***NOW VIRTUAL*** 

We are excited to share the School of Performing Arts Colloquium Series will be virtually hosting Brandi and Carlton Turner via the Zoom communication platform on Thursday, April 9, from 4:00 to 5:30 PM.  Please contact Bob Leonard by email at bob.leonard@vt.edu to register for this remarkable public learning exchange, which is the third and final presentation of the spring 2020 School of Performing Arts Colloquium Series.

The Turners will speak about their use of the arts and agriculture to support rural community, cultural, and economic development in their hometown, Utica, MS. They are leaders in a new research project that investigates how creative approaches to community development may tackle the problem of access to healthy food in Utica, a low and moderate income, predominantly Black rural community in Mississippi. Their research project will consider how a more expansive imagination of future community wellbeing can change the narrative of what is possible and build collective community agency in the broader food access and healthy community development initiative.

For this virtual session participants will need:

  • A strong WiFi connection 
  • A laptop or smartphone with video and sound capabilities
  • A free version of the Zoom application. Download here: https://zoom.us/signup
  • A writing utensil and something to write on 
  • A quiet place to be reasonably comfortable and inquisitive

Please contact Bob Leonard bob.leonard@vt.edu as soon as you know you'd like to register.  

This event is part of a series presented by the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech called “Art, Community, Ecology, and Health,” a series of talks/workshops by nationally recognized artists and thought leaders on the power and practice of art and culture as essential elements of healthy communities.  These public presentations are meant to lead to open dialogue on the practical values of art as a core element for building strong communities.  

The School of Performing Arts Colloquium series, focused on "Art, Community, Ecology, and Health" is supported by the Blacksburg Public Library, Virginia Tech’s Women and Minority Artists and Scholars Lecture Series, the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation in the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education, the Center for Communicating Science, the Community Change Collaborative, the Institute for Policy and Governance, and Christiansburg Institute, Inc.