CC Honoring Those Who Came Before Us

Renaissance Banchetto Class Offers Students a Banquet of History, Music, and Cuisine

Story by Anna Squires ’17. Photos by Lonnie Timmons III.
Some things are timeless: gathering in a circle to make music, to cook dinner, to laugh — and to find meaning and connection in the act of learning, together. Students in the Renaissance Banchetto Half-Block class gathered in person to explore history, music, cuisine, and political intrigue, using all their senses to experience what life might have been like at the peak of Europe’s rebirth.

Diago: The Pasts of this Afro-Cuban Present

Photo by Cernuda Arte
Opening Feb. 11 at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is “Diago: The Pasts of this Afro-Cuban Present.” A leading member of the new Afro-Cuban cultural movement, visual artist Juan Roberto Diago (b. 1971) has produced a body of work that offers a revisionist history of the Cuban nation. His “history,” a term that he frequently inserts in his works using the visual language of graffiti, is not the official narrative of a racially harmonious nation, built thanks to the selfless efforts of generous white patriots. Diago’s Cuba is a nation built on pain, rape, greed, and the enslavement of millions of displaced Africans, a nation still grappling with the long-term effects of slavery and colonialism. To him, slavery is not the past, but a daily experience of racism and discrimination. Africa is not a root, but a wellspring of cultural renovation and personal affirmation, the ancestors that sustain him in his journey. “Diago: The Pasts of this Afro-Cuban Present” is the first retrospective exhibition of this prominent Cuban artist, offering a critical and selective view of over two decades of work.

Professor Sarah Hautzinger Interviewed About Renaming Pikes Peak

Professor of Anthropology Sarah Hautzinger was recently interviewed by FOX21 News as conversations pick up to rename Pikes Peak to its Ute name: Tava Mountain. For Hautzinger, it’s not about the guilt but more of accountability that puts her behind the name change. “I feel accountable to a very recent history of colonizing this region and the loss and expropriation of lands from various native people,” Hautzinger said.

Get to Know… Pirronne Yousefzadeh, Producing Artistic Director for the Fine Arts Center Theatre Company

Photo by Christine Jean Chambers 
What does your job entail?  
Because I am still relatively new, every day is a little bit different, and we are in a major transition phase. Right now, it’s about getting the lay of the land, learning the current way of doing things – what is working, what isn’t working, and refining our processes in a way that works better for the entire theatre staff. My focus is on fostering an antiracist vision and creating space for equity and inclusion through theatre at the Fine Arts Center. We have a lot of hard, vital work ahead and I’m excited to lay this foundation for what we can co-create with our staff, our artists, and our community.
 
Where did you work before CC and what were you doing?
I came to the FAC from Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY, where I was the associate artistic Director and Director of Engagement. Being in those two roles at Geva helped shaped me as an artistic director. I found the delineation of the two positions a bit arbitrary and now, my way of working is much less compartmentalized. We cannot lead if we divorce ourselves from our community; the art and the community must go hand in hand with each other. And that work can’t be done by one person alone. It’s the collective responsibility of the entire organization to forge relationships and invest in them in the long-term so that a theatre can become a meaningful civic space for all.
 
Tell us a little about your background.
I am a proud child of Iranian immigrants; my parents came to the United States in the 1970s. I have enormous gratitude for my parents’ hard work and sacrifices so that I could have such incredible opportunities, especially when it came to my education. I started in theatre as a hobby after school and on the weekends. My parents wanted me to have a career in medicine, but then in college, I fell in love with the theatre, much to my father’s chagrin. However, my love of theatre came with tacit acceptance that I would never see myself on stage. It was painful, as it seemed like a life in the theatre required an erasure of my identity, and that I would have to “pass.” But this has reversed from when I was much younger. I now see my identity not as a flaw, but a feature, and one that is just as valid as any other. What matters most to me is to now open doors for others who have been systemically excluded so that they never doubt that their stories matter, and they can now love, and be loved, in the theatre.
 
What do you like to do when not working?  
In ideal, COVID-free circumstances, I like to take walks, be in nature, play the piano, and garden. I love to cook and bake. I enjoy working out in the context of group classes, too. I also really like to take time off to do nothing but daydream. I am working on giving myself permission to just be and reflect. I’m looking forward to good weather so that I can start to explore and get to know Colorado Springs.
 
Wild card: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I thought I would pursue a career in medicine, as my parents had hoped. I wanted to be a doctor – I loved being around other kids, so I figured becoming a pediatrician would be cool. I also thought about being an English teacher, and for a time I wanted to be the first woman to ever be on the Chicago Bulls, which was the biggest pipe dream of all, given my lack of athletic abilities. I became serious about theatre and acting particularly in college, then discovered directing, which completely stole my heart. It wasn’t until many years into my freelance career that I became interested in pursuing artistic leadership.
 
What do I want readers to know?
If a student is reading this, and your parents don’t support your chosen career path, give your parents space, and pursue what makes you happy. I think I spent too much time trying to convince my folks, and ultimately, they were only comforted when they truly saw that I was happy and thriving in what I do. Focus on that; direct your energy to your passions and your joy.

Disrupting Disciplines: Dynamics of Power Introduces Students to an Interdisciplinary Education

Story by Jeremy Jones. Photos by Lonnie Timmons III.
At first glance, the classes Construction of Social Problems and Art and the Museum for first-year students may not appear to have much in common. But as part of the new CC100 thematic cluster, The Dynamics of Power, they share the same focus as they examine a single topic through different, but intersecting, lenses.
The five-class collaborative is one of the many new First-Year Program options available to students in their first block at CC. Each provides the new college students with a comparative, interdisciplinary introduction to liberal arts scholarship on the Block Plan. And, ultimately, the academic approach helps first-year CC students make more informed choices about how and with what focus they pursue their education, career, and impact on the world.
“In high school, students had to take all these classes, and they think the world is divided up into these disciplines,” says Gail Murphy-Geiss, professor and chair of the Sociology Department. “And it is, but a lot of the most interesting work happens in the cracks. That’s what liberal arts is all about.”

Photo of the Week

Photo by Chidera Ikpeamarom ’22
Students having fun on a snowy day, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022

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