THOUGHT AND CULTURE
FALL 1 - 2025
ART HISTORY – THE RENAISSANCE Instructor: Lilian Elvir
Between 1504 and 1508, three of the best painters of all time, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raphael Sanzio da Urbino were living and working in
Florence, Italy creating masterpieces that are still admired today, in the period that we call the Renaissance.
What brought them there? Why Florence? Let’s travel to Italy in the 14th , 15th and early 16th centuries and learn how this period of extraordinary creativity unfolded.
Week 1: The Dawn of the Renaissance: We will explore the different cultural and artistic currents that flowed into Italy, and how their reception and mixing changed the art world.
Week 2: Sienna and Florence: the rise of painting. When a little rivalry goes a long way.
Week 3: The Early Renaissance: Who won out and became the center of the Renaissance? How?
Week 4: The Medici: Who said bankers were boring?
Week 5: The High Renaissance: The new style solidifies and spreads to the rest of Italy.
Week 6: The High Renaissance II — The Popes in Rome embrace the Renaissance.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) Moderators: Divya Kamath, Chong Hu and Muhe Yang, Ph.D. students at McGill university
Curious about AI and its use in everyday life? It is the way of the future and the future is NOW! Participate in our workshops to learn AI tools and design your preferred features!
ENCORE is very privileged to be working in collaboration with the McGill University School of Information Studies, the School of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in offering this course.
After taking this course, you will have a better understanding of the W5’s of AI; what it is, who needs it, when it is used, where it is used, and why it is necessary. You will also feel more confident about how to make use of it yourselves.
The 6-week session consists of a series of workshops with research elements, where active participation is encouraged / expected but not mandatory.
Workshop Schedule (Date & Time tentative)
1 Introducing AI (1) September 8th , 2025
2 Introducing AI (2) September 15th , 2025
3 Chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT) September 2nd , 2025
4 Voice assistants (e.g., Siri) September 29th , 2025
5 AI for daily tasks October 6th , 2025
6 AI bias October 20th , 2025
What You’ll Do
Learn how to access and use popular AI tools (e.g., chatbots, voice assistants) for everyday tasks, their benefits and limitations, along with guidelines on cautious use of AI.
Brainstorm & envision new AI features to serve your needs.
Participating in Research
The research project ‘‘Inclusive Co-Design of AI Systems’’ aims to investigate how to better engage older adults in co-designing AI technologies. You are welcome to
participate in the research if you are aged over 65 and comfortable participating in English.
For those who choose to participate in the research, their behaviors and generated artifacts during the course will be observed and analyzed for research
purposes only. It will not change the nature of taking the courses.
They will be required to complete a consent form which will be emailed to them upon registration.
They are expected to fill out questionnaires about their experience of participation and ideas about AI and might be invited for a follow-up interview.
They will receive a monetary compensation from McGill University equivalent to the course fee of $66.00.
If there is sufficient demand, we will try to offer the course again in Fall II.
CLASSICAL COMPOSERS AND THEIR MUSIC – A CLOSER LOOK COMPOSERS S – T. Instructor: Roxanne Martel
This course is continuing with the series of classes on composers in alphabetical order. It will take a look at the music of classical composers in greater depth than previous sessions. We will explore a greater variety of music from well-known, and some lesser-known composers. Each composer has left a body of works, and the plan is to go beyond the “popular” repertoire and listen to a broader choice of works including symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and chamber works.
Composers from S, and T will be featured. Composers starting with S include Saint Saëns, Satie, Scarlatti, Schafer, Stanford, and those starting with T include Tartini, Tavener, Tchaikovsky, Tippett, to name a few.
There has been a new feature added to the final class, which is to listen to a large work by a prominent composer in its entirety, with a brief look at the structure, style and compositional elements of that work in closer detail.
GRIEF – AN EMOTIONAL SHIFTING JOURNEY Instructor: Georgia Remond
Grief is not something you simply ''get over'' like a cold. Contrary to the popular saying, time does not heal all wounds—because grief is not a wound. Grief is a reflection of a meaningful connection that has been lost. That loss may come in the form of a loved one's death, a divorce, a miscarriage, the end of a career, or even displacement from your cultural roots. Significant loss can reshape your sense of identity and your normal routine.
In this 2-hour presentation we will briefly explore different types of loss, key areas impacted by loss, and some strategies to build resilience.
