43 Occidental College President Harry Elam on finding a roadmap for systemic change in revolutionary theater movements
Release Date: 03/03/2021
Why AxS Podcast from ArtCenter: Dark Matter
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Ready to go dark and get deep? In the third episode of the podcast—where brilliant scientific and artistic minds ponder the important whys—we explore the infinite possibilities of the origins and nature of our universe. Our guests couldn't be more disparate in their paths, yet conjoined in their pursuits. , an internationally renowned visual artist and ArtCenter faculty member, is inspired by the natural world, on this planet and beyond. Her works are intimate and epic, earthly and ephemeral—a celebration of how we connect to our environment, below and above. Her large-scale...
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Why AxS Podcast from ArtCenter: Art and Science
Why AxS from ArtCenter
Did you know the intersection of art + science has been rooted in the DNA of Los Angeles from the very beginning? In this episode of our Why AxS podcast, alum + former ArtCenter Exhibitions director Stephen Nowlin unravels the rich intertwining origins of the artists and experimenters who landed in L.A. and pioneered new industries, from aeronautics to film. As humans, we aspire to find common ground between the two district sides of our brain. That’s why science needs art to tell its narratives in a language that makes data illuminating, immersive, complex and even...
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Why AxS Podcast from ArtCenter: Rosetta Mission
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Welcome to the Why AxS, ArtCenter’s podcast featuring brilliant scientific and artistic minds ponder the big why's that come with being a tiny part of this universe. Our first episode, How to Land on a Comet, takes you aboard JPL’s Rosetta Mission, as we’re joined by mission planner Art Chmielewski + alum/illustrator Liz de la Torre (BFA 13), who mapped the surface of speeding comet for a first-of-a-kind rendezvous with a spacecraft — from a single pixel. Rosetta remains one of the world’s most ambitious — and arduous — space exploration missions. Landing on a comet as it...
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Why AxS Podcast from ArtCenter
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Join us for ArtCenter’s new mini-series investigating the powers of art and science–and the extraordinary, unexpected outcomes when the two fields intersect. The four-part series, launching September 12, features prominent artists–often with connections to ArtCenter–and scientists tackling big ideas about dark matter and transcendence from right- and left-brain points of view. At ArtCenter, science and art often cross paths–after all, CalTech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are in our backyard, allowing for unique collaborations through programs, exhibitions, internships and...
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Jackie Amezquita on migration, memory and making art
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Aimee Mullins on Finding a World of Possibilities in Every Problem
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Aimee Mullins is a true polymath. Her passions and professional pursuits are as varied and boundless as the awards and groundbreaking strides she’s achieved within her many chosen fields. She broke new ground in athletics as the first amputee in history to compete against able-bodied athletes in the NCAA’s Division 1 track and field events. She went on to set records in the 100 and 200 meter races and the long jump.
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Artist Lita Albuquerque on Regeneration After the Fire
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Artist Kim Schoenstadt on finding redemption through creativity and kinship
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James Meraz on creating a path through unimaginable loss
Why AxS from ArtCenter
James Meraz joined the faculty of ArtCenter’s Environmental Design department in September of 2001, shortly before 9/11. In the wake of that tragedy he wavered about how to proceed with his planned curriculum. How would it all be relevant? In the end, he resolved to lean into the uncertainty of that “cataclysmic moment,” realizing that the only way out of the pain, chaos and confusion was to go through it.
info_outlineHarry Elam and Lorne had only met casually before we sat down to record this episode of Change Lab. Interestingly, they had spent much of their early careers as two ships passing in the San Francisco Bay. Harry pursued his PhD in theater at U.C. Berkeley while Lorne earned the same degree at Stanford. They then traded places and Harry became a theater professor at Stanford and Lorne took a faculty position in Berkeley’s Dramatic Art department.
Their mirrored movements continue to this day. With Harry’s recent appointment as president of Occidental College, they now both serve as college presidents for venerable institutions located just a few miles apart in Northeast Los Angeles.
This past year, maybe more than any other, has called upon them to draw on skills they developed in the theater. They’ve had to improvise and lean into the unfolding drama, responding to challenges with ‘yes and’ rather than ‘no but.’
Harry has written several books and scores of journal articles on how theater has become a vehicle for social change. He and Lorne discussed how those movements might even serve as a model for progress within the very institutions they both lead. Their conversation shed light on the importance of communal spirit—not unlike that of a theater company—in forging the path ahead.
But, in the end, they were just two theater guys connecting around their shared belief in the power of creativity and education as well as in our conviction that, above all else, the show must go on.
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