Kick-off Events
Fall 2007 Kickoff Events
9/24: 4:30 pm Conaway Center
Poverty & Privilege Film Series
Columbia College Graduate Students of Film Present: Perspectives on Poverty & Privilege (90 minutes)
Screening and discussion. Themes of these short films include: war crimes, workers rights, artistic freedom, gender bias, class struggle, cultural conflict between old school and new school animation, poverty of pessimism, racial justice, teen pregnancy…
• “Merci” (12 minutes). Directed by Paul Cales.
• “Elemental” (9 minutes). Directed by Christopher O’Brien.
• “Improvisation” (11 minutes). Directed by Zack Litwack.
• “Tiffin” (15 minutes). Directed by Chor Ai Lene.
• “The Animation Reel” (10 minutes). Directed by a host of animators.
• “Half” (4 minutes). Directed by Ben Alagna.
• “Namibia, Brasil” (7 minutes). Directed by Miguel Silveira.
• “Athina” (7 minutes). Directed by Erika Valenciana.
• “Girls Room” (10 minutes) Directed by Maria Gigante.
9/24: 6 – 7:30 pm Conaway Center
Voters’ Self-Defense System, 2008 Edition –
An Evening with Project Vote Smart Founder Richard Kimball.
www.vote-smart.org.
9/25: 12:30 – 2 pm Conaway Center
Body Language: Inter-Cultural Exchange in Choreography
A panel discussion featuring: Margaret Jenkins, Artistic Director of Margaret Jenkins
Dance Company based in San Francisco, CA; Tanusree Shankar, Artistic
Director of Tanusree Shankar Dance Company based in Calcutta, India; and Celia Bambara, Co-Artistic Director of CCBdance Project based in Chicago, IL.
Dance and choreography often cross borders without patrol. Body Language will provoke dialogue with questions relating to intercultural exchange in dance, such as: How are choreographers navigating hybridity, inter-cultural exchange, and interpretation in culturally influenced dance? How do spiritual and intellectual values factor into inter-cultural exchanges in dancemaking? How does engagement with and awareness of poverty and privilege challenge ideas of what is valuable, personally, politically, and creatively?
9/26 2 pm Conaway Center
Critical Encounters Salon: Of Beetles & Angels
Featuring author Mawi Asgedom
The true story of a young boy’s remarkable journey: from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. Following his father’s advice to “treat all people – even the most unsightly beetles – as though they were angels sent from heaven,” Mawi overcomes the challenges of racial prejudice, language barriers, and financial disadvantage to build a successful life for himself in his new home.
9/26 5:30 pm Conaway Center
Poverty & Privilege Town Hall Forum
Featured Panelists to include: Amy Rynell (Director, Mid-America Institute on Poverty, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights), Marca Bristo (President and CEO, Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago), Reverend Doris Green (Director of Community Affairs, AIDS Foundation of Chicago), Richard L. Jones, PhD (President and CEO, Metropolitan Family Services), Ngoan Le (Vice President of Programs, Chicago Community Trust), and Douglas Mann (President, Global Business Assist). Moderator: Shanita Akintonde (Professor, Marketing Communication, Columbia College Chicago).
Critical Encounters and the Institute for the Study of Women & Gender in the Arts & Media co-host a Town Hall Forum to begin a layered and complicated discussion engaging our ideas, perceptions and knowledge about poverty and privilege. The panelists will include activists, civic and community leaders, whose professional and personal work is directly related to these broad issues from a variety of perspectives, including: justice, equity, access, health, education, employment, faith, economic development, and participation. The mission of Critical Encounters and the goal of this program is to foster engaged discussions which serve as catalysts to generate new knowledge and understanding, begin to create shifts in attitudes and perceptions, and encourage civic activism.
9/27: 6 pm: Conaway Center
Poverty in Chicago
A Film by Columbia College Graduate Student Brian Schodorf
Followed by a discussion with the film makers.
Poverty in Chicago documents the conditions experienced by Chicago’s estimated 110,000 homeless residents. “I’ve told you, now I’m going to show you,” says one homeless man who leads the film crew into a raw look at the realities of life on the streets and the in neighborhoods of Chicago.
