A worldwide movement for social change, the Human Library is designed to build a positive framework for conversations that can challenge stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue. Sign up in the Grand Pavilion to check out human “books” for a 20-minute conversation and learn about their point of view. We will have 11-14 books each night. A sample of our book titles include "Arab," "But You Don't Look Sick," & "Token Black Girl."
Osman Koç is a creative artist who uses technology as a medium for artistic expression. Directed by his curiosities, Koç’s works touch many different fields such as cybernetics, artificial intelligence, biosensors, kinetic sculptures, reactive lighting, audiovisual performances, and games with alternative physical controllers.
Experience immersive and interactive projections that create real-time, sound-reactive visual performances.
What does sound look like? Named after the phenomenon in which simulation of one sensory pathway elicits another sensory experience, Synesthesia is an abstract representation of how music travels through space. Enter the installation and become enveloped in lights whose colors and rhythms are generated in response to ambient tones and sounds. This installation celebrates the manifestation of sensory feelings and creates a playground of light and sound. Synesthesia premiered at Light City Baltimore 2018.
UMD students will perform a 30-minute shortened version of The Vagina Monologues. The episodic play, originally performed in 1996, will explore women and their - you guessed it - vaginas.
The Vagina Monologues showcases a diverse range of women, experiences, and emotions in a politically-charged performance, exploring women from around the world and what their gender means to them. The New York Times called this play “probably the most important piece of political theater of the last decade.”
Whether it’s about physical motion or rallying for a cause, music has the ability to reflect or even inspire movement in our culture. Join the Maryland Community Band as we explore a short selection of works linked through a common thread of movement.
Open to all students interested in film production, Maryland Filmmakers Club produces 6-10 short films every semester. Discover works by campus-based filmmakers and learn how you can get involved.
Inventive, hyper-contemporary, and unique, the TEMPO 72-Hour Composition Project gives UMD School of Music composition students 72 hours to create new music. Hear the outcome of this composition challenge as the graduate student-run contemporary music ensemble TEMPO performs these pieces.
Featuring student spoken word artists from Terpoets and the TOTUS program, this showcase sparks dialogue and action around identity, social justice and lived experience. TOTUS, named after the Latin word for “whole,” is a credit-bearing experience that allows UMD students to explore marginalized identities and silenced voices in and through poetry to spark dialogue and action around identity, social justice and lived experience. Hear the voices of TOTUS alumni as they perform original spoken word pieces.
Classically Dope is a musical collaboration between DC-based rapper Konshens the MC, his band, and wind quintet Wavelength Winds. This fusion of hip-hop and classical music bridges the gap between these two performing worlds. The collaboration began in 2016 with the 2015-2017 School of Music Fellowship Wind Quintet, Daraja Ensemble, and continues now with Wavelength Winds.
UMD’s very own Hip-Hop Orchestra started as two friends performing on the tables of the University of Maryland’s very own dining hall. Now, with myriad performances under their belts, including two at The Kennedy, HHO takes the Grand Pavilion Stage to kick-off the 2018 NextNOW Fest.
