Don’t miss tomorrow’s Block 1 Faculty Lunch talk with CC Assistant Professor of English Brandon Shimoda, “Reading and Writing the Afterlife of Japanese American Incarceration,” taking place in Gaylord Hall  from 12:15–1:30 p.m. Faculty and staff are invited to attend. 

Shimoda will be sharing his ongoing research, writing, and editorial work on the “afterlife” — the legacies, the memory and forgetting of the forced removal and mass incarceration of Japanese immigrants and Japanese American citizens during WWII, of which he is a descendant. Learn more about this event.  

This event has reached capacity. However, if you’re interested in attending, we invite you to come to Gaylord Hall regardless, as no-shows often create space for additional guests. Reach out to kettleman@coloradocollege.edu“> Keragan Ettleman with any questions. We look forward to seeing you there!

Creativity is “a principled engagement with the unfamiliar and a willingness to approach the familiar in unfamiliar ways.”  

(Glăveanu, V., & Beghetto, R. 2021)  

As part of the Crown Center for Teaching, C&I’s mission is to support, cultivate, and amplify creative teaching and learning across campus.  We offer pathways to build and operationalize creative courage and—whether you are faculty, staff, or student—we invite you to join us. 

Possibility thinking represents one of C&I’s foundational Creativity Mindsets–a framework for practicing components of creative thinking. The term was initially coined by educational researcher and former Professor of Education at Exeter University, Anna Craft (1961–2014). Craft was particularly interested in everyday manifestations of creative thinking, or, as she put it, “life-wide” creativity. In her view, possibility thinking involves taking action to find and solve problems, using imagination, intuition, and logic to meet everyday challenges, and seeing multiple options to enable innovation in all aspects of life. It invites us to repeatedly pose the question, “What if?” to generate multiple, diverging possibilities that encompass likely and unlikely solutions to a problem. 

Drop-ins–Open to all! 

Creativity drop-ins take place on the second Monday of each block, from 3–4 p.m. Drop in at any point during this time to explore a creative process. You will find us in cSpace in the C&I building on the northwest corner of Cache and Weber.  

For Faculty & Staff 

The C&I workshop series introduces a wide range of creativity exercises suitable for anyone teaching a course at CC. At each workshop, participants will practice the exercise, place it in a creativity framework, and discuss how it might be adapted for specific learning outcomes. Please RSVP using the links below:  

Thursday, Sep. 11: B1 Workshop: Responding Creatively to Our Surroundings  

Thursday, Oct. 9: B2 Workshop: Flexibility with the Unfamiliar 

Thursday, Nov. 6: B3 Workshop: Assessing Creative Assignments 

SAVE THE DATE for the next Possibility Books Workshop, happening during Half-Block on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. 

For Students 

The Creative Courage Community brings students together to play with ideas through creativity sprints. CC students across all disciplines are welcome–Connect with your creative self and each other. Harness playfulness to explore how creativity intertwines with your life. Please RSVP using the link below: 

Fridays, Sep. 26 and Oct. 3 from 2–3:30 p.m.: B2 Creative Courage Community 

Contact:

efisher2024@coloradocollege.edu“>Evelina Fisher, Program Coordinator

kstanec@coloradocollege.edu“>Kris Stanec, Director

Be sure to catch the Work of the College Series event, “The Evolution of the Office of Communications and Marketing” tomorrow, Tuesday, Sep. 9, from 1:30–2:30 p.m. in Bemis Great Hall. Registration is still open.

We’re excited to share how the Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM) has evolved—with a new structure, new roles, and a new approach to our work! We’re shifting from being primarily service providers to becoming true strategic partners across campus. At this session, you’ll learn how we’re leveraging our team in new ways to collaborate with divisions, develop communications strategies, build impactful plans, and launch campaigns that not only move your mission forward but also strengthen the mission of the College as a whole.

As stewards of the CC brand, we’ll also share how we’re championing our refreshed brand positioning to enhance visibility, strengthen reputation, and ensure our community speaks with one clear, compelling voice.

The Work of the College Series is a year-long program of events with four goals: (1) clarify organizational structures and decision-making processes; (2) offer campus constituencies the opportunity to dialogue with leadership about campus affairs; (3) increase decision-making transparency in hopes of building trust; and (4) build community.

