Miami Dade College Kendall Campus to Host 18th Annual Arts and Letters Day
Miami, April 1, 2010 - Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Kendall Campus will once again celebrate its talented faculty and students at the campus’ 18th AnnualArts and Letters Day, which will take place April 6 – 7. Activities include music workshops, lectures, art exhibitions, spoken word and open-mic sessions, and much more.
Arts and Letters Day was created to foster artistic expression and to take learning beyond the classroom experience. This year’s theme, “Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training,” was adopted from the writings of the late Ana Freud, psychoanalyst and daughter of Sigmund Freud.
All activities will be held at MDC’s Kendall Campus, 11011 S.W. 104 St., and are free and open to the public.
The complete Arts and Letters Day Calendar of Events is as follows:
Tuesday, April 6
9:50 – 11:05 a.m.
Is This Art?
Ever wonder how some people can create works that look like junk to you and call it art? Juan Carlos Toca, sculptor, will discuss how to look at art critically and what is and isn’t art.
Room K-413
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Last Lecture Series
Hector Vazquez, musicologist and professor of music, presents the lecture he would give if it were to be his last.
Room K-413
12:50 – 1:45 p.m.
Panel Discussion: The Creative Mind and its Consequences
A painter, a psychologist, a physician, a poet, and a philosopher discuss the workings of the creative mind. Alex Yanes, painter, Dom Brucatto, psychologist, Manny Padron, physician, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, poet, and Mark Neunder, philosopher.
Room K-413
5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Kids’ Choice Fairy Tales and Fantasies
Bring your children (ages 5-12) to this story contest where the kids do the judging. Original stories by MDC students. Readers include The Good Witch of the South (Michael Vensel), Friar Tuck (Brad Stocker), The Evil Stepmother (Sylvia Orozco), Little Red Riding Hood (Monica Macklin), and Snow White (Nancy Yi). The Master of Ceremonies is Princess Tiana (Rita Fernandez-Sterling).
Room K-423
7:15 – 8:15 p.m.
Keynote Speaker Joseph Adler
One of the truly creative minds in South Florida’s film and theatre community, GableStage producing director Joseph Adler has been nominated twenty times for the Carbonell Award for Best Director, winning nine times.
Beat Café, Room K-413
Wednesday, April 7
8 – 8:20 a.m.
The Kendall Campus Hunt Begins!
The Kendall Hunt is a scavenger-hunt type puzzle based on the novel The Shadow of the Wind. A great first prize from Apple will be awarded to the winner. Louis Molina, the Hunt creator, will explain how this hunt will be played. The list of clues and the program will be available until noon, or until they run out.
Beat Café, Room K-413
8:30 – 8:50 a.m.
Choruses
Poet and novelist Carolina Hospital reads her work. This popular Beat Café author and MDC professor has published several books, and her writings have been included in numerous anthologies, newspapers and literary journals.
Beat Café, Room K-413
9 – 9:20 a.m.
A Strange and Haunting Instrument
Jared Bistrong takes you on a journey through time using the primordial sounds of the 40,000-year-old Australian Aboriginal instrument, the didgeridoo. He will combine the sounds of the world’s oldest instrument with today’s most progressive digital technologies.
Beat Café, Room K-413
9 – 11 a.m.
Sidewalk Chalk Art Festival
Attention all artists! Alberto Meza, art professor, invites you to pick up your chalk and create your own masterpiece, with juried categories and great prizes. Fred Shaw Plaza, located west of Building 9.
9:30 – 9:50 a.m.
Poetry, I Too, Dislike It
A lot of people think they dislike poetry, mainly because they don’t get it. Steve Kronen, recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts award and author of the poetry collections Splendor and Empirical Evidence will read a few short pieces and answer all the questions you have about poetry (but were afraid to ask).
Beat Café, Room K-413
9:50 – 11:05 a.m.
Is This Art?
Ever wonder how some people can create works that look like a heap of junk and call it art? Juan Carlos Toca, sculptor, will discuss how to look at art critically and what is and isn’t art.
Room K-413
10:30 – 10:45
Monologue Flash Mob
Never heard of a flash mob? Come and experience one for yourself. But don’t be late! It’ll come and go in a flash.
Fred Shaw Plaza Patio Area
10 a.m. – Noon
Folk Art Fair: Arts and Crafts for Sale
Take a stroll and look around at handmade jewelry and other art.
Cafeteria Plaza
10 – 10:20 a.m.
Two Guitars: Marcus and Marc
Two guitars are better than one. Beautiful music played by two fine musicians, the uncle and nephew Marcus and Marc Magellan.
Beat Café, Room K-413
10:25 – 10:50 a.m.
Spoken Word
Summer Hill Seven is an innovative performer, hip-hop theatrical artist, director and educator. He is best known for his directorial debut of Platanos and Collard Greens, now in its seventh run. He is the author of two books: Hang Time, which chronicles his journey from attorney to artist, and Notes of a Neurotic.
