UCR Center for Ideas and Society

Thank you for joining us for An Unscripted Conversation with Author Emmaia Gelman! Watch the full recording on our Youtube: https://youtu.be/8YmETYzSLrE

Join us at UC Riverside for two days of music, ideas, technology, and imagination!

On June 5–6, 2026, artists, scholars, composers, performers, and researchers will gather at UC Riverside and the Culver Center of the Arts to explore how creativity unfolds between humans and AI.

The conference features papers, keynote talks, concerts, workshops, a panel, and an audiovisual screening — bringing together sound, image, improvisation, interaction, and new forms of artistic collaboration.

Come discover how music and AI can inspire each other, open new creative possibilities, and shape the future of performance and composition.

Co-Creativity in Music, Sound, and AI: Improvisation, Interaction, Composition
📍 UC Riverside / Culver Center of the Arts
📅 June 5–6, 2026
🌐 audiovisualmusic.ucr.edu

As part of the conference CO-CREATIVITY IN MUSIC, SOUND, AND Al: Improvisation, Interaction, Composition, Embodied Calligraphy: The Body Jam Lab is an interactive workshop exploring movement, sound visual art, and Al-assisted co-creation through Chinese Calligraphic Dance.

Participants respond to animated calligraphic strokes through gesture, breath, and improvisation, while Al motion tracking transforms movement into real-time sound and a shared audiovisual environment.

Inspired by Tao Yuan-ming's The Peach Blossom Spring, the workshop invites participants to co-create a temporary utopian space for stillness, healing, cultural memory, and collective imagination.

AI and Musical Creativity
Panel Discussion with Kathryn Agnes Huether (UCLA), Frank Duchêne (University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Belgium), and mesmi (Artist, Producer, and Consultant)

📅 June 6, 2026 | 11:30am
📍 CHASS INTS 1113
✉️ Register: audiovisualmusic.ucr.edu

This roundtable brings together scholars and music industry professionals to examine the evolving role of artificial intelligence in musical creativity. Topics include the impact of Al on institutions, industries, and labels, as well as its influence on collaboration, genre formation, and artistic practice.

Part of the Co-Creativity in Music, Sound, and Al Conference

Cosponsored by Center for Ideas and Society, CHASS Dean's Office, UCR RAISE Institute, Departments of Anthropology, Dance, History of Art, Media & Cultural Studies, Music, Theatre, Film & Digital Production

How to Compose AI Music That Isn't Mid
Keynote by Eric Lyon (School of Performing Arts, Virginia Tech)

📅 June 6, 2026 | 9:30am
📍 CHASS INTS 1113
✉️ Register: audiovisualmusic.ucr.edu

Alongside ethical and environmental concerns, a central aesthetic critique has emerged: that Al-generated music tends toward the average, often described as "mid." This concern is especially evident in commercial Al music platforms such as Suno and Udio. A primary focus of this keynote is to examine compositional strategies that move beyond this tendency, exploring how artists can engage Al in ways that produce distinctive and compelling musical outcomes.

Part of the Co-Creativity in Music, Sound, and Al Conference

Cosponsored by Center for Ideas and Society, CHASS Dean's Office, UCR RAISE Institute, Departments of Anthropology, Dance, History of Art, Media & Cultural Studies, Music, Theatre, Film & Digital Production

Co-Creating with AI: Stimulating Human Creativity or Stifling it?
Keynote by Katherine Hayles (Distinguished Research Professor, UCLA)

📅 June 5, 2026 at 3:30pm
📍 CHASS INTS 1113
✉️ Register: audiovisualmusic.ucr.edu

This talk will compare and contrast human cognition with the kinds of cognitions Als evolve through their operations. It will explore the kinds of creativity possible for Al systems in comparison to human creativity. Finally, it will suggest guidelines for using Al to enhance human creativity rather than to stifle it.

Part of the Co-Creativity in Music, Sound, and AI Conference

Cosponsored by Center for Ideas and Society, Dean's Office, UCR RAISE Institute, Departments of Anthropology, Dance, History of Art, Media & Cultural Studies, Music, Theatre, Film & Digital Production

This Friday!

The UCR Liberal Studies Program and the Center for Ideas and Society are pleased to announce the 2026 UCR Liberal Studies Undergraduate Symposium. This one-day symposium provides an opportunity for Liberal Studies majors to showcase capstone research carried out as the culmination of undergraduate study. The Liberal Studies major allows students to draw from multiple disciplines across the university based on their educational and career goals.

This event is free and open to the public.

This Thursday!

The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State (UC Press): An Unscripted Conversation with Author Emmaia Gelman
May 28, 2026 at 2pm PST

with:

Emmaia Gelman, author of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State (Founding Director, Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism)

discussants:

- Desireé Melonas (Assistant Prof., UCR Depts of Black Study and Political Science)
- Keith Miyake (Assistant Prof., UCR Dept of Ethnic Studies)
- Emma Stapely (Associate Prof., UCR Dept of English)
- Jaye Austin Williams (Associate Prof., UCR Dept of Black Study)

moderated by Dylan Rodríguez (Co-Director of Center for Ideas and Society, UCR Dept. of Black Study and Dept. of Media and Cultural Studies)

FREE REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/4tTD2fn

Tomorrow!

Join us for Happy Hour as we celebrate five years of leadership with CIS Co-Directors Jeanette Kohl and Dylan Rodriguez. Drop in for appetizers, drinks, and conversation as we mark the end of their co-directorships and the next phase of their successful initiatives.