UF campus buzzing with creativity during summer B

July 13, 2015

Each year, during the University of Florida’s summer B semester, participants across campus present a series of activities aimed to delight, educate and entertain. The event is called Creative B.

Founded in 2010 by the Office of the Provost, Creative B 2015 activities range from a poetry reading by Zilka Joseph, to film screenings, to experimentation with geospatial science.

“Creative B is our way of welcoming new students to campus through the arts and other creative experiences to set the tone for the upcoming academic year,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Joseph Glover. “We plan it as a unique experience each summer to enliven campus life during the summer B term.” 

This year’s partners include UF’s Center for Arts in Medicine, Center for Undergraduate Research, College of the Arts, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Digital Worlds Institute, Florida Museum of Natural History, George A. Smathers Libraries, Harn Museum of Art, Science Fiction Working Group and UF Health Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration.

“Creative B events are often collaborative, involving many units of the university and may stimulate your imagination,” said Lucinda Lavelli, dean of UF’s College of the Arts. “These events are designed to connect students and the Gainesville community to ideas that may be new to them. We invite you to attend or participate in an event to find out for yourself.”

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Public Art Project: American artist Susan P. Cochran’s large-scale cast bronze sculptures of ants, “X” and “O,” were installed at the Florida Museum of Natural History on Tuesday, July 7. The sculptures are on loan from the artist and will reside at UF as a temporary installation for one year. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Center for Arts in Medicine, Harn Museum of Art & Uf Health Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration: “Robert Cunningham: Out of the Blue” will be on display from June 29 to August 9 at the Harn Museum of Art’s Chandler Auditorium. Cunningham is a self-trained artist who took up painting after undergoing deep brain stimulation for treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Center for Undergraduate Research: “Research Methods at UF” is a course for all majors that provides dynamic, interdisciplinary and interactive overview of diverse research methodologies conducted by UF faculty.

College of the Arts: “Gator Tales” is an original play devised and directed by UF Professor Kevin Marshall
in conjunction with the UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. The play reflects the unique experiences of African-American students at the University of Florida, from those who attended UF more than 50 years ago to members of the current student body. Performances are July 16 to 19, (7:30 p.m. July 16-18; 2 p.m. July 19) in the Nadine M. McGuire Theatre and Dance Pavilion’s Black Box Theatre. Tickets are $13 for UF students, UF faculty/staff and senior citizens, and $17 for the general public. For tickets, call 352-392-1653 or visit ticketmaster.com. 



Swamp Dance Fest! is a transformative four-week dance intensive taking place July 6-August 5. Artist talks, free classes for the community and a series of dance performances will be featured. Many events are free and open to the public. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu/swampdancefest.

College of Engineering: UF welcomes poet and educator Zilka Joseph as part of Creative B. On Wednesday, August 5, from 7-9 p.m. Joseph will be in the Nadine M. McGuire Theatre and Dance Pavilion’s Black Box Theatre for a poetry reading. On Thursday, August 6, from 7-9 p.m., STEPUP students will hold a storytelling performance in the same location. Receptions will immediately follow each event. To RSVP, please email efiore@eng.ufl.edu.

Digital Worlds Institute: “Creating Mobile Games” and “Digital Entertainment Trends” are two courses offered during Creative B to introduce students to designing their own mobile games and exploring media technology trends and their effect on our culture. A culminating showcase of student work will be held Friday, August 7, at 5:30 p.m. in UF’s Digital Worlds Institute’s Research, Education and Visualization Environment, or REVE, facility. Both courses are free and open to the public.

Digital Worlds Institute & Science Fiction Working Group: “Creativity at the Crossroads of Art & Science” is a free film screening series presented every Wednesday night in July from 7-8:30 p.m. in UF’s Digital Worlds Institute’s REVE facility. These short-film screenings will offer entertaining and thought-provoking glimpses into the diverse ways art and science can converge, interact and productively inspire one another. Refreshments will be provided. All screenings are open to the public.

Florida Museum of Natural History: Join the Florida Museum of Natural History for the fifth Annual Creative B Movie Series, “Ethics of Science, Art and Movies,” on Friday nights in July. Explore the balance between science and art with our expert panel that will discuss the movies’ production process and place in film history. UF students receive free admission to “A T. rex Named Sue” with their Gator 1 card. Panel discussions begin at 7 p.m. with the film screenings immediately following. More information is available at flmnh.ufl.edu. “Ethics of Science, Art and Movies” is free and open to the public.

George A. Smathers Libraries: UF students are invited to learn how global positioning systems, or GPS, can be used to find your location on the earth, locate geographic coordinates and collect geospatial data. Summer B students will use GPS units to explore the University of Florida campus. Students who complete the activity will receive a certificate to print out a free 3D object with the Marston Science Library 3D printer. You can discover more at http://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/creativeb.

Related Activities: The “Get to Know Me” project was part of the global Inside Out Art Project by JR, a semi-anonymous French street artist. JR uses his camera to show the world its true face, by pasting photos of the human face across massive canvases. The art was painted on the 34th Street wall on June 27.

Learn more about this year’s activities and view a calendar of events at creativeb.aa.ufl.edu. You can join the conversation online by using the hashtag #creativeBUF.

About UF’s College of the Arts

The College of the Arts is one of the 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes at the University of Florida. The College offers baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its three institutionally accredited schools — the School of Art + Art History, School of Music and School of Theatre + Dance. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu.