Panel Discussion: Addressing Issues of Race and Ethnicity through the Arts

The nonprofit AT&T Performing Arts Center will host a free panel discussion in conjunction with Terrence Blanchard and the E-Collective’s January 7, 2017 performance. Panelists representing a range of artistic disciplines will discuss their specific work in addressing issues of race and ethnicity through artistic practice. The topics they’ll want to address include art as social critique, depictions of racial and ethnic identity, and art’s innate ability to unite communities.

• Saturday, January 7, 2017 – 3 p.m.
• Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
• Skyline Terrace
• Free and open to the public

Panelists include Terence Blanchard, composer and trumpeter; Carlos Donjuan, visual artist and Senior Lecturer at University of Texas at Arlington; Janeil Engelstad, Founding Director, Make Art with Purpose; Curtis King, Founder & Director, The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Inc.; David Lozano, Executive Artistic Director, Cara Mía Theatre Co.; and Lily Weiss, Executive Director, Dallas Arts District.

The panel will be moderated by Veletta Forsythe Lill, Former Dallas City Council Member and Founding Executive Director of the Dallas Arts District.

The panel discussion is free to attend and will precede the Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective concert that evening in the Wyly Theatre at 8:00 p.m. Free parking will be available for panel attendees at the Winspear Opera House in Lexus Red Parking.

Following a poignant E-Collective performance in Staten Island, Terence Blanchard was overwhelmed by the healing impact of his music on the audience. In attendance were many friends and family of Eric Garner — a local man who had been fatally injured in an altercation with police and to whom the E-Collective’s debut album, Breathless, is dedicated. Motivated by this experience, the E-Collective’s next album will be recorded live in cities around the country that have been similarly wounded by racial tensions. Coinciding with these recording sessions, Blanchard will work with local community leaders to host panel discussions to encourage dialogue for positive social change.

This panel is presented in partnership with the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.