The Humanities Collaboratory is pleased to welcome a new 5×5 Incubator Grant team, the Art of Democracy.
According to team members, the goal of their project is “to expose and critique the ways in which the arts (literature, painting, poetry, music, etc.) and performance (dance, theater, political speech, street protest, etc.) have intervened in American civic discourse.”
Art of Democracy team members include Mark Clague (Associate Professor of Musicology and Director, U-M Gershwin Initiative); Louise Toppin (Professor of Music, Voice); Naomi André (Professor, Afroamerican and African Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, Residential College); Stephen Berrey (Associate Professor, American Culture); Caroline Helton (Associate Professor of Music); and Thomas Hampson (Distinguished Visiting Artist in Voice).
The team explains: “Song is a central art form to be addressed, thanks to the participation of internationally-renowned operatic baritone Thomas Hampson and the newly-established partnership between his 501(c)(3) non-profit organization the Hampsong Foundation and U-M SMTD.” According to the team, “the connective thread of the research effort” is broader, as they will explore “the overall notion that art can convene community, focus attention, dramatize conflict, highlight identity, forge bonds, and recruit emotion in the service of argument and influence.”
Questions pursued by the Art of Democracy collaboration include: “What is the accepted definition of ‘art’ in a democracy, and how can the often lofty ideals and goals of an artist support or be at odds with the democratic concept of ‘for the people, by the people’? How does the evolution of a democracy influence its artistic practice? How did and do works of art directly participate in social and political discourse, especially social change in American democracy? What is the relationship between the experience of or participation in art, and the development of empathy in an individual? How does ‘art’ offer a ‘safe space’ to explore social and political topics that otherwise are too polarizing to address?”
Pictured: Dorian Dillard II and Anjani Briggs singing Minette Fontaine by African American composer William Grant Still