Fri 4/4 @ noon-4PM
Sat 4/5 @ 10AM-2PM
The Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College is dedicated to telling positive stories about the Rust Belt region to counterbalance the stream of negativity we sometimes get. One of its projects is the annual Rust Belt Symposium now in its second year.
On Friday April 4, regional experts and those with an interest in uplifting the region will gather on the Ursuline campus for an afternoon of education, conversation and connection with a goal to growing the humanities ecosystem in the region. Presenters include Andrew Aydin, coauthor of March series, Run, Register and Taste of Justice; Ben Smith of Cleveland’s Spice-Cream Truck, recording local community members’ stories; the founding team of the nonprofit Midstory, a “thinkhub” created a positive narrative of the Midwest hoping to drive investment and population to post-industrial areas; and the Charles W. Chesnutt Archive team, which preserves and makes accessible the writing of the post-Civil War author (1858-1932) on race, identity, violence, class, and familial and economic relations. Get more information here.
On Saturday April 5, the Rust Belt Humanities Lab is hosting Books at the Market, a book and comics giveaway in the fruit and vegetables arcade. At 1pm Aydin will be onsite signing his books, which local independent bookstore Mac’s Backs will have available for purchase.
You can also learn more about the Rust Belt Humanities Lab here.