Want to better understand why voters in Greater Minnesota have taken to Republicans so strongly in the last two elections? University of Wisconsin political scientist Katherine J. Cramer can help.
Category: Arts & Humanities
NEH chairman steps down as White House renews call for eliminating agency
The National Endowment for the Humanities announced Monday the resignation of Chairman William D. Adams, effective today.
Not silent
One of this young century’s great literary feuds began on April 18, 2011, right here in Madison, at Union South.
The Feminist Consultants for “A Doll’s House, Part 2”
Lucas Hnath set out to write a sequel to Ibsen’s famous play, imagining the future of protagonist Nora Helmer. His producer, Scott Rudin, proposed a playwriting method you might call dial-a-feminist. Hnath reached out to several academics, including Susan Brantly, who teaches Scandinavian literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Toril Moi, an Ibsen scholar at Duke and the author of “Sexual / Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory.”
The greatest ever Irish American hip hop video debuted 25 years ago this week |
“Jump Around” is 25 years old this week. It got some extra publicity last year when House of Pain attacked the Donald Trump campaign for using its hit song.
Warrior Book Club brings together veterans and non-veterans through love of reading
Noted: Erisman, an infantry officer who served 10 years in the Marines, including two tours of Iraq, learned of the reading group through a University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni newsletter. His first meeting was at last month’s book group to discuss “Ceremony” by Leslie Marmon Silko.
Dance program pairs UW students, community center youth
When she first moved from Monona to Madison’s East Side, 14-year-old Avenna Pickett felt like she didn’t know anybody — until another girl told her about Performing Ourselves.Avenna joined the dance group, which is taught by students from the UW-Madison Dance Department and meets weekly at East Madison Community Center and elsewhere.
The times they were a-changin’: The War at Home
Every generation faces its own particular challenges, its own dragons to slay. For the post-World War II baby boomers, the generation that came of age in the mid-1960s, the defining beast of the era was the Vietnam War. Some went to fight in it, some got draft deferments or left the country to avoid it, some took to the streets of cities and college towns across the county to protest it. Some did all of the above.
Arts help combat Alzheimer’s disease devastation
The last thing Lillian Zwilling thought she would be was a music video star. It took her until age 90 to realize her 6:03 of fame. Created by the UW Hollywood Badgers — a team of student filmmakers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison — Lillian’s video uses singer/songwriter Rachel Platten’s “Nothing Ever Happens if You Stay in Your Room” to tell her story as a resident of St. Mary’s Care Center on Madison’s southwest side.
UW-Madison Professor Part Of Formula For ‘Gifted’
A tiny, blonde 7-year-old girl stands in front of a chalkboard, hand whirring away at a complicated math formula in a scene from the new movie, “Gifted,” starring Chris Evans, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer.
Artist/scientist Peter Krsko bends nature to his will
Ask Peter Krsko to define the art he creates and he might pull a wasp comb out of his backpack and draw attention to its hexagonal cells.
Timothy Yu: Moon
This poem appears in “The Golden Shovel Anthology,” a collection that honors Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African-American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize.
This May Day tradition is worth bringing back
Noted, featured photo of May Day Pole dance in 1917 on Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, possibly as part of the graduation day pageantry. (Photo: Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives)
Finding hope through music therapy
MADISON, Wisc. (WMTV) — A new program at American Family Children’s Hospital is helping kids ease the pain of chronic illness by learning and playing music.
Madison Hosting First-Ever Iranian Film Festival
Hamidreza Nassiri wants Wisconsin to see the Iran he sees. And one way the University of Wisconsin-Madison teaching assistant is trying to do that is by coordinating Madison’s first Iranian Film Festival, which opened Saturday and runs through Sunday, April 23.
Carrie Coon on the case on ‘Fargo,’ ‘The Leftovers’
Noted: After studying Spanish and English at the University of Mount Union in Ohio, she did not choose to go to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rather, she said, “Madison chose me. Out of desperation. They needed one more actor in their program, and it was the only place that offered me a position.”
