Photos: NIU Steelband performs at DePue school

Members of the Northern Illinois University Steelband performs for students on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, at DePue School. The band was created in 1973. The NIU Steelband brings versatility and profundity of the steelpan, the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. Most of the students in the band are from Trinidad and Tobago, Belize Antigua and Barbuda. The NIU Steelband is the first active steelband formed at an American university. NIU is also one of the few institutions in the world at which students may pursue undergraduate and graduate music degrees with the steelpan as the major instrument of choice. Funding for the NIU Steelband visit to DePue was provided in part by the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation, Illinois Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. (Scott Anderson)