Ajay Heble Announced as U Michigan Scholar-In-Residence
Congratulations to our director, Dr. Ajay Heble, who was selected as the Scholar-in-Residence at The University of Michigan Center for World Performance Studies for fall 2021! Drawing upon his experience as as author, scholar, and musician who has served as both a faculty member at University of Guelph and as the Founder and former Artistic Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival, Dr. Heble will use this residency to curate and partake in a series of virtual roundtable discussions exploring the theme of Improvisation & Encounter.
Drawing its inspiration in part from The Fierce Urgency of Now: Improvisation, Rights, and the Ethics of Cocreation, a collaboratively-authored book by Daniel Fischlin, George Lipsitz, and Ajay Heble, this series of online roundtable conversations will explore Improvisation in the arts as a scene of encounter. What happens when artists come together to improvise, and what might this scene of encounter tell us about the staging and negotiation of difference: between artists, between artists and audiences, between the present moment and the varied histories and contexts that gave rise to it? Curated and moderated by Ajay Heble, and presented in association with Edgefest, the conversations will focus on three sub-themes (festivals, pedagogy, intercultural collaboration), and will feature musicians, theatre artists, dancers, arts presenters, and scholars. Dates are as follows:
Monday, October 25, 7pm | Festivals
with Patricia Nicholson (Vision Festival), Deanna Relyea (Edgefest), and Rainbow Robert (Vancouver International Jazz Festival)
Monday, November 22, 7pm | Pedagogy
with Douglas R. Ewart, Ed Sarath, Georgia Simms and Jesse Stewart
Monday, December 13 | Intercultural Collaboration
with Jane Bunnett, Omi Osun Joni L. Jones and George Lipsitz
Additional information and Zoom registration links can be found on the Center for World Performance Studies website. Everyone is welcome to attend these free roundtable events.
If you require accommodation to participate in CWPS events, please contact the Center for World Performance Studies, at 734-936-2777 or [email protected]. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the University to arrange.
