Global News

Each year, the University of Chicago gathers members of the Chicago Consular Corps to solidify existing relationships between the University and the countries represented and highlight select University activities. Previous years' events have featured UChicago faculty panels on neuroscience, social work, the microbiome, and other important topics. This year's focus was on UChicago’s commitment to excellence in the arts and the many ways that the arts are supported, studied, and practiced at the University.

This year's event on May 4, 2021 assembled a panel of faculty leaders in the arts at UChicago to discuss the importance of international cultural collaborations, cross-cultural performance, research, curation, and the extension of arts at the University to the Global Centers. The consuls general then had the opportunity to join breakout rooms with each of the panelists, leading to many interesting discussions and the identification of several opportunities for collaborative arts programming with the consulates.

Hosted by Vice President Juan de Pablo and Dean of the Chicago Consular Corps Gisselle Castillo-Veremis (Dominican Republic), the event and content were organized in partnership with UChicago Arts. Faculty panelists included David Levin, Senior Advisor to the Provost for the Arts and Addie Clark Harding Professor of Germanic Studies, Cinema and Media Studies, and Theater and Performance Studies; Ghenwa Hayek, Interim Director of the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry and Associate Professor of Modern Arabic Literature in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations; Srikanth Reddy, Professor, Program in Creative Writing, Department of English Language and Literature; and Wu Hung, the Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History and the College, Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia, and Adjunct Curator for the Smart Museum of Art.