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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: February 3, 2014
Rebecca Keane
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
Summary Sentence:
Arts and culture, innovation, and entrepreneurship — these aren’t concepts that typically come to mind when Americans think of Africa.
Full Summary:
Arts and culture, innovation, and entrepreneurship — these aren’t concepts that typically come to mind when Americans think of Africa.
Africa AtlantaArts and culture, innovation, and entrepreneurship — these aren’t concepts that typically come to mind when Americans think of Africa.
But a Georgia Tech-led initiative has ambitious goals to recast narrow and negative perceptions about the continent and highlight Atlanta as a center for action.
The idea for Africa Atlanta 2014 grew out of a conversation over lunch one day when Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Dean Jacqueline Royster learned that the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, was closing for renovation and was willing to have pieces from its spectacular collection tour outside of Belgium.
She immediately set about finding partners and funding to bring to Atlanta an exhibition that was being curated for a U.S. tour, KONGO across the WATERS.
“From our start in 2012, we’ve found tremendous enthusiasm for this project,” Royster said. “The arts became our pebble in the pond.”
The ripple spread across universities, visual and performing arts organizations, African Diaspora heritage communities, governmental organizations and agencies (local, state, national, and international), nongovernmental organizations, business, and industry.
Taking a cue from the highly successful model for France-Atlanta, Royster chose a holistic approach and included activities spanning not only arts and culture, but education, business and innovation, and global affairs.
“The idea is to see the arts as a lens for understanding cultures more robustly within a global context,” she said. “We are thrilled to have one of the world’s foremost collections of African art to anchor this initiative. We are also thrilled to add many other amazing artistic and cultural activities.”
Campus sponsors include the Office of the Provost, Office for Institute Diversity, Office of International Education, College of Architecture, Scheller College of Business, Office of International Initiatives, College of Science, Institute of Paper Science and Technology, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, the IAC School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and the IAC School of Modern Languages.
Events across the city are already underway. Upcoming campus events include the
following:
View the full schedule of events here.
