Past Events
Throughout the year the Curb Center hosts workshops, seminars, panels, and special events to enrich the arts at Vanderbilt and our community at large. Here are highlights of some of the events the center sponsored.
Workshop | Mindful Drawing with Bill Doan, PhD
The Curb Center | 1801 Edgehill Avenue
Thursday, May 23, 2024 | 3:00–4:30 pm
Drawing mindfully grounds us in the here and now. In this workshop, facilitated by Bill Doan, PhD, we’ll explore drawing as an embodied process that orchestrates a deep connection between body, mind, and spirit where the quality of the drawing doesn’t matter. All are welcome to the Curb Center for this workshop, as well as the opening reception of Imagining Wholeness, Expressive Art and Well-Being, to follow at 4:30 pm.
William Doan, Ph.D. is a past president of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and a Fellow in the College of Fellows of The American Theatre. Doan has co-authored three books and several plays. He has created solo performance projects at a variety of venues across the U.S., and abroad. Current work includes the performance piece, Frozen In The Toilet Paper Aisle of Life, part of a larger project, The Anxiety Project, which includes multiple short graphic narratives published in the Annals of Internal Medicine/Graphic Medicine and Cleaver Magazine. He is a Professor of Theatre in the College of Arts and Architecture, and Director of the Arts and Design Research Incubator at Penn State. Doan served as the Penn State Laureate for 2019-2020. His collaboration Inhale, Exhale, Draw, a short animated film, was been selected as a finalist in the World Health Organization’s Health For All Film Festival, 2021. Sticks and Stones, his newest animation collaboration has been selected for thirteen festivals nationally and internationally to date garnering multiple awards.
Opening Reception | Imagining Wholeness: Expressive Art and Well-Being
The Curb Center | 1801 Edgehill Avenue
Thursday, May 23, 2024 | 4:30–6:30 pm
Please join us for an opening reception in celebration of the Curb Center’s summer exhibition, Imagining Wholeness: Expressive Art and Well-Being. Imagining Wholeness draws on the expressive arts to explore diverse cancer experiences and the healing power of belonging to a creative community. This exhibition brings together written work created through Express Yourself, a writing workshop offered jointly by the Curb Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Ingram Cancer Center; selections of visual art from studio workshops collaboratively facilitated by the Curb Center and Gilda’s Club of Middle Tennessee; and work by professional visual artists whose lives have been affected by cancer. Imagining Wholeness elevates the personal experiences of those living with or supporting a loved one through cancer and demonstrates the power of the expressive arts in navigating illness.
This reception is free and open to the public. Please RSVP on the Events@Vanderbilt page. We hope you can join us for this festive gathering!
The Curb Scholars Present Art as Protest
Monday, April 1, 7:00–9:30 pm | Sarratt Gallery and Cinema
The Curb Center invites the Vanderbilt community to Art as Protest, the culminating showcase of creative projects by this year’s cohort of Curb Scholars. The Curb Scholars Program is a selective scholarship and co-curricular enrichment program for undergraduate students who are committed to using the arts to affect social change and inform engagement with their communities. The Curb Scholars will present work spanning visual art, dance, film, fiber arts, and creative writing, each offering a unique interpretation of “art as protest,” the theme they have been investigating throughout this academic year. Please join us in Sarratt Cinema and Gallery for performances, gallery viewing, and refreshments.
Exhibition: Designed for Dignity
Exhibition: April 5–12, 10:00 am–4:00 pm | Curb Center
Opening Reception: April 5, 4:00 pm–5:00 pm | Curb Center
All are welcome to the Curb Center for Designed for Dignity, an exhibition of work from the Hospital Gown Redesign Project by the Fiber Arts Build Lab at the Wond’ry.
The Hospital Gown Redesign Project is dedicated to creating dignity-centered, adaptive, and sustainable fashion for all in healthcare. Through stakeholder dialogue, research on sewing techniques and design trends, and embracing diverse perspectives, we prioritize patient comfort and dignity. Our research spans diverse areas, from learning new sewing techniques to delving into design trends and the historical evolution of hospital gowns. By weaving together insights from diverse perspectives, we’re crafting innovative solutions that prioritize patient comfort and dignity. This project is not just about redesigning gowns; it’s about transforming experiences, empowering individuals, and redefining norms in healthcare attire. Join us in this journey to revolutionize healthcare fashion and promote inclusivity and well-being for all.