Student film highlights food insecurity, mass incarceration issues in South Madison
What started as a capstone project for a class became two students’ mission to bring equality to South Madison residents.
UW student hopes new Iranian Film Festival will build cultural bridges
UW-Madison graduate student Hamidreza Nassiri has long been proud of the films coming out of his native Iran. From filmmaking giants like the late Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi to newer filmmakers like Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation,” “The Salesman”), Iran has a long and rich tradition in cinema.
Going Out: Hip-hop inspires look at American culture
The festival is presented by UW-Madison’s Division of Diversity, Equity & Achievement and produced by the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives’ (OMAI).
Leftovers fans already know the name Carrie Coon. Pretty soon everyone else will too.
“I didn’t want to be the person who messed up the new David Fincher movie,” Carrie Coon tells me.
Schneider: Desmond’s ‘Evicted’ is a flawed masterpiece
When University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Matthew Desmond won a Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction Monday, it came as no surprise to anyone who has read his 2016 book “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.”
Eight UW-Madison staff members honored with awards
Eight UW-Madison academic staff are being honored for their contributions to UW-Madison—including studies on unconscious bias in hiring—with 2017 Academic Staff Excellence Awards. Chancellor Rebecca Blank will present the awards.
Desmond wins Pulitzer for book based on Milwaukee research
Matthew Desmond, who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction for a book based on research conducted in Milwaukee.
Work finally gets underway on new University of Wisconsin concert hall
The fences are up, crews are at work and as soon as late next year musicians could be playing in a new UW-Madison concert hall at the corner of University Avenue and North Lake Street.
Artist/scientist Peter Krsko bends nature to his will
Ask Peter Krsko to define the art he creates and he might pull a wasp comb out of his backpack and draw attention to its hexagonal cells.
Carrie Coon’s April Double Threat: ‘The Leftovers’ Breakout to ‘Fargo’s’ Leading Lady
The actress, headlining season three of the FX series alongside Ewan McGregor, opens up about her “fear” of starring in two shows airing at the same time and playing “sad, insane people.”
UW-Madison students seek artists, writers for bus project
Art history students Yusi Liu and Alex Polach could be commuting to class this fall on a Metro Transit bus of their own creation.
Pitch perfect
I’m sitting in a small conference room at the Madison Concourse Hotel with 11 strangers at tables arranged so we’re all facing each other. Under other circumstances, it would be uncomfortable.
Oscar-winning films top Wisconsin Film Festival schedule
Film fans still trying to see this year’s Oscar-winning films can check off two features on their lists by attending the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison.
Mike Leckrone, legendary band conductor, back after open-heart surgery
Observant Badgers fans may be wondering why legendary UW band director Mike Leckrone has been missing from the NCAA tournament basketball games.
In Photos: Runways of the World promotes cultural awareness through fashion
Though the weather was cold, the colorful costumes of Runways of the World at Union South Thursday night made the night warmer.
Donald Trump’s budget would threaten research, financial aid at UW-Madison, officials warn
Deep spending cuts in President Donald Trump’s budget proposal could threaten the federal funding UW-Madison researchers rely on to investigate Alzheimer’s disease, asthma and other ailments, and slash support for programs that help low-income students afford college, according to scientists and campus officials.
New Crop of Young Adult Novels Explores Race and Police Brutality
Noted: While the number of children’s books featuring African-American characters has grown in the last decade, the number of books by black authors has barely budged, according to data collected by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education.
Why It Matters That Trump Wants to Kill the NEA and NEH
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NEA and NEH money can also function as a multiplier. Many grant recipients use an agency’s seal of approval as a basis to solicit matching funds from charitable foundations, often at a rate of three private dollars for each federal dollar, according to Lea Jacobs, associate vice chancellor for research for arts and humanities at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Tributes to James Brown ‘funky drummer’ Clyde Stubblefield continue
Noted: Fans and musicians who knew Stubblefield were scheduled to gather Friday night in New York City for a tribute concert. Stubblefield, known as the most sampled drummer in history, also will be honored posthumously with an honorary degree from UW-Madison at a May 12 commencement ceremony.
