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Brian Cudiamat / (217) 333-0889 / cudiamat@illinois.edu (email link)
"Daughters of Wisdom" (2007, 68 min.), directed by Bari Pearlman, tells the unique story of how the Nangchen nuns of Kham, living on the Eastern Tibetan plateau, built their own Kala Rongo Monastery in spite of the longstanding tradition dictating that women, due to custom and socioeconomic demands, not receive educational and religious training.
This film will be introduced by Arjia Rinpoche, a high lama of the Gelupa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, formerly Head Abbot of the Kumbum Monastery in Amdo Tibet and currently the director of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center, Bloomington, Indiana. This film initiates the 2009-2010 AsiaLENS series of public film screenings and lecture/discussion programs organized by the Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS) at the Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies and planned in collaboration with the Spurlock Museum. Following the screening, viewers will be invited to join in discussion led by Arjia Rinpoche.
Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, ILParents and kids! Create, play, and learn together through crafts and activities from around the world. Arrive anytime between 9:30 and 11:30. The program ends at noon.
Location: Zahn Learning Center, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, ILParents and kids! Create, play, and learn together through crafts and activities from around the world. Arrive anytime between 9:30 and 11:30. The program ends at noon.
Location: Zahn Learning Center, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, ILDr. Jacquelyn Lewis-Harris is the Director of the Center for Human Origin and Cultural Diversity at the University of Missouri—St. Louis and presently holds the title of Assistant Professor in both Anthropology and the College of Education. She lived and worked extensively in the Pacific for 27 years with an emphasis on Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands diaspora. She currently consults for several national and international museums as an independent curator. Her talk addresses the difficulties that arise when contemporary Papua New Guinean artists appropriate traditional Papua New Guinean art designs and forms from a non-related cultural group. In a global era when images circulate world-wide on the web or in commercial products, this issue of local copyrights is critical for everyone.
Location: Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, ILJoin us for a concert of Persian setar music performed by Master Jalal Zolfonoon and the Silk Road Ensemble. Master Zolfonoon received his earliest musical training from his father, Habib Zolfonoon, and his older brother, Mahmoud Zolfonoon, on the tar. At the age of thirteen, the promising young musician enrolled in the National School for Iranian Music, where he immediately fell in love with the setar. In 1967, he was accepted into the faculty of the fine arts department of Tehran University where he would further study the setar with Master Noor Ali Boroumand and Daryoush Saffat. From then on, Zolfonoon dedicated himself to the delicate instrument, and began combining the techniques of the older masters of setar with his own ingenuity and mystic sensitivity. Zolfonoon is credited with introducing an ensemble of only setar players to the music world and creating the album “Golehsadbarg” (meaning "100 petal flower"). Through this album and his concerts, Zolfonoon demonstrated for the first time the power and versatility of the setar as both a solo and ensemble instrument that could fully express the nuances of traditional Persian music. In fact, since the success of "Golehsadbarg," the setar has changed in status from the least to the most popular instrument in Iran.
This concert is presented by the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, the Center for Global Studies, the Robert E. Brown Center for World Music, the Persian Cultural Association, and the Spurlock Museum. It is sponsored in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, ILEnhance your Spurlock Museum experience with hands-on activities for visitors of all ages in the Zahn Learning Center. This week, join us as we explore the culture of Papua New Guinea. See authentic Papua New Guinea Yam masks, and then get a chance to make your own. You can have fun face painting, listening to PNG music, and more!
Location: Zahn Learning Center, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL