Public Works Blog

Last fall, Associate Director for Academic Civic Engagement and Scholarship Emily Oliver and community organizer Cynthia Gonzalez taught a course on civic engagement. Below, Oliver reflects on the experience. This…

Associate Professor of Theater Andrew Carlson invited playwright José Cruz González into conversation with his students to discuss theater, performance, and social change. González shared his experiences with community-based theater, which involves co-creating a work with members of the community, for and by them. For González, this is one of the transformative aspects of theater and performance.

Last fall, Associate Director for Academic Civic Engagement and Scholarship Emily Oliver and community organizer Cynthia Gonzalez taught a course on civic engagement. Below, Gonzalez reflects on the experience. This…

Palmar Álvarez-Blanco, Professor of Spanish at Carleton College, reflects on her work with grassroots organizations in Spain and shares the ways those communities envision the creation of a better world and how it has challenged her own thinking on the subject.

Professor of History and Public Works Co-Director Susannah Ottaway discusses the challenges of rapidly transitioning her public history practicum course online and thinking about public history during a moment of pandemic and social distancing.

Minnesota Humanities Center Program Officer Jennifer Tonko shares how she and the MHC approach community partnerships through the “Absent Narratives Approach.”

Assistant Professor of Music at Carleton College Andrea Mazzariello reflects on his experiences of music co-creation at the Northfield Union of Youth at The Key and the ways in which that work requires the translation of expectations, norms, values, and even vocabularies.

In this inaugural blog post, Public Works Co-Directors Kelly Connole and Susannah Ottaway reflect on the first half of the Public Works Initiative and discuss the goals for the remainder of the grant.