9/28: 6 pm Conaway Center
Life After Katrina
A film by Columbia College students
7:30 pm: a discussion with the filmmakers.
Sponsored by Reach Out, the Office of Student Life, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Center for Community Arts Partnerships
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina moved across the southeastern-costal region of the United States of America and became the costliest and most devastating natural disaster in the history of this country. Nearly two years later, relief efforts are mostly from volunteers and donations. Students from Columbia College Chicago have traveled to Mississippi and Louisiana to volunteer and join in rebuilding efforts. Life After Katrina tells the stories they collected along the way.
All events will be held at 1104 S Wabash Avenue
9/24 – 28 Conaway Center
Life After Katrina: 18 months later: the photographs
Sponsored by Reach Out, the Office of Student Life, and Critical Encounters
A weeklong exhibition of photography by students featuring images captured in March 2007, while students, faculty, and staff contributed over 1,500 service hours of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. These images represent the spirit, beauty, and devastating reality of post-Katrina New Orleans.
8/27 – 10/16 Glass Curtain Gallery
Vodou Riche: Contemporary Haitian Art
A group exhibition of recent work created within the social, political and spiritual context of Vodou, Haiti’s national religion. The artists embrace a history of appropriating imagery and incorporating found objects, a practice born from necessity and great invention. Part of Columbia’s Critical Encounters focus, Poverty and Privilege, Vodou Riche challenges Haiti’s oft-used label “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere” by presenting the abundance and wealth of Haiti’s creative output. While their country battles socioeconomic problems, Haitian artists embrace the richness of their culture by capturing Haiti’s irrepressible, vibrant and triumphant spirit.
colum.edu/criticalencounters
Each month, Critical Encounters will feature a text that explores issues of Poverty & Privilege. You are invited to read the text and to join our conversations. The selected texts for Fall 2007 are:
September: Of Beatles and Angels by Mawi Asgedom
October: White Privilege: Essential Reading on the Other Side of Racism by Paula Rothenberg
November: Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus
December: Class Matters by the New York Times and Bill Keller
9/24: 4:30 pm Conaway Center
Poverty & Privilege Film Series
Columbia College Graduate Students of Film Present: Perspectives on Poverty & Privilege (90 minutes)
Screening and discussion. Themes of these short films include: war crimes, workers rights, artistic freedom, gender bias, class struggle, cultural conflict between old school and new school animation, poverty of pessimism, racial justice, teen pregnancy…
• “Merci” (12 minutes). Directed by Paul Cales.
• “Elemental” (9 minutes). Directed by Christopher O’Brien.
• “Improvisation” (11 minutes). Directed by Zack Litwack.
• “Tiffin” (15 minutes). Directed by Chor Ai Lene.
• “The Animation Reel” (10 minutes). Directed by a host of animators.
• “Half” (4 minutes). Directed by Ben Alagna.
• “Namibia, Brasil” (7 minutes). Directed by Miguel Silveira.
• “Athina” (7 minutes). Directed by Erika Valenciana.
• “Girls Room” (10 minutes) Directed by Maria Gigante.
9/24: 6 – 7:30 pm Conaway Center
Voters’ Self-Defense System, 2008 Edition –
An Evening with Project Vote Smart Founder Richard Kimball.
www.vote-smart.org.
9/25: 12:30 – 2 pm Conaway Center
Body Language: Inter-Cultural Exchange in Choreography
A panel discussion featuring: Margaret Jenkins, Artistic Director of Margaret Jenkins
Dance Company based in San Francisco, CA; Tanusree Shankar, Artistic
Director of Tanusree Shankar Dance Company based in Calcutta, India; and Celia Bambara, Co-Artistic Director of CCBdance Project based in Chicago, IL.
Dance and choreography often cross borders without patrol. Body Language will provoke dialogue with questions relating to intercultural exchange in dance, such as: How are choreographers navigating hybridity, inter-cultural exchange, and interpretation in culturally influenced dance? How do spiritual and intellectual values factor into inter-cultural exchanges in dancemaking? How does engagement with and awareness of poverty and privilege challenge ideas of what is valuable, personally, politically, and creatively?
