The Steinhardt School’s Music and Performing Arts Professions Department at New York University has organized an all-day symposium on bullying that will explore the ways the applied theatre, a participatory art form powered by social activism, can play in combating the bully menace.

NYU Steinhardt School Symposium to Explore the Role Applied Theatre Can Play in Helping Prevent the Rising Incidence of Bullying, Apr. 15

The Steinhardt School’s Music and Performing Arts Professions Department at New York University has organized an all-day symposium on bullying that will explore the ways the applied theatre, a participatory art form powered by social activism, can play in combating the bully menace.  Entitled The Bully Menace and Applied Theatre, the conference will take place Friday, April 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Provincetown Playhouse and Judson Church.  The symposium is open to the public with advance registration.  For additional information and to register, visit http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/edtheatre/bullymenace.

“The catalyst for our planning had been the rising incidence of any number of hateful crimes in New York City and across the U.S. in recent years,” said symposium co-chair Robert Cohen, professor of social studies education at the Steinhardt School. “Bullies come in all different shapes and sizes, and they are not always human and their intentions are not always clear.”

“The program in Educational Theatre at NYU has a long history of teaching justice and citizenship education,” added Philip Taylor, symposium co-chair and associate professor in the music and performing arts professions at the Steinhart School.  “We wondered what role the applied theatre can play in illuminating the troubling questions the bully menace raises.  Can the issue be simply addressed by a few educational imperatives or does there need to be a more systemic change in how we think about promoting democracy and diversity.”

The symposium will include: a keynote address by Ross Prior, founding editor of the international Journal of Applied Arts and Health, UK, and a principal lecturer at The University of Northampton, UK; a forum theatre experiment with David Montgomery’s Educational Theatre freshman class; a staged reading of a prison theatre project with ex offenders from the Woodbourne Correctional Facility; a panel discussion, moderated by Kayhan Irani with panelists Judyie Al-Bilali, Javier Cardona, Dana Edell, Alexander Santiago-Jirau, Nancy Smithner, and Shirley Steinberg; and a plenary session with Robert Cohen, Renae Despointes, Fred Kaeser, Pedro Noguera, Rosa Pietanza, Tom Roderickand, and officials from NYC Department of Education.

NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions was established in 1925. Since that time, the program has functioned as NYU’s “school” of music and developed into a major research and practice center in music technology, music business, music composition, film scoring, music performance practices, performing arts therapies, and the performing arts-in-education (music, dance, and drama). Today, 1,600 students majoring in renowned programs — baccalaureate through Ph.D. — are guided by more than 400 faculty who share The Steinhardt School’s spirit of openness and innovation. Faculty include international performing and recording artists, music business and technology leaders while others sit on leading journal editorial boards and publish some of the most significant music technology and performing arts research on the scene today.

Editor’s note:  Members of the media wishing to attend or cover the event should make arrangements in advance with Richard Pierce, at 212.998.6796, or email richard.pierce@nyu.edu.

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Richard Pierce
Richard Pierce
(212) 998-6796