FREE – This is being offered as a preview to a 6-week course which would be part of Fall Session II, if it garners enough interest.
THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE Instructor: Cynthia Jones
Do you ever wonder where musicals came from? Do you find other people enjoying musicals while they make no sense to you? Do you wonder why musicals sound different from other types of music? Or why not all musicals sound the same? This class will explain these things to you. Learn about the history, the structure and the form musicals take and enjoy them more through understanding.
MONTREAL WALKING TOURS Organizers: Colette Zirpdji & Elida Lopez
We are pleased to offer another captivating series of six walking tours, for our Fall 1 Session.
Please note that except for the ones that have a definite date, the order of the tours is not guaranteed. You will receive an email, a few days before, showing time and place of meeting, except for the ones that are already indicated in the description. We will also ask you to confirm your presence. We hope for good weather, particularly for the outside tours of which there are four. All the others will be in an enclosed space. As we did during the Spring tours, we will more than likely share a cup of coffee close to the site we are visiting.
Mount Royal Cemetery : with Miriam Cloutier Thursday, September 11th, 1 :30 - 3 :30. Meeting Place : Main Gates
1297 Forest Road, Outremont. Parking Available.
"Founded in 1852, The Mount-Royal Cemetery is one of the oldest rural cemeteries in North America. Visitors can observe some 145 species of birds and century-old trees along trails or amid gardens and terraces.".... This is a ..." sprawling hilltop cemetery with ornate monuments, statues and tombstones in leafy surrounds."
Miriam will be offering our group an introductory tour of the cemetery, covering some of its history, its beautiful nature and some of the famous people buried there. A good deal of walking is involved, but we can shorten the visit to 1 1/2.
Montreal Street Art: Murals on St-Laurent Blvd. with Gwen Baddeley. Tentative Date ThursdaySeptember 18th, 2025.
Meeting place TBC (likely Sherbrooke or St-Laurent metro station)
Gwen Baddeley has taught art history at Dawson College since 2013, and has ten years of museum education experience at the MMFA.
"This walk will focus on commissioned murals made in the past three to four years. The guided tour will feature seven murals, by different artists and collectives, from six different countries, ranging in style and technique. These murals have been created within the context of Montreal’s Mural Festival, a public art event that has been taking place on St-Laurent Blvd. since 2012. The general context and history of street art will be provided, as well as information about each artist and mural......I have selected seven murals situated along or just off St-Laurent, between Milton street and Saint-Cuthbert street (roughly 4-5 blocks). I chose the murals based on style, country/culture and gender of the artists – with the aim of providing a diverse range of examples (in terms of what murals can be about and look like)."
La Maison Saint-Gabriel : Thursday, September 25, 2025 1 :30 - 3 :30 Meeting Place : TBD Guide on site
2146 Place Dublin, Pointe Saint-Charles. Museum and historical site. Entrance fee: $12.00, 50% being paid by Encore. Credit cards only
"Purchased by Marguerite Bourgeoys in 1668, this former farmhouse was the home of "... Les Filles du Roy. " It is the oldest example of rural architecture in Montreal."
We will visit the house and gardens, and should the weather permit, we might be able to have coffee on the terrace, which is closed after September 6th. The tour should last about 1 1/2 hours.
EXPO 67 with Bruno-Paul Stenson. Tentative Date : Thursday October 2nd, 2025. Meeting place : “upstairs inside the Jean-Drapeau metro station”.
Following his very successful two-session course on Expo 67, Bruno has prepared his tour of the remains of that fabulous time, which captured all our hearts, as young Montrealers.
"Come visit what remains of Expo 67 almost 60 year later. We will meet “upstairs inside the Jean-Drapeau metro station” on Île Sainte-Hélène and make our way to the pavilions of the United States, France, Québec, Tunisia, Jamaica, and Canada, among others. We will see sculptures that are still on the site. We will see the canals, ruins, and other bits and pieces before returning to the metro station. No passport required."
To be announced: Tentative Date : Thursday, October 9th, 2025 1:30 -3:30
Tour of Griffintown : with Diane Gagné Tuesday, October 14th, 1 :30-3 :30 Meeting Place : TBD
Diane Gagné just finished preparing this tour, and is very excited about presenting it. I translated her text from French.
First an agricultural domain, then the cradle of industrialization in Montréal, Griffintown has now become a Multi-Media Cité, with high-tech enterprises and a 'cool' residential neighbourhood, along the Lachine Canal. We will travel through its history from 1654 to present day.
