Lawrence University News

Lawrence Artist Series welcomes opera star Lawrence Brownlee

If you enjoy opera, you’ll love Lawrence Brownlee. If you don’t, he may turn you into a convert.

With effortless sound and sparkling diction, Brownlee brings his powerful and agile tenor voice to the Lawrence Memorial Chapel stage Saturday, April 16 at 8 p.m. in the latest Lawrence University’s Artist Series concert.

Lawrence-Brownlee_newsblog_2 — Tenor Lawrence Brownlee

Tickets, at $25/$30 for adults, $20/$25 for seniors and $18/$20 for students are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

While performing opposite the leading ladies of contemporary opera, Brownlee has established himself as a star on the international scene. He has dazzled audiences in nearly every major theater in the world and enjoys a relationship with many prominent conductors and symphony orchestras.

Since being named Grand Prize winner of the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, the Associated Press has named him one of “the world’s leading bel canto tenors.” National Public Radio hailed his voice as “an instrument of great beauty and expression.” In 2006, Brownlee was named the winner of the prestigious Marian Anderson Vocal Award.

“Lawrence Brownlee is, without exaggeration, a phenomenon in today’s operatic world,” said Joanne Bozeman, a voice instructor in Lawrence’s conservatory of music. “With all due respect to other fine tenors, I don’t believe anyone currently matches him in the high-flying bel canto repertoire. NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert of Mr. Brownlee singing spirituals is a great way to sample what he will bring to the chapel stage as an equally phenomenal recitalist.”

Brownlee’s operatic highlights include: “La Cenerentola” in Milan, Houston, Philadelphia and the Metropolitan Opera; “L’italiana in Algeri” in Milan, Dresden, Boston and Seattle; and the title role in the 2015 world premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird,” a work written specifically for him, at the Opera Philadelphia.

Brownlee’s discography boasts the Grammy Award-nominated “Virtuoso Rossini Arias,” a testament to his broad impact in the classical music genre. He also has contributed several opera and concert recordings, among them “Armida” at the Metropolitan Opera and “Carmina Burana” with the Berlin Philharmonic.

In 2013, Brownlee released a collection of African-American spirituals entitled “Spiritual Sketches” with pianist Damien Sneed, which the pair performed at Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. In a review of the album, NPR it as “soulful singing” that “sounds like it’s coming straight from his heart to yours.”

An avid salsa dancer and photographer, often taking portraits of his on-stage colleagues, Brownlee is a die-hard football fan and has treated many NFL audiences to his rendition of the national anthem.

A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Brownlee earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana’s Anderson University and a graduate degree from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College” and Fiske’s Guide to Colleges 2016. Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Moral psychology focus of final Lawrence brain series presentation

Duke University philosophy scholar Walter Sinnott-Armstrong explores moral psychology in the final installment of Lawrence University’s five-part Liberal Arts in the Century of the Brain series.

Sinnott-Armstrong, Chauncey Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the department of philosophy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke, presents “Are Psychopaths Responsible” Tuesday, April 12 at 11 a.m. in Stansbury Theatre of the Music-Drama Center. A question-and-answer session follows the presentation.

In conjunction with his talk, on Monday, April 11 at 7 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema, Sinnott-Armstrong will show a filmed interview with an imprisoned psychopath and discuss the nature of psychopathy and its moral implications. Both events are free and open to the public.

Psychopaths make up less than one percent of the population, but they commit more than 40 percent of violent crimes. Some research suggests they do not understand the immorality of their acts. In his presentation, Sinnott-Armstrong will discuss whether such individuals should be held legally or morally responsible if they don’t comprehend their acts, and if not, how should society dealt with them.

Sinnott-Armstrong, whose scholarship interests include neuroethics, is the author of several books, including 2009’s “Morality Without God?” and “Moral Skepticisms.” His current research focuses on moral psychology and brain science, as well as uses of neuroscience in the legal system.

Launched last fall, the Liberal Arts in the Century of the Brain series incorporated the interdisciplinary areas of neuroscience and cognitive science to create connections with other disciplines at Lawrence.

