Nearly 10,000 fans packed John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday night for a star-studded benefit concert featuring the Zac Brown Band and Maggie Rogers, celebrating the dedication of the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center.
CSC News
Over the weekend, many celebratory events featured a variety of creative activities, ending with a benefit concert featuring Maggie Rogers and Zac Brown Band.
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The Contemplative Sciences Center celebrated the opening of the Contemplative Commons with partners from UVA and beyond.
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Since the beginning of the spring semester, students and community members have gathered on Friday afternoons to enjoy a sound bath followed by a yoga or tai chi session to shake off the week’s stress.
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The Cavalier Daily ran an editorial piece, “Celebrate the Contemplative Commons and other non-academic student spaces”, highlighting the recently completed Contemplative Commons building. With its peaceful aesthetic combined with its holistic programming, the Commons serves as a sanctuary for students, as well as bridging different areas of the University both geographically and academically.
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LearningWell Magazine featured the Contemplative Commons: "The new 57,000-square-foot Commons is home to the Contemplative Sciences Center—and a new way to promote flourishing in higher education."
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The Commons hosted 9 academic courses, student drop-in programs and research talks throughout the fall semester
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UVA Today featured the April 5, 2025 benefit concert celebrating the Contemplative Sciences Center.
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The University of Virginia (UVA) announced today that GRAMMY® Award-winning Southern rock group Zac Brown Band will perform a benefit concert to celebrate UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Special guest, multi-platinum, GRAMMY® nominated artist Maggie Rogers and comedian Joe Zimmerman will also perform.
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At year's end, the Contemplative Sciences Center celebrates a year of new partnerships, new opportunities, and a new chapter. Find out more in the December 2024 edition of the newsletter (Archived PDF).
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The University of Virginia announced today the selection of Kelly Crace as executive director of UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center. Crace will officially begin his new post on January 8, 2025.
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The Compassionate Schools Project (CSP) curriculum, Flourish, a collaboration between the Contemplative Sciences Center, the UVA School of Education and Human Development, Kentucky's Jefferson County Public Schools show elementary school students, particularly those from high-poverty areas, can benefit from the Compassionate Schools Project's Flourish curriculum.
In fall 2024, we welcomed international artist Wolfgang Buttress for the commissioning of his latest piece, NINFEO, an immersive sound, light, and sculptural experience housed in the Contemplative Commons. NINFEO contains 3,320 laser-etched illuminated crystal blocks inspired by the water lilies of the Dell Pond.
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The Contemplative Sciences Center and our partners are thrilled to offer a robust roster of programming in the Contemplative Commons this fall! See what is going on there and in other CSC news. View the August 2024 CSC Newsletter (Archived PDF).
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As with football or violin practice, young people could gain versatile life skills through routine contemplative training. CSC’s Director of Research Michael Sheehy examines teaching contemplation in the classroom in an article for the magazine Psyche.
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This fall 2024 semester, the Contemplative Sciences Center and partners will pilot select activities for UVA students and the general public; and host several academic classes. The building will not have public business hours but will be open during that programming. The Contemplative Commons' official public grand opening will be spring 2025 (stay tuned!) Piloted programming includes drop-in opportunities for students as well as events that are open to the public including Meditation from the Dell.
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The Good Life Political Project at UVA's Karsh Institute of Democracy invites students from all backgrounds and with a diverse range of views and experiences to apply for the Student Dialogue Fellowship, which will convene multiple cohorts of UVA undergraduate and graduate students for a monthly dinner series in the fall of 2024. Dialogue Fellows will have the option to continue their engagement with the program into the spring of 2025, where they will contribute to the development of the program’s future iterations and will have the opportunity to collaborate with thought leaders at the University.
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The Tiny Blue Dot Foundation announced the funding of twelve neuroscientific research projects related to “The Science of Perception Box.” CIRCL, CSC's Contemplative Innovation + Research Co-Lab, is among the awardees along with collaborators at Northwestern University for their study, "Transformative Benefits of Contemplative Sleep Practices and a Novel Pathway to Deliver Benefits to the General Public."
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has designated Flourish: The Compassionate Schools Project Curriculum as a Promising Program for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Flourish is one of 14 programs in the 2024 review cycle selected for inclusion in the CASEL Guide to Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs.
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See the latest news and updates from the CSC Newsletter April 25, 2024 (Archived PDF).
The April 2024 Newsletter includes "A Conversation with the Dalai Lama," Contemplative Commons News, JCS Series: “What is Contemplation;" New Student Advisors; Tom Tom Festival Panels; Video: What is a Psychedelic Experience?
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UVA Today highlighted From Fear to Action: Thriving in a Changing Climate, a talk hosted by the University of Virginia’s Environmental Institute and Contemplative Sciences Center with Britt Wray, a Stanford University researcher focused on the intersection of climate change and mental health — Febr
Channel 29 News interviews Britt Wray after her talk hosted by UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center, Environmental Institute, and Public Service Pathways.
See the latest news and updates from the CSC Newsletter Feb 7 2024 (Archived PDF).
