The third installment of our Practicing series following Practicing Awe and Practicing Empathy, Practicing Silence is a year-long workshop exploring the many meanings of silence through a rigorous, creative process. On June 17th at 3 pm, an interdisciplinary team of artists and scholars will present a free public showing of a performative new work, which embodies the groups’ conceptual explorations of silence over several months: as present absence, as inner stillness, and as negated voices of the oppressed. The creative team will include contributions by choreographer Silas Farley, dancers Rachel Hutsell, Ghaled Kayali, Claire Kretzschmar, and Lars Nelson of the New York City Ballet, and dancer Cassia Wilson of Ballet Austin; composer and sound designer Pornchanok Kanchanabanca; jazz pianist and drummer Julius Rodriguez; and poet Ilya Kaminsky, and The Ase Quartet under the direction of bassist and cellist Noah Jackson. A discussion with the artists will follow the showing.

The signature program of the Foundation’s Arts Initiative Practicing is led by Kenyon Victor Adams, Arts Initiative Director and a performance artist, director, and poet. Practicing brings together artists with a range of perspectives to examine universal subjects such as empathy, awe, joy, and now silence. These collaborative, site-specific works—intersecting visual, literary, and performing arts—are shared with the public following an extended workshop at Grace Farms. Practicing began in February of 2016 with Practicing Empathy featuring Bill T. Jones, followed by Practicing Awe featuring Andrea Miller of Gallim Dance in July. Short documentaries about the ongoing Practicing workshops and its contributing artists and collaborating institutions are available: gracefarms.org/arts.

Practicing Joy is scheduled for 2018.