CHARLOTTE – Oct. 7, 2010 – The Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI), in partnership with area cultural organizations and community foundation support, is presenting the next installment of its groundbreaking discussion series, “Exploding Canons,” with a multimedia presentation of “The Planets in Outer Space and Beyond,” Friday, Oct. 22, at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. Faculty members from Winthrop University, Davidson College and UNC Charlotte, along with WDAV’s program director, will participate in an interdisciplinary panel discussion that will examine new ways of looking at outer space.
“We’ve planned a full evening of planetary exploration,” says CTI Director Molly Shaw. “Stellar speakers from a variety of disciplines will guide the audience through uncharted intellectual territory, and the evening will conclude with a live performance by the Charlotte Symphony.”
The “Exploding Canons” event begins at 5 p.m. with a reception in the lobby of the Bechtler Museum, featuring a planetarium show hosted by Discovery Place. The panel discussion will take place in the Wells Fargo Auditorium at 5:45 p.m., followed by the Charlotte Symphony’s performance of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Knight Theater.
Featured topics and discussion leaders include:
- Spiritual Connections with the Heavens — Indigenous Star and Planetary Lore, Richard Chacon, associate professor of anthropology at Winthrop University
- Vagabond Stars — The Planets of Early Greek Thought, Keyne Cheshire, associate professor of classics at Davidson College
- From Mythology to Hollywood — The Inspiration and Impact of Holst’s “The Planets,” Frank Dominguez, program director, WDAV
- Picturesque Planets — The Science Behind Planetary Images, Susan Trammell, associate professor of physics and optical science at UNC Charlotte
The reception and panel discussion are free and open to the public; however, tickets must be purchased for the Symphony performance that follows in the Knight Theater. CTI and the Charlotte Symphony will provide free tickets to the Holst concert for the first 150 Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools teachers (one free ticket per teacher) who contact CTI at info@charlotteteachers.org by October 18.
Others may contact the Charlotte Symphony ticket office at 704-972-2000 for concert tickets. Please RSVP to CTI for the reception and panel discussion. CMS teachers and administrators from all grade levels and subject areas are especially encouraged to attend all aspects of the program.
The Charlotte Teachers Institute’s “Exploding Canons” event is sponsored by the Arts & Science Council, the Imago Mundi Endowment Fund, and the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund at UNC Charlotte, and is made possible by community partnerships with the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Charlotte Symphony, Discovery Place and WDAV.
About the Charlotte Teachers Institute
The Charlotte Teachers Institute, a collaboration among Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Davidson College and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, cultivates content-knowledge, creativity, leadership skills, and collaboration within and among Charlotte’s public school teachers. CTI’s “Exploding Canons” events engage and educate CMS teachers and the community-at-large, as CTI and Charlotte’s cultural organizations produce forums for university faculty to examine topics through multi-disciplinary lenses. CTI is made possible by generous support from the Belk Foundation, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Foundation, and The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation.
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For more information about Charlotte Teachers Institute, contact, CTI Founding Director Molly Shaw, (704) 687-0078, info@charlotteteachers.org
For more information about the Charlotte Symphony contact, Director of Public Relations and Community Engagement Meg Freeman Whalen, (704) 714-5114, megw@charlottesymphony.org
UNC Charlotte Public Relations media contact: Buffie Stephens, (704) 687-5830, BuffieStephens@uncc.edu
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