The Work of the College Series consists of:

Welcome to a new academic year in the Colorado College Music Department! We are very excited to welcome all our new and returning students to Packard Hall. It has been way too quiet around here without you! 

“On the Beat” is an email newsletter we send to all music students at the beginning of every block. They are an informational “pulse” to keep us all in “rhythm” as we navigate the different time signatures of CC. Each edition contains essential information on upcoming performances, convergence sessions, informal and formal gatherings, masterclasses, and important deadlines. Please take a moment at the start of each block to review “On the Beat” and take note of what’s upcoming.

The Music Department’s website also contains all the information students need to navigate the department. The landing page always promotes what is coming up next.  Elsewhere on the site you will also find our course grid for the upcoming year. Or you might want to explore our fantastic list of dedicated and talented academic faculty and studio faculty. And don’t forget to sign up for music lessons if you haven’t already!   

We are excited for the concerts, events, gatherings, and guests planned for you this academic year, with much more to be shared as we move forward. Importantly, moving forward our mandatory concert attendance will be replaced by a more-organic model: where each course taught in the music department will incorporate one or more department concerts as part of the overall framework for the course. In addition to in-class reflections, the Music Department will be hosting several outside-of-class gatherings focused on informal conversation, music, and food – including a Music & the Menu gastromusicology food series before, and after, some of our upcoming concerts and convergences. We hope you will join us.  

Finally, the Seay Music Library is a wonderful resource for our campus community and houses a collection of musical works in physical and digital format. Here you can ask for help in specialized research for your musical assignments and projects. 
 
We are so glad you are here. We look forward to making your musical experience at CC as enlightening, inclusive, creative, and unique as you are. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly with any questions, concerns, or ideas!  
 
Sincerely, 
 
Liliana Carrizo, Associate Academic Chair 
Sue Grace, Associate Chair of Performance 
Ryan Bañagale, Chair 

Register for music lessons by Wednesday, Sep. 3, 4 p.m.  

Fill out the Lesson Intake Survey to begin the process.  

Bring some Broadway magic to CC! The Music Department, in association with the Colorado Springs Conservatory, will be presenting the musical Anastasia this December. We are seeking performers, stage managers, spot operators, prop designers and crew members. Please prepare 32 bars of a musical theatre selection, appropriate for the style of Anastasia.

TIME: 5-6 p.m., callbacks 7-8:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Packard Hall 

During Block A, Bluegrass Instructor Keith Reed took students “On the Road” to explore the roots and branches of folk music in the U.S. During Block B, Keith’s Advanced Topics in Music class traveled to Ireland and Scotland to explore how Irish and Scots-Irish history and culture have significantly influenced American folk music.

The US Air Force Academy Band (including CC’s own Monica Ding, Tim Stombaugh, Alex Vieira, and Bobby Wolfe) toured the Front Range, culminating in two performances at Mount Rushmore.  

Assistant Professor Dr. Lidia Chang and Research Assistant Alia Dahleez ’27 spent the month of June examining and cataloguing musical instruments, objects, and iconography at some of Vienna’s most important art and history museums: the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Belvedere, the Secession, the Albertina, the Museum of Science and Technology, the Austrian National Library, and the Beethoven House Museum. They met with curators and restoration specialists to learn about the priorities and challenges on the minds of museum professionals today, and built a strong foundation for Dr. Chang’s upcoming block abroad, “Music and the Museum” (Block 6). They will be presenting their findings on September 26 at Student Research and Internship Symposium. In July, Dr. Chang travelled to Boston, MA where she taught for her 15th summer at the South Shore Conservatory’s Summer Music Festival.

Collegium Musicum Director Elisa Wicks attended the Amherst Early Music Festival as the opera orchestra coordinator and principal second violinist. The opera project this summer focused on a rarity, the modern world premiere of Georg Reutter’s Dafne. Students, early-career singers and professional instrumentalists brought this ancient tale to life.

Jon Cowherd, Brian Blade, and Tony Scherr
Thursday, Sep. 11 at 7 p.m.
Celeste Theatre

Three of the most imaginative, sensitive and wide-ranging artists in modern jazz: pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Brian Blade.

United States Air Force (USAF) Academy Band Chamber Recital
Songs & Echoes
Monday, Sep. 29 at 7 p.m.
Packard Hall

A musical tour de force, the program features the talents of the United States Air Force Academy Premier Band performing an eclectic program from composers of the Romantic era to minimalism and modern jazz.