The exhibition will be open Friday, April 5th–Friday, April 12th at the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise & Public Policy, 10:00 am–4:00 pm. An opening reception will be held on Friday, April 5th, 12:00 pm–2:00 pm.
Artmaking Workshops for Those Affected by Cancer
Wednesdays, March 13, March 27, April 3, and April 10, 2–5 pm | Curb Center
Tuesday, March 12, 11 am–12 pm and Friday, April 19, 10 am–12 pm | Gilda’s Club (1707 Division Street)
The Curb Center at Vanderbilt invites those whose lives have been impacted by cancer to “Storytelling Through Art,” a series of free artmaking workshops. Whether you are living with cancer, are a survivor, or have cared for a loved one during their cancer journey, we hope you will join us to explore the power of creating art, sharing personal stories, and healing in community through these collaborative artmaking sessions.No experience or commitment is necessary, and art materials will be provided.
Attendees may choose to follow a creative prompt or create freely.Curb Center workshop dates include March 13, March 27, April 3, and April 10. Each workshop will be held in the Curb Center, 1801 Edgehill Ave., room 146C from 2:00 – 5:00 PM. Participants may drop in at any time or stay for the duration of the workshop.
Additional workshops will be held at Gilda’s Club of Middle Tennessee (1707 Division Street). Please contact Megan Forshey atmegan@gildasclubmiddletn.orgfor more information. Gilda’s Club workshops include:
- “Introduction to Soul Collage,” March 12, 11:00 AM – Noon. Learn about Soul Collage and begin the process of self-discovery and community through creative, intuitive collage work.
- “OPEN STUDIO,” April 19, 10:00 AM-Noon.
Participants will have the opportunity to contribute artwork to a collaborative exhibition May 24 – June 28, 2024, at the Curb Center and Gilda’s Club of Middle Tennessee. This project is a collaboration between The Curb Center, Gilda’s Club of Middle Tennessee, and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
Contact David Wilson for more information.
Gallery Talk and Open House: The Glory of the Day
Tuesday, February 27, 4:30pm | Curb Center
All are welcome to the Curb Center for a conversation between photographer LeXander Bryant and musicologist Douglas Shadle in conjunction with the Curb Center’s exhibition, The Glory of the Day: LeXander Bryant Meets Florence Price. Moderated by Tamara Reynolds, photographer and lecturer in art at Vanderbilt, this discussion will highlight Bryant’s creative approach to documenting the performances comprising Florence Price: A Celebration. Light refreshments will be served.
Exhibition: The Glory of The Day: LeXander Bryant Meets Florence B. Price
Friday, February 9–Friday, March 8 | Curb Center
The Glory of the Day charts the encounters between the music of 20th-century American composer Florence B. Price (1888–1953) and Nashville-based photographer LeXander Bryant (b. 1989). Bryant’s photographs, the product of these encounters, speak to the ephemeral nature of live performance, the communion between artists across time, location, and medium, and the ever-evolving nature of the archive.
Florence B. Price, a groundbreaking figure in classical music and the first African-American woman to have a composition performed by a major American symphony orchestra, has recently emerged as a subject of long-overdue attention in performance and scholarship. To honor her legacy, Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music hosted Florence Price: A Celebration, a music festival featuring ensembles ranging from wind quintet to full orchestra in venues throughout Nashville. Each performance offered a distinct perspective on Price’s career as a composer, pianist, and educator while convening a unique community audience in every space.
The Curb Center commissioned LeXander Bryant to photograph these performances, not only to document but to engage artistically with performers, communities, and the archive of Florence Price’s music. In Bryant’s practice—from his evocative portraits of Nashville residents to videography documenting local community engagement projects and wheatpaste mural installations throughout the city—the notion of community is a unifying thread. His ability to capture the beauty and vibrancy of communities that have been overlooked uniquely suits Blair’s intent to honor the legacy of a composer who collapsed barriers of race and gender in classical music, as well as the scholars, musicians, and audiences who have found community through the study and performance of her work.
The exhibition title references James Weldon Johnson’s poem, “The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face,” for which Price composed an accompanying score. Bryant’s photographs capture the glory of encounters sparked by Price’s music—between the artists who performed it, and the contemporary audiences who reveled in it. Just as the performances allowed for renewed engagement with Price’s music, Bryant’s photographs, which will be housed in the Blair Music Library, will allow artists, students, and scholars of the future to witness the glory of Price’s legacy again and again.
