Song and dance, painting and poetry can move through our blood and bones to stir us soul deep.
Through shivers of delight to weeping through wretchedness, the arts can create connections between people who may have very little else in common. Being moved by the story playing out on the stage, singing a favorite song with thousands of strangers or discussing— and enjoying—the same book unites people creating community.
Simply put, the arts enrich lives.
Yet, to be an artist means to be vulnerable as a storyteller, a truth teller. Artists share their views of the world with all of its light and shadows. They tell of their hopes and fears. It allows the viewer or listener’s soul to sigh, “Me too,” and to feel a little less alone. As singer/ songwriter Ellie Holcomb says, “If you’re brave enough to go first, the beauty that happens in the wake of that makes the scariness of the vulnerability well worth the risk.”
In these pages, UT’s faculty and alumni do more than just make music or create worlds. They generate moments of connection, whether through sorrow or delight. And some even do more, whether it’s working with the autistic or teaching a new language.
Across our campuses and institutes, faculty, students and alumni create music, prints, paintings, pottery, dance, poetry, vistas and so much more. Let us take the time to drop into galleries, dance in our kitchens, devour art in all of its forms and so enrich our souls.