In this season of In These Times, we talk to scholars, musicians and poets, and members of creative communities, to explore the link between making art and making meaning, and how creativity shines a light on the way out of adversity in tough times, past and present.
Listen to In These Times here. Subscribe to the Omnia Podcast by Penn Arts & Sciences on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Episode 1 | The Art of Healing
In this episode, we explore the transformative power of the arts and humanities in the context of healing.
Episode 2 | Joy and Plague
In this episode, we hear from a specialist in medieval literature about the bubonic plague that devastated Europe in the 14th century, and how artists like Boccaccio and Chaucer documented the horror of the Black Death but also the joy found in art and creation.
Episode 3 | Tangled up in Nature
In this episode, we discuss Shakespeare, gardens, and how writers from the past have found meaning in, and read meaning into, the natural world.
Episode 4 | The Many Mediums for Confronting Trauma
In this episode we talk to a Ph.D. student in history about a patchwork quilt and a family’s journey from enslavement to educational access in the Ivy league and an anthropologist about using film, dance, and photography to empower victims.
Episode 5 | Finding a Way With Words
In this episode we speak with a poet and an author about how art touches us and can help us cope and connect.
Episode 6 | Music and Meaning
In this episode we speak with a professor of music about the power of song and dance during the apartheid era in South Africa, and a College alum about his process composing music for the screen, and our very own OMNIA podcast.
Episode 7 | The Restorative Power of Art
In this episode, we speak with researchers at the Positive Psychology Center, who examined how art museum visitation and museum program participation impact flourishing-related outcomes.
