The Call for Culture
On Thursday, September 20, 2012, The Mary Baker Eddy Library welcomed acclaimed director Peter Sellars for an evening of celebration and thought-provoking discussion on the role of culture and the arts in society and in education. Sellars focused on the innovative potential of cultural institutions like the Library to empower a variety of communities with transformative educational experiences. The evening also reflected on the Library’s first ten years, while exploring the horizon of possibility before it and for cultural providers generally.
Having begun his career in Boston, Sellars was able to speak directly to our local arts and cultural institutions. After graduating from Harvard University in 1981, Sellars was the director of the Boston Shakespeare Company and earned national recognition for his transformative treatment of The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni for public television in collaboration with Boston-based conductor Craig Smith. Since leaving Boston he has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards; directed and showcased at festivals internationally; and created for the stage, television, and film. He currently teaches at U.C.L.A.'s Department of World Arts and Cultures with courses on “Art as Social Action” and “Art as Moral Action,” instructing on the relevance of culture in finding solutions to pressing social and political questions.
