As a 31-year-old delicatessen clerk searching for love, laughter and a well-balanced lunch, Nebraska-based artist, Ella Weber will share what’s behind the counter in her debut novel, The Deli Diaries. Struggling to find purpose slicing meat, three existential slices of ham hover above. Who ham I? What ham I? Where ham I? Across the counter, Weber blurs the line between employee and customer, performance and reality, art and life. Join us for the author's performative artist lecture, presented as a Stand-Up Comedy-Microsoft PowerPoint-TED Talk-poetry reading.

Join us to learn more about how researchers are using arts-integrative methods to create organoids, three-dimensional cellular structures developed from stem cells. The Organoids team includes practitioners from art, dance, molecular medicine, engineering, animal science, and cellular biology. Organoid structures are of interest in seeking solutions for problems including adrenal gland insufficiency, understanding human embryonic development, and how hormone regulation impacts diseases such as PTSD.

This conversation centers on Amit Kaushik's collaborative project with a renowned Indigenous artist, Bhajju Shyam, where they illustrate Gond paintings to critically engage with the environmental injustices faced by the Gond Adivasi community amidst biodiversity conservation efforts. Through two contrasting depictions of the tiger -- as both a protector and a force of destruction -- these artworks capture the community's shifting relationship with nature following the establishment of the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Lyrric Jackson is an American multidisciplinary artist, educator, and data scientist. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Lyrric Jackson Dance Company, a Lecturer of Dance Performance and Choreography at Spelman College, an Atlanta University Center Consortium Data Science Initiative Faculty Affiliate, a Spelman Faculty CODE Scholar, a Certified Data Carpentries Instructor, and a Sloan Data Science Faculty Fellow.

Please join us for the official launch and celebration of the UGA Arts Collaborative, hosted by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. The event will feature food, drink, welcoming remarks, and a chance to gather in community with creative practitioners and collaborators.