BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Carrie Newcomer, a Grammy- and Emmy-winning artist, will perform at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Westbrook Auditorium on Saturday, Nov. 14.
While Newcomer is based in Bloomington, Indiana, her connection to campus dates back to the Blue Moon Coffeehouse, a music series put on by the IWU Dean of Students Office in the 2000s.
“It happened in Young Main Lounge; they dimmed the lights and had round tables and coffee groups, and Carrie was kind of a regular in that,” said Greg Shaw, Professor of Political Science and an organizer for the event. “A lot of people in Bloomington-Normal have sort of come of age with her music and we thought she would be a great person to bring (to campus).”
The folk singer is also a podcast co-host and a poet. She has released 20 albums and three books of poetry. She was named a top-10 music writer on Substack.
Her performance will take place at 7 p.m. inside Presser Hall, the home of the university’s School of Music.
The event is co-sponsored by the Provost’s Office, Not In Our Town Bloomington-Normal and Illinois Wesleyan's forthcoming Center for Inquiry and Civil Discourse.
“The goal of the university is to teach citizenship as well as specific skills, so we received a grant to help support a line of programming around civil discourse and community building, really hoping to get people to learn better, or at least flex that muscle that involves talking to the other side,” Shaw explained.
Additionally, Newcomer will lead a private workshop for students from social sciences, English, music performance and more.
The first half of the workshop will focus on community building and discussing the idea of “neighboring,” and what it means to think of people as neighbors.
Shaw said that when he discussed the event with Newcomer, she expressed that practical people will often say that hope is not a plan, but she aims to push back on that concept. She wants people to think of hope as a way of being in the world.
“It’s difficult to do at scale, but we need to start somewhere,” he said. “She wants us to develop the habit of being hopeful, generous people, and her music is about that; that’s the core of what she does.”
For the second half of the workshop, Newcomer will work with the students to write a song together and then plans to record it for them.
Shaw also hopes to see lots of students at the concert. He thinks Newcomer will draw a considerable crowd and hopes to pack the auditorium.
“(We’ve) got to meet people where they are. That’s what we’re doing, and we’re hoping this is part of a larger stream of activities that we do around here to get people to talk to one another and treat each other not as space aliens or hostile but rather find ways to live together,” he said. “There is a critical mass of people with an appetite to get back to civility and we want to be part of that.”
The concert is free and open to the public.
To learn more about Newcomer, visit carrienewcomer.com.