Jeffrey Tambor: It all started in Milwaukee
Noted: Now in “Transparent,” I’m still putting lessons learned at the Rep to work on the show. I also can’t seem to get away from people with connections to the Badger State. I’ve reunited with Judith, and our cast includes two graduates of UW-Madison, Jill Soloway and Amy Landecker, as well as Madison native Brad Whitford. Now if they’d only bring brats and cheese curds to the set, I’d be one happy guy!
Tambor: It all started in Milwaukee
Noted: Now in “Transparent,” I’m still putting lessons learned at the Rep to work on the show. I also can’t seem to get away from people with connections to the Badger State. I’ve reunited with Judith, and our cast includes two graduates of UW-Madison, Jill Soloway and Amy Landecker, as well as Madison native Brad Whitford. Now if they’d only bring brats and cheese curds to the set, I’d be one happy guy!
Q&A: Artist Peter Krsko finds the art in science, and the science in art
As students shuffled back and forth between classes in Birge Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus these past few weeks, they looked curiously at what Peter Krsko was up to. Up on a 14-foot-ladder, the Slovakian-born artist was building a plywood sculpture around one of the pillars in the entrance hall. Inspired by the plants he saw in the greenhouses at Birge Hall, Krsko constructed the sculpture of slender pieces of wood to climb 22 feet up the pillar like a vine, exploding outward like a geyser of water.
Epic recruiters come to UW looking for engineers and English majors alike
Annika Collier took more classes about Swedish than she did in computer science while attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the seven years she’s worked at Epic Systems, the giant Verona-based company that specializes in complex medical software, that’s never been an issue, she told a small room of UW students at the Union South.
Russell Panczenko, Director of Chazen Museum of Art, Retires
The Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has announced that its director of thirty-three years, Russell Panczenko, is stepping down this summer.
Don’t fault star UW professors for concentrating on research
UW-Madison professor of virology Yoshihiro Kawaoka doesn’t teach classes on campus.
Inspired by scientific illustrations, a curious mix of science and art
The fans of Martha Glowacki’s cabinet of curiosities titled “My Arcadia” — part of the permanent collection at the Chazen Museum of Art since 2000 — are in for a treat: The Chazen is devoting an entire gallery to the local artist’s work this spring.
An operation to turn waste into art
Every time a patient comes out of an operating room at UW Hospital, so does a lot of used-up stuff.
Muckraking journalists vying for Anthony Shadid ethics award
Reporters digging into the ills of society and a newspaper picturing one of those ills on its front page, while weighing the ethics of such reporting, are contenders for the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics.
Clyde Stubblefield to get posthumous UW honorary degree
Stubblefield died Saturday at the age of 73 from kidney disease. Before his death, he had been selected by the UW–Madison Committee on Honorary Degrees and Chancellor Rebecca Blank to receive an honorary degree May 12 at the Kohl Center prior to spring commencement.
“Deutschland über Alles” and “America First,” in Song
Noted: The “Deutschlandlied” was written by a poet named Hoffmann von Fallersleben, “a good bourgeois liberal,” according to the German cultural historian Jost Hermand, a retired professor at the University of Wisconsin.
The Forgotten Work of Jessie Redmon Fauset
Noted: “Initially, Fauset’s work was dismissed as sentimental and Victorian, primarily because she dealt with ‘women’s issues,’ centering on the marriage plot,” Cherene Sherrard-Johnson, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, said.
People Of Color Accounted For 22 Percent Of Children’s Books Characters In 2016
Two decades ago only about 9 percent of children’s books published in the U.S. were about people of color. Things have changed since then, but not by much. On Wednesday, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s Education School revealed that in 2016, it counted 427 books written or illustrated by people of color, and 736 books about people of color out of about 3,400 books it analyzed. That adds up to 22 percent of children’s books.
