Prologue
Found in Cuba: Handmade books illustrate Cuban poetry through repurposed materials
Nov. 3, 2020—Ediciones Vigía, a publishing house in the town of Matanzas, Cuba, began to create handbills and invitations in 1985 for local cultural events. Displayed through March of this year, these works now can be enjoyed again in the online exhibit Found in Cuba: The Ingenuity and Creativity of Ediciones Vigía.
In Charge: Blake-Anthony Johnson takes lessons learned at Blair to the boardroom in Chicago
Nov. 3, 2020—Overcoming daunting challenges is routine for Blake-Anthony Johnson, BMus’12, who in May became CEO of the Chicago Sinfonietta, a pioneering organization in the orchestral world committed to diversity and parity for all.
Accolades
Nov. 3, 2020—A selection of recent accolades awarded to faculty and alumni
Medieval Mindset: Kress Foundation grant allows for expansion of access to medieval and Renaissance works
Nov. 3, 2020—The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery has been selected among spring 2020 applicants to receive support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for an exhibition of medieval and Renaissance artworks.
NEA research grant supports study of diversity initiatives in arts agencies
Jun. 10, 2020—A two-year, $17,000 National Endowment of the Arts research grant will support a Vanderbilt analysis of how the characteristics and practices of more than 500 local arts agencies help or hinder their efforts to expand access to the arts in their communities.
Recent Books, Winter 2020
Feb. 19, 2020—Qualitative Data Collection Tools: Design, Development, and Applications, (2020, Sage Publishers) by Felice D. Billups, EdD’91 This unique supplementary text will guide students and new researchers to design, develop, pilot and employ qualitative tools in order to collect qualitative data. Templates of interview protocols, focus group moderator guides, content analysis tools, document analysis tools, reflective...
On Becoming a Writer: Robert Funke’s Showtime series is funny, angry and original
Feb. 17, 2020—On Becoming a God in Central Florida is an oddly academic-sounding title for a TV show, especially one as kinetic and funny as the Showtime series starring Kirsten Dunst that premiered in August. But as the series’ co-creator Robert Funke, BA’09, explains, the title reflects the nature of the storytelling. “There’s a little bit of...
Equal Time: Student-run concert series shines spotlight on underrepresented artists
Feb. 17, 2020—Many women encounter glass ceilings during their careers. For women composers, those ceilings are seemingly laminated and bulletproof. That’s especially true for women who aspire to write for the world’s great symphonies. No women composers had their music performed last season by the Chicago Symphony, one of the country’s so-called Big Five orchestras. The same...
Reimagining a Lost Book
Feb. 17, 2020—Artists from the United States, Cuba and Haiti envision social change through reinterpretation of a lost work Visionary Aponte: Art and Black Freedom brings together 20 contemporary artists working across a range of media to interpret an extraordinary—and now lost—historical artifact: a so-called “Book of Paintings” created by José Antonio Aponte, a 19th-century Afro-Cuban revolutionary...
On Fire
Feb. 17, 2020—Nothing to See Here (2019, Ecco/HarperCollins), the latest novel by Kevin Wilson, BA’00, explores female friendship, along with the question of how to raise spontaneously combustible twins. In its review, Kirkus says, “One of his greatest strengths is the ability to craft an everyday family drama and inject it with one odd element that turns...
Mind’s Eye: Vanderbilt performing arts groups put on a show for first-year students
Nov. 7, 2019—During their first week at Vanderbilt, first-year students are met with an overwhelming number of organizations vying for their attention. However, the Vanderbilt Performing Arts Community grabs the interest of new students the old-fashioned, time-tested way: They put on a show. VPAC has been producing the Spotlight Showcase for several years to demonstrate the breadth...
Accolade: Mel Chin named ‘genius’ artist
Nov. 7, 2019—Visionary artist Mel Chin, BA’75, was named Sept. 25 among the class of 26 MacArthur Fellows for 2019. Given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and known colloquially as the “genius” grant, the fellowship honors “extraordinary originality” and comes with a no-strings-attached grant of $625,000, to be distributed over five years. Chin,...