“There is so much in our culture we all participate in that totally obviates the rules of time and space. In my position here at Alverno I’m asking students, asking audiences, to do something that because of technology they are less accustomed to doing. The Internet allows all of us to take on time and place whenever we want, but I’m asking students to commit to a specific moment in time at a specific place, to come to a concert or a dance performance. I’ve been thinking about this a great deal lately and I think one of the big quotations in next season’s Alverno Presents brochure should read, ‘Alverno Presents: because YouTube won’t give you goose bumps.’ My challenge is to demonstrate to people that there’s value in what is for many people now an extraordinary commitment. Seeing an artistic performance did not require the same kind of commitment when many of us were students. This is a sea change of how we see ourselves in the universe. It’s cosmic. People are sometimes uncomfortable about what it means to be part of an audience. Coming to Alverno Presents is a welcoming experience and anything a person brings is the right thing to bring. A significant part of my job is to provide multiple points of entry into a given work or performance for an audience just as a teacher has to provide these points of entry simultaneously during a class session. I think Alverno Presents and Global Union help students confront cultural and aesthetic others and engage them in conversation. Developing the ability to do this is a critical part of a liberal arts curriculum, and gives students a shared experience that reaches into a community beyond the classroom.”