UVA to celebrate Contemplative Sciences Center with April 5 concert

An April 5 event at the John Paul Jones Arena featuring music from Zac Brown Band and Maggie Rogers and a performance by stand-up comedian Joe Zimmerman will celebrate the UVA Contemplative Sciences Center.

Tickets for the event will go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m. at the John Paul Jones Arena box office and Ticketmaster.com.

Proceeds will support Contemplative Sciences Center operations and programs.

The Center opened its 57,000-square-foot Contemplative Commons on the location of the former Dell outdoor basketball courts on Grounds last fall.

Founded in 2012 with a  $12 million gift from Paul Tudor Jones, the guy who wrote the big check for the construction of JPJ, and continues to write the big checks funding UVA Basketball, and his wife, Sonia, the CSC, according to a description from the University, “focuses on how educational institutions can better understand and facilitate the types of knowledge, mindsets, and practices that promote well-being.”

The building project at the Dell got going with another $40 million gift from the Joneses.

CSC offerings include academic courses on human flourishing; fellowship programs for students; academic partnerships to disseminate evidence-based contemplative tools; a research consortium; a peer-reviewed, open-access journal; and classes and trainings in contemplative disciplines such as yoga, Tai Chi and other practices.

That last bit there in the rundown of what they have going on there might be why one prominent alum shared with me his nickname for the Contemplative Commons: “The Yoga Center.”

Being a writer who has started to work yoga and meditation into the daily routine following a near-death experience a few years ago, I fully endorse.

Rogers, an NYU and Harvard alum whose song “Alaska” went viral because of how a performance of it visibly moved Virginia Beach native and superstar musician and producer Pharrell Williams, will be honored at the April 5 event with the CSC’s inaugural Contemplation in Action award, celebrating her leadership on and off the stage, including her academic scholarship on the role of artists and performers in spiritual development through public gatherings.

“The music Maggie writes and her academic work are authentic contemplations of her views and feelings on love, wellbeing, and community and are deeply aligned with the CSC’s values. We are thrilled to honor her with our Contemplation in Action award,” said CSC Board Chair Jeffrey Walker.