KU's Spring Community Education lineup for area residents announced

LAWRENCE † Eight series hosted by KU Continuing Education and taught by KU faculty will be available to Lawrence area residents throughout the spring, starting in February.

Interested persons may find complete descriptions of each session and register via the Web at http://www.kuce.org/kufor/.

Here is a brief description of each session:

 • Early Music: Performance of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Music, three sessions starting Feb. 19, with two concerts, various locations and times. Early music has been a major movement in Western classical music for three decades, performed today with instruments and techniques used in those early periods. Class members will see demonstrations of the Baroque cello and flute, viola da gamba, and recorders, and interact with musicians during live concerts.

 • World Religions: The Search for Meaning, four Wednesdays starting Feb. 20, 7-9 p.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont. The events of Sept. 11 underscored the importance of acquiring accurate and sympathetic knowledge of the world's major religious traditions and their cultural expressions. KU faculty will introduce Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, looking at their differences, similarities, and internal diversity. They will explain how these traditions are inseparable from the cultures they shape and reshape.

 • Art, History, and Culture: Understanding the Visual Record, six Thursdays starting Feb. 21, 3:30-5 p.m. at KUCE, 1515 St. Andrews Drive. This series will examine European art and architecture during the Renaissance and Baroque periods and will explore the arts in later India, China, and Japan.

 • On the Air: The Evolution and Influence of Radio, six Tuesdays starting March 26, 7-9 p.m. at Brandon Woods Retirement Community. This series will explore the technology, regulation, cultural influence, and business of radio over the past eight decades, as well as radio's future. Participants will meet personalities from KANU radio and celebrate the station's 50th anniversary.

 • Latin American Mosaic: Tango, Magical Realism, and the Global Market, four Thursdays starting March 28, 7-9- p.m. at KUCE. Latin America is a diverse group of countries, yet the popular image of Latin America and its people remains simplistic and shaded by tourism, politics, and antiquated stereotypes. The politics and neoliberalism of Latin America reflect traditional social norms and belief systems, as well as new forms of political action and solidarity. This series will explore the roots of Latin American nationhood in such cultural traditions as music, literature, art, politics, and economics, and reflect on current questions of identity and political action, ethnicity, the interdependence of the U.S. and Latin "American economies, and globalization.

 • Law and the Visual Arts: Rights of Artists, Dealers, and Collectors, four Tuesdays starting April 2, 7-9 p.m. at KUCE. This series will educate artists, collectors, and sellers about how to protect works in the digital age, the limits of artistic freedom, the rights of dealers and collectors, and laws that affect museums and other institutional collectors.

 • The Middle East, Central Asia, and the World: Crucibles of Conflict, four Wednesdays starting April 3, 7-9 p.m. at KUCE. In the wake of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, interest in the Middle East and Central Asia has been renewed. Four KU political science professors will address the politics of these regions. They will focus on the contemporary situation and provide insight into historic, cultural, and environmental factors that have made the Middle East and Central Asia important for contemporary policy.

 • Lawrence, Kansas: Phoenix in the Ashes, four Mondays starting April 8, 7-9 p.m. (except 6-8 p.m. April 29) at the Eldridge Hotel, 701 Mass.

Like the mythical bird that rose from the ashes of destruction, Lawrence has survived conflict for a century-and-a-half. This program will explore the city's geographic, historic, and cultural heritage, including Quantrill's raid, the civil rights and cultural revolutions of the 1960s, and the ongoing confrontation over the south Lawrence trafficway.