Cultural Experience Report #2
Your assignment is to report on TWO “cultural experience” visits you make during this term. You will hand in one during week 4 and the other during week 6. After each visit, write a 500-800 word report about the visit and what you learned.
Your instructor may modify this assignment.
Instructions
For your two reports, attend two different venues from this list.
art museum or sculpture garden
significant or notable architectural site (if there is explanatory material there to help you understand it)
music concert
theater play
poetry reading or spoken word performance
dance performance
Film festival or presentation of a film by an academic author or cinema expert
other displays or performances may be acceptable. Check with your instructor for approval beforehand.
Restrictions: The experience should be done in person. If this is impossible, contact the instructor to arrange for alternatives. You may not report on a cultural experience from prior to this class.
Write a report after each cultural experience (Cultural Experience Report #1 and #2).
Each report should include the following information. Include photos or links that help convey the information. As always, be sure to document all sources you consult in preparing your work.
Name and location of the museum, site, or performance event. If there is on-line information about the site or performance, be sure to include a link to it within the text of your essay in an appropriate place.
Type of museum, site or event. For example, is it a portrait museum, a poetry slam, an outdoor Shakespeare festival performance? If you attended a performance, name the performer or the piece. Be specific about what you attended, when, and where.
Briefly describe the general setting by talking a bit about the location, the number of people there, the general overall “vibe” of the place.
Describe at least one aspect of the experience that you found especially interesting. For example, you might write about a particular work of art, cultural artifact, song, dance section, scene in a play, costumes or lighting, a particular character in a film or play, a particular actor or vocalist, etc. Explain what impressed or affected you, and why. Your reaction can be positive or negative, as long as you offer an explanation.
Identify and apply at at least two tools that you have learned about in this class to talk about your visit. For example, if you visit a museum, you might point out how color works in one of the paintings, or if you go to a concert, how rhythm works in one of the songs. Make sure you are explicit in identifying the tools you are using and the learning resources your tools come from. Make sure to inform the reader about the tool through a quote or paraphrase from the learning resource. Then, make sure to tell the reader how you interpret some elements of your visit with the tools.
Be sure to cite the learning resources you have used in MLA format. Please see http://sites.umuc.edu/library/libhow/mla_examples.cfm
Reflect on the relevance of your experience to the humanities project of making meaning. . How did the experience engage you? What does this tell you about human culture. Make sure that you apply your learning from the course.
Note Have I used examples to clearly explain the relevance of my visit to at least one of the following: 1) emotion 2) human culture 3) self-identity 4) cultural identity?
STOP: Before you hand in your assignment, ask yourself the following questions:
Have I provided the name and location of the museum, site, or performance event and URL, if available, identified the type of museum, site or event, and provided a general description of the setting?
Have I identified and explained an especially interesting aspect of the experience and used examples to illustrate reflections and to explain why this aspect was interesting?
Have I identified and applied two tools of interpretation from learning resources to two different examples from visit?
Have I used examples to clearly explain the relevance of my visit to at least one of the following: 1) emotion 2) human culture 3) self-identity 4) cultural identity?
Have I provided a list of resources and do all of my citations conform to MLA 8th edition guidelines?
Have I proofread this assignment for grammatical, structural, and spelling errors?
this what i choose for cultural report 1
Cultural Experience Report
Introduction
On 18th September 2019, I visited a national art gallery at Smithsonian national museum where I witnessed a live musical performance. The museum has an exciting sculpture garden with unique paintings. The paintings in the national museum depict historical events (Hannah 1). Members of the public in Washington DC are free to visit Smithsonian national museum but are warned to avoid congestion in the underground passage of the museum. Andrew W Mellon earlier managed the Smithsonian museum and authorized free entry for the members of the public. In the paper, I will describe my cultural experience at the Smithsonian national museum. The art gallery of Smithsonian museum may be accessed through https://washington.org/dc-focus-on/museums-national-mall
Figure 1: Smithsonian national museum
Cultural Experience
The Smithsonian museum is located in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1829, and Stephanie Stebich manages its art gallery since 2017. When I visited the museum, the site for all cultural experiences was in the Smithsonian building. I enjoyed the Renaissance festival, which was hosted in the underground section of the museum. The event of renaissance festival included Americans from different regions who also enjoyed the costumed entertainers, festival food and musical arts. I specifically attended a performance of ‘Looking for America’ by Lana Del Rey. The performance reminded the audience of the renaissance period and the progress of the American culture and arts after the renaissance. The performance was conducted in the museum and managed by the director at Smithsonian’s director. People interested in renaissance art enjoyed the performance by Lana Del Rey. Some important themes in the performance include the need to avoid warfare and support artistic talents.
The location of the renaissance festival was in the Smithsonian museum. The internal environment of the museum was exciting because it provides a national art gallery with arts like Degas and Calder, and da Vinci (Hannah 1). The sculpture garden also surrounds the museum, and as we waited for the arrival of the performer, we visited to enjoy the botanic garden.
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Figure 2: Botanic garden surrounding the Smithsonian museum
Source: https://washington.org/dc-focus-on/museums-national-mall
My experience at the Smithsonian museum enlightened me on renaissance aspects. The song ‘Looking For America’ which I witnessed its performance carries themes like those for renaissance music. I learned that a society originates from common cultural values and music unites people by making a particular language famous. Humanistic thoughts arose during the renaissance period, and many arts in the Smithsonian museum provide their overview. The performance I witnessed during the renaissance festival enlightened on events surrounding the recovery of ancient art, the need for humanistic thoughts in live performances and the essence of renaissance styles in improving the works of modern artists. Other than music performance by Lana, I enjoyed the child paintings, the dancers imitating the work of Lana and the sculptures preserved in the east side of the building. The sculptures in the east side of the museum include those of Gems and Minerals, Janet Annenberg and the David H. Fossils (Hannah 1). I was impressed by the speech of Lana after the performance, on the need to embrace the achievements of the renaissance and remember the historical artists who worked hard to empower the future artistic works.
Green was the best color palette for the renaissance festival. Color works is a tool prioritized in works of art and attract visitors in a national museum. Color palettes form a color scheme attracting children and other visitors exploring Smithsonian museum. Since its establishment, the Smithsonian national art gallery prioritizes green color works for decorating its festivals as an influence of the botanic garden surrounding the museum, where visitors like to rest as they refresh with soft drinks (Hannah 1). More so, the live performance I witnessed at Smithsonian national museum incorporated vintage string instruments, a tool to make the performance lively. The orchestras play remained valuable throughout my experience at the national museum. The tools in the national art gallery informed me that financial problems might sometimes influence a loss in people’s cultural authority. Therefore, listening to the soft utterances of the performer remains as my best experience at the national Smithsonian museum.
My visit to the Smithsonian museum remains relevant since the works of art I viewed and the live performance I watched inculcated joyous emotions to me. The need to protect human culture was evident in all activities of the renaissance festival. The need to protect my self-identity influenced me to watch the live performance by Lana in the song ‘Looking for America’ performed hosted inside the Smithsonian national museum. Focusing on renaissance arts and performances when I visited the national art gallery was an effort to protect cultural identity.
Figure 3: Smithsonian museum
Conclusion
In conclusion, I visited the Smithsonian national museum and enjoyed my cultural experience. The live performance I watched on 18th September 2019 reminded me of the cultural values of the renaissance, the works of art valued during the renaissance and the need to protect an individual’s culture. Everything was exciting, and I will enjoy exploring more sculptures in the museum in the future.
Works Cited
Hannah Z. “15 Can’t-Miss Free…