Processing Eco-Grief: A Workshop with Climate Writer Mary Annaïse Heglar
Tuesday, February 20, 12:15–1:30pm | Buttrick 123
Undergraduates, graduate students, and post-docs from all majors and disciplines are invited to participate in this generative writing workshop with climate writer Mary Annaïse Heglar on Tuesday, February 20th, 12:15–1:30pm in Buttrick 123. In this workshop, participants will investigate emotions such as anger, fear, and powerlessness, and hope. Together, participants will work to develop their voice and tell their truth as people living through the climate crisis, with the ultimate goal of finding empowerment through vulnerability and honesty. This workshop is open to undergraduates, graduate students, and post-docs in all majors and disciplines.
Space is limited; the deadline to indicate interest via this form is Monday, February 5th. Lunch will be provided, and we will do our best to accommodate dietary restrictions. Rachel Thompson, program manager at the Curb Center, will reach out to confirm your registration by Friday, February 9th.
The Highs and Lows of Climate Grief: An Evening with Mary Annaïse Heglar
Tuesday, February 20, 4:10pm | Central Library Community Room
“The thing about climate is that you can either be overwhelmed by the problem or fall in love with the creativity of the solutions.” —Mary Annaïse Heglar
Please join us for an evening with Mary Annaïse Heglar, a writer working at the intersections of climate change, climate grief, and climate justice. Heglar, who explores the emotional dimensions of the climate crisis, will offer a lecture on eco-grief: the complex feelings that arise when we consider the impacts of climate change on the earth, its ecosystems, and humanity. With sensitivity, urgency, critical attention to the relationship between systemic injustice and the climate crisis, and—crucially—hope, Heglar’s work invites audiences to confront the grief of the moment and ask themselves how they might contribute to solutions.
Heglar’s essays have appeared in The Cut, Wired, and Rolling Stone, as well as in collections such as Not Too Late and All We Can Save. She co-created and co-hosted the podcast Hot Takes from 2020–2022, and she is the author of the forthcoming This World is Yours to Cherish from Random House Kids (2024) and the editor of Til Earth and Heaven Ring—an all-Black climate anthology with Pantheon Books.
This event is proudly sponsored by the Curb Center, the Program in Communication of Science and Technology (CSET), and the Environmental Humanities Seminar at the Robert Penn Warren Center. This event will kick off the Vanderbilt Eco-Grief Performance Project & Commission, a series of commissioned plays by contemporary playwrights co-sponsored by the Curb Center, CSET, and the Department of Theatre, taking place in the fall of 2024. This project will use the arts as a way of investigating the emotional toll of reckoning with our changing environment and through that reckoning, promote necessary discussion of the changes that await us.
An Evening with Mary Annaïse Heglar will take place in the Community Room on the 4th Floor of Central Library on February 20th, 2024, at 4:10 pm. A reception in the lobby will follow.
Reverberations: Roots of the Cedar Tree
Stephen Alvarez and Dustin Mater | September 13 – December 1, 2023
“Artists provide the contemporary metaphors that allow us to realize the transcendent, infinite, and abundant nature of being as it is.” – Joseph Campbell
The Curb Center is proud to present Reverberations: Roots of the Cedar Tree, an exhibition that brings together photographs by Stephen Alvarez from the Ancient Art Archive with contemporary paintings and sculptures by Dustin Mater (Chickasaw).
An internationally awarded photojournalist and National Geographic photographer, Stephen Alvarez founded the Ancient Art Archive to share the world’s oldest rock images with a global audience, creating a living archive that allows viewers from around the world to experience awe, wonder, and connection through history and across cultures. The Ancient Art Archive collaborates with Indigenous scholars, artists, and community members to contextualize and bring these sacred images and places to life through beautiful photography and sophisticated technology. The exhibition at the Curb Center will present photographs of rock art dating back 35,000 years from sites across North America and Europe.
Reverberations places Alvarez’s photographs in conversation with the artwork of Dustin Mater. A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Mater draws inspiration from his family and heritage to create fine art spanning painting, printmaking, shell carving, metallurgy, and various other artistic media. Mater serves on the leadership team of the Ancient Art Archive’s Mural of America project, providing guidance and artistic direction for educational programs and resources. He also works as the Graphic Arts Coordinator for the Arts and Humanities Division of the Chickasaw nation, and his work is represented in the permanent collections of the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center, the National Park Service, and the Smithsonian Museum.
