Conversations in the Arts: Up Close With...

Dear Supporter of the Arts,

I hope you will join us for Columbia College Chicago's 2007-08 season of Conversations in the Arts: Up Close With..., a program series that offers in-depth dialogue with some of America's most notable cultural figures in a select and intimate setting.

As a leading innovator in arts, media, and communications education and practice -- and a major player in Chicago's vibrant cultural scene -- Columbia College Chicago is the ideal presenter for this kind of encounter. We enrich lives through access and opportunity in higher education, training a highly diverse student body to author the culture of their times. These graduates in turn enhance the vitality of American life, bringing a multiplicity of voices and visions to their films, dance works, paintings, writings -- all their creative endeavors.

The iconic personalities who join us for Conversations in the Arts exemplify the humanistic qualities and values we bring to education at Columbia College Chicago. Over the past three seasons, legendary figures Lauren Bacall, Ben Vereen, Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andrews, James Earl Jones, Debbie Reynolds, Joan Lunden, Richard Roundtree, Salman Rushdie, and Jane Alexander have delighted our audiences with personal, and often inspiring, stories.

In our fourth season, other remarkable talents in the arts and media will be gracing our South Loop community. Actor and activist Edward James Olmos joined us October 18, 2007.  Best known for his roles as Lt. Martin Castillo in Miami Vice, Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver, and Admiral William Adama in Battlestar Galactica, Olmos captivated and charmed his listeners.  

On February 14, 2008, entertainment legend Diahann Carroll came to Columbia for a special Valentines Day conversation. A Tony and Golden Globe award winner and Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar nominee, Diahan Carroll has most recently guest-starred in a recurring role on Grey's Anatomy and appeared around the country in her new one-woman show.  

Famed Indian-American author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, whose novels include Queen of Dreams and Sister of My Heart, and, most recently, The Palace of Illusions, will be joining us on March 17, 2008. (We regret that the conversation with literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, previously scheduled for this time, has been unavoidably cancelled.) Since this event is held in conjunction with Columbia's Story Week Festival of Writers, please consult the Story Week schedule for updated information.

In the near future, we will be announcing the final guest in our 2007-08 season of Conversations in the Arts. Visit soon for updated information.

Columbia College welcomes you to get Up Close to some of the world's most fascinating cultural legends.


Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D.