Throughout the year, the Humanities Collaboratory hosts scholars who come together to discuss emerging collaborative humanities projects. The Collaboratory has continued its series of pop-up conversations, this time bringing together a group of scholars to generate ideas centered on the “Art of Democracy.”
The Art of Democracy project begins with Mark Clague‘s research. He writes, “The goal of The Art of Democracy Research Collaboratory would be to expose and critique the ways in which the arts (literature, painting, music) and performance (dance, theater, political speech, street protest, etc.) have intervened in American civic discourse.”
“…art can convene community, focus attention, dramatize conflict, highlight identity, and recruit emotion…”
Clague hopes that “a range of scholars might find resonance with this topic and join a research community which would weave related projects into a coherent whole.” Clague explains that “the immediate inspiration for this conversation is a new partnership between lyric baritone Thomas Hampson. Hampson is a tireless advocate of the arts as a public good and has pioneered the recovery, performance and recording of American classic song, ranging from those by Francis Hopkinson to settings of Walt Whitman and the music of Margaret Bonds.” Clague adds that “song would be just one of the arts addressed, but the notion that art can convene community, focus attention, dramatize conflict, highlight identity, and recruit emotion in the service of argument and influence would form the connective thread of the research effort.”
The group’s first meeting brought together Naomi André (Professor of Women’s Studies/Residential College and Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies); Stephen Berrey (Associate Professor of American Culture and of History); Mark Clague (Associate Professor of Music); Paul Erickson (Randolph G. Adams Director of the Clements Library ); Christie Finn (Director of the Hampson Foundation); Thomas Hampson (the Sally Fleming Master Class Guest Artist at SMTD); Caroline Helton (Clinical Associate Professor of Music); Amy Hughes (Associate Professor of Theatre and Drama); Jim Leija (Curator, Museum of Art); and Greg Wakefield (Associate Professor of Music and Faculty Director of ArtsEngine).
To learn more about how the Collaboratory might support your collaborative research interests, even in the early stages of a project’s life cycle, contact Faculty Coordinator Kristin Hass.
Pictured L to R: Mark Clague, Naomi André, Paul Erickson, Amy Hughes, Thomas Hampson, Christie Finn, Greg Wakefield, and Stephen Berrey. (Not pictured: Caroline Helton, Jim Leija)