2025–2026 | AI and Data in the Arts | Jordan Rudess

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AI and Data in the Arts

Focus Areas: 

• AI is transforming the cultural landscape in real time. As educators and artists, we believe it is essential to engage this transformation thoughtfully. The Harward Interdisciplinary Program creates a space where students and community members can critically examine how artificial intelligence intersects with creativity, ethics, and human expression.

Key Activities:

• Lectures and panels with AI researchers and artists.
• Free Concert at 7:30pm on March 26^th at the Majestic Theater
• Interactive workshops for students and the public.

• The Johnson Center for Creative Teaching and Learning (JCCTL) & the Harward Program for Music and Culture   

  Workshop

  April 1 ~ Noon ~ Penn Hall Lyceum

  Phenomenology: A Pragmatic Approach to the Use of AI in Aesthetic Education

  Mark A. Pottinger, Ph.D.
  Chair of the Communication, Sound and Media Arts Department
  Manhattan University

  Phenomenology offers a pragmatic approach to aesthetic education today by focusing on the lived, subjective experience of human created art in relation to AI-generated art, moving beyond mere technical function of the art object to explore how students feel and perceive it. By doing so, one reveals culturally-informed biases, fosters deeper engagement with the art object, and guides the creation of more meaningful, human-aligned tools for creative exploration rather than just passive consumption. This is at the heart of “experiential learning” or “learning by doing,” which is the only true human way that education can outpace AI. By taking this approach, educators can work to understand AI as a collaborator or catalyst for new forms of perception, transforming the anxiety around "machine learning" into productive reflection on human-AI interaction and challenging existing aesthetic frameworks.

For ticket information, please contact:
Gettysburg College’s Majestic Theater
Email: boxofficeinfo@gettysburg.edu
Phone: 717-337-8200

Jordan Rudess, the keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist for the Grammy Award-winning progressive rock band Dream Theater, will conduct a three-day residency at Gettysburg College from Tuesday, March 24, through Thursday, March 26.

Supported by the Ann McIlhenny Harward Interdisciplinary Program for Culture and Music, the event will explore the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on creativity, knowledge, and the human experience through a combination of workshops, jam sessions, classroom discussions, and a free public concert at the Majestic Theater at 7:30 p.m. on March 26.

“AI is transforming the cultural landscape in real time. As educators and artists, we believe it is essential to engage this transformation thoughtfully,” said Music Prof. César Leal, who is serving as co-chair of the Harward Program alongside Africana Studies and History Prof. Scott Hancock. “The Harward Interdisciplinary Program creates a space where students and community members can critically examine how artificial intelligence intersects with creativity, ethics, and human expression.”

Rudess is a classical prodigy who began studying at The Juilliard School at age nine. He is known for seamlessly blending virtuosic classical technique with modern rock, fusion, and cutting-edge technology. Rudess is currently the MIT Distinguished Visiting Artist, collaborating with Professor Joe Paradiso and the Media Lab’s Responsive Environments Group to develop Jam-Bot. This AI-driven musical partner improvises live in duet with a human performer.

In addition to his work with Dream Theater and a prolific solo career, Rudess has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including David Bowie, Deep Purple, Steven Wilson, Jan Hammer, Tony Levin, Mike Portnoy, Marco Minnemann, Rod Morgenstein, Annie Haslam, Aviv Geffen, and the Dixie Dregs, as well as the supergroups Liquid Tension Experiment and LMR. He is also the founder of Wizdom Music and the author of two books on keyboard technique.