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ARTSblock will be focus of UWSP at Wausau ‘HANK Talks’ event

October 31, 2023
Associate Professor Jim O’Connell will talk about the history of ARTSblock in downtown Wausau as part of the “HANK Talks” series at UWSP at Wausau.
Associate Professor Jim O’Connell will talk about the history of ARTSblock in downtown Wausau as part of the “HANK Talks” series at UWSP at Wausau.

A talk looking back on the downtown Wausau development project with the expansion of the historic Grand Theatre into ARTSblock will take place as part of the fall series of “HANK Talks” at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Wausau.

“Hank Talks,” named after Hank the Husky campus mascot, will be offered on various Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on the stage of the James F. Veninga Theater in the UW Center for Civic Engagement on the UWSP at Wausau campus, 625 Stewart Ave., Wausau. Each presentation is 30 minutes followed by a question-and-answer session with the faculty member. Events will be live streamed at https://tinyurl.com/HankTalk.

“The Last Revitalization of Downtown Wausau: Remembering the ARTSblock Project” will be Tuesday, Nov. 14, by Jim O’Connell, associate professor and coordinator of arts management. He will discuss the steps and missteps of the project along with the good fortune that defined the process.

O’Connell’s arts administration work has taken him all over the nation and has earned multiple excellence awards. He holds degrees from UW-Madison and Dartmouth College, and was recently elected to the board of Wisconsin Humanities. He also currently sits as treasurer and executive committee member of the Association of Arts Administration Educators.

After the live event, “HANK Talks” are archived at www.uwsp.edu/wausau/hank-talks/. Talks will also air on the public access cable television channel.

To learn more about lecture and arts programming at UWSP at Wausau, contact Chad Premeau at cpremeau@uwsp.edu.