Wed 21 May at 3.30-5.00pm
Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's

Join Professor Leah Lowe in an informal talk followed by discussion, chaired by Dr Ali Fitzgibbon, examining the relationship between research, teaching and community/industry engagement. With a particular emphasis on creative and artistic practice and research, academic centres focused on research and engagement often find themselves pulled in multiple directions of interest and need. Professor Lowe will give insights from the Curb Center where she has served as Director since 2022.

This event is open to all and will be of particular interest to those interested in creative and engaged research, academic centres as places of civic and community engagement and how such centres can foster (creative) communities. It will also be a useful opportunity to find out more about Vanderbilt University and for staff from different centres to share knowledge.

Light refreshments will be served after the discussion.

The Curb Center for Art, Enterprise & Public Policy is an interdisciplinary arts center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, USA. It aims to elevate art as a mode of inquiry, a way of understanding, and a celebration of the human spirit at the university and beyond. Established through the generosity of Mike Curb, Founder of Curb Records and the Mike Curb Foundation, The Curb Center functions as a resource for creative communities at Vanderbilt and in Nashville.

With and through programmes that serve Vanderbilt students, faculty, and staff as well as the broader Nashville community, the Curb Center positions art as a tool for investigating critical questions, understanding the complex challenges facing our world, and flourishing through creative and artistic expression. The Curb Center’s work comprises two unique yet connected initiatives: the Creative Campus Initiative and the Public Policy Initiative. More details can be found at: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/curbcenter/overview/

Professor Leah Lowe earned her Ph.D. from Florida State University, her MFA in Directing from the University of Minnesota, and her BA from Oberlin College. Since coming to Vanderbilt in the fall of 2011, she has directed productions of Carlo Gozzi’s The Green Bird and Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl. Her artistic interests include acting, directing, and devised performance. Her scholarly interests include popular American theatre of the nineteenth century, theories of comedy, and gender performance in theatre and drama. Her work has been published in Theatre Topics, Theatre Journal, and Theatre Symposium. She was chair of Vanderbilt’s Theatre Department for seven years and also served as interim director of the American Studies programme. She has served as Director of the Curb Center since 2022.