Latrelle Bright, Teaching Professor, Theatre
Stephen Taylor, Professor, Music, Composition – Theory
Smitha Vishveshwara, Professor, Physics
In the past few years, a community has grown of over a hundred people together creating artistic experiences that explore questions about our humanity and our place in the Universe. The founders of this initiative, CASCaDE (or A Collective for Art-Science, Creativity and Discovery, etc.) are rooted in Urbana-Champaign, comprising university students, faculty, and staff, and groups from diverse walks of life. Approaches to these issues vary and involve community building, research, and education. Past works include the performance pieces Quantum Voyages, Quantum Rhapsodies, and The Joy of Regathering; projects created in the interdisciplinary course, Where the Arts Meets Physics; and the virtual art-science festival, The Illuminated Universe. The CASCaDe Launch, a campus-wide community event, was hosted by the Krannert Center for Performing Arts in April 2024 in partnership with IQUIST's World Quantum Day events.
The CASCaDE collective is guided by a trio that has taken the lead in several aspects of these previous explorations: Latrelle Bright (Theater), Stephen Taylor (Music), and Smitha Vishveshwara (Physics). Latrelle Bright is a director, performer, and arts advocate, and her interest in storytelling extends to social justice and the environment. Stephen Andrew Taylor composes music that explores boundaries between art and science; he co-directs the Illinois Modern Ensemble, and has also appeared with Sinfonia da Camera, the Nouveau Classical Project, and the Arizona Chamber Music Festival. Smitha Vishveshwara also has affiliations with the UI Materials Research Laboratory and Beckman Institute, and her research spans a broad range of topics in quantum condensed matter theory; Vishveshwara enjoys combining her passion for physics with that for the arts in various interconnected ways, and in close collaboration with artists, she has created several pieces on the quantum world and the cosmos.
