Society for Cultural Heritage, Arts, and the Law (SCHAL)

Society for Cultural Heritage, Arts, and the Law (SCHAL) is a Townsend Center Working Group devoted to exploring the law as it relates to cultural heritage and the visual and performing arts. This interdisciplinary group aims to promote dialogue among students and faculty at UC Berkeley regarding the oft-competing interests of creation, advancement, protection, preservation, management and wide circulation of cultural resources and artistic ideas. The members seek to educate themselves about the various conceptual tools and institutional levers through which the law articulates and attempts to address these interests, with a critical eye to its successes and failures. The group seeks to promote awareness among the community and germane institutions of both current events and underlying issues. The group also seeks to facilitate discussion between its members and professionals in related fields, on topics from looting of archaeological sites to protecting free artistic expression. In its recent past, SCHAL has worked to achieve these aims through: (1) biweekly reading discussions; (2) film screenings; (3) guest speakers; and (4) museum visits. Please feel free to contact the coordinators: Bryan Cockrell bryan.cockrell@berkeley.edu Aaron Weil aaronmweil@gmail.com