Reverberations: Roots of the Cedar Tree is open for public viewing Monday–Thursday, 10:00a.m.–4:00p.m. and by appointment. To schedule a course visit to the exhibition, please contact Rachel Thompson at rachel.h.thompson@vanderbilt.edu.
For more information about the Ancient Art Archive, please visit their website https://www.ancientartarchive.org/
Book Talk: Allison Orr, Author of DanceWorks: Stories of Creative Collaboration
Time and Location: Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 4:30 pm – Author’s Room, Vanderbilt Central Library, 4th Floor
The Curb Center invites you to the Central Library Founder’s Room for a book talk and conversation with choreographer and founder of Forklift Danceworks, Allison Orr. Part memoir, part guide, Orr’s book DanceWorks: Stories of Creative Collaboration reflects on her major collaborations and shares interviews with people she’s made dances with over the past two decades. Power line workers, sanitation workers, and firefighters reflect on their memories of performing with Forklift and the lasting impact those dances made. Alongside larger conversations in the arts, Orr offers a look at how to create community-based art projects, how the creative process can bring people together to address civic issues, and the beauty of choreographing the day-to-day.
Allison Orr creates award-winning choreography with the people whose work sustains our everyday lives. Inspired by the beauty and virtuosity in the movement of labor, and building on her background in anthropology and social work, Allison has honed a methodology of ethnographic choreography that engages community members as co-authors and performers in the creation of large-scale civic spectacles. Challenging audiences to expand notions of dance and performer, her dances have been performed for audiences of 60 to 6,000+. The first 10 attendees to arrive at the book talk will receive a signed copy of DanceWorks!
A BODY IN THE O: A New Performance by Tim Miller
Time and Location: October 2, 2023 at 6:30PM – John Seigenthaler Center Lecture Hall, 1207 18th Ave. S., Room 116A – FREE ADMISSION
The Curb Center is proud to welcome TIM MILLER for his new performance, A BODY IN THE O. Jumping off from a day in 1984 when Miller scrambled up inside of the O of the Hollywood sign and imagined the social justice queer performance space treehouse of his dreams, A BODY IN THE O journeys through the hoops of the Department of Homeland Security, a queer boy’s truth-telling, the human heart’s mysterious Os and finally a wedding day as Miller imagines the full possibility of performance that changes the world.
“Tim Miller sings that song of the self which interrogates, with explosive, exploding, subversive joy and freedom, the constitution, and borderlines of selfhood. You think you don’t need to hear such singing? You do! You must!”
—Tony Kushner, author of ‘Angels in America’
“For an entire generation of queer artists working in the experimental theater world—including me—Tim Miller led the way. His imagination, daring and vision continue to inspire us.” —Moisés Kaufman, author of ‘The Laramie Project’
TIM MILLER is an internationally acclaimed solo performer. Hailed for its humor and passion, Miller’s solo theater works have been presented all over North America, Australia, and Europe at such prestigious venues as Yale Repertory Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is the author of the books SHIRTS & SKIN, BODY BLOWS and 1001 BEDS, which won the 2007 literary prize for best drama-theater book from Lambda Literary Foundation. Miller has taught performance in the theater departments at UCLA and at Cal State LA. He is a founder of two of the most influential performance spaces in the United States: Performance Space 122 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California. He can be reached at his website: TimMillerPerformer.com.
Curb Salon Events, Fall 2023
THE ART OF HEALING EXPOSITION featuring works from the W.H.O. ART TO ACT FOR HEALTH
September 17, 2021 through December 16, 2022
The Art of Healing Exposition featuring works from the W.H.O. Art to Act for Health will take place at sites throughout Nashville, showcasing the exciting ways in which our community is using creative arts to foster healing in their own everyday lives and neighborhoods. The show features the paintings, drawings, fiber arts, sculpture, writing, film and photography from 165 Nashville artists in physical and virtual settings so everyone can share in the power of art to heal. For more details about the show and to access show-related events visit the AoH site here.
N2020: Community Reflections
March 3 – August 1, 2021
Organized by the Frist Art Museum, with guest curator Woke3
One early January 2020 morning, artist Woke3 stepped out of his home in North Nashville to find the remains of a car engulfed in a raging fire. He interpreted the blaze as a premonition of the year to come. No one, however, imagined what 2020 would ultimately bring to his neighborhood, the city of Nashville, and our nation. Woke selected the following videos, which feature spoken word, dance, and music, and photographs to share how his creative community is processing the year’s seismic events—from a devastating tornado on March 3 to a car bomb exploding on Christmas morning—and offering a path forward. View the show in its entirety here.
