Conversations in the Arts: Media in the 21st Century

Dear Supporter of the Arts,

I hope you will join us for Columbia College Chicago's 2009-10 season of Conversations in the Arts, a program series that offers in-depth dialogue with some of the world's most notable cultural figures in a select and intimate setting.

For each of the next three years, Conversations in the Arts will be focused serially on subjects related to the college's three schools:  The School of Media Arts, The School of Fine and Performing Arts, and the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Opening the three-year cycle, the 2009-10 season is entitled "Media in the 21st Century." This season's speakers will address major trends and issues in the world of media, including social media, print and broadcast media, and film/multimedia.

Our schedule is still being finalized -- but please check back soon for what promises to be a wonderfully engaging, enlightening, and provocative series of programs.

The individuals who join us for Conversations in the Arts exemplify the humanistic qualities and values we bring to education at Columbia College Chicago. Last year, Conversations in the Arts: The Founders Lectures served as a year-long examination of the college's commitment to values articulated in its Mission Statement: access and opportunity in higher education, creativity and education, the creative economy, and diversity as an essential element of learning in a global marketplace. Our guests included education activist Jonathan Kozol, educational theorist Sir Ken Robinson, actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, and urban economist Richard Florida.

The past five seasons before brought legendary figures Lauren Bacall, Ben Vereen, Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andrews, James Earl Jones, Debbie Reynolds, Joan Lunden, Richard Roundtree, Salman Rushdie, Jane Alexander, Edward James Olmos, Diahann Carroll, and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni have delighted our audiences with personal, and often inspiring, stories.

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.

Columbia College Chicago welcomes you to visit with some of the most influential cultural figures of our time. Visit this website soon for updated information.


Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D.
President, Columbia College Chicago