A two-day public symposium on African Diaspora Arts was a featured event of the Year of the Arts, and is a preview of what's to come next year when the Chazen Museum of Art expansion opens to the public.
The two-day free public symposium "Ways of Showing/Ways of Knowing: African/Diaspora Arts in a Museum" brought together six renowned scholar and curators of African and African Diaspora arts to UW-Madison, October 7-8th.
The October 7 lecture attracted an audience of about 100 faculty, students and community members throughout the day.
The event was followed by a seminar discussion for graduate students on the re-presentation of African and African Diaspora arts in a museum context.
The event was well-attended with students from several Letters & Science departments.
The excitement around African arts is building on campus -- the expansion of the Chazen Museum of Art will include an installation of a permanent African arts gallery.
The symposium was organized by Evjue-Bascom Professor Freida High-Tesfagiorgis (Afro-American Studies), Evjue-Bascom Professor Henry Drewal (Art History, Afro-American Studies) and Chazen Museum Curatorial Fellow Matthew Rarey.
To add to the event and excitement, the Department of Afro-American Studies is now celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The symposium was made possible through a generous grant from the UW Anonymous Fund, and was organized by the Department of Afro-American Studies, the Department of Art History and sponsored by the African Diaspora and the Atlantic World Research Circle, the Art Department, the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, and the Center for Visual Cultures.