Bill Downs on "The Writer's Life: Creativity, Censorship and Copyright" June 2 in Jackson

Bill Downs

UW news release:

Writing and censorship, waterfowl management and comparisons of two popular museum exhibitions are among topics for discussion Saturday, June 2, for the summer term of Saturday U -- the University of Wyoming's free one-day college education program.

A half-day of college classes and discussion begins with refreshments at 8:30 a.m., followed by a welcoming address at 8:45 a.m. at the National Museum of Wildlife Art Cook Auditorium in Jackson.

Three representatives from UW will then present lectures, followed by a free lunch and a question-and-answer session.

Saturday U is a collaborative program that connects popular UW professors with lifelong learners in Jackson Hole. Offered three times a year, Saturday U is sponsored by the university, the UW Foundation and Wyoming Humanities Council. Saturday U is presented by Central Wyoming College (CWC), the National Museum of Wildlife Art and Teton County Library Foundation.

Program topic descriptions and UW representatives lecturing are:

9-10 a.m. -- "The Writers Life: Creativity, Censorship and Copyright," William Missouri Downs, UW Department of Theatre and Dance professor of play and screenwriting. Who owns the copyright on the movies and plays you attend? How does censorship affect the writer's voice and, ultimately, the intellectual life of the audience?

Downs says there are vast differences in the creative process when writing for the stage or screen -- a process influenced by copyright and censorship. He will discuss how these factors can be a major influence on those who write for the stage and screen, and how the end result impacts those seated in the audience.

10:15-11:15 a.m. - "The Future of Waterfowl Management, Conservation and Hunting," Benjamin Rashford, UW Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics assistant professor. Waterfowl management and conservation in America is a success story of the North American wildlife conservation model -- a globally unique model that manages wildlife as a public resource, using science and funded largely by hunters.

Since 1846, hunters have played a critical role in developing and financing nearly every major waterfowl management and conservation initiative. But complex forces, from demographic shifts and agricultural policy, to economics and climate change, are casting an increasingly dark shadow over the future of waterfowl conservation, Rashford says.

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. -- "Ghosts in the Museum: The Shockingly Similar Visions of BodyWorlds and Yves Saint Laurent," Kent Drummond, UW Department of Management and Marketing professor. At first glance, the two contemporary museum blockbusters, "BodyWorlds" and "Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective," would appear to have little in common. One presents dozens of highly stylized corpses in life-like poses, while the other presents dozens of mannequins draped in artful haute couture of the age.

"One uncovers the body to reveal a dazzling display of materials, while the other uses a dazzling display of materials to cover up the body," Drummond says. "One brings to mind Dr. Frankenstein; the other, Matisse. Yet, a closer look reveals striking similarities between the two."

12:30-1:30 p.m. -- Lunch and a speaker roundtable moderated by Jim McNutt, Museum of Wildlife Art president, plus an audience question-and-answer session in the Wapiti Gallery.

Participants may attend one, two or all three lectures, plus the final roundtable. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, or to register for college credit or Professional Teaching Standards Board (PTSB) credit, call Susan Thulin, CWC outreach coordinator, at (307) 733-7425.

For more information about Saturday U, visit the website at http://www.uwyo.edu/SaturdayU/ or contact Teton County Library Adult Humanities Coordinator Oona Doherty at (307) 733-2164, ext. 135, or email odoherty@tclib.org .

Photo: William Missouri Downs, UW Department of Theatre and Dance professor, will present "The Writers Life: Creativity, Censorship and Copyright" at the summer term of Saturday U, Saturday, June 2, in Jackson.