By Yolette Garcia, Director, Multimedia Arts Unit
Dallas, TX – The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts will partner with National Geographic Live! to launch the Brinker International Forum, a new lecture series featuring renowned artists and scientists, in September 2008.
In an announcement made today, Bill Lively, the president and CEO of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, said the series distinguishes itself by bringing the public programs that integrate the arts and the sciences.
As a sample of events to come, the announcement at The Meyerson Symphony Center incorporated music as well as speakers from the National Geographic Society, Terry Garcia, executive vice president of mission programs, and Dr. Spencer Wells, a population geneticist.
Garcia, who described the 120 year old history of National Geographic's lectures and projects, took delight in being preceded by a musical flourish of the National Geographic television theme. Quick on his feet, he commented that the theme plays whenever he walks into the office, but scares the animals when he's out in the field.
The most significant project National Geographic is engaged in is the Genographic Project, headed by Dr. Wells. The study reveals how human DNA connects world populations and traces ancestral lines to Africa. Wells explained how the public can assist research by submitting a DNA sample to the project.
In collaborating with The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, National Geographic Live! now expands its educational programs beyond the five cities hosting the events: Arizona, Seattle, Chicago and Minneapolis.
Naturalists and filmmakers Beverly and Dereck Joubert will be the first speakers next October and will discuss their 24 years of documenting the animals of Africa.