Gaudino Creative Residencies support short-term campus visits by artists, makers, or practitioners of any field who intend to share their knowledge, skills, and creative expertise directly with students through modes of experiential, participatory, or engaged learning. Such pedagogies align with the mission of the Gaudino Fund, which, inspired by the teachings and legacy of Prof. Robert L. Gaudino, supports curricular initiatives intended to foster connections between lived experience and intellectual endeavor. For more information or to apply for funding, please see: Urgent Dreams: Cultivating Creativity in the Williams Curriculum
Cosponsored Events
Fall 2024:
Truth Future Bachman Artist Residency
Theatre Department
SONGSPACE Workshop
Tuesday, Sept 17 at 4:15-5:30pm, Adams Memorial Theatre, ’62 Center, open to all
The song makes a space, and the songwriter is its architect. But how does an artist’s inner landscape transform into music and lyrics? In SONGSPACE, artists will work with composer, vocalist, and writer Truth Future Bachman to build a generous and collaborative space that explores the songwriting process through sensation, intention, and action.
SECOND SIGHT, a work in progress performance showing
Thursday, Sept 19, 7-8:30pm, Adams Memorial Theatre, ’62 Center, open to all
Brooklyn-based composer, playwright, and vocalist Truth Future Bachman deftly interweaves three of the most compelling cultural threads of our moment: musical theater, gender fluidity, and superhero/sci-fi parables. Join Truth, and collaborators Z Infante and Steven Tran as they workshop pieces from the third act in a series of queer and trans superhero musicals called Shapeshifters (following Luna & the Starbodies and Skyward: An Endling Elegy).
Anja Salomonowitz, Filmmaker
German Department
Screening and Discussion of Mit einem Tiger schlafen (Sleeping With a Tiger)
Tuesday, October 1, 7:30PM, Images Theatre
As part of the 10th annual German-Austrian Film Festival at Images Cinema, Austrian filmmaker Anja Salomonowitz will be visiting Williamstown for the showing of her film Sleeping with a Tiger on October 1. During her visit, Anja will be offering a workshop on translating political material into documentary film, centering on her film-in-progress called Read My Breasts, about the Ukrainian feminist activist group FEMEN.
Anja Salomonowitz Workshop, Part 1: (For Students / Fac Only)
Monday, September 30, 4-5:30 PM, Location TBD
Discussion: How can political processes be rendered in cinematic form? I regard documentary film not as “something observed,” since films are always somehow shaped by their creators. Even when I “observe” someone, the position of the camera and the nature of the plot have been discussed beforehand. From my perspective it’s about offering the people and the experiences involved a staged framing. What happens inside this frame is nonetheless “documental.” I will describe what happens in the process of shaping this cinematic frame. I am concerned with communicating a political opinion or stance cinematically without being pedantic.
Anja Salomonowitz Workshop, Part 2: (For Students / Fac Only)
Tuesday, October 1, 4-5:30 PM, Location TBD
A viewing and discussion of current editing versions and additional material from my film-in-process, Read My Breasts, about the Ukrainian feminist activist group FEMEN. I will explain the ideas and thoughts behind the editing process and show entire edited sequences as well. A catered lunch will be served at this portion of the workshop. Students are invited to bring questions about their own work to the discussion about the translation of experiences into art.
Mary Danico, Director of the Center for Oral History at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Anthropology and Sociology Department
Workshop on Conducting Oral Histories with Mary Danico
Monday, September 30, 4:15pm Hollander 241
In conjunction with ANSO Prof. Phi Su’s course GBST/SOC/STS 262 Paper Trails, Dr. Danico will offer an open workshop on developing skills in qualitative interviewing and oral histories. This experiential workshop will offer a crash course on carrying out interview-based research.
Maya Krishna Rao, Artist Residency
Theatre Department
“You Really Want to Know My Story” Performance
Monday, October 21, 7pm, Adams Memorial Theatre, ’62 Center
Why are most death row prisoners in India of a particular profile?
What is the impact of the death sentence
on the family of a prisoner on death row?
Why so much torture in prison?
Why the Death Penalty, at all?
Indian theatre artist, director, and performer Maya Krishna Rao will present her performance “You Really Want to Know My Story,” a piece based on testimonials from death-row prisoners in India. The performance was made after studying researchers’ accounts of several prisoners, their families, and details of prison conditions. These stories are told with movement, text and music. They sharply remind us of how skewed the criminal justice system is, how it dehumanises people who lack resources and education. While both accounts are real life stories, some details have been changed to weave the narratives into short piece of theatre.
Kif Kif Bledi / Raissa Lei Residency
Comparative Literature Dept.
- Dance Workshop: Sunday October 20, 3PM, ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Main Stage
- Public Lecture: Monday October 21, 4PM, ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Directing Studio
- Performance: Monday October 21, 2924, 7PM, ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Main Stage
Kif Kif Bledi is an indigenous North African woman-led dance company based in France that specializes in both tradition and fusion dance (hip hop, waacking, house). Their visit which includes a dance performance, a dance workshop, public lecture and class visit will teach the Williams community about the work of indigenous cultural activists as they engage with colonial histories and structures of exclusion in France, valorize their heritage and transform it into future-facing creative ventures, and engage with a cultural appropriation that is currently occurring in the United States (Berber tattoos and jewelry as well as certain forms of dance). The company can also speak to inclusion/exclusion of dancers and choreographers of North African immigration/descent in French cultural institutions, and their fight for equity and representation. Students and faculty will benefit from their 3-day mini-residency which will offer many opportunities for both formal and informal engagement. As dancers and cultural activists, their workshops offer both an embodied and intellectual experience.
Additional Happenings, Co-Sponsored or Supported by the Gaudino Fund:
Spectrum Street Epistemology Event
Phi Beta Kappa and Williams Free Speech Alliance
Sept. 16 (noon, Paresky Lawn) and Sept. 17 (10am and 4pm, Paresky Auditorium)
Peter Boghossian will conduct his famous Spectrum Street Epistemology (SSE) exercise with Williams College students. SSE is a conversational method that explores and challenges people’s deeply held convictions and beliefs in a non-confrontational manner.
Mo Asumang Campus Visit
German Department
Screening of The Aryans
Thursday, 19th September, 7:30 PM, Paresky Auditorium
Mo Asumang is a German presenter, filmmaker, bestselling author and actress, whose work focuses on identity and addressing racism from a unique perspective. We will be showing one of her movies The Aryans, in which she confronted Neo-Nazis and KKK members in the United States.
“The Mo:Lab Dialogue Principle” Workshop
Friday, September 20, 2:30-4:30 PM, Davis Center
As another component of her visit to campus, Mo will present strategies for antagonistic conversations and difficult situations based on her own experience. This workshop will be led in English together with Heidi Denzel from Dartmouth College.
Open in Emergency Boxes
Prof. Greta Synder, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Students in Prof. Snyder’s course will engage their communities in conversations about unwellness in a way inspired by the “pedagogy of unwellness” outlined in Dear Elia: Letters from the Asian American Abyss. This involves developing artifacts (like tarot cards or a hacked DSM a la the “open in emergency” project) that stimulate conversations about the structural and cultural conditions that foster unwellness in their community of focus, or, how unwellness is linked to injustice.
Workshop on Greek Theatre Costuming
Prof. Sarah Olsen, Classics and Prof. Sydney Maresca, Theatre
Prof. Sydney Maresca will lead a workshop in Prof. Olsen’s CLAS 101, in which she’ll discuss evidence for ancient Greek theatrical costuming and then actually construct, with the students, a few different costumes for them to wear while performing short monologues and scenes.
Past Gaudino Creative Residencies: