2014 SMART Festival

An Archive

The 2014 SMART (Science Meets ART) Festival was held on October 24 and 25, 2014. Events were located at the LITE Center in the UL Lafayette Research Park.

The festival kick-off, on Friday evening at the LITE Center, was a presentation about a new film production "In the Mind of the Maker" by internationally recognized film-maker and UL Lafayette English Professor Dr. Charles E. Richard. Richard explores the curious science behind creativity and, quite unexpectedly, it turns out that the story of an elderly master boat builder from Louisiana's swamps could provide some of the clearest insights into the mysteries of human creativity.

(Charles E. Richard, professor and film-maker, slates a scene)

The next festival event on Friday evening was the keynote lecture about the interrelations among human emotion, memory, and the brain. The exciting keynote lecture for 2014, "Emotion, Memory, and the Brain", was presented by world-renowned neuroscientist and accomplished musician Dr. Joseph LeDoux from New York University.

(Joseph LeDoux, neuroscientist and musician)

On Saturday, our day began at LITE Center with various symposia, workshops, and demonstrations. Topics included: the effects of global warming; the designing of smart robots; the creation of a dance performance on a computer; and, the work of forensic anthropologists in helping uncover crimes.

The festival concluded with a concert and celebration on Saturday evening at the Blue Moon Saloon. Music was provided by the Half-Full duo, Joe LeDoux (this year's SMART keynote speaker) and Colin Dempsey. Half-Full is exactly half of The Amygdaloids a NY City based band composed of scientists who play songs about love and life peppered with nuggets about mind and brain and mental disorders. This year's SMART festival will close with LeDoux and Dempsey playing acoustic versions of The Amygdaloids songs from their studio albums.

(Half-Full: Joseph LeDoux and Colin Dempsey)