Peacebuilding and the Arts

Salon Series

A series of salons at The Rose Art Museum hosted by LaShawn Simmons ’18 and Artist-in-Residence: Jane Wilburn Sapp

The salon series, held in three parts, invited participants to explore how various art forms approach the process of social change.

• "Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired"
  The first event in the series focused on visual art. Participants shared impressions of the works currently on view in the Lee Gallery: What stands out for you in these works? What words, phrases, images and questions do they stir in you? Based on our discussions, we created spoken word pieces and a song with Jane Sapp. 
• "Creating Art, Seeking Justice"
  During the second event in the series, we invited participants to share your artworks, complete or otherwise, and receive feedback from other artists from our community. 
• "Staging Social Change"
  The final event engaged participants through interactive performances of monologues and songs!

Sponsored by the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts and the minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation, the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life, the Rose Art Museum, the Division of Creative Arts, and the Arts|Race|Activism Series with the support of the Brandeis Arts Council

"Shout the Big Dreams"

Performing and visual arts by Brandeis community and special guests

• "A Cast of Colors! Visualizing and Performing Oral Histories about Encounters With Differences" featuring Marcelo Brociner ’19, LaShawn Simmons ’19, Bronte Velez ’16 and others. The CAST Cast shared artistic interpretations of stories about people different from themselves. 
• "A Womyn Conjured," one-womyn show by Queen White ’16
• Brandeis Early Music Ensemble
• Playback Theatre featuring Amanda Ehrman ’18, Leah Nadelman ’18, Sindy Sura ’19, Kelyn Zhang ’19, Yair Koas ’19, Shaquan McDowell ’18, and Eli Kengmana ’19
• "Shoes On, Shoes Off" — original dance theater from the Theater Arts Department featuring Andrew Child ’19, Josh Rubenstein ’19, Hannah Mogavero ’16, Sara Kenney ’18, Sarai Warsoff ’16, Joy Liebman ’16, Caley Chase ’16, Sam Rose Laney ’16, Kelyn Zhang ’19, Lilia Shrayfer ’18, and Richard (Zhi) Li ’18
• One-act plays directed by Dylan Hoffman ’18 and Mira Kessler ’16, featuring Emily Galloway ’18, Emma Cyr ’19, Remony Pearlman ’19, Talia Bornstein ’19 and Daniel Souza ’19
• Brandeis Folk Festival, produced by Too Cheap for Instruments with food for sale from Brandeis Farmers' Club
• "Moving Voice," 2-6 p.m., a campuswide, multi-location performance curated by Joshua Rubenstein ’19, Ayelet Schrek ’17, and Nate Shaffer ’16
• Guerilla Opera performed short works by Ernest Ling ’16, Anne Kat Alexander ’18 and Raphael Stigliano ’18. Plus Culture X and Boris' Kitchen!
• Music from the Sephardic tradition by the Guy Mendilow Ensemble
• "Shakespeare on Demand," Knighthorse Theatre Company
• Artist/activist Rick Lowe of Houston on how art can transform a community
• "School of HONK with TOXIC" and Boston Hoop Troop

2015-16 Richman Fellowship Award Presentation and Lecture Sachar Award presentation by Interim President Lisa Lynch

Named one of 100 most important people in the art world by ArtReview and "Innovator of the Year" by the Wall Street Journal, Theaster Gates is a multimedia artist, activist, social engineer, curator and cultural entrepreneur. His message that art and creativity are engines for attacking poverty, revitalizing neighborhoods and providing opportunity is motivated by a strong social justice agenda. Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates has developed an expanded practice that includes space development, object making, performance and critical engagement with many publics. Founder of the non-profit Rebuild Foundation, Gates is currently a professor in the Department of Visual Art and Director of Arts and Public Life at the University of Chicago.

The Richman Fellowship is coordinated by the Ethics Center on behalf of the Office of the President. Theaster Gates' visit is cosponsored by the Department of African and Afro-American Studies; Brandeis Arts Council; Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST); Division of Creative Arts; Department of Fine Arts; and the Rose Art Museum. All are welcome to attend. For more information, please contact ethics@brandeis.edu.

Read a related article about Theaster Gates' honor in Brandeis NOW.

The Boston Children's Chorus (BCC) harnesses the power and joy of music to unite our city's diverse communities and inspire social change. The Found in Translation concert was the culmination of the BCC's 8th Annual Weekend of Song and Professional Development for music educators. Registered educators engaged in workshops with guest artist, Jane Wilburn Sapp, BCC Staff, and the singers of the Boston Children's Chorus.

Learn more about "A Way Out of No Way," a multi-media project of the Peacebuilding and the Arts program that is documenting the 40-year practice of cultural work of Jane Wilburn Sapp.

Germaine Ingram
Photo credit: JJ Tizio

Philadelphia civil rights lawyer and jazz tap dancer Germaine Ingram, in an open session of CAST 150b, presented a performance about the final horrific year of the Civil War in Atlanta, including original songs and dances, combined with text from slave narratives diaries, women's autobiographies, and letters that excavate the ambitions, fears and internal conflicts of southern women — slave, free, white and Black. Musicians Jacqueline Pickett and Diane Monroe lend their talents to the performance.

'DEIS Impact is a collaboration between the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life and the Brandeis Undergraduate Student Union, with support from the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice. Co-sponsored by Brandeis POSSE.

Read articles about Germaine's keynote and performance:

• The Hoot
• The Justice
• BrandeisNOW

The Artists' Theatre of Boston remounted our production of Caryl Churchill's "Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?" at Brandeis University.

Co-sponsored by the Minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation; the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences; the Department of English; the Mandel Center for the Humanities; the Minor in Sexuality and Queer Studies; the Program in Social Justice and Social Policy; and the Department of Theater Arts.