🎨🔬 Introducing Leonardo Da Vinci

Join WCTE for a free film screening of the newest offering from Ken Burns, Leonardo Da Vinci.

When: Nov. 12th @ 6 p.m. 

Where: CPAC (Cookeville Performing Arts Center) 

Immediately following the film, we will hold a panel discussion with experts in art history to provide further context to the information presented. This enlightening event will also be free and open to the public.

This film will tell the story of a fifteenth century Italian polymath of soaring imagination and profound intellect, who left behind artistic works of staggering beauty and detailed sketches of futuristic contraptions of warfare and flight that today are marveled at for their technical ingenuity and foresight.

Set against a rich and dynamic backdrop of Renaissance Italy, at a time of skepticism and free-thinking, regional war and religious upheaval, Leonardo da Vinci will bring Leonardo and his towering achievements to life through his voluminous personal notebooks, primary and secondary accounts of his life and times, and on-camera interviews with modern scholars, artists, engineers, inventors and admirers.

Directed and produced by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon, written by David McMahon and Sarah Burns, and executive produced by Ken Burns, Leonardo da Vinci is slated for broadcast November 18-19, 2024 on PBS (4 hours).

These events are funded through a $15,000 grant WCTE has been awarded from WETA. 

As students return to the classroom in the fall, we will be holding an art contest for middle and high schools across our region.  Students are hard at work on pieces that explore the art and inspirations of Leonardo da Vinci. We will be awarding cash prizes to five students at both the middle and high school levels, funded by the grant. The art will be on display in WCTE's lobby gallery starting in December. 

In September, we stepped into the world of the brilliant Leonardo da Vinci and unleashed our creativity with fun art and STEM activities designed to inspire minds of all ages. Plus, Stations of Imagination guests had a chance to meet the legendary Leonardo himself! Everyone enjoyed this unique, interactive experience! It was truly a day of discovery, creativity, and fun at the Leonardo Learning Workshop—where art and science came to life!

LEONARDO da VINCI, a new, two-part, four-hour documentary directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon will air Nov. 18 and 19, at 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS App.

The film, which explores the life and work of the 15^th century polymath Leonardo da Vinci, is Burns’s first non-American subject. It also marks a significant change in the team’s filmmaking style, which includes using split screens with images, video and sound from different periods to further contextualize Leonardo’s art and scientific explorations. LEONARDO da VINCI looks at how the artist influenced and inspired future generations, and it finds in his soaring imagination and profound intellect the foundation for a conversation we are still having today: what is our relationship with nature and what does it mean to be human.