Fusing Artistry with Technology to Explore the Creative Potentials of AI
FOCUS QUESTIONS
IMPACTS
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New AI-courses
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Partnerships between Babson and arts organizations
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Pedagogical materials and trainings
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Ongoing demonstrations in theater and gallery spaces
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Theme leadership at the Babson AI Generator Annual Conference
LEADER
Beth Wynstra
Associate Professor of English
Faculty Director, Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching
Founding Artistic Director of The Empty Space Theater
Co-leader of The Generator’s AI Arts, Media & Performance Specialty Lab
“I am interested in courageous collaborations between artists/practitioners and AI. I am also interested in how AI can inspire bold classroom activities, assignments, and assessments. I’ve observed how such pedagogical innovations can cultivate creativity and critical thinking, while preparing students to thrive in a world outside the university.”
AI research interests
- AI for performance and improvisation
- AI and pedagogy
- AI and public discourse
Beth Wynstra is Associate Professor of English and Faculty Director of the Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching at Babson College. Beth teaches courses in Dramatic Literature, Theater History, Acting, and Public Speaking, and she regularly directs plays and musicals. Beth’s research interests include American drama, political theater, and gender studies, and her book Vows, Veils, and Masks: The Performance of Marriage in the Plays of Eugene O’Neill (University of Iowa Press, Theater History and Culture Series) was published in 2023. She regularly lectures and serves as a dramaturg or researcher at prominent regional and professional theaters across the U.S.
Recent publications
“The Heart/Roots Project and a Pandemic Pivot.” Journal of American Drama and Theater 35.2 (2023).
Vows, Veils, and Masks: The Performance of Marriage in the Plays of Eugene O’Neill. University of Iowa Press, Theater History and Culture Series (2023).
“From Page to Stage: Dramaturging the Female Voices of the Provincetown Players” in Teaching Modernist Women Writers in English. Modern Language Association of America (2021).
Faculty Profile
Xinghua Li
Associate Professor of Media Studies
Co-leader of The Generator’s AI Arts, Media & Performance Specialty Lab
“AI is the embodiment of the problem-solving mindset that has been dominating modern science, engineering, and industrial capitalism. This mindset had long prioritized productivity, efficiency, and surveillance over smallness, slowness, and introspection … Maybe instead of problem-solving, we should teach students to define problems, configure problems, and create problems. Be a problem creator, rather than a problem solver.”
AI research interests
- How NOT to use AI
- AI and the environment
- Global Comparative AI Cultures
Xinghua Li is Associate Professor of Media Studies at Babson College. She teaches courses on critical media theory, consumer culture, and environmental sustainability. Her research investigates the intersections of media, consumerism, and the environment under global capitalism, with an emphasis on cross-cultural, comparative, and historical analysis.
Recent publications
Li, X. (2026). “Moving Heavan and Earth: Visualizing Socialist Construction Campaigns in Mao-Era Propaganda Posters (1949-1978).” Advertising & Society Quarterly. Vol: 26, Issue: 4. Duke University.
Li, X., Thomas, K.D., Knight, C.N. (2026). “Global and International Introduction: What Can Maoist Propaganda Posters Teach Us About Sustainability Today?”. Vol: 26, Issue: 4. Advertising & Society Quarterly, Winter 2025.
Li, X. (2023). “The ‘Useless’ Sustainability: Chinese and American Discourses of Eco-Fashion and the Utilitarian Fantasy.” Recherches en Communication. Vol: 55, Page: 121-156. The Université catholique de Louvain.
Li, X. (2020). “Selling the ‘Wild’ in China: Ancient Values, Wilderness Histories, and the Quyeba Advertising Campaign: Green Communication and China: On Crisis, Care, and Global Futures.” Michigan State University Press.
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