h/t Artjournal.com which linked to a story about Lectures On Tap, a program of academic lectures being held in bars around LA, San Francisco, Boston, NYC, and Chicago. There are other similar programs operating in other cities under different names.
Academics lecture on a wild variety of topics including films,
…Taylor Swift’s use of storytelling in her music, how AI technology is being used to detect cardiovascular diseases, the psychology of deception and the quest for alien megastructures …
The sessions tend to sell out very quickly. I suspect it is partially due to the fact that the relaxed context of the setting offers a degree of freedom to both the attendees and lecturers.
“I didn’t go to college so I don’t have any prior experience with lecturing,” says Garber, 29, adding that he’s interested in film production and is a “big horror fan.” But the fact that “I get to sit and learn about something that I love doing with a pint? Like, that’s amazing.”
The relaxed environment allows the speakers to let their guard down as well.
“I can play with certain elements that I maybe haven’t used in the classroom,” says McClellan, who made jokes throughout his presentation. “It’s definitely looser and getting around people who’ve been drinking, they’ll ask more questions and different types of questions.”
I am always on the look out for programming ideas that create new metaphorical doors through which audiences can enter and this definitely fits the bill.
Back in January 2020 I met with a group hosting a storytelling series in bars about putting together a more curated version to host in the newly renovated reception space in our theater. When the pandemic hit, we ended up moving it into our main space so we could socially distance seating. Because audiences were literally able to see their stories being told on stage by people who looked like them and lived in their neighborhoods, the series ended up changing the narrative and perception about who was welcomed at the theater.
UCSC has been running “Science on Tap” about once a month since 2013. I believe the location has changed a couple of times, but now they run it at the Crepe Place (for a while it was in Abbott Square behind the Museum of Art and History).
How are the events? Have you been/enjoyed them? Did you ever give a talk for the series?
I’ve been to a few of the Science on Tap events, though I never gave a talk at one of them. I’ve not gone to any recently, because they have either conflicted with the pottery class I was taking on Wednesday nights or with one of my many rehearsals—I took up acting as a hobby after retiring. I just finished a 12-performance run as Egeus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (with 5 of the 12 performances doubling as Robin Starveling, for whom I was an understudy).