Campus seeks diversity through the arts

Artists working in all media regularly bring less-heard voices onto mainstream radar, and Tino Balio says presenting these views always has been a charter of the Arts Institute at UW–Madison.

“As an interdisciplinary organization, the institute works not only to cross traditional boundaries between academic departments, but also to connect the university with diverse communities,” says Balio, executive director of the institute.

At the moment, the institute is hosting internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary artist Ping Chong and preparing for his semester-long residency in spring. Chong is on campus this week to meet students at a reception and interview possible participants in his March production of “Secret History.”

The piece will takes its shape from them as they work with Chong in recounting their experiences on the fringe of the American mainstream. Because the cast is different every time Chong produces it, no two versions are ever the same. He says the result is a more accurate portrait of the American experience.

“We need to understand that reality is not what you see on television. I want to give a much broader, more complete picture of America than the irresponsible fantasies that media present,” he says.

“Secret History” also has the potential to provide insight into what Chong calls the ecology of demographics, “how cultural communities in America interact, historically and in the present,” leading to even deeper truths, he says. “Ultimately, I want to show that, despite outward or cultural differences, we’re all similar in very fundamental ways.”

Chong also will teach a course next semester, and other instructors also will use the university classroom to examine diversity issues in the arts.

Freida High Tesfagiorgis, professor of Afro-American Studies and a nationally recognized visual artist, will contribute to the diversity discussion inside the classroom with a new course, “Visual Culture and Critical Race Theory.” Presented for the first time next semester, the class will deal with images and intellectual perceptions of race and gender. As will “Secret History,” the course will examine the subject in both contemporary and historical contexts. Tesfagiorgis says her approach to diversity issues will prove challenging for her mostly undergraduate students.

“Given the quick dissemination of images in the global media, the impact of pictures has acquired a more critical influence. We also must keep in mind that pictorial representations cannot be separated from verbal representations, since each evokes the other,” she says.

Students in Clinton Turner Davis’ class on playwright/poet August Wilson also are tackling sensitive and complex topics. The Arts Institute joined the UW–Madison Departments of Afro-American Studies, English and Theatre and Drama to bring Davis to campus for the current semester. In addition to teaching the class, he also directed the recent University Theatre production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisin in the Sun.”

Theatre and drama major Joe Metzen is enrolled in Turner’s class, and says the experience literally changed his life. Growing up with white parents in a predominantly white Minnesota town, Metzen says he felt out of touch with his Afro-Latino birth culture.

“In the class we’re studying how Wilson embraced black culture. This was completely new to me, and gave me a much better sense of who I really am. I walked out of the first class thinking, wow! I’ve thought that after every class since then,” he says.

Not only has the class changed how Metzen thinks about himself, but how he thinks. “Clinton insists we see ideas as being interrelated — he always says we’re supposed to weave concepts together, like a circle, never-ending,” Metzen says.

The arts, however, are more than creative or scholarly expression, or fields of academic study. They also are business, and an exceptionally hard one for newcomers to crack. Amelia Royko, a junior with designs on a career as a recording artist and performer, encountered first-hand the art of the deal, or in this case, the art of the proposal.

Earlier this year she was instrumental in securing a Tinker Fellowship — a feat virtually unheard of for an undergraduate student — that next semester will bring to campus from Havana Afro-Cuban percussionist Roberto Vizcaino. Vizcaino will be housed jointly in the School of Music and the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program. During his stay, he will teach courses in percussion techniques and folkloric traditions.

According to Royko, applying for the grant showed her first-hand another side of the art world.

“I learned what it takes to make the system work,” she says. The valuable specifics include, “Keep asking. Start early. There’s always a way. University bureaucracies are only pre-game to the ones waiting for you once you graduate,” she says.

In the end, though, Royko was heartened by the exercise. “There are some fantastic people here who realize how much Roberto has to offer this school,” she says.

Unlike Royko, a relative novice in the ways of academe, Davis has been steeped in the culture of higher education for 25 years. In his first visit to UW–Madison this semester, he says he found intense commitment in students, faculty and staff. “I have been really touched by the passion that students and staff have for learning, and for directly addressing diversity issues.”

Chong expects to draw on this intellectual energy and fearlessness for “Secret History,” but he predicts “there will be surprises for Madison that may have a profound impact on audiences and participants alike.

For more information about UW–Madison arts residencies, arts events or programs, contact Tino Balio, (608) 238-2913; tbalio@facstaff.wisc.edu.