Dennis Lloyd: I’ll take “Sifting and Winnowing” for $1000, Alex
Last year, I appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy! I came in third. Which sounds pretty good if you ignore the fact that the game is played with only three contestants. Unless you also bear in mind that more than 70,000 took the online test last year — the first step in getting onto the show. Only about 450 new players appear on air each season, which still put me in the top 0.65% — an unheard-of acceptance rate in the field of scholarly publishing, where I’ve worked for the past two decades.
Virgil Abloh Interview on Fashion and Influencer Culture
When I first speak with Virgil Abloh in Paris, he is scheduled to fly back to Chicago in two days. Technically Chicago is home—it’s where his wife Shannon and daughter Lowe live, and it’s a two-hour drive from Rockford where he was born and raised—but he is rarely there. He takes roughly 350 flights a year. His phone is forever buzzing with texts and calls and emails. He is a man steeped in work to the point that even the notion of “home” is difficult for him to reconcile with the rest of his life.
Beaver Dam native soars as trumpet player in Madison
From second grade Matt Onstad knew he wanted music in his life, but he didn’t know what tool it would take.“ I so deeply wanted to play the saxophone but I couldn’t get a single note out,” he said over the phone. “It was ugly.” He didn’t mesh with a sax and said it broke his heart almost immediately. It wasn’t until Dave Hoffmaster, music teacher at Beaver Dam High School asked that he give the trumpet a shot. Even though drums were his second choice, the trumpet somehow clicked.
Jacaranda unleashes a tribute to composer John Adams that goes a little bit ‘Berserk’
Noted: The concert’s first half — a solo recital by virtuoso pianist Christopher Taylor — featured three pieces by America’s first great concert pianist, Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Taylor displayed breathtaking technique in the vigorous rhythms of “The Banjo,” one of Gottschalk’s bravura pieces whose inventive use of the piano’s upper register reportedly thrilled Victorian America.
Real-life drama
A rape trial from the 17th century is the basis of Artemisia, an opera by Madison composer Laura Elise Schwendinger, premiering in New York City Jan. 7.
NEA, NEH have poured millions into Wisconsin
The first time the National Endowment for the Arts made a big grant to support a project in rural communities, it was in Wisconsin.
A ‘Shot Over the Bow’: Groups Respond to Reported Plan to Cut Arts and Humanities Endowments
Supporters of the arts and humanities on Thursday sounded unanimous alarm over an article in The Hill reporting that President-elect Donald J. Trump’s administration plans to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Wisconsin Day of Percussion rolling into Madison Saturday
“We’re happy to have anyone that’s interested,” Anthony Di Sanza, UW-Madison professor of percussion, said. “We’re offering opportunities for students and people who have never tried anything like this before.”Di Sanza is hosting the daylong event with the UW-Madison Percussion Program Saturday at the Mead Witter School of Music at UW-Madison.
Humanities advocates alarmed by reports that Trump’s first budget will seek to kill NEH and NEA
Reports circulated Thursday, the day before the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States, that his first budget would propose the elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Community Leaders Speak About State Of Hip-Hop In Madison
Noted: Claims of higher crime rates at hip-hop events need quantifying, and UCAN has enlisted undergraduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Community and Environmental Sociology to take a look at police and crime data related to Madison performance venues. The data has been compiled and will be analyzed this spring.
BTN LiveBIG: Wisconsin Institute encourages the writer within
Putting pen to paper – or, more commonly, fingers to keyboard – can be one of the most arduous tasks surrounding the writing process. Ideas swirl in the mind, but executing on that vision sometimes seems like an impossibility.
Five music picks to start your new year off right
Noted: We reach the end of the musical month on Jan. 29 with the third Schubertiade performance, presented by Martha Fischer and Bill Lutes of the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. These recreations of the evenings that the composer and his friends enjoyed are built around a theme in the composer’s life and music. This year’s motif is “Circle of Friends,” and soprano Emily Birsan will be featured along with other stellar soloists. Yours truly made it to this event last year, and the memories remain fresh nearly a year later. The event starts at 3 p.m. in Mills Hall. .