Lawrence conservatory faculty featured in Riverview Gardens concert celebrating Latin American music

Lawrence University Conservatory of Music faculty members take their talents into the community Monday, April 11 to highlight several genres of Latin American music.

Riverview Gardens Community Center will host “A Celebration of Hispanic and Latino-American Music” at 7 p.m. The concert, at 1101 S. Oneida St., Appleton, is free and open to the public.

The concert, organized by pianist Anthony Padilla, associate professor of music, and saxophonist José Encarnación, assistant professor of music and director of jazz studies, is one of a series of ongoing community programs highlighting 500 years of diversity and achievement by Latino Americans.

Padilla will lead the concert’s first half, which will feature classical pieces by Roberto Sierra, Astor Piazzolla, and Juan Orrego-Salas. He will be joined by Janet Anthony, cello, Wen-Lei Gu, violin and Matthew Michelic, viola.

The second half of the concert program highlights musical several styles, including Brazilian bossa nova, bolero from Mexico, rumba-son from Cuba and Argentine tango. All of the pieces were arranged by Encarnación, who will be joined by percussionist Dane Richeson and bassist Mark Urness.

The community program “Latino Americans: 500 Years of History” was organized through a partnership between Lawrence, the Appleton Public Library, Casa Hispana and the History Museum at the Castle. It is supported by a pair of grants Lawrence received from the American Library Association and the Wisconsin Humanities Council with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Appleton native, Iowa Writers’ Workshop Director named Lawrence’s 2016 commencement speaker, honorary degree recipient

It will be a homecoming of sorts for award-winning writer and Appleton native Lan Samantha Chang when she returns to the Lawrence University campus to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree Sunday, June 12 at the college’s 167th commencement ceremony.

Chang, the director of the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, also will serve as the principal commencement speaker. This will be Chang’s first honorary degree.

“An understanding of the creative process is core to the education Lawrence offers,” said President Mark Burstein. “We are very pleased that Lan Samantha Chang will join us for commencement this spring so we can honor an Appleton native who has perfected her craft and now teaches it to others as director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. From her first book, which the New York Times described as ‘a taut, incisive study of Chinese immigrants in America and their almost wordless struggle to adapt to a new life,’ to more recent work, Samantha has provided us a window into the human experience.”

Lan Samantha Chang will receive an honorary degree from Lawrence and serve as the principal speaker at the college's 167th commencement June 12. Photo by Tom Jorgensen. — Lan Samantha Chang will receive an honorary degree from Lawrence and serve as the principal speaker at the college’s 167th commencement June 12. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

Chang, whose parents emigrated to the United States from China, graduated from Appleton West High School in 1983. Her honorary degree will further connect her to Lawrence. Her mother earned a bachelor of music degree in piano pedagogy from Lawrence, while her father was an associate professor of engineering at the former Institute of Paper Chemistry, which had a long affiliation with Lawrence.

“Receiving an honorary degree from Lawrence means a great deal to me,” said Chang, “in part because when I was growing up, Lawrence was the center of intellectual life in Appleton. It is a greatly respected university. I have vivid memories of being at the conservatory during my mother’s recitals and meeting her professors.”

Her path to award-winning writer followed a circuitous route. Chang attended Yale University intending to satisfy her parent’s wishes of pursuing a medical degree, but she soon decided becoming a doctor was not in her future. After earning a degree in East Asian Studies, she told her parents she would become a lawyer, another career option more designed to please her parents than her own interests. She eventually earned a master’s of public administration degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

“I realized that I didn’t want to pursue that direction either,” Chang explained of her second change of heart. “It was really just a question of coming to face the fact that I had never wanted to do anything else except write fiction and that it would be pointless to try to keep trying to do other things.”

Chang eventually enrolled at the University of Iowa and earned a master of fine arts in creative writing.

While she says her life has been much easier since then, “I don’t think I’ve ever circled as much as I did after college when I understood that I would have to disappoint my parents and pursue an uncertain life,” said Chang.

Before returning to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Chang taught creative writing at Stanford University as Jones Lecturer in Fiction, in Warren Wilson College’s MFA program for writers and at Harvard University as Briggs-Copland Lecturer in Creative Writing.