Beat Café, Room K-413
11 – 11:30 a.m.
Quality Quintet
The Commercial Music Department Faculty Ensemble performs jazz standards, featuring Ed Calle on saxophone, Bill Kreitner on drums, Pete Francis on trumpet, Steve Quinzi on piano and Richard Rose on bass.
Beat Café, Room K-413
11 – 11:50 a.m.
Chamber Singers and Women’s Choir with Gene Greco’s Men’s Choir
Back by popular demand. Don’t miss these angelic voices. Directed by Ken Boos, music professor.
Cafeteria Plaza
11:35 – Noon
The Know-Nothing Bohemians: “Creachers” of Jazz Poetry
Michel de Benedictis, professor of contemporary literature, reads works by the beat “creachers” (creative teachers), accompanied by bassist Richard Rose and drummer Bill Kreitner.
Beat Café, Room K-413
11:30 – 12:15 p.m.
Focus on Dance
Discover new and innovative choreography by Michelle Grant Murray, coordinator of the Jubilation Dance Ensemble – all dance majors at Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus. Room 6120, Auditorium
12:15 – 1 p.m.
Misha’s Cupcakes
Creativity has just as much a place in business as it does in the arts. Arts & Letters and Phi Beta Lambda proudly feature the creative entrepreneur behind Misha’s Cupcakes – Misha Gomez. Misha began in 2005 with her mom’s chocolate cake recipe and a vanilla one of her own. With a creative marketing strategy, orders for Misha’s Cupcakes started trickling in, and the sweet smell was not just of sugar, but of success! You might score one of her delicious cupcakes (first come, first served)!
Beat Café, Room K-413
Noon – 1 p.m.
Jazz in the Plaza
Music by the award-winning Kendall Campus Jazz Band, directed by Matt Bonelli, with guest Bill Walach on the mandolin and harmonica.
Fred Shaw Plaza
1:50 – 2:45 p.m.
Debate: Imagination and the Creative Mind
The Kendall Campus Debate Team will engage in a lively debate. Resolved: The imagination of a creative mind is more valuable than knowledge and discovery. Moderated by Bill Todd, advisor.
Room 2105
1:15 – 1:40 p.m.
Rhythm of the World
Steve Quinzi, pianist, plays his own lively compositions.
Beat Café, Room K-413
1:45 – 2:25 p.m.
Open Mic Hosted byMiambiance
Bring your best poem, spoken word composition or musical number. It’s your turn on the stage. Hosted by Miambiance staff members. Bring a copy of your work (maximum 3 poems or songs) to Master of Ceremonies Bryan Aguilar 10 minutes before starting time.
Beat Café, Room K-413
2:30 – 4:45 p.m.
Film Screening:Pan’s Labyrinth
After the movie, join two cinema buffs, Michel de Benedictis and Cary Ser, as they engage the audience in a discussion of this fascinating film and the creativity that went into its making.
Beat Café, Room K-413
4:15 – 5:05 p.m.
Creative Minds of Writers: From Politics to Children, an Intimate Conversation
Chenjerai Hove, a writer from Zimbabwe, was exiled and named Political Enemy Number 27. He will discuss how writing tends to be downright dangerous. Pablo Cartaya will soon publish A Cupcake in Search of a Topping, a children’s book with recipes, which is unlikely to cause danger at all (except to readers’ waistlines).
Room K-423
4:45 – 5:15 p.m.
Community Jazz Ensemble
The Community Jazz Ensemble is comprised of both credit and noncredit students who love performing great music. The big band sound will delight lovers of jazz with vocal and instrumental performances. Great reviews from past performances motivated this group to perform for a second year.
Beat Café, Room K-413
6:30 – 7:15 p.m.
Piano Plus
Piano music by students and faculty of Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus.
Beat Café, Room K-413
7:30 – 8:15 p.m.
Musical Performance: Bill Walach
The fascinating mandolin player closes the Beat Café.
Beat Café, Room K-413
6 – 8 p.m.
42nd Annual Student Art Exhibition: Opening Reception
Original works in all mediums by Kendall Campus students.
Art Gallery, Room M-123
7 – 10 p.m.
Rehearsal and Talk Back
Join Director Deborah C. Mello and the cast of the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, for rehearsal and stay for cookies and coffee.
Building M, Studio Theater in the Martin and Pat Fine Center for the Art
For more information, contact Professor Marta Magellan at mmagella@mdc.edu or visit http://www.mdc.edu/kendall/events/artsandletters/index.htm.
Media-only contacts:
Juan Mendieta, 305-237-7611, jmendiet@mdc.edu, MDC communications director
Sue Arrowsmith, 305-237-3710, sue.arrowsmith@mdc.edu, media specialist
Tarnell Carroll, 305-237-3359, tcarroll@mdc.edu, media specialist
Alejandro Rios, 305-237-7482, arios1@mdc.edu