Authored By seanphippster

UTC officials have announced a weeklong series of lectures, events and programming based on Beyoncé’s visual album “Lemonade.”

UTC faculty and students from the English, art, theater, history and exercise science departments will join representatives from the women’s studies program for four events April 3-6.

All events are open to the UTC community and general public.

Guests are invited to a roundtable discussion called “We Are All/Are We All Feminist(s)?” inspired by Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche’s “We Should All Be Feminists.” The program is at 7:30 p.m. April 3 in room 352 of the University Center.

A multimedia visual art experience called “Lemonade: The Lecture” will take place April 4 at 7:30 p.m. in room 201 of Derthick Lecture Hall. The event features 10 faculty members who each will offer a five-minute creative piece. Local Beyoncé drag queen BeeBee Dupree will also perform during the event.

On April 5, guests are invited to a public discussion called “A Night of Black Women Writers” in room 352 of the University Center. The event begins at 7:30 p.m.

The week ends with a dance lesson based on Beyoncé’s “Formation” single. The event includes a choreography tutorial, preceded by a brief lecture on the influential early 20th-century civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells. The event takes place at 4:30 p.m. April 6 at the UTC Aquatic and Recreation Center. Admission is $5.

“One of the things that has been happening since Black Lives Matter is that academics have come together in their own time to come up with syllabi, reading lists and structures for understanding current events,” UTC professor James Arnett said. “One of the things we’re trying to do at UTC is to … build those bridges out to the public and make the work we do here intelligible to the public.”

“Lemonade” was released in 2016. The album was accompanied by a 60-minute film that premiered on HBO. Writer/educator Candice Benbow was inspired to create an academic reading list that became “Lemonade: The Syllabus.” Much of the UTC programming was inspired by Benbow’s 36-page syllabus.

Arnett stressed that the entire community is invited to enjoy festivities.

“The public university is a public space,” he said. “Despite the fact that a university seems like it belongs to the students who go there, all of our resources are meant to be available to the whole public.”