Residency

Photo credit: Bill Goidell, 1986.

The Arts Institute is pleased to announce that actress, dancer, singer, writer, and teacher Rhodessa Jones will be the Spring 2014 Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence. Ms. Jones is co-artistic director of Cultural Odyssey, an organization committed to creating theater that engages with the community and encourages social activism. She is also founder/director of the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women, an ensemble of theater professionals, choreographers, psychologists, social workers, and former incarcerated women who work in prisons with currently incarcerated women. She has taught and performed nationally and internationally, including in South Africa, Italy, and Russia. Her awards include the National Black Theater Network's Pathfinder Award and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the California College of the Arts.

While in residence, Ms. Jones will teach a course entitled “Forward Motion: Performing the New Narratives of the 21st Century” and will present several lectures on her work, as well as host special guests from the Medea Project. The semester will culminate in a performance by Ms. Jones, her UW–Madison students, and her longtime collaborator Idris Ackamoor.

Watch Rhodessa Jones speaking about her life and her work during her recent visit to the UW–Madison campus.

Rhodessa Jones’s spring 2014 arts residency is hosted by the Department of Afro-American Studies and cosponsored by the Departments of Theatre and Drama, Dance, and Gender and Women's Studies, and the Multicultural Student Center.