th annual "Wonders of Physics" presentation by UW-Madison physics professor Clint Sprott.

The department is located in Chamberlin Hall at 1150 University Ave. Free parking is available in lots 17 and 20.

Overture Center Foundation, the private nonprofit organization that took over management of Overture Center for the Arts on Jan. 1, has named longtime performing arts executive Ted DeDee as the new president and CEO of the 200,000 square-foot, seven-venue performing arts center in downtown Madison.

DeDee will be introduced to the community at a news conference Wednesday afternoon at Overture Center for the Arts.

DeDee comes to Madison from New Albany, Ohio, near Columbus, where he oversaw the building and opening of the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts, which opened in 2008. Prior to that, he oversaw the design, building and opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tenn. He has managed a number of performing arts facilities in Tennesee, Dallas and New York State in a career that spans nearly 35 years.

The spring semester will be bursting with arts events across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus during the university's Year of the Wisconsin Idea.

An eclectic and prolific range of modern dance, studio art, theater, performance art, orchestral music, film, and design across the arts disciplines will inspire and delight the university and local communities. The UW-Madison Arts Institute is promoting the most notable of these events as "Arts Night Out: The 2012 Spring Season." Events include: