I had the opportunity to listen to Hassan Mahamdallie’s discussion on Diversity and the Arts and was. very fascinated by his perspective on performing arts and inclusion. Hassan’s talk about the focus on Western art forms and how important diversity is in the arts really resonated with me as an African-American woman. After listening to his discussion I thought back to Misty Copeland’s debut as the American Ballet’s first Black principle ballet dancer in 2017. It was very exciting but also sad that within a 75 year span of the American Ballet that Misty Copeland was named the first Black principle dancer so late in its history. Nonetheless, I agree with Hassan Mahamdallie on his perspective on how making the arts more inclusive is not only imperative but beneficial.

Hassan Mahamdallie’s recent seminar brought up an interesting theory used to describe how diverse the arts community is. Currently, the arts community is not as diverse as it could be. Using the Standpoint Theory, he described the arts community as those on the outside and those in the center, or the “It” group. Currently, diversity is more towards the outside, but by moving towards the center, this will incorporate more diversity into the arts community.

After attending the talk by Hassan Mahamdallie, I have come out of the event learning a lot more about the arts and what the arts is really supposed to be. The diversity in the field of Arts is misrepresented according to Mahamdallie, that throughout many works of art only the Western plays are supported and many others are undervalued over history. Another important outcome of this talk is the explanation of the standpoint theory, where people that are marginalized have a larger view of diversity than those that are not. Overall, it was an eye-opening discussion about diversity and the arts and my perspectives about Art have widened.

Today I went to the fascinating talk by Hassan Mahamdallie about his creative case for diversity in the Arts.  It was very interesting to hear him talk about why diversity is so vital to the Arts, as well as hear about his extensive background in theater and as a writer, among many other things.  One thing that I found really interesting was when he talked about how linear art history which emphasizes only Western works is a fiction.  For a long time, the Arts have supported only Western plays as classics, which completely discounts the Arts from around the world.  The most interesting example from his talk was the example of standpoint theory, which he used to show why diversity is not only good but needed in the Arts.  Standpoint theory says that, if you consider a bowl, the people on the periphery (people who are marginalized in society) can actually see farther across the bowl than people at the bottom (where power is collected).  This is a really fascinating metaphor for thinking about society and illustrates that diversity brings in a wide range of perspectives that may see farther and wider.  Wider perspectives are integral to the Arts because on a fundamental level, the arts, no matter what type, are meant to present and analyze life and society through creativity.

Today I attended the Diversity and the Arts session with Hassan Mahamdallie which touched on several informational and interesting facts. He stated that having diversity in the performing arts is crucial for it to have a prosperous future, especially because of all the talent that is around us. He also made us aware of the standpoint theory, which before this session I did not know the full context of. This topic of diversity in the arts is fascinating because we are constantly consuming entertainment which continues to evolve throughout hundreds of years of work. We can see that more recently the artists are much more diverse than in previous centuries, which allows many different perspectives to be shown. Overall, this Explore! series session was great and I look forward to watching more in the future.