UA’s Creative Campus to Host Artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph will be in-residence at The University of Alabama March 11-12, Creative Campus announced.

Joseph is one of America’s vital voices in performance, arts education and artistic curation. He has graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine after being named one of America’s Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship (2006). He is the artistic director of “Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices” (HBO) and serves as director of performing arts at Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.

For more information about this residency, visit http://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/marc-bamuthi-joseph-residency/.

COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE: THE CREATIVE ECO-SYSTEM
This event, March 11 at 4:30 p.m. in the Allen Bales Theater, will focus on UA as an interdisciplinary, integrated community for creative and environmental action. Joseph will lead an interactive discussion exploring modes of collaboration, community engagement in the artistic process, and the role of the creative ecosystem in promoting social change.

Participants include Andrew Grace, filmmaker and director of Documenting Justice; Dr. Heather Pleasants, director of community education in the Center for Community Based Partnerships; Nick Corrao, filmmaker, telecommunication and film department faculty member and executive producer of “Alabama Art Seen;” Tia Simone-Gardner, visual artist and master’s student in gender and race studies; and Dr. Eric Weisbard, assistant professor in American studies.

WRITING WORKSHOP WITH UA STUDENTS
A writing workshop with students will take place March 12 at 9:30 a.m. at the Ferguson Center in 300 Mortar Board Room. Open to all undergraduate and graduate students, this session will focus on spoken-word poetry. To participate in this workshop, students should register by visiting http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094BA8AE2AA64-bamuthis.

PEDAGOGY DISCUSSION
On March 12 at 3:30 p.m. in 300 Mortar Board Room of the Ferguson Center, Joseph will facilitate this discussion with notable UA faculty across disciplines including education, film, art and social justice, to discuss creativity and engaged modes of teaching and learning. In Joseph’s popular education model, the “living classroom” is a space of cultural commons and a place ripe for energetic reciprocity.

Joseph’s dynamic engagement model will spark conversation about teaching methodologies across arts-connected content. The event will begin with a performance by Dr. Jennifer Caputo, assistant professor in New College, and her student African Drumming Circle.

Participants in this discussion include Pleasants; Dr. Nirmala Erevelles, professor of education; Grace; Simone-Gardner, visual artist; and Dr. Rachel Raimist, assistant director of Creative Campus and telecommunication and film faculty; and Nancy Boyd, director of community engagement at the Tuscaloosa Public Library.

MARC BAMUTHI JOSEPH: KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
At the Tuscaloosa River Market on March 12 at 7 p.m., Joseph will share stories of his own socially engaged creative practice in the context of larger cultural and political discussions. Joseph’s work advocates for hybrid and interdependent roles of artists, funders and audiences in sustaining American culture in its current moment. This event will feature a special step performance by the Lambda Zeta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. This event is free and open to the public.

This residency is made possible by partnerships including:Through the Doors 50th Anniversary Mini-Grant, University Programs, Arts and Sciences Diversity Initiative, Blount Undergraduate Initiative, department of telecommunication and film, Tuscaloosa River Market, Honors College, Housing and Residential Communities, department of gender and race studies, Snap Decisions Catering and the Center for Community-Based Partnerships.

Under the auspices of UA’s Office of Academic Affairs, Creative Campus is a collaborative system connecting students, faculty and community to nurture innovative thinkers who turn ideas into action.  For more information visit www.creativecampus.ua.edu.