The Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA) presents Aisen Caro Chacin, who will discuss Assistive Device Art: Transformation of Ability and Perception, The Plasticity of the Mind, and Human Expansion.
The Department of Dance presents the annual First Works Concert, featuring new works by dance majors.
TRAXXX: Black Queer Nightlife in High Fidelity, featuring madison moore, Kristy la rAt and lighting by Artemis, is an invitation for you to come and catch the beat. Black queer dance floors have always served something else — a vibrant and vibrating antidote to the here and now. The most important clubs in Black queer nightlife history, from The Warehouse (Chicago) to Paradise Garage (New York) were known for serving ovah beats, guiding clubbers eager to ride waveforms to other dimensions. What do these frequencies of Black queerness make possible? The performance will include a conversation with artist and DJ Kristy la rAt and lighting by Artemis.
Inscape performs a program featuring Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Nonet along with vivacious works by Martinů and Britten. Each work is written for ensemble configurations that bridge the gap between chamber music and chamber orchestra. Coleridge-Taylor's long forgotten Nonet was premiered in 1894 and showcases his influence and admiration for the works of Dvořák. Martinů's Musique de Chambre No. 1 for harp, piano, and chamber players was his very last published work which stands in contrast to Britten's Sinfonietta for small orchestra, which he designed his "Opus 1" and dates from his student years.
How do climate scientists share their research and data with the wider public in a way that non-specialists can understand? How do different communication strategies engage diverse audiences? How might art contribute to this urgent work? This panel discussion is held in conjunction with the spring Library Gallery exhibition, Anastasia Samoylova: FloodZone, and features the artist in conversation with scientists and media historians specializing in science communication.
Drawing on her forthcoming book, Disorienting Politics: Chimerican Media and Transpacific Entanglements, Fan Yang mines 21st-century media artifacts such as Firefly and House of Cards to make visible the economic, cultural, political, and ecological entanglements of China and the United States. This event is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.
The Department of Music presents the UMBC Wind Ensemble under the direction of Krystal Williams in program entitled "The unBroken Pieces of Me: A Mental Health Awareness Concert."
The Naptown Jazz Kids (NJK) Big Band Invitational showcases student big band performances with adjudications, clinics, workshops, and jam sessions. Focusing on jazz education, this non-competitive festival offers students and directors from public, private, and community jazz programs the opportunity to directly collaborate with prominent jazz artists and educators from the Mid-Atlantic region.
The U.S. Army Blues, a component of the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” will perform a free concert at UMBC in honor of Jazz Appreciation Month. This special event will feature the 2023 Collegiate and High School solo competition winners from the Army Blues Young Artist Competition, alongside Naptown Jazz Kids, the premier jazz organization for young people in Annapolis.
The Social Sciences Forum presents the Distinguished Lecture in Psychology, featuring Raquel Matos of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, who will speak on “A 50 years ‘celebration’: Examining 5 decades of Mass Incarceration and Gender Studies.”
Playwright, storyteller and researcher Nayatara Nayar will present a talk, Water Logs: A Study of Theatre and Water Crisis. Her work focuses on the intersection of research, creative writing and the study of theatrical texts centering on storytelling about the water and the water crisis in Tamil Nadu.
With an eye to local Baltimore developments, like the Eager Park and UMB BioPark projects, Davarian Baldwin will discuss what he calls the rise of UniverCities—higher education’s growing control over the economic development and political governance of urban America. From housing and wage labor to health care and even policing, colleges and universities have become big business and our communities their company towns. He will explore the costs when our cities become campuses and how we can think through a more liberatory way forward. This event, a collaboration with the University of Baltimore's History Program, is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.
Jen White-Johnson ’08, visual arts, will discuss her work and experiences as a Black professional in design and discuss her contributions to the recently published Anthology of Blackness: The State of Black Design. After her talk, White-Johnson will sign books for the audience.
The Department of Music presents the UMBC Chamber Players under the direction of Airi Yoshioka. Students in the UMBC Chamber Players perform a wide variety of instrumental chamber works, ranging from Baroque, Classical, Romantic to contemporary repertoire.
Join us for an evening with editors and contributors from Anthology of Blackness: The State of Black Design for a panel discussion and interactive Q&A session, featuring Jillian Harris, Jen White-Johnson, Terresa Moses, Omari Souza, and Jacinda Walker.
