A project that aims to engage audiences intellectually and emotionally will come to Gainesville, Florida, Feb. 23, 2016 at 6 p.m. at First United Methodist Church. The Crossroads Project is a partnership between science and art that aims to blend performance art with one of the great conversation of our time — human civilization’s growing unsustainability and the quest for truly meaningful response. The event is free and open to the public but tickets are required. Tickets can be reserved through www.eventbrite.com.
Blending compelling and poetic science, evocative imagery and powerful music, Rising Tide unfolds in a series of vignettes exploring both natural and human systems, and juxtaposing two very different paradigms. The result is an inspiring and deeply personal contemplation of the paths before us. Rising Tide features the Fry Street Quartet performing music composed by Laura Kaminsky with narration by Robert Davies and art by Rebecca Allan (painter) and Garth Lenz (photographer). A Q&A session will follow the performance.
“The structure of The Crossroads Project is to weave together a story of these natural systems and to contrast that with the story of our human societal systems and then to look at how we could be doing it better,” said Davies, a physicist and educator at Utah State University.
University of Florida students led the effort to bring The Crossroads Project to Gainesville. While here, Davies will also present at Frank 2016, a gathering of movement builders and change makers who use strategic communications to drive positive social, institutional and behavioral change.
“We are trying to bring the consciousness of the audience into a place where they truly take in the information,” said Bradley Ottesen, viola player for Fry Street Quartet. “This project has affected me much in the same way we hope it will be affecting the audience which would really change the way we see the world.”
The Rising Tide production in Gainesville is supported by the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs; Frank 2016; UF Center for Adaptive Innovation, Resilience, Ethics & Science; UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere; UF College of the Arts; UF College of Journalism and Communications; UF Department of Biology; UF IFAS; UF Office of Sustainability; and UF Student Government.
To learn more about The Crossroads Project, visit www.thecrossroadsproject.org. Join the conversation online by using #thecrossroadsproject.
About the School of Music
The School of Music is one of the University of Florida College of the Arts’ three institutionally-accredited schools. The School of Music plays an important role in the academic life of the University and the community. The school’s programs provide broad-based instruction in performance, composition, history and literature and music disciplines, through a strong curriculum as well as through professional experiences such as ensembles and internships. UF students also have the opportunity to join more than a dozen music ensembles, including jazz bands, the University Choir, the University Symphony Orchestra and the “Pride of the Sunshine” Fightin’ Gator Marching Band. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu/music.
About the College of the Arts
The College of the Arts is one of the 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The College of the Arts offers baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its three institutionally-accredited schools — the School of Art + Art History, School of Music and School of Theatre + Dance. The college is home to the Center for Arts in Medicine, Center for Arts and Public Policy, Center for World Arts, Digital Worlds Institute, University Galleries and the New World School of the Arts in Miami. More than 100 faculty members and approximately than 1,200 students work together daily to engage, inspire and create. The college hosts more than 300 performances, exhibitions and events each year. Faculty and students also exhibit and perform at other local, national and international venues. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu.
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Media Contact
Leah Spellman, APR, Public Relations and Marketing Manager
University of Florida College of the Arts
Office: 352.273.1489 | Cell: 904.419.3346
lspellman@arts.ufl.edu
