Daniel Asia, a member of the National Association of Scholars' Board of Directors and a classical music composer, recently founded the Center for American Culture and Ideas at the University of Arizona.
We are delighted to announce that the Center will offer its first conference, themed “The Future of (High) Culture in America,” in March 2014. Information about the conference is below. If you are interested in attending, you may learn more by visiting the Center's website, caci.arizona.edu, or by emailing Professor Asia at [email protected].
Inaugural Conference: “The Future of (High) Culture in America”
University of Arizona, The Center for American Culture and Ideas
Professor Daniel Asia, Director
March 20, 21 2014
Westward Look Resort
Tucson, AZ
This conference will look at the current and future shape of high culture in America across the arts, including music, visual arts, dance, drama, and poetry.
Some hold that in postmodern culture the lines dividing high from popular culture have blurred or no longer exist. Others declare that high art is no longer necessary or relevant, and the assumptions that there is such a thing as a timeless master-piece or a verifiable posterity are archaic. These questions and others raised by increasing globalization and the explosive developments in technology call out for a discussion. The issues, which affect all the arts, can't be viewed in isolation, but rather as expressions of a greater cultural problem. This conference will bring professionals, academics, and artists/entrepreneurs from across the arts to hear and confront issues in an effort to frame the problems and investigate the possibility of a coherent point of view-one that speaks to the abiding hunger at the heart of the human condition for what Frankl called "man's search for meaning."
Confirmed Speakers and Panelists (as of September 16, 2013):
Keynote Speaker: Terry Teachout- Drama Critic- Wall Street Journal, Critic-At-Large- Commentary, biographer, playwright; New York, NY
Paul Pines—poet, novelist, memoirist, essayist; Glens Falls, NY
Elizabeth Kendall—Professor and writer, New York University, New York, NY
Katherine Martinez—Director, Center for Creative Photography, UA, Tucson, AZ
Jan Swafford—composer, biographer, essayist, program-note writer; Boston, MA
Peter Jones—photographer, filmmaker, essayist, principal of Peter C. Jones, Inc.; Malibu, CA
Daniel Asia—composer, conductor, professor, essayist, Director- CACI, Tucson, AZ
Bob Monk—principal, Gagosian Galleries, New York, NY, and the world
Robert Cutietta—Dean, The Thornton School of Music, USC; Los Angeles, CA
Carol Iannone—Editor, Academic Questions/Nat. Assoc. of Scholars; New York, NY
Douglas Lowry—Dean, The Eastman School of Music; Rochester, NY
Jory Hancock—Dean, College of Fine Arts, Director, School of Dance, UA; Tucson, AZ
George Hanson—Music Director, Tucson Symphony Orchestra; Tucson, AZ
Paolo Prestini—composer, Director of Vision into Art, New York, NY
For more information and registration go to: caci.arizona.edu
