From the Vice Provost
Arts, Libraries, AND Global Engagement
As announced at the end of the fall semester, Global Engagement was added to the purview of Vice Provost Sharpley-Whiting, now recognized as the Vice Provost for Arts, Libraries & Global Engagement (VPALGE). This position facilitates Vanderbilt’s continued expansion of its presence, reputation, and impact around the globe. In this new role, Sharpley-Whiting will assume oversight of Vanderbilt’s Global Scholars in Residence program, provide direction and executive sponsorship for high-profile faculty cross-school international conferences hosted at the university, and serve as the point of contact for the Office of the Chancellor on large-scale high-profile global initiatives.
In many ways, it is a dual appointment recognizing Arts & Libraries and Global Engagement. As such, it does not detract from our office’s continuing mission to build a network between, create greater visibility for, and expand the role of performing, visual, and literary arts on campus and beyond. Global engagement is a campus-wide priority, which includes the arts and archives among other areas. We recognize the arts and libraries are already engaging in global collaborations on which we can build, and Vanderbilt possesses world-renown talent in its arts faculty and through the collections and work of the Jean & Alexander Heard Libraries.
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Events from VPALGE
Stay tuned for more information regarding these programs!
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Global Scholars in Residence
Information Session
Applications for the 2024-25 Global Scholars in Residences are opening next month on InfoReady. Originally launched by the Chancellor's Office in spring 2023, this program will now be managed by the VPALGE Office. On February 12, 12:10 p.m. - 1 p.m., we will hold an informational session on the program in the Author's Room of the Central Library. Vice Provost Sharpley-Whiting and Julie Wilbers, Director of the International Student & Scholars Department will be answering any questions related to the application and visas. Lunch will be provided first come, first serve.
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Arts, Discovery, and Innovation Fund
2024-25 Applications
Applications for the Arts, Discovery, and Innovation Fund will be reopening next month for collaborative programming in the 2024-25 fiscal year. This grant opportunity is one of the many ways Vanderbilt University collaborates with the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM).
All full-time, VU-employed staff and Provost-reporting faculty and staff are eligible to apply for up to $5,000 for programs that partner with NMAAM to enrich educational and research opportunities around African American music and culture and their intersection with other arts, history, law, and social justice/movements. Among other requirements, applicants must reach out to Noëlle Taylor, NMAAM Director of Education & Engagement, before applying.
If interested in collaborating with other local organizations, check out the Community Engagement Collaboration Fund, recently launched by the Division of Government and Community Relations. Applications are due by February 12, 2024.
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CHAT + WHEN Conference
Building international networks
The US-based Chair at the Table Network (CHAT) and UK-based Women's Higher Education Network (WHEN) are pleased to partner in hosting an international conference at Vanderbilt on March 29, 2024. This hybrid event will facilitate international research collaborations, networking, and mentoring for faculty, administrators, and graduate students. We will also learn about the WHEN's 100 Black Women Professors initiative. The conference is free and open to the public. All attendees (virtual and in-person) must register in advance. Virtual attendees will receive a separate link to the webinar the week of the event. Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees.
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Faculty & Staff Spotlight
Douglas Shadle, Blair School of Music
This semester’s faculty and staff spotlight recognizes Doug Shadle, Associate Professor of Musicology for Blair School of Music. He met with us to discuss his work on last semester’s Florence Price: A Celebration, the month-long festival honoring the music composed by Florence B. Price (1887 – 1953). Price is recognized as the first African American woman to earn international acclaim for her compositions and be performed by a major orchestra. In our discussion, Dr. Shadle examines how Vanderbilt’s culture of radical collaboration encouraged his pursuit of this project, partnering with local, national, and international talent to elevate some of Price’s never-before-performed pieces and showcase her versatility as a composer. The celebration was documented in videos available to Vanderbilt faculty and students for teaching purposes as well as by the photography of Nashville-based artist LeXander Bryant, which is on display at the Curb Center from February 9 through March 8.
