Chicago, IL - Artists will discuss the craft and business of creative nonfiction at Columbia College Chicago's seventh annual Creative Nonfiction Week, October 14 -19. Co-sponsored by the college's English, Journalism and Fiction Writing Departments, the program will feature readings, lectures and panel discussions, along with visual presentations. (See detailed schedule below.) All events are free and open to the public. For more information visit www.colum.edu/cnfw or call 312-344-8100.
For the first time this year, the list of accomplished Creative Nonfiction Week speakers will include those artists whose creative nonfiction pieces are communicated not only through writing, but through other forms as well. In addition to discussions with well known artists and journalists such as Alex Kotlowitz, author of, Never a City So Real, The Other Side of the River and There Are No Children, graphic novelists Scott McCloud, Ivan Brunetti and Art Spiegelman will examine the art of storytelling through drawing. Chicago Tribune photographer Antonio Perez, Chicago Public Radio senior content developer Justin Kaufmann, Chicago Public Radio reporter Natalie Moore and documentarian Ted Hardin will further explore the topic of storytelling through sound and image during Thursday’s panel discussion.
“Creative non-fiction is a genre that pushes boundaries. It includes various forms such as memoir, biography, travel writing, opinion and personal essays,” said Teresa Puente, a member of the journalism faculty and co-coordinator of Creative Nonfiction Week. “This year we will have an amazing lineup of speakers from journalists to performance artists and graphic novelists who experiment with the form in words, sounds and images,” Puente added.
Full schedule of events:
Sunday, October 14
Hokin Gallery, 623 S. Wabash
5 p.m. Fiction Writing department alumni reading with Arnie Bernstein, Christina Katz and Molly Each.
Monday, October 15
Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor
3 p.m. Reading by English, Journalism and Fiction Writing students.
7 p.m. Controversial performance artist and author of Swooning Beauty: A Memoir of Pleasure, Joanna Frueh explores love, eros, and human relations through creative nonfiction.
8 p.m. A discussion with philosopher and public lecturer, Alphonso Lingis, author of more than ten philosophically unconventional books.
Tuesday, October 16
Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor
3 p.m. Speaker Anne-Marie Oomen writes haunting lyrical stories of farm, fields, and family.
7 p.m. Award-winning author of Never a City So Real, The Other Side of the River and There Are No Children Here and former staff writer of the Wall Street Journal Alex Kotlowitz takes the stage.
Wednesday, October 17
Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor
1 p.m. Faculty Reading with Fiction Writing Department’s Alexis Pride, Journalism Department’s Curtis Lawrence and English Department’s Garnett Kilberg Cohen.
3 p.m. The audience is joined by Ivan Brunetti, editor of An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories (Yale University Press, 2006). His most recent book Misery Loves Company, a psychiatric case study masquerading as a fancy-pants graphic novel, collects the first three issues of his legendary comic book series Schizo.
7 p.m. Scott McCloud will discuss the art and craft of telling stories visually. His book Understanding Comics was a New York Times Notable book for 1994 and is available in 16 languages. "Sin City" and "300" creator Frank Miller called him "just about the smartest guy in comics."
Thursday, October 18
Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor
3 p.m. Panel on telling stories through sound and image with Chicago Tribune photographer Antonio Perez, Chicago Public Radio senior content developer Justin Kaufmann, Chicago Public Radio reporter Natalie Moore and documentarian Ted Hardin.
Conaway Center, 1104 S. Wabash, 1st floor
7:30 p.m. A discussion with Art Spiegelman. “From his Holocaust saga in which Jewish mice are exterminated by Nazi cats, to the The New Yorker covers guaranteed to offend, to a wild party that ends in murder: Art Spiegelman’s cartoons don’t fool around.”—Los Angeles Times
Friday, October 19
C-33 Gallery, 33 E. Congress
2 p.m. Celebration and Reading for South Loop Review, the nonfiction journal published by the English Department.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2007
Media Contact: Priscilla L. Hunter, 312.344.7805, 312.286.6624 (cell) or phunter@colum.edu
Chicago, IL—Edward James Olmos is a man of immeasurable talent and creativity. On Thursday, October 18 at 7:30 p.m. at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., the multi-talented actor, producer, director and community activist will bring his creativity to Columbia College as part of the college’s public programming series Conversations in the Arts: Up Close With…
Tickets are FREE and are available on a first-come, first-served basis at www.colum.edu/tickets or by calling Columbia Ticket Center, 312.344.6600. For further information call 312.344.7287.
