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MEDIA CONTACT: Stacia Smith
561-297-2971, ssmith@fau.edu
FAU Conference Addresses Art
in Community Spaces
BOCA RATON, FL (March 2, 2004)
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Have you ever wondered how our
community surroundings affect the quality of our lives?
The Public Intellectuals Student Association of the
Ph.D. in Comparative Studies program offered in Florida
Atlantic University's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of
Arts and Letters will explore the power of the arts in
enhancing the quality of community space at the "Arts,
Culture and Society Conference." The conference takes
place on Saturday, March 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
in the Performing Arts Building, Room 101 on FAU's Boca
Raton campus, 777 Glades Road. A public reception will
be held at the Schmidt Center Gallery at 5 p.m. to view
the works of four area artists currently on display.
All sessions are free and open to the public.
During the conference,
world-class speakers will address how creative
thinkers and artists contribute to the use of public
space for positive social change. Attendees will have
the chance to get involved by participating in a
brainstorming session to develop ideas for upgrading
a local community site.
The conference will open with
remarks from FAU President Frank Brogan and Schmidt
College Associate Dean and Director of FAU's Ph.D. in
Comparative Studies Anthony Tamburri. The keynote
address will be delivered by Evan Eisenberg, author
of the highly acclaimed The Ecology of Eden. He will
provide an overview of the role of the arts in
engendering positive social change. Eisenberg's
writings on nature, culture and technology have
appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, Natural
History and other publications.
A second conference speaker will
be sculptor, architect and visiting FAU Eminent Scholar
Michael Singer. He will lead the creative design
session on improving our communities with art. Singer
has received numerous awards, including fellowships
from the National
Endowment for the Arts and the
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His design projects
integrate large-scale public work infrastructures with
aesthetic and community values. Singer's art work has
been displayed in major museums including the
Metropolitan, the Museum of Modern Art and a one-person
show at the Guggenheim.
Other presenters include Tom
Finkelpearl, current executive director of the Queens
Museum of Art, past director of the New York City
Public Art Program and author of Dialogues in Public
Art. He will make a presentation on how artists' work
can change perceptions of social issues. Also, Carol
Gould, a professor in FAU's department of philosophy,
will chair a panel discussion featuring guest
speakers and prominent members of the community.
There will be music and visual
arts presentations throughout the day. One of the
presentations will be by James Cunningham, professor
in FAU's department of music, who will be giving a
demonstration on the ways that sound can be
incorporated into a space.
To encourage young people to
attend the conference, the University Galleries
Museum Education Program will have a program for high
school-aged youths (13-18) including tours of current
FAU art exhibitions and hands-on art activities.
These tours, which will be led by FAU undergraduate
art students, will include a sculpture and video
installation by Miami artist Hernan Bas;
installations in the Schmidt Center Gallery Public
Space by Paul Aho, Francie Bishop Good and Madeline
Denaro; the annual juried FAU student art exhibition
and the Arthur and Mata Jaffe Collection of Artists
Books, a remarkable collection of one-of-a-kind
objects in the University's library. The hands-on art
projects are partially sponsored by the Center for
Holocaust and Human Rights Education, FAU College of
Education.
For information on the full
program, go to www.comparativestudies.fau.edu or
contact Stefanie Gapinski at 561-297-0155. To register
for the student program with the University Galleries,
call 561-297-2966.
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