JUNETEENTH ‘BLACK ON BUCHANAN’ CELEBRATION
June 19, 2021
The Nashville Jazz Workshop and The Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy participated in the 2021 Juneteenth ‘Black on Buchanan’ celebration with sponsorship of Nashville painter Omari Booker and glass artist and owner of This Little Light Glass Art Gallery and Shop Betty Turner.
Engaging with members of the community, Booker and Turner oversaw the creation of two large artworks. Booker created an 8’x12’ “paint-by-numbers” mural about musician Bessie Smith, jazz music, Buchanan Street’s influence on music, and Juneteenth, while Turner created a glass mosaic sculpture of two children joined in a love of music. The band Brassville led the community in the very first line march down Buchanan Street and performed two shows as part of the day’s musical festivities.
Additionally, the Booker and Turner artworks will be featured in the Art of Healing Exhibition, sponsored by the Curb Center and scheduled to run from September 17, 2021 through December 16, 2022.
Stirring the Waters Across America
February 28, 2020
The Vanderbilt Divinity School, Vanderbilt African American and Diaspora Studies, and the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy were proud co-sponsors of Stirring the Waters Across America, a multimedia touring production illuminating the Civil Rights Movement from 1954-1968. Conceived by American composer Nolan Williams, Jr., the production combined captivating music, spoken word, and dance with stunning visuals to highlight seminal moments from the Movement, connecting the past with the present.
Stirring the Waters Across America is one of the first works to be developed through The Kennedy Center’s newly-inaugurated Social Impact Arts Residency. The touring production is produced by NEWorks Productions and Edgewood Ventures. After the performance Mr. Williams and Dr. Alisha Jones (Assistant Professor of Ethnomusciology at Indiana University Bloomington) engaged the audience in a talk-back about the production.
Dickens Project Graduate Conference 2020
February 21-23, 2020
The Dickens Project Winter Conference allows graduate students from across the country to present their work to the conference participants. Each student is paired with a faculty member from a university other than their own, affording the student one-on-one insight from a fresh perspective. The conference provides an outlet for graduate students to continue the conversations initiated at the Dickens Universe, collaborate with others, and practice their public speaking and teaching skills by presenting their work to both fellow graduate students and faculty members. Learn more about the meeting here.
REMAND
A Form of Reform Event
February 17, 2020
As part of The Form of Reform, The Curb Center was proud to showcase ‘Remand’. Henry is a Ugandan teenager languishing in prison for two murders he didn’t commit. Jim is a successful Los Angeles lawyer and law professor. In REMAND, we watch the true story of how Henry and Jim, separated by an ocean, differing cultures and life experiences were able to meet and work together to inspire justice reform for an entire country.
The screening was followed by a Q&A discussion with Randy Brewer, the Founder of Revolution Pictures and producer of Remand.
Halfway
A Form of Reform Event
February 6- 7, 2020
‘Halfway’ is an original play which was written, directed and performed by Tom Angland. The work was adapted from true stories of returning citizens.
Cooking and Kreyòl
February 3, 2020
The Center for Latin American Studies paired with groups and departments across campus, including the Curb Scholars, to host a series of public events celebrating Vanderbilt’s annual Haiti Week. Events included a lunch talk on The Price of Admission: Louis-Marie Dantes Bellegarde’s Life and Oeuvre in Context with Patrick Bellegarde-Smth, a K-12 teacher workshop centered around American Street: The American Dream and The Immigrant Imagination featuring Ibi Zoboi, and a Haitian cooking class, where participants learned how to cook Soup Joumou and also enjoy other delicious traditional Haitian dishes. The cooking demonstration included a discussion on Haitian history, culture, and a lesson in conversational Haitian Kreyòl. N a wè!
Ambassadors of Autism Exhibit
April 26, 2019 – November 30, 2019
Ambassadors of Autism was a curated fine art exhibit designed to raise awareness of autism, those who are on the spectrum and their abilities, and those dealing with autism in various roles. Sally Bebawy, who works closely with those on the spectrum as a Research Program Manager at Vanderbilt’s Kennedy Center, designed the show as a tribute to the creativity of the population she works with each day. All artists featured in the show had a connection to autism.
