Free[ing] Culture in Los Angeles: Beyond the Ivory Tower -- "Public Culture in Los Angeles - Real Possibilities for Transforming Life" April 10, 2007

Los Angeles is the most diverse, dynamic American city – in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Home to “Hollywood” and the destination of waves of immigrants from the North, South, East and West, Los Angeles creates unique challenges for activists reinvigorating our civic foundations and public spaces:

How are activists using the arts and/or technology in their missions?

What challenges are unique to Los Angeles – a place where public spaces have been sold off since its founding and myth replaces reality?

What type of “knowledge ecology,” “free culture” or “public diplomacy” is possible in a city devoted to fame, celebrity and image?

Opening Remarks on Public Diplomacy in Los Angeles:
Professor Nicholas Cull, Director – USC Center for Public Diplomacy
Moderator: Lewis Haidt – Board Member – USC Free Culture and Masters in Communication Management Candidate, Annenberg Program for Online Communities (APOC)
Panelists: B.J. Dodge: Adjunct Professor USC School of Theatre. Faculty Coordinator and Director for California Institute of the Arts’ Community Arts Partnership Youth Theater Workshop at Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln Heights.
Janet Owen – Adjunct Professor of Public Art Studies, USC School of Fine Art. Curator of Exhibitions with the newly established Studio For Social Sculpture, based in Los Angeles. Previously she was Co-Director of Raid Projects, an LA exhibition and curatorial organization, and Founding Director of the AIM international festival of time-based media.
Nelson Pavlosky: Co-Founder, Free Culture – An International Student Movement.

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Official Website: http://usc.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2264427958