Arts And Culture

Vanderbilt University Theatre is opening its 2022–23 season with Antigone, an ancient Greek tragedy with timeless lessons about the importance of courage in the face of ruthless power and tyranny. This production, which runs through Oct. 9, marks Seth Soloway’s directing debut for VU Theatre. Read More

We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights and the Nashville Press, 1957-1968, a photography exhibition on loan to Vanderbilt Divinity School from the Frist Art Museum, illuminates key moments in Nashville’s struggle for racial equality, including the leadership of the Rev. James Lawson. Read More

Vanderbilt faculty expertise and collaborations will enhance two Nashville Shakespeare Festival/Kennie Playhouse Theatre productions—Cymbeline and Gem of the Ocean—which open Aug. 18 and 25, respectively, at oneC1TY. Read More

Vanderbilt has named Leah Lowe, a theatre department faculty member who has developed and strengthened ties between the university and Nashville arts community, as director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy. Read More

Vanderbilt Blair School of Music and the Nashville Symphony have announced an expansion of their partnership in the Curb Youth Symphony. Beginning with the 2022–23 school year, Nashville Symphony Associate Conductor Nathan Aspinall will serve as conductor and artistic director of the ensemble.  Read More

Legendary a cappella singer and trailblazer Mark Kibble has joined the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music as an adjunct instructor of jazz voice. Kibble’s appointment begins this fall, and he will direct the vocal jazz ensemble and teach jazz vocals. Read More

Jay Boyer, BA’95, is the founder and CEO of Castability, an app designed to demystify the art—or perhaps the science—of casting actors in productions.  Read More

Vanderbilt Blair School of Music is among the winners of "DownBeat" magazine’s 45th annual Student Music Awards. For the first time in school history, the program received four awards in the same year, bringing its total number of awards from the magazine to nine over the past four years. Read More

Amanda Hellman, an accomplished museum curator with extensive experience developing collection strategies, managing exhibitions, stewarding patrons and empowering creative staff, has been named director of the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery. Read More

Vanderbilt Blair's Eunoia String Quartet, coached by Carolyn Huebl, professor of violin, won the 2022 Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music String competition. They and another Blair student ensemble, the Arsevi Trio, competed as two of only seven national finalists. Read More

Carsen Smith, BA'18, is the co-author of "Alien Summer #1" with James S. Murray of TV's "Impractical Jokers." The book, released March 15 by Penguin, is a middle grade reader and the first in a sci-fi series with female characters at the forefront and a tone that’s more funny than scary. Read More

Recent books written by alumni of Vanderbilt University Read More

Kimberly Welch, associate professor of history and assistant professor of law at Vanderbilt University, has been awarded a 2022 Dan David Prize. The internationally renowned annual award, headquartered at Tel Aviv University, gives prizes of $300,000 each to nine early- to mid-career history scholars whose outstanding contributions expand knowledge of the past, enrich society in the present and promise to improve the future of the world.   Read More

The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery presents "Skyscraper Gothic," a close, interdisciplinary look at the stylistic development of the tall office building, Feb. 14 through May 22. Read More

The intersection of science and society is the foundation of a multi-institutional collaboration of students and faculty in a virtual and physical art exhibit titled "Nested Knowledge: Disentangling History, Truth and Race in STEM Experiences." The exhibit can be experienced online and at the Wond’ry, Vanderbilt’s Innovation Center, through February 2022 in honor of Black History Month. Read More

Vanderbilt Spanish and Portuguese Ph.D. student Elvira Aballi Morell is leading an effort to uplift and inspire Nashville’s Latinx creatives through a trans-institutional and community driven project, HEART–Unifying Communities through Language and Textile Art. Read More

Prolific bestselling novelist James Patterson, MA’70, and country music legend Dolly Parton have collaborated on a novel, Run, Rose, Run, to be published March 7 by Little, Brown and Co. Read More

"Enter Exit Enter," a Vanderbilt Divinity School art exhibition celebrating Black History Month, opens virtually Feb. 1. The portraits and photographs by visual artist Donna Woodley can be viewed online. Read More

Recognizing the long-term historical significance of the signs, posters and stickers encouraging COVID-19 health and safety protocols on campus over the past two years, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies Shaul Kelner has collected these artifacts in a pop-up art installation on the third floor of Garland Hall. Read More

In a new book, 'Gilded Age Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America’s Golden Age,' Cecelia Tichi, research professor of English, explores the history of some of bartending’s most enduring recipes, as well as drinks created for business titans of the day, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt Read More