Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development presents the 2023 Torrance Festival of Ideas
RABBITS “OUT OF THE BOX” BUILD COMMUNITY - Leara Rhodes
Stories are how we remember; storytelling is how we share and interpret those memories. For 11 years, Rabbit Box Storytelling has had 90 shows, 746 stories told, 18 collaborations with community organizations, 11 story workshops, and five radio shows. Rabbit Box Storytelling is creating community; one story at a time. Leara Rhodes, professor emerita of UGA, taught journalism courses and specialized in international communications. Her “outside of the box” community involvement includes community theatre and feature writing. She is the executive director of Rabbit Box Storytelling.
Session host: Desiree I. Sharpe, Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development, Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia
The University of Georgia
The Mary Frances Early College of Education
copyright © 2023
Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development presents the 2023 Torrance Festival of Ideas
RABBITS “OUT OF THE BOX” BUILD COMMUNITY - Leara Rhodes
Stories are how we remember; storytelling is how we share and interpret those memories. For 11 years, Rabbit Box Storytelling has had 90 shows, 746 stories told, 18 collaborations with community organizations, 11 story workshops, and five radio shows. Rabbit Box Storytelling is creating community; one story at a time. Leara Rhodes, professor emerita of UGA, taught journalism courses and specialized in international communications. Her “outside of the box” community involvement includes community theatre and feature writing. She is the executive director of Rabbit Box Storytelling.
Session host: Desiree I. Sharpe, Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development, Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia
The University of Georgia
The Mary Frances Early College of Education
copyright © 2023


![Portia K. Maultsby – Community, Culture, & Black Musical Creativity – 2023 Annual Torrance Lecture
The 2023 Annual Torrance Lecture
COMMUNITY, CULTURE, AND BLACK MUSICAL CREATIVITY
PORTIA K. MAULTSBY
Organizer: Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at UGA (Host: Professor Anna Abraham)
About the Speaker: Portia K. Maultsby, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Ethnomusicology in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, Founding Director of the Archives of African American Music and Culture, and of the Indiana University Soul Revue. Her pioneering scholarship on African American music religious, popular, music globalization, and the music industry intertwines with creative endeavors. The latter includes Leader of R&B, Soul, and Funk Bands, songwriter-arranger and producer of commercial recordings, music consultant for PBS Black history documentary series, Eyes on the Prize II, and co-producer / consultant for museum films. Professor Maultsby has co-edited two books African American Music: An Introduction. 2nd. Ed. (2015) [3rd Ed. in progress] and Issues in African American Music (2017), Routledge Press.
Lecture Summary: As a high school student in Orlando, Florida, I witnessed a live performance of James Brown the “Godfather of Soul.” His show featured a MC-comedian, back-up singers, dancers, and horn and rhythm sections. I was mesmerized by what I heard and saw. The pulsing rhythms, percussive sounds, choreographed movements, flashy costumes, and high energy performance resonated with me and the all-Black audience. The dynamic of this performance resembled Black church services and raised my curiosity about the production and meaning of Black cultural expressions. My presentation examines how Brown’s performance influenced the way I thought about, critiqued, and engaged with musical creativity all leading to my professional study of ethnomusicology.
Event Date: November 7, 2023
About the Annual Torrance Lecture: This lecture series is sponsored by the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at the University of Georgias Mary Frances Early College of Education. It brings together scholars, professionals, and creative artists to discuss a wide range of topics and themes that are informative about the nature of creativity. It was established in 1985 to honor Dr. E. Paul Torrance, a native Georgian and pioneer in research on the identification and development of creative potential.
The University of Georgia
The Mary Frances Early College of Education
copyright © 2024 Portia K. Maultsby – Community, Culture, & Black Musical Creativity – 2023 Annual Torrance Lecture](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_YuG4S1vF3E/mqdefault.jpg)