Conversations in the Arts is an in-depth dialogue with some of today’s most respected members of American arts and letters. Each featured artist is joined by the evening’s host in a small setting for an intimate conversation.
Olmos was raised in East Los Angeles and spent years working in theatrical roles. His first big break was a starring role in Luis Valdez’s play, “Zoot Suit” in 1978. The play moved to Broadway and led to a Tony nomination and great critical acclaim. He is best known for his role as “Lt. Martin Castillo” in the NBC television series, “Miami Vice” (1984) for which he received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Olmos has been seen in numerous film and television productions. He received an Academy Award nomination for “best actor” for his starring role in “Stand and Deliver” (1988). He marked his directorial debut and starred in the 1992 feature film “American Me” which was produced by his production company, Olmos Productions.
He was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Jaime Escalante, the eccentric yet dedicated math teacher in “Stand and Deliver,” which he also produced. Currently he can be seen on television as Jess Gonzalez, a Korean War veteran on the PBS show “American Family” and as Commander Adama on the Sci-Fi series “Battlestar Galactica.”
A busy producer, director and actor, Olmos also makes time to participate in many humanitarian efforts. He is a U.S. Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and national spokesperson for organizations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. He devotes much of his time to causes, particularly those focusing on the needs and rights of children. He makes more than 150 pubic appearances annually to places where he can reach kids at risk: juvenile halls, detention centers, boys/girls clubs and schools.
Conversations in the Arts: Up Close with Edward J. Olmos is sponsored by American Airlines, E-Team, Hilton Chicago and Clune Construction.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to access, opportunity, and excellence in higher education, provides innovative practice and education in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to 11,000 students in more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on, minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the modern leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., Columbia is aggressively pursuing its mission to bring a richness of vision and a multiplicity of voices to the creation of culture through the diversity of our students and graduates. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2007
Media Contact: Micki Leventhal 312-344-7383
WHAT: Monsters in the Christian Tradition –
An Illustrated Intersections Presentation by Stephen T. Asma
WHEN: Wednesday, October 3 – 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: Chicago Cultural Center, Garland Room, 78 E. Washington, 1st Floor
HOW MUCH: Free and open to the public
MORE INFO: 312-744-6630
Many people have heard of Leviathan and Behemoth in the Old Testament, but lesser known are the race of Giants --born of human women who were impregnated by fallen angels. So too, while many Christians may have a St. Christopher statue on the dashboard of their cars, Christopher is rarely depicted (as the Eastern Church believes) as a monster with a dog’s head. Many ancient and medieval monsters have been conveniently edited out of modern orthodoxy, but they played important roles in previous eras.
To be a monster is to be an omen. Sometimes the monster is a display of God’s wrath, sometimes a portent of the future, sometimes a symbol of moral virtue or vice, sometimes an accident of nature.
The monster is more than an odious creature of the imagination, it is a kind of cultural category –employed in domains as diverse as religion, biology, literature and politics. In this lecture Dr. Asma will examine some of the fabulous creatures of ancient legend, and draw parallels to our contemporary uses and abuses of monsters. Significant images will be included in the presentation.
Stephen T. Asma, Ph.D. is a professor of philosophy and Distinguished Scholar at Columbia College Chicago. He is the author of several books, including Buddha for Beginners (Writers & Readers, 1996) Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums (Oxford University Press, 2001) and The Gods Drink Whiskey: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment in the Land of the Tattered Buddha (HarperCollins San Francisco, 2005). He is currently at work on his fifth book, Monsters: An Unnatural History, forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2008. Dr. Asma writes extensively for the Chronicle of Higher Education Review, is a published visual artist and a blues musician. Visit www.stephenasma.com
WHO: A collaboration between the Cultural Studies Program of Columbia College Chicago and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Intersections presents lectures and discussions that investigate and celebrate the complexity of contemporary culture and the arts in which scholars and educators from Columbia College Chicago explore a broad range of compelling topics in a format designed to be informative, invigorating and accessible.