9/26 2 pm Conaway Center
Critical Encounters Salon: Of Beetles & Angels
Featuring author Mawi Asgedom
The true story of a young boy’s remarkable journey: from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. Following his father’s advice to “treat all people – even the most unsightly beetles – as though they were angels sent from heaven,” Mawi overcomes the challenges of racial prejudice, language barriers, and financial disadvantage to build a successful life for himself in his new home.
9/26 5:30 pm Conaway Center
Poverty & Privilege Town Hall Forum
Featured Panelists to include: Amy Rynell (Director, Mid-America Institute on Poverty, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights), Marca Bristo (President and CEO, Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago), Reverend Doris Green (Director of Community Affairs, AIDS Foundation of Chicago), Richard L. Jones, PhD (President and CEO, Metropolitan Family Services), Ngoan Le (Vice President of Programs, Chicago Community Trust), and Douglas Mann (President, Global Business Assist). Moderator: Shanita Akintonde (Professor, Marketing Communication, Columbia College Chicago).
Critical Encounters and the Institute for the Study of Women & Gender in the Arts & Media co-host a Town Hall Forum to begin a layered and complicated discussion engaging our ideas, perceptions and knowledge about poverty and privilege. The panelists will include activists, civic and community leaders, whose professional and personal work is directly related to these broad issues from a variety of perspectives, including: justice, equity, access, health, education, employment, faith, economic development, and participation. The mission of Critical Encounters and the goal of this program is to foster engaged discussions which serve as catalysts to generate new knowledge and understanding, begin to create shifts in attitudes and perceptions, and encourage civic activism.
9/27: 6 pm: Conaway Center
Poverty in Chicago
A Film by Columbia College Graduate Student Brian Schodorf
Followed by a discussion with the film makers.
Poverty in Chicago documents the conditions experienced by Chicago’s estimated 110,000 homeless residents. “I’ve told you, now I’m going to show you,” says one homeless man who leads the film crew into a raw look at the realities of life on the streets and the in neighborhoods of Chicago.
9/28: 6 pm Conaway Center
Life After Katrina
A film by Columbia College students
7:30 pm: a discussion with the filmmakers.
Sponsored by Reach Out, the Office of Student Life, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Center for Community Arts Partnerships
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina moved across the southeastern-costal region of the United States of America and became the costliest and most devastating natural disaster in the history of this country. Nearly two years later, relief efforts are mostly from volunteers and donations. Students from Columbia College Chicago have traveled to Mississippi and Louisiana to volunteer and join in rebuilding efforts. Life After Katrina tells the stories they collected along the way.
All events will be held at 1104 S Wabash Avenue
9/24 – 28 Conaway Center
Life After Katrina: 18 months later: the photographs
Sponsored by Reach Out, the Office of Student Life, and Critical Encounters
A weeklong exhibition of photography by students featuring images captured in March 2007, while students, faculty, and staff contributed over 1,500 service hours of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. These images represent the spirit, beauty, and devastating reality of post-Katrina New Orleans.
8/27 – 10/16 Glass Curtain Gallery
Vodou Riche: Contemporary Haitian Art
A group exhibition of recent work created within the social, political and spiritual context of Vodou, Haiti’s national religion. The artists embrace a history of appropriating imagery and incorporating found objects, a practice born from necessity and great invention. Part of Columbia’s Critical Encounters focus, Poverty and Privilege, Vodou Riche challenges Haiti’s oft-used label “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere” by presenting the abundance and wealth of Haiti’s creative output. While their country battles socioeconomic problems, Haitian artists embrace the richness of their culture by capturing Haiti’s irrepressible, vibrant and triumphant spirit.
colum.edu/criticalencounters
Each month, Critical Encounters will feature a text that explores issues of Poverty & Privilege. You are invited to read the text and to join our conversations. The selected texts for Fall 2007 are:
September: Of Beatles and Angels by Mawi Asgedom
October: White Privilege: Essential Reading on the Other Side of Racism by Paula Rothenberg
November: Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus
December: Class Matters by the New York Times and Bill Keller