By Whitney Elfstrom
When the Conference on World Affairs takes over USF St. Petersburg next week, students won’t have to fight as hard to secure a coveted parking spot.
In the past, parking has been provided in the university parking garage, but this year the conference partnered with The Mahaffey Theater, half a mile away, for free event parking. For students, this could mean less university parking spaces holding conference-goer’s cars.
The seventh annual conference will take place Feb. 12-15 in the University Student Center ballrooms and the auditorium of Lynn Pippenger Hall. It will cover a variety of topics from war and politics to public art and legalizing marijuana.
However, guests are still welcome to park in the university’s parking garage with the purchase of a $5 all-day pass.
What began in 2013 as a one-day, 10-panel event that drew 200 people has grown substantially to host 31 panels and over 70 diplomats, professors and journalists.
Before the panels kick off, speaker Chas Freeman, a diplomat, writer and educator whose career carried him to the Middle East, China and Africa will give the keynote address, titled “After the Trade War, a Real War with China?” at 5 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Palladium, 253 Fifth Ave. N.
Following the address, Mayor Rick Kriseman will issue a proclamation declaring Feb. 11-16 as International Week in St. Petersburg, and a variety of food trucks will offer international fare.
A jazz concert featuring bassist and vocalist Nicki Parrott, pianist Rossano Sportiello, drummer Ed Metz and trumpeter James Suggs will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on the conference website, where a $10-off code can also be found.
Some topics include “St. Petersburg: international dining destination,” “AIDs in the world: waiting for a cure,” “Do like the Canadians; Legalize pot,” “Public Art: what purpose does it serve?” and “Climate change is real. What do we do now?”
The size of the event isn’t the only change to occur. This year, the conference shifted its topic list from strictly geopolitical to more innovative panels looking at how art and film fit into international affairs.
But what inspired the sudden inclusion of artistic panels?
Thomas W. Smith, a USF St. Petersburg political science professor and co-founder of the conference, said that international affairs are often thought of in a political light, but on the other side, there is culture surrounding music, food and film.
Diane Seligsohn, president of the St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs, seconded this idea and said the world is made up of more than politics, and that politics can be involved in education, art and health as well.
“Anything that’s international that can be looked at from an international perspective is of interest to us,” Seligsohn said.
Seligsohn and Smith both noted that including more art panels may help attract a younger demographic. They also agreed that opening up the topics has given the conference more freedom to say yes to speakers with creative ideas.
“We definitely would like to attract more young people, because after all, they are the future of the world we’re living in,” Seligsohn said. “We’re also open to suggestions from all attendees, especially students. If they have ideas for topics for the future, we’d be very interested in hearing what they may be.”
One filmmaker on the schedule is Tom Shepard, director of the Youth Documentary Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He will be on a panel that will screen two short films by immigrant U.S. high school students who are “navigating their identities in America.”
The films presented will be “Love Me” by Joshua Sun, a filmmaker from China, and “Finding Home” by Yolande Morrison, a filmmaker from Jamaica who will also sit on the panel.
“The power of film and power of art is that it reaches hearts and it reaches minds,” Shepard said. “We need people to report the facts, and we need people to discuss those facts, but I think there’s a way in which film can open someone’s very hardened mind or heart to have a discussion a little outside of their comfort zone.”
The event is free and open to the public. A full list of panels and speakers can be found at https://stpetersburgconferenceonworldaffairs.com/schedule.