UPCOMING INTERSECTIONS PROGRAM:
November 14: The Two Daleys: Comparing and Contrasting Two Administrations with historian Dominic A. Pacyga December 5: Our Post 9/11 World: Terrorism and the War on Terrorism, with civil right attorney H. Candace Gorman, philosophy professor Raja Halwani and political science professor Robert Watkins.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2007
Critical Encounters, Columbia College Chicago’s institution-wide learning initiative, will tackle the theme of “Poverty and Privilege” for the 2007-2008 academic year. Through public and classroom events, the college community will explore the causes, constructs and conditions of the Poverty/Privilege dichotomy on a local, national and global level. For more information on Critical Encounter/Poverty & Privilege visit: www.colum.edu/criticalencounters.
Dr. Stephanie Shonekan, professor in Columbia’s Cultural Studies department serves as the Faculty Fellow for Critical Encounter/Poverty & Privilege. Lott Hill, assistant director of the college’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Civic Engagement serves as community outreach coordinator. Both are available for interview.
The academic year begins with a series of events that are free and open to the public:
WHAT: Perspectives on Poverty & Privilege. Short films by Columbia’s Film/Video graduate students and alumni. Screening and discussion. Themes 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 Directed by Paul Cales. (12 min.)
Elemental. Directed by Christopher O’Brien. (9 min.)
Improvisation. Directed by Zack Litwack. (11 min.)
Tiffin. Directed by Chor Ai Lene. (15 min.)
The Animation Reel. Directed by a host of animators. (10 min.)
Half. Directed by Ben Alagna. (4 min)
Namibia, Brasil.Directed by Miguel Silveira. (7 min.)
Athina.Directed by Erika Valenciana. (7 min.)
Girls Room.Directed by Maria Gigante (10 min.)
WHEN: Monday, September 24, 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: 1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center, 1st floor
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-7167
WHAT:Voter Education Event. Voters’ Self-Defense System, 2008 Edition
Richard Kimball, president and founder of Project Vote Smart (PVS), a non-partisan, not-for-profit, online searchable database containing a wealth of information on elected officials and political candidates, will speak about the history and mission of PVS and explain how citizens can Vote Smart in the next election with the online Voters’ Self-Defense System. Co-sponsored by the Civic Engagement Committee of Columbia College Chicago and the Illinois League of Conservation Voters [www.lcvillinois.org].
WHEN: Monday, September 24, 2007, 6 p.m.
WHERE:1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center, 1st Floor
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-7072
WHAT:Body Language: Inter-Cultural Exchange in Choreography. Panel discussion
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?
Discussants include Margaret Jenkins, Artistic Director, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company (San Francisco) Tanusree Shankar, Artistic Director, Tanusree Shankar Dance Company (Calcutta, India) and Celia Bambara, Co-Artistic Director, CCBdance Project (Chicago)
WHEN: Tuesday, September 25, 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: 1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center, 1st Floor
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-8341
WHAT: Critical Encounters Salon: Of Beetles & Angels. Reading and discussion with 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.
WHEN: Wednesday, September 26, 2 p.m.
WHERE: 1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center, 1st Floor
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-7167
WHAT:Poverty & Privilege Town Hall. Discussion with community activists
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.
Discussants include Amy Rynell (Director, Mid-America Institute on Poverty, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and 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).
WHEN: Wednesday, September 26, 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: 1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center, 1st Floor
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-8829
WHAT:Poverty in Chicago. Film Screening and Discussion
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. Screening of the 55 minute film followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.
WHEN: Thursday, September 27, 6 p.m.
WHERE:1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center, 1st Floor
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-7167
WHAT: Life After Katrina. Film screening and discussion
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. Screening is followed by a discussion with student filmmakers. Sponsored by Reach Out student volunteer organization, the Office of Student Life, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Center for Community Arts Partnerships.
WHEN: Friday, September 28, 6 p.m.
WHERE: 1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center, 1st Floor
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-7167
WHAT: Life After Katrina: 18 Months Later, documentary photography by students
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. Sponsored by Reach Out and the Office of Student Life.
WHEN: Monday, September 24 – Friday, September 28
WHERE: 1104 S. Wabash, Conaway Center, 1st Floor
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-7167
WHAT: 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.
WHEN: Exhibition runs through Tuesday, October 16
WHERE: Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash
PUBLIC INFO: 312-344-6643
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Media Contact: Micki Leventhal 312-344-7383