Since 2006, she has served as the program director of the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where she also teaches English as the May Brodbeck Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Chang’s experiences as an Asian American inspired her to write two novels and a collection of short stories about the merging of Chinese and American culture and the dynamics of family and wealth in times of hardship or after war. Her works include 1998’s “Hunger: A Novella and Stories,” 2004’s “Inheritance: A Novel” and “All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost: A Novel” in 2010.

Chang’s work has been recognized with the 2005 PEN Open Book Award for “Inheritance,” while “Hunger” was the winner of the Southern Review Fiction Prize and named a finalist for a Los Angeles Times Book Award. Chang’s writing has been selected twice (1994, 1996) for inclusion in the yearly anthology “The Best American Short Stories.”

Our Pale Blue Dot: Lawrence International Cabaret celebrates the planet’s human beauty, diversity

More than 100 students representing more than 30 countries celebrate the 40th anniversary of Lawrence University’s annual International Cabaret in a pair of performances showcasing their native cultures through music and dance.

Under the theme “Our Pale Blue Dot,” students will highlight the world’s beauty and diversity in performances Saturday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 10 at 3 p.m. in Stansbury Theatre of the Music-Drama Center. A free reception follows Sunday’s performance at 5 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center.

Tickets, at $10 for adults, $5 for students/children (age four and under are free), are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749. The box office will be open one hour prior to Sunday’s performance.

Bimal Rajbhandari, a junior from Nepal and current president of Lawrence International, said this year’s Pale Blue Dot theme reflects our small, but unique, place in the cosmos.

“When we look at Earth from the Voyager 1 spacecraft from billions of miles away, it looks smaller than a single pixel,” said Rajbhandari, “and as far as we know, we are the only life that exists in the vast universe. Since we only have each other, we should be kind to each other and respect one another.

“Even though we are this tiny speck in the universe, there is so much beauty and diversity in our pale blue dot. We want to showcase a small part of that beauty through the cabaret,” Rajbhandari added.

The talent portion of this year’s cabaret includes:

• The song of herdsmen, a famous Chinese flute song that represents the great spirit of herdsmen on China’s fnorth prairie.

• Three different elements of Japanese dance.

• A fusion performance that blends rhythm and dance influences from Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria along with the sorsonet, a drum rhythm originating from Guinea in West Africa.

• Raga Yaman, a partial rendition of a piece from Indian classical music performed on the bansuri, an Indian flute.

• Ukali Orali Haruma, a Nepali song sung by the hugely influential classical artist Tara Devi.

• A traditional Tatar dance, representing one of the more than 180 ethnic minorities within Russia.

• Jordanian Dabkeh, one of seven distinct traditional dances popular in Arab countries. First performed in Palestine in 1962, it has 19 main moves.

• A lyrically abstract Indian song that incorporates elements of jazz, performed on an iktara, an ancient Indian single-stringed instrument.

• A musical recitation of two corresponding poems — Shikwa and Iqbal — by revered philosopher-poet Muhammad Iqbal, “the spiritual father of Pakistan.”

• A performance of Qing Hua Ci, a unique synthesis of Eastern and Western music popularized by Jay Chou, a major Asian artist who helped create the genre Zhong Guo Feng by fusing traditional Chinese musical styles with R&B and rock influences.

• A Korean dance team highlighting the three major types of modern Kpop culture: hip-hop, girl group and funky dance.

• A Vietnamese bamboo hat dance, inspired by the Northern Vietnamese agrarian traditions, accompanied by traditional Vietnamese musical instruments.

In addition to the musical and dance performances, the cabaret again will feature its popular fashion show, highlighting native clothing from around the world.

Lawrence International is one of the largest student organizations at the college, connecting the international community with American students on campus. Nearly 200 of Lawrence’s 1,500 students identify themselves with the international community, either through citizenship or personal background.

Lawrence Artist Series welcomes pianist Jeremy Denk

With a thought-provoking repertoire and an enthusiastic interest in all things music, pianist Jeremy Denk brings his gifts for enlivening the musical experience for diverse audiences to Lawrence University’s Artist Series.