We will leave from La Fonderie Darling, on the corner of Prince and Ottawa streets - the closest metro station being Square-Victoria, further information will be sent to participants, as to the easiest way to get there. We will end our visit at the borders of Griffintown and Little Burgundy, near the Lucien-Lallier metro station.
THE MUSIC AND HISTORY OF THE BEATLES – PART I. Instructor: Bruno Paul Stenson
Part 1: The Concert Years, 1962 - 1966
Course outline
In the first half of the 1960s, The Beatles became the world's greatest concert attraction, and influenced hairstyles, clothing, and more. In this course we look at the amazing story of how this came to be, culminating in the Beatlemania that chased The Beatles away from the concert stage. We will listen to every song The Beatles recorded during this period, and find out each song's origin, and how they were recorded (who played what, and the sneaky studio tricks they used).
Schedule
1) 1940 – 1963, The History: From war babies to the recording studio. John, Paul, George and Ringo, from their births in Liverpool to their first two albums and the beginning of Beatlemania.
2) 1963, The Music: Please Please Me and With The Beatles. The Beatles first two albums, and how they were influenced by the Brill Building sound of New York, and the Motown sound of Detroit.
3) 1964, The History: Beatlemania! The Beatles come to America and reach the height of fame as they play concerts around the world, record more albums, and make their first movie, A Hard Day's Night.
4) 1964, The Music: A Hard Day's Night and Beatles for Sale. Lennon and McCartney mature as songwriters and Beatlemania hits its peak, but there is still some dependence on the songs of other artists.
5) 1965 – 1966, The History: Growing up. The Beatles are awarded the MBE, make a second movie, give up public performances, and make the transition from teen music to adult music.
6) 1965 – 1966, The Music: Help!, Rubber Soul, and Revolver. The Beatles move from teenage pop music to adult music of many genres.
THE SPIRIT OF THE SIXTIES: Part II: Women’s Liberation and Psychedelics. Instructor: Zsolt Alapi
In this second half of the course, we will look at the advent of the Women’s Liberation Movement, focusing on the writings of its seminal figures like Betty
Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Kate Millett, women who reshaped our social structure and values. After, we will learn about the Psychedelic Movement: the use of drugs, particularly LSD, which revolutionized human consciousness and led, through an emphasis on alternate forms of spirituality, to the New Age Movement. The
activism of LSD guru Dr. Timothy Leary and his famous saying: “Turn on, tune in, drop out” became a statement to the youth of America culminating in the
Summer of Love and, eventually, Woodstock. We will also listen to and assess the music of bands like The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, culminating with Jimmi Hendrix at Woodstock, to understand the influence of pop music and its “message” that revolutionized the youth of that time.
Required Text: Charters Ann. The Portable Sixties Reader (Penguin Books).
STORIES IN STONE Instructor: Ingrid Birker
During these 5 outings, we will explore the stories of the trees, the stones, the landscape features and the astounding social and institutional history of downtown Montreal.
Mondays, 10h - 12h, meeting at different locations as required.
Monday, Sept. 15 - Leafy Legacy at McGill University downtown campus. Meet at Roddick gates corner Sherbrooke St. and McGill College Avenue.
Monday, Sept. 22 - Milestones and settlers of Westmount. Meet at corner of avenue Forden and the Cote Ste. Antoine Road.
Monday, Sept. 29 - Gingkos, apples and Victorian elegance at McGill. Meet at Hosmer House, 3630 Promenade Sir-William-Osler, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1Y5.
Monday, Oct. 6 - Griffintown and ghosts. Meet at outdoor park located at the corner of avenue Wellington and rue de la Montagne. This park features the ruins of the Ste-Anne’s church.
Monday, Oct. 20 - Art and Neuroscience at McGill. Meet at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute), 3801 rue University, QC H3A 2B4.
THE WORLD ORDER: OLD AND NEW, UNIPOLAR AND MULTIPOLAR. Instructor: F.X. Charet
There has been much commentary recently on international standards and regulation largely coming out of the 20th century post war period. These are enshrined in various institutions and agencies and embodied in declarations and policies that the majority of states have either signed on to or been influenced to abide by. In the last decades of the 21st century this agreed upon system has been severely challenged and appears to be undergoing significant change, the outcome of which is currently unclear. This course will explore various aspects of this topic drawing upon a number of sources