Tools for your Child on the Autism Spectrum: Creating Visual Supports and Managing Blood Draws
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Families of children with autism were invited to learn about how to create visual aids to help with daily routines with specific additional focus on how to help ease the burden of blood draws during a clinic visit. Families were given tools to create their own visual support boards which could be used at home.
Notes From 25 Years of Computing Between Disciplines with Ian Bogost
October 3, 2019
Dr. Ian Bogost is an author and an award-winning game designer. He is Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies and Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Bogost is also Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC, an independent game studio, and a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic. Bogost’s videogames about social and political issues cover topics as varied as airport security, consumer debt, disaffected workers, the petroleum industry, suburban errands, pandemic flu, and tort reform.
7th Annual Nashville Mini Maker Faire
October 5, 2019
The Wondr’y and the Curb Center co-sponsored a living art presentation by the 800 Collective. The 800 artists created a large taped canvas which featured mosaic-like images of Nashville’s AT&T ‘Bat Building’, The Parthenon, and The Adventure Science Center. Attendees were asked questions about their sense of place in the Nashville community (represented by The Bat), how many educational opportunties they had (represented by Adventure Science Center) and how often they took advantage of creative opportunties in thier communities (represented by The Parthenon) and painted their answers using a varity of hues. The finished canvas is currently displayed in the Wondr’y.
Image by Tanya Griffin
From Surviving to Thriving: Perceptions of Artists & Implications for Policy
Wednesday September 25, 2019
This event presented research conducted by The Curb Center, the Arts & Business Council of Nashville, Northwestern University, and the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago through their joint National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab project (#DCA 2017-05). The work of these institutions focused on artists who are increasingly recognized for their work as entrepreneurs, civically-minded problem-solvers, and agents of social change but who are still viewed through the prism of public stigma which sees artists as starving or transient, thereby complicating the ability of artists to be recognized for the value of their work and to assign value to their work. This event presented research gained from national and Nashville-specific insights on current perceptions of artists and their creativity. Following the research presentations a panel discussed the implications of this research for policy in Nashville.
High Expectations & Opportunities: Educators’ Perspective on Inclusive Higher Education
An Ambassadors of Autism Event
Friday, July 12, 2019
Dr’s. William Steele (Professor of English, Lipscomb University), Vanessa Beasley (Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Associate Provost and Dean of Residential Faculty, Vanderbilt University), and Robert Fry (Senior Lecturer in Music History and Literature, Blair School of Music) met with local educators to share the reasons why having students with intellectual disability in their courses has made them better educators. Using their firsthand experiences, they explained why learning communities are made richer when these students are included.
The Comedy Collective Spring Showcase
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
The Comedy Collective was created by Curb Public Scholar Mariann VanDevere to address the lack of comedy training and events for the Black community in Nashville. 20 participants worked over the year on their comedy routines, which were recorded and showcased at this event.
Seventeen Men: Discovering the Men of the 25th United States Colored Troops with Shayne Davidson
Tuesday, April 16 – Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Artist and genealogy enthusiast Shayne Davidson discussed her book, Civil War Soldiers: Discovering the Men of the 25th United States Colored Troops, and sharedhow researching a tiny photo album led to the creation of an extraordinary exhibit honoring the service and sacrifice of seventeen African American soldiers of the 25th United States Colored Infantry Regiment.
Reading and Conversation: Florence Dore with Nashville Musician Kevin Gordon
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Florence Dore has published writing on the blues, the rock novel, and literary censorship. She serves on the board for the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at University of Tulsa’s Bob Dylan Archive and organized major public conferences on rock and literature. She has worked with Eric Ambel (Joan Jett, The Del-Lords, Steve Earle) and Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) to make Perfect City, and has toured with many notable Nashville artists including Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites), Ken Coomer (Wilco), and Dave Jacques (John Prine). Her song Christmas was recorded by the Posies for the 1996 Geffen Records release Just Say Noel.
Kevin Gordon is “a juke-joint professor emeritus” according to Rolling Stone. He hails from Louisiana. “One of the things I like about it and am mystified by is that what passes for normal in Louisiana would not make the grade elsewhere,” he says. It’s a place he’s been exploring for more than twenty years, resulting in work which has earned him fans like Elvis Presley biographer Peter Guralnick; New West Records artist Buddy Miller; journalist, songwriter, and Country Music Hall of Fame staffer Peter Cooper; head of the Americana Music Association Jed Hilly; and fellow musician Lucinda Williams, with whom he dueted on tDown To The Well (a song featured prominently on an Oxford American compilation).