Centrepiece Online | Summer 2011

Making Arts Relevant

Centre’s Norton Center for the Arts has always been a showcase for the greatest arts and entertainment.

The Norton Center has also provided activities with the visiting artists to connect with the music, theater, and dance programs at Centre and educational opportunities for K–12 youth. Now the academic program is even more involved.

Moulin Rouge®—The Ballet with Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet
(March 27)

For its 2011-12 “REImagine” performing arts season, the Norton Center has partnered with faculty around campus to create unique opportunities that extend students’ learning experiences. The philosophy is simple: Encourage faculty to use the Norton Center as an educational resource. And the result? Three large collaborations between Centre faculty and the Norton Center are part of the upcoming season.

¡Viva Brazil! (Oct. 5)

The first came about when several Centre faculty members developing a Latin American studies minor approached the Norton Center for ideas on how to include a performing arts component. Pooled ideas and resources led to ¡Viva Brazil!, a multi-day event with several Grammy Award-winning Brazilian artists, highlighted by the Luciana Souza Trio. The trio features bossa nova, pop, and jazz vocalist Luciana Souza; Brazilian and classical guitarist Romero Lubambo; and famed percussionist Cyro Baptista. Individually, the musicians have performed with some of the most diverse artists in music, including Herbie Hancock, Yo-Yo Ma, Kathleen Battle, and Snoop Dogg.

While visiting Centre, these artists will provide workshops and talks on Brazilian music and culture as requested by the Centre Latin American studies faculty planning team. A panel discussion with all three performers will focus on current views about Latin American arts, politics, culture, and social justice. There will also be a 60-minute matinee for area middle and high school students. The anchor event for ¡Viva Brazil! is a public performance of the Luciana Souza Trio on Oct. 5, 2011, as part of the Newlin Hall Series.

The Rivalry brings to life the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates (Feb. 10)

The second collaboration, focusing on Federal versus state’s rights and the morality of politics, concludes with the Norton Center Newlin Hall Series performance of L.A. Theatre Works’ The Rivalry on Feb. 10, 2012. Norman Corwin’s electrifying dramatization of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates demonstrates anew Lincoln’s prophetic argument that the United States could not survive half slave and half free.

The third program, We Are What We Eat, a conversation about the ethics of food in everyday eating, is scheduled for April 17, 2012. It features acclaimed researcher, professor, and author Marion Nestle (Paulette Goddard Professor in the nutrition, food studies, and public health department at New York University) and physician and author Daphne Miller (an associate professor at the University of California-San Francisco, where she teaches nutrition and integrative medicine). Their public dialogue in the Norton Center Newlin Hall Series is part of a cross-Centre symposium on the broad theme of the ethics of food.

Through programs like these, the Norton Center adds relevance to its role on campus. These experiential learning opportunities are being developed in partnerships with the entire Centre campus, including faculty members from Divisions I (Humanities), II (Social Studies), and III (Science and Mathematics). While many Centre students already take advantage of their free tickets available for Norton Center programs, these collaborations provide even deeper connections of understanding and appreciation and allow for further post-performance discourse, in and out of the classroom.

YAMATO: The Drummers of Japan (Nov. 1)

Many of the 2011-12 performers will work directly with small groups of Centre students. From master classes and workshops to lectures and demonstrations ranging from Japanese drumming to music therapy, Centre students can connect with leading professional performing artists to learn firsthand about their views, skills, and journeys.

Beyond the face value of next season’s Norton Center programming, there is a considerable amount of relevance as it relates to world culture, politics, and our environment. While lifelong learners within the region will be able to enjoy these tangential engagement opportunities, they will primarily benefit Centre students and the College’s academic programs.