Community Dialogue Through the Arts

In this course students will learn both the theory and the practice of community dialogue through the arts. We will study the roles of community organizers, activists, artists, community members, performers, and scholars in the field of community engagement, such as The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Urban Bush Women, Crossroads Theatre, and Jan Cohen-Cruz of Imagining America. Students will collaborate to design, plan, implement, and document a community engagement project aimed at making tangible change that continues after the course is completed. Readings will be drawn from Radical Street Performance, Visions of Culture, and Imagining America Publications. This course counts as an elective towards the Dance major. 3 hrs. lect.