This spring, Concordia University is presenting it’s second annual speaker series, entitled “Thinking Out Loud.”
Four conversations will be held on campus that will feature a public figure and a researcher from Concordia discussing “what it means to create.”
The first conversation is being held between Charles Acland and Terry O’Reilly on March 6. Acland is the Concordia University research chair in communication studies and O’Reilly is a host on CBC Radio One. The discourse will be focused on the subject of discussing media clutter.
Each conversation will be mediated by a representative of The Globe and Mail and, in this case, the moderator will be Ryan McDonald.
The following three discussions, each held several days apart, are titled “On the Academics of Circus,” “On the Writing of Inspiration,” and “On the Music of Creativity.”
Taking place March 12, “On the Academics of Circus” will feature Concordia researcher and playwright, Louis Patrick Leroux and former director of creation for Montreal’s Cirque du Soleil, Lyn Heward. The subject of their discussion will be the question of how to both study and research art “without losing sight of the initial artistic impulse.”
Josip Novakovich, a professor in the creative writing department and finalist for the Man Booker International Prize 2013, will discuss where inspiration comes from and the difference between memoirs and novels with Booker Prize winner, Peter Carey on March 20.
To conclude the series, on March 25 music aficionados will be treated to a discussion on how we can “compose beautiful and inspirational music that will improve lives,” with Jian Ghomeshi and Sandeep Bhagwati.
According to Sami Antaki, executive director for Concordia’s communication services, the series began around four years ago when members of the community convened to talk about issues, such as infrastructure support, infrastructure renewal, and at-home education versus sending children to school.
“We take the conversations and podcast them,” explained Antaki. “By the third year, we had something interesting, the conversations that were coming out were fascinating. We approached The Globe and Mail, to see if we could make this a national conversation series, as public across the country as possible, and they agreed.”
“Anywhere else, tickets for these speakers might cost $60, but we are offering them for free.”
All conversations will take place in Oscar Peterson Concert Hall on the Loyola Campus except for “Strategies for Media Clutter,” which will take place at the D.B. Clarke Theatre on the Sir George Williams Campus.
To register visit www.concordia.ca/news/publications-reports/conversation-series.html
