This seminar will introduce to you to the Arts movements in New York City. Our mission is to utilize visual and performing arts to explore our understanding of the world, and be able to incorporate them into our everyday lives.
We will explore historical events and artistic representation that shaped the New York art scene. We will try to understand why New York has become a cultural haven to certain American cultural movements. Our outline topics include “Historical Perspective”, “American Culture”, “Established and Fringe Art”, and “Form and Content”.
Our classroom will have three locations: Online, in room HN C103 and at the events we will attend. Be sure to either go online and check your email or Announcement feed, or keep in touch with your peers to make sure that you know where the next leg of our adventure is taking place. Sometimes we will take advantage of last minute tickets to a show or a lecture.
Our departure point is West Side Story; you will see the musical and will be sure to check the source list that is posted with the syllabi. Scan through the reading before class, come prepared. You are encouraged to view and or discuss it with your peers; however, it’s your choice to get the most out of the course, and your prerogative to what depth your knowledge will be enhanced.
Expect your work to be presented online for discussion and comments by others. Our goal is to have an educational site, please use good judgment. Fiona Lee, our Instructional Technology Fellow, will aid us in creating a virtual class where you could post and interact with your peers, and in executing your presentations. Her office hours in the Honors College at Hunter are Mondays, 1-4, and Thursdays, 10-1.
Your grade will consist of participation in the events (30%), contribution to online discussions (30%), and a semester project (40%): a documentary film, an art work, or simply a PowerPoint presentation on one of the topics, to be presented in class. This project could be a collaborative effort of your team.
Click here to download a Word .docx copy of the course schedule. You can also check our Google Calendar for the course schedule. Don’t forget to check Assignments for more detailed instructions for your weekly assignments. You should also check the Bibliography to see the required texts for this class (password: weinroth100).
| Date | Time | Location | Topic | Reading/Viewing/Listening |
| 9/3 | 10:10AM | HN C 103 | Historical Perspective: West side and East | What is Art? |
| 9/10 | 10:30AM | City Museum of New York | Historical Perspective: The History of Theater in New York, and Hip Hop | Discuss Cultural Crossroads.
Find the physical location in the city of one of the New York paintings we saw. Photograph it and post online |
| 9/17 | 10:30AM | Macaulay Movie | Historical Perspective: Art movements of New York City | Select a movement and give a brief presentation online |
| 9/22 | 8:00PM | Met. Opera | “Nozze Di Figaro” by Mozart | Write a review
Post your assignment under the following categories: “Review” and “Nozze Di Figaro” |
| 9/24 | 10:10AM
11:30AM |
HN C 103
Lincoln Center |
American Culture: American Musical Theater
Opera backstage tour |
Leonard Berstein, Rodgers and Hammerstein |
| 10/3 | 8:00PM | City Center | Alvin Ailey Dance Company | Write a review of the performance
Post your assignment under the following categories: “Review” and “Alvin Ailey” |
| 10/8 | 10:30AM | Jazz Museum | American Culture: Jazz | Review a visit to a jazz club or go to one of the free concerts listed |
| 10/15 | 10:30AM | CUNY Graduate Center – Martin Segal Theater Dante Adela Demo | Established Art and Fringe Art: Dance, hip hop and break dance, and jazz | Is dance a language? |
| 10/22 | 10:30AM | Alvin Ailey Dance Studios | Established Art and Fringe Art: Tour of the studios | |
| 10/29 | 10:10AM | HN C103 | Established Art and Fringe Art: The visual novel | Finish reading New York City: The Big City by Will Eisner
Choose a topic to summarize our class journey or introduce a New York artistic movement or style |
| 11/5 | 10:30AM | 248 West 60th studio #5
Del Barrio lecture |
Form and Content: Choreographing for Broadway shows | Work on your project |
| 11/12 | 10:30AM | MoMA | Form and Content: Looking at music — Punk Rock | Review exhibit
Post your assignment under the following categories: “Review” and “MoMA” |
| 11/19 | 9:45 AM | Philharmonic Open Rehearsal | Muti conducts Profokiev’s Romeo and Juliet |
Review Concert
Post your assignment under the following categories: “Review” and “Muti” |
| 12/3 | 10:10AM | HN C 103 | Class presentation | |
| 12/10 | 10:10AM | HN C 103 | Class presentation |