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Gertrude C. and Harold S. Visiting Writers Series Spring series kicks off tonight, January 25 with visiting writer Megan Fernandes
The Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Visiting Writers Series is named in honor of Vanderbilt founder Cornelius Vanderbilt’s great-grandson and his wife. Each semester, the series brings several professional writers to campus to read from their works and visit classes. This unique and extraordinary program gives English department students and faculty, the Vanderbilt community, and Nashville’s citizens a chance to meet and talk with some of the best writers of our day. The Visiting Writers series takes place at 7 pm in Buttrick Hall 101 unless otherwise specified. The first guest of the spring 2024 series is poet Megan Fernandes, author of I Do Everything I’m Told, and Good Boys, a finalist for the Kundiman Book Prize, the Saturnalia Book Prize, and the Paterson Poetry Prize. She has work published in The New Yorker, The American Poetry Review, Tin House, Ploughshares, Chicago Review, Boston Review, Rattle, PANK, The Common, Guernica, the Academy of American Poets, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, among others. Fernandes is an Associate Professor of English and the Writer-in-Residence at Lafayette College, where she teaches poetry, creative nonfiction, and critical theory courses.
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International Lens Film SeriesSpring series begins today, January 25 with the 22nd Annual Animation Show of Shows
International Lens is a film series with a global perspective that provides a forum to promote conversation among Vanderbilt’s diverse students, faculty, staff, and the greater Nashville community. The series is organized by the Department of Cinema & Media Arts in collaboration with the College of Arts and Science, Dean of Students offices, and other departments, centers, and programs across the University. International Lens endeavors to transcend geographic, linguistic, ethnic, religious, and political boundaries by encouraging conversation and greater cross-cultural understanding through cinema. Films are screened in Sarratt Cinema for free at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays unless otherwise noted.
On Thursday, January 25, the 22nd Annual Animation Show of Shows will be screened with an introduction given virtually by Ron Diamond, curator and producer of the Animation Show of Shows. This film anthology comprises the work of artists from various countries in Europe, Asia, and North America, including nine female filmmakers and one restored classic. All are inventive, engaging, and thought-provoking, with their tones ranging from the whimsical to the profound; techniques from stop-motion to hand-drawn to computer-aided; and most exploring anxieties and hopes of our world and the sense of human connection in it. The program culminates with a striking restored 4K digital remaster of Frederic Back’s classic 1987 Oscar-winner, “The Man Who Planted Trees.”
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The Glory of the Day: LeXander Bryant Meets Florence B. PriceCurb Center exhibitions LeXander Bryant's photography, February 9 - March 8
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.
The Curb Center commissioned LeXander Bryant to photograph the performances of Florence Price: A Celebration, a music festival hosted by the Blair School of Music to honor the legacy of 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. Through his photographs, Bryant not only documented but engaged artistically with performers, communities, and the archive of Florence Price’s music. Bryant captured moments ranging from meditative to energetic, from solitary to communal, bringing his aesthetic sensibilities to Price’s work. Bryant’s practice, marked by an intention 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.
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Blair Masters SeriesFaculty Recitals throughout the semester
Throughout the year, Blair School of Music faculty talents are highlighted in the Blair Masters Series. Upcoming performances include:
- Monday, January 29 - Bassoonist Peter Kolkay will be joined by the students of the Blair Bassoon Studio for a program that will include selections by Reginald Bain, Manuel de Falla, Russell Platt, and Gioachino Rossini.
- Thursday, February 1 - Violist Eric Wong, accompanied by pianist Hyunsoo Kim, will perform three sonatas by Beethoven.
- Thursday, February 8 - Pianist Nathan Cheung will perform works by J.S. Bach, Manuel de Falla, and Cécile Chaminade, among others.
These recitals happen throughout the week, typically at 8 p.m. in Turner Hall. A full list of Blair's performances can be found on their school's events page. Most Blair events, including the Blair Masters Series, are now free with tickets required for admission through the box office site.
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EADJ Exhibition and Workshop EADJ focuses on local collaboration this semester.
This spring, EADJ will nurture its relationships with the local community, artists, partners, students, faculty, and staff. EADJ will focus on the hyper-local, putting together displays and workshops within Begonia Labs, EADJ’s art laboratory on the periphery of the Vanderbilt campus, and select public art projects throughout Nashville. Events scheduled for the coming months:
February 8–March 9: Jose Luis Benavides: Video Experiments at Begonia Labs - Artist and Lecturer Jose Luis Benavides will have projects on display at Begonia Labs, and he will also host conversations and film screenings. Benavides has been exploring the relationship and tension between new media (3D animation and 3D printing practice) and old media (archives and research-based practice) alongside themes of social justice, queer temporalities, Latinidad, and immigration through experimental documentary filmmaking and video art techniques.