Denk performs Friday, April 8 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Tickets, at $25/$30 for adults, $20/$25 for seniors and $18/$20 for students are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

Through performances with many of the country’s leading orchestras, among them the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra as well as the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, Denk has built a reputation as one of America’s most compelling artists. The New York Times praised Denk as someone “you want to hear no matter what he performs.”

He has toured extensively with violinist Joshua Bell and collaborates regularly with cellist Steven Isserlis. His 2012 album with Bell, “French Impressions,” won the 2012 Echo Klassik Award.

“Jeremy Denk is one of the most fascinating young pianists out there,” said Catherine Kautsky, professor of music and chair of the keyboard department at Lawrence. “He not only plays a massive range of repertoire with total command— going from Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ to Ligeti’s immensely difficult and recent ‘Etudes’— but he also speaks and writes about music with a rare eloquence.”

Named a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s coveted $625,000 “Genius” Fellowship in 2013, he was honored the following year with Musical America’s 2014 “Instrumentalist of the Year” award. That same year, he was named winner of the Avery Fisher Prize, which is awarded by New York City’s Lincoln Center and recognizes solo instrumentalists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and excellence in music. It includes a $75,000 monetary prize.

Beyond his captivating performances, Denk contributes eloquent insights about music on his blog, “Think Denk,” which recently was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress’ web archives. An article he wrote for The New Yorker in 2013 entitled “Every Good Boy Does Fine” forms the basis for a memoir about his experiences as a music student.

In an interview he conducted with the UK’s Daily Mail, Denk said he likes to “tear the music apart and see how it works.”

“My way of communicating is to hopefully help people see the elements that I see, and [explore] why this music is so strange and beautiful.”

Currently living in New York City, Denk holds degrees from Oberlin College, Indiana University and the Julliard School.

Three Wisconsin photographers featured in latest Wriston Art Center exhibition

University of Wisconsin Professor of Visual Studies Jill Casid delivers the opening lecture for the latest exhibition at Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center Galleries Thursday, March 31 at 6 p.m. with a reception to follow. Both events are free and open to the public.

Kissing-on-Mainstreet_newsblog — Jill H. Casid, “Sylvia Beach Way, Princeton, NJ 08542,” from “Kissing on Main Street,” 2015, original SX-70 Polaroid.

The exhibition, which runs through May 8, features the work of three Wisconsin photographers, including Casid. All three exhibitions highlight photography that engages with different conceptions of intimacy, interrogates the archive as a site of emotional resonance and reveals drastic changes in photographic technologies.

“Although they are three distinct exhibitions, they complement each other wonderfully,” said Beth Zinsli, director and curator of the Wriston Art Center galleries.

Casid’s “Kissing on Main Street” will be shown in the Kohler Gallery. Using a Polaroid camera, Casid captures acts of public intimacy and points her camera at the theoretical intersection of sex, imaging technology, vulnerable exposure and policing. She explores the vulnerability and temporality of public displays of affection through a medium that is itself instantaneous and easily shareable yet susceptible to damage and overexposure. An artist, theorist and historian, Casid founded and served as the first director of the Center for Visual Cultures at UW.

The Hoffmaster Gallery hosts “The Archive as a River: Paul Vanderbilt and Photography,” a celebration of the work of Vanderbilt (1905-1992), who sought new ways to understand the world through visual images as a visionary, archivist and photographer.

From 1942-1945, Vanderbilt worked with Roy Stryker at the Library of Congress, classifying more than 200,000 photographs of tenant farmers and farm workers for the Farm Security Administration. In 1954 he was hired by the Wisconsin Historical Society to curate and organize a treasure trove of images that became known as the Iconographic Collections. Inspired by Stryker’s approach of organizing materials around themed collections, Vanderbilt created a unique visual archive that is renowned for its depth, subtlety and flexibility.

Paul-Vanderbilt_newsblog — Paul Vanderbilt and his camera (detail), ca. 1963. Photographer unknown. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI 87567).

Vanderbilt spent 18 years as the field photographer for the WHS, focusing his lens on rural Wisconsin landscapes, architecture and small-town life. His fine sense of composition created photography with narrative and meaning that went beyond mere documentation.

