The fact that Cornish College of the Arts is getting a new president—Dr. Nancy J. Uscher (here's an interview with her)—is neither good nor bad at this point. We just don't know yet what she'll do.

But the celebration in honor of her arrival looks great. My favorite part of Inaugural Weekend is the totally free and open to the public "colloquium" (we need a better word) Saturday from 9 am to 3 pm.

In the morning session, you can learn to become a better music-listener with jazz prof Jovino Santos Neto, draw comics with Ellen Forney, take a quick workshop in "modern dance for the uninitiated" (do it), or get familiar with the Javanese percussion orchestra, called the gamelan.

Then at 11:15 am comes "When One Plus One Equals More (Or Less) Than Two: Artistic Collaboration Now," a conversation about creative collective work with folks from Degenerate Art Ensemble, Implied Violence, SuttonBeresCuller, and the Susie Lee Ensemble, moderated by curator Robin Held. Why do so many artists want to work together?

Here is a gamelan sample for you to put your eyes on. (From the comments, it looks as if you should avoid smoking the smoke while watching gamelan.) See you Saturday!