February 10–11: Interactive Exhibition at Nashville Black Market - Focusing on the theme of “radical love” the EADJ team will host a public art/craft workshop for Black History Month at the Nashville Black Market. The workshop is designed for families and children.
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Amie Esslinger Returns to the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery
Events announced with the visiting artist responsible for Holding Impact in Cohen Memorial Hall
Last spring, Atlanta-based artist Aime Esslinger was invited by the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery to transform the atrium of Cohen Memorial Hall with her biomorphic, mixed-media installation. The Gallery also partnered with the local community in art-making workshops that were included in the project. The installation will be on view through the end of the semester, and Aime Esslinger will return to campus next month for a series of talks, workshops, and class visits. Everyone is invited to attend: Tuesday, February 20 at 12:30 p.m. - Art for Lunch
Esslinger will be in residence working in the gallery. Join her for an informal discussion of her inspirations and work process.
Thursday, February 22 at 4:30 p.m. - Artist Discussion: Holding Impact with Aime Esslinger
Esslinger’s abstract biomorphs and hyper-palettes portray the energy and dynamism of biological processes and systems, revealing the possibilities hidden in the microscopic structure of the physical world. Meet in Cohen Hall Atrium for this moderated discussion with Esslinger on the intersections of art and science.
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VU Theatre Spring 2024 Performances
Two Main Stage productions are scheduled for the semester
Failure: A Love Story by Philip Dawkins will be performed at the end of February. A wildly imaginative meditation on connection, love, and loss, Failure follows the stories of Nelly, Jenny June, and Gerty as they live out their lives above the family clock repair shop near the Chicago River. Set in 1928, this magical, musical fable features a whimsical chorus, a dog, a snake, a pioneering veterinarian, and a man unlucky in love in addition to the three Fail sisters. This production is directed by Dr. Lowe. Tickets will go on sale in late January. Performances are scheduled for February 23, 24, 29, March 1, 2 at 7:30 p.m. and February 25 at 2:00 p.m.
Love is the Greater Labyrinth by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is the spring production happening in early April. This production is a madcap take on Greek mythology by famous Mexican author Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. A swashbuckling adventure, romantic farce, and morality tale all rolled into one, the play follows Teseo (Theseus) as he goes to meet his fate in the jaws of the monstrous Minotaur. Little does he know that his greatest test will come when he escapes one labyrinth and heads straight into the even more disorienting complications of love. Princesses Fedra and Ariadna pull him in two different directions—which path will he choose? Love is the Greater Labyrinth is directed by Professor Millán. Tickets will go on sale in late March for the performances happening on April 5, 6, 11, 12 at 7:30 p.m. and April 7 and 13 at 2:00 p.m.
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The Global Black Writers in Translation Book SeriesVanderbilt University Press launches a new book series
VUP recently announced the launch of the new Global Black Writers in Translation book series. Edited by Vanessa K. Valdés (City College of New York), Annette Joseph-Gabriel (Duke University), and Nathan H. Dize (Washington University in St. Louis), this series will publish a variety of texts by authors of African descent translated from their source languages into English. The goal of the series is to amplify a body of writing that introduces anglophone readers to the range and complexity of Black literary and cultural production, history, and political thought. Each book will include critical front matter that highlights the translator’s craft and the enduring value of the work. When appropriate, titles will be published as bilingual editions to foster cross-linguistic conversation.
The series will expand existing literary canons and stretch them beyond their current national, geographic, and linguistic limits to foreground global diasporic Black writers. In addition, the series aims to increase the number of Black translators, addressing their historic underrepresentation in the field. Finally, the series will make translated literature written by historically marginalized groups more accessible to readers from all backgrounds, with an emphasis on potential classroom use.
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María Magdalena Campos-Pons Among 50 Winners of 2024 USA Fellows
Professor of Fine Arts Dr. Campos-Pons was recognized by the nonprofit United States Artists
The Chicago-based nonprofit United States Artists has named the 50 recipients of its annual 2024 USA Fellows, which comes with an unrestricted cash prize. The fellows are selected across 10 different disciplines, including visual arts, writing, film, craft, and traditional arts. The winners come from 22 different states as well as Puerto Rico and range in age from the 20s to their 80s. María Magdalena Campos-Pons is amongst six artists recognized in the category of visual arts.
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If you know of an arts or archives-related event or update that needs to be shared tag it "Incunabula" in the university calendar or send it to us at artsandlibraries@vanderbilt.edu.
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