Friday, March 25, 2016

[402] Arts, music icon Ivey provides MTSU Scholars Week keynote March 28


MURFREESBORO — A folklorist with wide acclaim in arts, music and public policy will discuss “Creativity, Career and Public Education” when he speaks on the MTSU campus early next week.

Bill Ivey, one of America’s foremost arts administrators and public policy leaders, will deliver the keynote address for the 10th annual Scholars Week.

Ivey will speak at 7 p.m. Monday, March 28, in the Student Union Ballroom. The event is open to the public. To find parking and the Student Union, a searchable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.

Scholars Week emphasizes the research, scholarly efforts and collaboration of undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. To learn more and for a complete schedule, visit http://tinyurl.com/zad524p.

“Bill Ivey is one of the nation's leading thinkers on culture and creativity, and his insights into the arts and public policy are consistently thought-provoking and impactful,” said College of Media and Entertainment Dean Ken Paulson, who also serves as president of the First Amendment Center.

Ivey’s abstract for his MTSU talk reveals that “in an era when business, technology, economics and education are increasingly intertwined, he seeks to explore and define a balanced understanding of artistic expression, creativity, scholarship and their impacts on American democracy and quality of life.”

Ivey is a visiting research associate in the Indiana University Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology.

Highlights of Ivey’s career include:

• Founding director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University from 2002 until retiring in 2012.
• Team leader in the 2007 Barack Obama presidential transition.
• Appointed by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he was the seventh National Endowment for the Arts chairman from 1998-2001.
• First full-time director of the Country Music Foundation and the related Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum from 1971-98.
• Served two terms as chair of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

An author and consultant, Ivey holds degrees in history, folklore and ethnomusicology. The Calumet, Michigan, native and University of Michigan and University of Indiana (master’s degree) graduate founded the Washington-based Arts Industries Policy Forum.

Ivey is a trustee of the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based “think-tank,” and is the author of numerous articles and two books about art, public policy and politics: “Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights” and “Handmaking America: A Back-to-Basics Pathway to a Revitalized American Democracy.”

Ivey has written and lectured extensively about the importance of cultural policy and the value of cultural engagement in the pursuit of a high quality of life. He coined the phrase "Expressive Life" to define the part of the human experience shaped by cultural heritage and creative practice.

The Distinguished Lecture Fund, Department of Recording Industry and College of Media and Entertainment are sponsoring his appearance.


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