A Message to the GU Dept. of Performing Arts Community from Chair Prof. Derek Goldman

Dear GU Department of Performing Arts (DPA) students and community,

I hope this finds you and your families healthy, and that your summer is going well.

All of us on the DPA faculty and staff have been thinking of you a great deal. We empathize deeply with how disappointing and frustrating it is for many of you to learn that you will not be coming back to campus this Fall. We, too, are tremendously disappointed that we will not be able to be together with all of you in-person on campus — because of the relationships we share, and the work we all love to do together in real time in our rehearsal rooms, performance venues, and classrooms. 

I wanted to assure you that all of us on the faculty and staff are deeply committed to the safety of our community and to doing everything we can to ensure that our course offerings are exciting, relevant, and well-tailored to the circumstances we will all find ourselves in this Fall. We will foreground community and find ways to bring people together creatively through art, and to support you, our students, in every way we can.

We have refined some classes throughout the summer in relationship to the virtual environment, and have worked to design and offer courses that can thrive in this way. All of the faculty who are teaching them have thought deeply about how to maximize these offerings for the circumstances we are in, and how to develop innovative formats, opportunities, assignments and projects that lend themselves to this moment. Davis Performing Arts Center Artistic Director Maya Roth as well as the faculty leaders of our music ensembles and dance groups are planning terrific offerings defined by their flexibility, and the ability to engage students remotely and in hybrid formats. 

One silver lining of this moment is that we are not alone, as the entire performing arts ecosystem around the country and the world is learning new ways to survive and to adapt in an unprecedented environment. This is not a time for the arts to be just put on pause, but rather for us to innovate, respond, create new collaborations, find new forms, and to deepen our commitment to justice and equity in all of our work.

We have been meeting regularly with the leaders of the co-curricular groups and look forward to doing all we can to support that vital work which will of necessity happen in new and adaptive ways. All agree that as challenging as this moment is, it is also one that offers opportunities for new forms of collaborative exchange. 

We encourage you to reach out to us as faculty and staff with your questions and ideas, and if you just need advice, support, or a caring ear to talk with.  

Please feel free to contact me (Derek.goldman@georgetown.edu) and/or our Academic Administrator Sarah Ginnetti (Sarah.ginnetti@georgetown.edu) with any questions, or respective faculty and staff members directly. We will work to get any and all questions addressed.

Here is a list of the most current course offerings.

Sending you all out heartfelt best wishes from our entire Department of Performing Arts family. Stay well and strong; there are many good things ahead, and we will be here for you. 

Yours,
Derek

Derek Goldman, Ph.D
Chair, Department of Performing Arts
Director, Theater & Performance Studies Program
Co-Director, Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (The Lab)