Newsletters

To read the Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) September 2025 Month Newsletter, see below.

Director's Letter of the Month:

September 2025

Dear CU Boulder Community & Supporters of the CHA,

On August 29, 2005, the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina caused the levees to break in New Orleans and the region to experience enormous devastation from this catastrophe. I recently saw numbers from Accuweather that were posted to Bluesky:
 

These numbers are enormous and horrific and give a sense of the devastation and trauma that Katrina wrought. Yet these numbers can’t give a sense of the human lives that were impacted and changed. To understand the meaning of these numbers we need pictures and stories. In other words, we need arts and humanities.

I read a lot of history and think about history a lot, especially in the times we’re living in. I have often wondered what I would have done had I been alive during World War II. What would I have done when my Japanese American neighbors were rounded up and put into concentration camps? Would I have spoken up or written editorials or tried to do something to protest the injustice? I feel that the times we’re living in are giving me a chance to put this to the test because I am seeing neighbors being kidnapped by men in masks. I am seeing my workplace being thrown into uncertainty because thefederal administration has redefined discrimination to mean diversity, equity, and inclusion, and funding has been cut for research and knowledge production based on ideological grounds.

In twenty years I’m not sure what the numbers will look like, but I know that we need artists and humanists now to document and record the things that are happening.  And we will need artists and humanists later to interpret and make sense of what happened in the period we are currently living in. To that end, the CHA Fall Difficult Dialogue (in partnership with Grace Commons Church) on Monday, September 29 (6:30-8:00pm) is focused on the theme of Immigration: Caring for Others in Times of Need. We aren’t asking people to register because we want everyone who wants to attend to feel they can come without having their names recorded. These are the times we’re in—when lists can signal precarity because of what government agencies could do with those lists.

We are also holding Fall book club meetings on Sarah Schulman’s The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity the first four weeks of September—you can find information on our website, and we are putting any unclaimed books outside our office door in 201 Macky, so feel free to come by and get a book while they last. If you’re interested in signing up for a book club session, please email cu-cha@colorado.edu, and we’ll send you the book club link.

Finally, we have deadlines coming up for various awards open to CU Boulder graduate students and faculty—please check out our website: https://www.colorado.edu/cha/funding -- the first deadline coming up is the Graduate Research Award Demonstrating Excellence (September 15) then the Faculty Fellowship (October 5), the Reparative Faculty Fellowship to Address Settler Colonialism (October 5), the Faculty Small Grant (October 15), and the MFA/MM Material Grant (November 2). And don’t forget about the Hazel Barnes Flat—the deadline to apply to use the flat during the summer is November 15.

Sincerely

Jennifer Ho

Director, Center for Humanities & the Arts
 

PS. I know many of you have likely heard about Colorado Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson’s passing mid-July. If you are not familiar with Gibson’s poetry, I hope you’ll take a moment to read one of their works. And I hope you’ll take a moment to hear and see them read “MAGA hat in the chemo room,” because it’s a poem that reminds me that no matter our politics, we need to remember that even people whose views we find repellent are still human.

CHA Upcoming Opportunities

Graduate Research Awards Demonstrating Excellence (GRADE)
Hosted by Center for Humanities and the Arts (CHA)

Deadline: September 15, 2025

A semi-annual competition for graduate students in humanities and arts. Supports conference participation, where students present papers or perform/display their work. Students from non-traditional arts/humanities fields must show how their work engages with multi- and inter-disciplinary arts and humanities methods.

More info here

Difficult Dialogues: Immigration – Caring for Others in Times of Need @ Grace Commons Church, Boulder
Hosted by Center for Humanities and the Arts (CHA)

Monday, September 29 | 6:30pm | Grace Commons Church - 1820 15th St, Boulder, CO 80302

A community conversation about the emotional and political complexities of immigration and citizenship in the U.S.—including what it means to be here “legally” or “extra-legally,” the language we use around immigration, and how concepts like visas, green card status, and constitutional protections apply to different people.

More info here

Faculty and Staff Small Grant Opportunity
Hosted by Center for Humanities and the Arts (CHA)

Deadline: October 15, 2025

Provides up to $3,000 to support the research and creative efforts of CU Boulder faculty and staff. Supports work in creative and performing arts (e.g., creative writing, painting, sculpting, music, acting, directing, dance) as well as critical, historical, and theoretical studies of the arts.

More info here

Arts & Humanities Opportunities Across Campus

Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival

September 8–13, 2025 | Muenzinger Auditorium, CU Boulder

The Department of French & Italian and the International Film Series are proud to bring the Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival to campus! This festival expands access to French cinema and showcases films that engage with some of the most pressing issues of our time—while celebrating the beauty and diversity of this evolving art form.

Sept 8 – Misericordia

Sept 9 – Last Summer

Sept 10 – Dahomey

Sept 11 – No Chains No Masters

Sept 12 – The Taste of Things

Sept 13 – A Woman Is a Woman

Learn more: https://calendar.colorado.edu/event/misericordia-part-of-the-albertine-cinematheque-french-film-festival

Expanding Colorado Voices: Promoting the Public Influence of CU Scholars


September 12 - 13, 2025 |  CU Boulder Campus

1.5-Day In-Person Workshop (On Campus)
 Participants learn to translate their research into persuasive public commentary and op-eds. Most complete a full outline—or a rough draft—during the workshop, then can refine it with professional editors from the OpEd Project. Training also includes pitching strategies.

The workshop is open to up to 30 CU scholars (faculty prioritized, graduate students welcome) and is jointly funded by CMDI, RIO, and the CU Office of Collaboration. 

Annual Meeting of the Barney Ford Lab @ Kittridge MPR
Hosted by Politics of Race, Immigration, and Ethnicity Consortium (PRIEC). 

Friday, September 19, 2025 | 9am - 5pm | Kittridge MPR on CU Boulder Campus

Join us as we present new research on immigration, race, and gender politics. In addition to CU Boulder faculty and graduate students, we will have guest scholars from peer institutions: UCSD, UCSB, UCLA, UT Austin, TAMU, Yale, Brown, Chicago, Colorado State, Arizona State, Utah, New Mexico, etc.

A reception at the UMC Connection from 5pm-7pm (bowling, billiards, games, etc.) to follow.

More info here

Sophie Weston Chien’s Making Homelands: Tufting San Lazaro Lifeways / Construyendo el Lugar de Origen: Tejiendo los Modos de Vida de San Lazaro 

Saturday, September 20, 2025 | 1pm | Boulder Public Library Main Branch, Mt. Sanitas Room

Discover stories of climate, migration, and community through tufted rugs in this unique visual interview series, created with families from San Lazaro Mobile Home Park and EcoArts Connections. Join us for a special reception with the project collaborators!

This project, led by designer Sophie Weston Chien and supported by CU Boulder CEDaR, EcoArts Connections, and multiple grants, weaves together narratives, oral histories, and ecological research into Colorado-specific communication devices.

Learn more: sophiewestonchien.com/making-homelands