Crossroads Project Using Art and Music for Earth’s Message on April 24
Article by: Jason B. Houlihan
What’s the outcome when combining art, science, music and photographs? The Crossroads Project—grounded in science and elevated by art.
Del Mar College’s Cultural Programs Series presents the Crossroads Project with climate physicist Robert Davies and the Fry Street Quartet as they collaborate to share a message about climate change on Tuesday, April 24.
The free event begins at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Performance Hall, located on the East Campus at Ayers and Baldwin. For more information, contact DMC professor of cello and double bass Susan Sturman at 698-1612 or ssturman@delmar.edu.
To inform individuals about climate change and global sustainability through a different method, Davies approached the Fry Street Quartet to collaborate in creating a combined lecture and musical performance called the Crossroads Project.
It’s a performance that presents the ‘Oh, my God’ information. Seventy-five percent of the world’s fisheries are in some state of collapse. If everyone consumed like Americans, we’d need three to four planets.
The 75-minute presentation’s musical performance includes the first movement of Haydn’s “Sunrise” Quartet and composer Laura Kaminsky’s new work, Rising Tide, the centerpiece of the performance. The final movement is from Janáček’s first quartet and closes the program with its extraordinary emotional soundscape that searches, haunts and, ultimately, questions.
Large-screen projections include original works by painter Rebecca Allan and internationally-recognized environmental photographer Garth Lenz. Attendees will experience compelling images ranging from the boreal forests of Canada and the industrial sacrifice zones of China to the depths of the ocean and the edge of the atmosphere.
“It’s difficult to get your brain around the scale of what we’re talking about,” explained Davies. “Art gives people the chance to do that and look at environmental stability in a different way.”
Following the presentation, participants will have an opportunity to engage in a “talk-back” session. Both Davies and the Fry Street Quartet will provide two outreach sessions with Del Mar College students during the day.
For more information about the event, visit www.thecrossroadsproject.org.
Del Mar College empowers students to achieve their dreams. We offer quality programs, individual attention, outstanding instruction through faculty with real-world experience and affordable costs to credit and noncredit students in Corpus Christi and the South Texas Coastal Bend area. Nationally recognized while locally focused, we’re ranked in the top two percent of community colleges in the country granting associate degrees to Hispanic students (Community College Week). Del Mar College focuses on offering our students programs that match current or emerging career opportunities. Whether students are interested in the fine arts, sciences, business, occupational or technical areas, students get the education they need for the future they want at Del Mar College.