He pioneered new formats for presenting images from the Iconographic Collections and his idiosyncratic thematic panels and pairings combine thoughtfully selected historic images with his own photographs and poetic texts. “The Archive as a River” includes large-scale reproductions of his thematic panels and pairings, a selection of Vanderbilt’s own photographs of Wisconsin and an array of artifacts and papers that reveal his innovative approach to organizing images.

The Vanderbilt exhibition is organized by the James Watrous Gallery, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters and the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library-Archives and is sponsored in part by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lavitia_newsblog — Livija Patikne, “Untitled (flowers),” no date

The Leech Gallery presents “Certificates of Presence: The Photography of Livija Patikne.” A U.S. immigrant, the Latvian-born Patikne (1911-2001) took photos of herself throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s in different guises with intricate flower arrangements. Living in Milwaukee when she died, she left behind without explanation or instruction hundreds of these photographs that portray a quiet, private life of profound stillness, often tinged with loss. Struck by the powerful yet silent composition in these photographs, photographer James Brozek and Debra Brehmer assembled an exhibition of her work, which was first shown at Milwaukee’s Portrait Society Gallery.

Wriston Art Center hours are Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday-Sunday noon – 4 p.m., closed Mondays. For more information, call 920-832-6621.

Wild Space Dance Company gets “Carried Away” at Lawrence University

Milwaukee-based Wild Space Dance Company presents an evening of organized chaos in “Carried Away,” a combination of new dance work and live music, Friday, April 1 at 8 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Stansbury Theatre.

Tickets, at $15 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

Monica Rodero and Dan Schuchart perform in Wild Space's "Carried Away." Rodero and Schuchart are two of Wild Space's artist-in-residence teachers at Lawrence. Photo by Paul Mitchell. — Monica Rodero and Dan Schuchart perform in Wild Space’s “Carried Away.” Rodero and Schuchart are two of Wild Space’s artist-in-residence teachers at Lawrence. Photo by Paul Mitchell.

“Carried Away,” features Wild Space artistic associates Mauriah Kraker, Monica Rodero and Dan Schuchart along with improvisational musician/saxophonist Nick Zoulek of Duo d’Entre-Deux.

Inspired by the creative daring that artists and performers bring to their craft, “Carried Away” reflects Wild Space’s commitment to fostering the work of emerging choreographers and cross-discipline collaborations.

“Using both improvisation and set material, Nick and the performers will navigate the space in an intricate exchange of ideas,” said Wild Space artistic director Debra Loewen, who was named 2011 Artist of the Year by the Milwaukee Arts Board. “We are thrilled to bring this kind of creativity to Lawrence.”

Wild Space Dance Company has served as a company-in-residence at Lawrence since 2000, bringing professional dance to the Lawrence community and providing students principles of dance art in performance through classes and workshops taught by Lowen and members of her company, including Rodero and Schuchart.

Known for its site-specific dance events and artistic collaborations, Wild Space merges dance with visual art, architecture and music to create inventive choreography and emotionally-charged performances. It has toured performance work to Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, South Korea and Japan.

Lawrence hosts first ACM conference and festival, nearly 70 student films to be screened

We may not know for several years, but there is a chance the next Alejandro González Iñárritu or Kathryn Bigelow will be on the Lawrence University campus the first weekend in April.

ACM-Film-Fest_'Drowned'_newsblog — “Drowned,” a film by Lawrence senior Zack Ben-Amots and Aj Williams will be one of the nearly 70 fllms screened during the ACM film festival.

The work of aspiring filmmakers from nine members of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest will be showcased Saturday, April 2 in the first ACM Film Conference and Festival. Selected from more than 150 submissions, nearly 70 of the best films will be screened in the Warch Campus Center cinema and the Wriston Art Center auditorium throughout the day beginning at 9 a.m. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Kicking off the festival Friday at 7 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center will be a discussion led by a panel of distinguished film and media studies scholars, artists and industry professionals serving as guest judges for the festival: Alan Berger, Phyllis Berger and Garrett Brown. Award-winning filmmaker Louis Massiah joins the jury on Saturday.

On Saturday, Brown (noon,), Massiah (2 p.m.) and Alan Berger (4 p.m.) will each conduction a special presentation in Room 221 of the Wriston Art Center.

Phyllis-Berger_newsblog_2 — Phyllis Berger

In addition to the film screenings, the festival also will showcase student research as student scholars present papers on Saturday on topics from a variety of theoretical, cultural and historical approaches to film studies and visual culture.

A live reading of the winning film script selected from among several submissions for review as part of the festival will be conducted Sunday, April 3 at 9 a.m. in the Cloak Theatre of the Music-Drama Center. An awards ceremony, recognizing student efforts for “Best of the Midwest,” social impact, production value and original concept, as well as an “Audience Choice” award, wraps up the festival Sunday (4/3) at noon in the Warch Campus Center cinema.

The films to be shown span genres ranging from documentaries and short narratives to animation and experimental, as well as music videos and public service announcements.

Catherine-Tatge_ACM-Film-Fest_newsblog — Catherine Tatge ’72

The festival is the brainchild of Lawrence artist-in-residence Catherine Tatge, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, who, for the past five years, has served as a consultant to the college’s budding film studies program.

“When I first started at Lawrence, I traveled to the best small liberal arts schools in the country, especially many in the Midwest and on the East Coast, to learn as much as I could about their film production programs,” said Tatge, a 1972 Lawrence graduate. “In the process, I learned about the Ivy Film Festival held at Brown University and I thought, ‘why doesn’t Lawrence host a festival for the ACM schools?’ It took some time to make it happen, but now that we have a beautiful state of the art film studies facility and talented new film studies faculty, we were able to organize a festival.”

While Tatge planted the seed, much of the festival’s cultivation has been done by Amy Ongiri, Jill Beck Director of Film Studies and associate professor of film studies, who was instrumental in securing a grant of more than $38,000 from the ACM office to help support the festival, Anne Haydock, visiting assistant professor of film studies and 2015 Lawrence graduate Alex Babbitt.

“Thanks to the invaluable help of Amy, Anne and Alex, what was just an idea has been transformed into an exciting reality,” said Tatge.

Brownwater_ACM-newsblog — “Brownwater,” a film by Lawrence students Jamie DeMotts, Hugo Espinosa and Taylor Dodson that examines the interaction between dairy farming and groundwater quality, will be among the films shown at the ACM film festival.

Lawrence senior Zach Ben-Amots, who had two films — “Drowned” and “Poem” — accepted for screening at the festival, says he’s “ecstatic” Tatge’s vision of a film festival has come to fruition.

“This is an exciting moment for us as students, but it’s also a great moment for the film departments at each of the participating schools,” said Ben-Amots, whose documentary film, “Forgotten History,” about the experiences of African-American students at Lawrence, was shown at the Appleton Public Library last summer. “I think audience members will be really impressed with the quality of the student work at the festival.”

As with many first-time ventures, like the Civic Life Project Tatge brought to Lawrence in 2013, she wasn’t quite sure what to expect when the call went out months ago for students to submit their work. She and her film studies faculty colleagues were more than pleasantly surprised by the response.

“We were shocked by the number of submissions we received and the quality of the films. It was fantastic,” said Tatge, whose own documentary films include “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth” as well as portraits of Martha Graham, John Muir and Tennessee Williams. “It was beyond our expectations and truly energized everyone associated with the festival.”

Tatge sees the festival as both an ideal platform for student expression and for the community to connect with issues young people find important.

“These students are our future and through their films, we can learn a lot about their concerns, interest and what the next generation is giving their time to,” said Tatge. “This is an opportunity to hear their creative voices.”

Ben-Amots’ two films will be among 18 films by Lawrence students that will be screened. “Drowned,” a short experimental video shot on Super-8 film stock made in collaboration with Aj Williams, explores the experience of drowning in an abstract sense, focusing on the muted colors and sounds of Wisconsin winters. His second film, “Poem,” is a documentary that explores his complicated relationship with the piano.

“These students are our future and through their films, we can learn a lot about their concerns, interest and what the next generation is giving their time to. This is an opportunity to hear their creative voices.”
— Catherine Tatge ’72

“Film is an incredible medium for storytelling and artistic expression,” said Ben-Amots. “This festival should motivate all of the participating colleges to continue investing in film.”

Other accepted films scheduled for screening examine topics ranging from life in Mexico and rodeo riding to censorship of the arts in Burma and stereotypes of Latino women.

Besides Lawrence, other schools with films that will be screened include Carleton College (2) Coe College (1), Colorado College (37), Cornell College (1), Grinnell College (3), Luther College (3), Macalester College (2) and St. Olaf College (1).

Former President Bill Clinton Speaking at Lawrence April 1

Former President Bill Clinton will make an appearance at Lawrence University Friday, April 1 to deliver a campaign address on behalf of his wife, Hillary Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

Bill Clinton_newsblog — Former President Bill Clinton will speak on behalf of his wife, Hillary, during a campaign stop at Lawrence. Photo courtesy of Hillary for America.

The country’s 42nd president will speak in the Somerset Room of the Warch Campus Center, 711 E. Boldt Way, beginning at approximately 10:30 a.m.

Clinton will be the first former president ever to visit Lawrence. William Howard Taft was the only sitting president to ever visit Lawrence (1911). Three future presidents have paid visits to the Lawrence campus: Richard Nixon (1959); John F. Kennedy (1960) and George H.W. Bush (1988). Only one first lady — Michelle Obama — has ever spoken at Lawrence (2012).

According to her campaign website, the former president will discuss why Hillary Clinton is the best candidate to raise wages and incomes, defend workers’ rights and fight to break down economic, social and racial barriers for families.

Attendance is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Due to the anticipated capacity turnout, this will be a standing-only event. Once inside, audience members will not be allowed to leave and return. Members of the Lawrence community planning to attend need to show a Lawrence I.D.

By institutional policy, Lawrence does not endorse or invite political candidates to campus, but when approached by them, policies allow for the booking of such events as part of the college’s educational mission, provided more than half of all spaces are available for students, faculty and staff. The college does encourage students to experience first-hand the political process by participating in candidate visits.

Lawrence Associate Professor of Government Arnold Shober said Wisconsin’s status as a purple state makes it a natural draw for presidential attention.

“Northeast Wisconsin is among the few remaining areas in America where Republicans and Democrats still live in the same neighborhoods,” said Shober. “Visits from four of the five presidential contenders is proof that the Fox Valley is pivotal for both parties. Bill Clinton’s visit shows that Hillary Clinton recognizes the importance of the Fox Cities in her unexpectedly tight race in Wisconsin. Sanders can count on Madison, and Clinton should do well in Milwaukee, but the balance for the Democrats will tip here in the Fox Valley.”

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Lawrence University News

Lawrence Artist Series welcomes opera star Lawrence Brownlee

Moral psychology focus of final Lawrence brain series presentation

Lawrence conservatory faculty featured in Riverview Gardens concert celebrating Latin American music

Appleton native, Iowa Writers’ Workshop Director named Lawrence’s 2016 commencement speaker, honorary degree recipient

Our Pale Blue Dot: Lawrence International Cabaret celebrates the planet’s human beauty, diversity

Lawrence Artist Series welcomes pianist Jeremy Denk

Three Wisconsin photographers featured in latest Wriston Art Center exhibition

Wild Space Dance Company gets “Carried Away” at Lawrence University

Lawrence hosts first ACM conference and festival, nearly 70 student films to be screened

“These students are our future and through their films, we can learn a lot about their concerns, interest and what the next generation is giving their time to. This is an opportunity to hear their creative voices.”
— Catherine Tatge ’72

Former President Bill Clinton Speaking at Lawrence April 1

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“These students are our future and through their films, we can learn a lot about their concerns, interest and what the next generation is giving their time to. This is an opportunity to hear their creative voices.” — Catherine Tatge ’72

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“These students are our future and through their films, we can learn a lot about their concerns, interest and what the next generation is giving their time to. This is an opportunity to hear their creative voices.”
— Catherine Tatge ’72