Santa Monica College Continues Free Communication, Media & Design Series

Santa Monica College Continues Free Communication, Media & Design Series Sept. 18

Talks on Careers in Broadcast Engineering, the Art of Julio Salgado, Architecture and Design, Preserving Indigenous Languages of Guatemala, and Converge+Vertex Artist Roundtable

 SANTA MONICA, CA — Santa Monica College (SMC) continues its Communication, Media & Design Series in fall 2024 with a selection of talks by professionals discussing careers in broadcast engineering with Gil Miller-Muro, the art of Julio Salgado, Ronald Rael’s perspective on architecture and design, linguist Rodrigo Ranero on community efforts to preserve Indigenous languages in Guatemala, and an artist roundtable with the curator and selected artists with works in the Converge+Vertex exhibition in SMC’s Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery. The series resumes Sept. 18. All presentations in the series are free.

The Sept. 18 presentation will be held online as a live virtual event. A Zoom link to the online talk will be available at the listing’s event date on the SMC Events calendar at smc.edu/events. All other presentations in the fall series will be presented in locations on the main campus of Santa Monica College (1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica). Seating is strictly on a first-arrival basis.

The spring 2024 Communication, Media & Design Series events are: 

• Wednesday, Sept. 18, 11:30 a.m. — Gil Miller-Muro: “Careers in Broadcast Engineering with Gil  SMC to Kansas City Art Institute to UCLA” — online; see event date at smc.edu/events for Zoom link. CBS News senior broadcast engineer Gil Miller-Muro will talk about a great career opportunity in broadcast engineering and some of his experiences working in television news, sports, and special event news covering sitting presidents. He has worked for ESPN, Fox Sports, and NBC, and as president of Dawnbreaker Communications, LLC;satellite engineer for Grace Digital Media and Fox News; and Director of Sales and Business Development for Diversified Communications, Inc. Sponsored by the SMC Associates, SMC Communication and Media Studies Department, and SMC Design Technology Department.

• Wednesday, Sept. 25, 12 p.m. — Julio Salgado: “Good Immigrant, Bad Immigrant: The Art of Julio Salgado” — in Student Services Center, Orientation Hall (SSC 183) on the main SMC campus (1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica). Julio Salgado, a visual artist of color whose work explores themes of immigration and queerness, will talk about the influences on his work over the past 15 years. Salgado is an undocumented and queer artist who uses his art to combat racist, anti-immigrant, homophobic, and transphobic narratives. He is the co-founder of DreamersAdrift and the Migrant Storytelling Manager for The Center for Cultural Power, where he co-created The Disruptors Fellowship for emerging television writers of color who identify as trans/and or non-binary, disabled, undocumented/formerly undocumented immigrants. His work has been displayed at the Oakland Museum, SFMOMA, and the Smithsonian. Sponsored by the SMC Associates, SMC Communication and Media Studies Department, SMC Design Technology Department, and SMC Student Equity Center.
  

  

• Wednesday, Oct. 2, 6:30 p.m. — Ronald Rael: “Working with Muddy Robots” — in Student Services Center, Orientation Hall (SSC 183) on the main SMC campus (1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica). Award-winning designer, activist, architect, and author Ronald Rael will talk about his experience and design perspective, which not only challenges conventional architecture, digital fabrication, and materiality, but also integrates a cultural and political dimension unusual in the built design professions. Rael is currently the UC Berkeley Eva Li Memorial Chair in Architecture and chair of the Department of Art Practice, and directs the printFARM Laboratory (print Facility for Architecture, Research and Materials). He is the author of Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundary (University of California Press, 2017) and Earth Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008). Sponsored by the SMC Associates, SMC Communication and Media Studies Department, SMC Design Technology Department, and SMC NOMAS (National Organization of Minority Architects) Student Club.
  

  

• Tuesday, Nov. 5, 11:15 a.m. — Rodrigo Ranero: “Reviving Voices: Community Linguistic Endeavors in Guatemala” — in Humanities and Social Science (HSS 104) on the main SMC campus (1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica). Guatemalan linguist Dr. Rodrigo Ranero will talk about community-based linguistic work in Guatemala, including the results of a decades-long collaboration with the Xinka community to reclaim their unique language and a project to document the ritual register of Kaqchikel, one of the most widely spoken Mayan languages, through a collaboration among linguists, historians, and an organized collective of Kaqchikel ajq’ija’ (spiritual guides). Dr. Ranero is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA Department of Spanish & Portuguese, and was previously a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the American Indian Studies Center. He has published papers on various aspects of selected Mayan languages (Kaqchikel, Tz'utujil, Chuj, K'iche'), Bantu languages (Kuria, Luganda), and Spanish. Sponsored by the SMC Associates and SMC Modern Languages and Cultures Department.
  

  

• Tuesday, Nov. 12, 11:15 a.m. — Cole James, Michael Massenburg, and Cass Everage: “Converge+Vertex Artist Roundtable Discussion” — in Art 214 on the main SMC campus (1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica). Join us for a roundtable discussion with some of the artists showing their works in the “Converge+Vertex: Traversing the minor gesture of timelines” exhibit in SMC’s Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery. Interdisciplinary artist and social activist Cole James — the exhibition’s curator — will be joined by artists Michael Massenburg andCass Everage for a talk about the personal, social, and cultural influences on their art and reflected in their art. James teaches at Otis College of Art and Design and is a Somatic Abolition Communal Consultant, member of the Collective Abayomi and the Development Team For Artist Infrastructure Initiative at Now Be Here, and a collaborator with numerous organizations on projects supporting restorative justice and environmental advocacy. Massenburg began his career at the Watts Towers Arts Center, was influenced by the artists out of the Watts Rebellion and the Los Angeles Uprising, and developed his social practice through art making, teaching, community organizing, and activism for various organizations and causes. Everage is a versatile artist and community builder who is often found coaching, producing designs for streetwear brands in Downtown Los Angeles, or exploring Black American aesthetics and sociological themes through shape, color, and material. Sponsored by the SMC Associates, SMC Art Department, SMC Communication and Media Studies Department, and SMC Design Technology Department.
  

  

Programs are subject to change without notice, and new speakers may be added to the series. Up-to-date details are posted at smc.edu/events and available by calling the SMC Office of Public Programs at 310-434-4100.

Santa Monica College is a California Community College accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).

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