Big Ideas: Culture And Conversation Series Returns To Musco Center

To set the stage for the 4th Annual 'Heartbeat of Mexico' Festival, to be held at Chapman University May 23-26, a slate of nationally respected academics and artists will participate in the "Big Ideas: Culture and Conversation Series," six weeks of free seminars beginning Thursday, April 11. Leading experts in the fields of Mexican studies, religious studies and music will share their insights and passions on a wide range of fascinating issues at the heart of the Festival's three-day celebration of Mexican and Mexican-American art and culture.

The Big Ideas series is organized by the Musco Center for the Arts in association with Chapman University's Latinx Staff & Faculty Forum and the Consulate of Mexico in Santa Ana. The series is curated by Chapman University's Dr. Ruben Espinoza, assistant professor, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Among the topics are Mendez v. Westminster, the 1947 Orange County case that was a precedent for Brown v. Board of Education; the political lifecycle of Mexican migrants; how Mexico's Mariachi music transcends borders, and much more.

"The Big Ideas: Culture and Conversation Series is not only a vital component of the Heartbeat of Mexico Festival," said Richard T. Bryant, Musco Center executive director, "but an example of how Musco Center pursues its mission to foster rich, informed, community-led conversations with the many culturally specific communities with whom we wish to engage."

About Musco Center for the Arts
Since it opened on March 19, 2016, Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University has been hailed as "an ideal opera house, potentially the best in the West and maybe even something more" by the Los Angeles Times.

Designed by renowned architects Pfeiffer Partners, with acoustics by world-renowned Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics, Musco Center boasts an intimate seating chamber with 1,044 seats on three levels and a full-scale stagehouse capable of grand spectacle or lush symphonic sound with its unique orchestral shell in place. Musco Center serves as a dynamic focal point for campus life and the broader community, giving notice that world-class arts education and artistic achievement have found a new home in Southern California.

For more information about Musco Center and its upcoming events, and to purchase tickets online, visit www.muscocenter.org.

About Chapman University
Founded in 1861, Chapman University is rated fifth in the Best Regional Universities West rankings by U.S. News & World Report. The universities 10 schools and colleges enroll approximately 6,400 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students studying business; the performing arts; science and technology; education; communication; film and media arts; pharmacy; the health sciences; the humanities and social sciences; and law. Based in the city of Orange, California, Chapman University also includes the Rinker Health Sciences campus in Irvine. In 2020, the University will open its 11th college, the Fowler School of Engineering, in its newest facility, the Keck Center for Science and Engineering.

About Latinx Staff & Faculty Forum
The Chapman Latinx Staff & Faculty Forum was developed in Fall 2015 to provide support to Latinx students, staff, and faculty by developing connections and building a bridge between students, parents, alumni, community organizations, and the Chapman community.