What began as a desire to share the Big Ears Festival with students has turned into a semester-long course that remains a student favorite three years later. The Big Ears class, otherwise known as ENGL 475, is the brainchild of Urmila Seshagiri and includes weekly meetings plus coveted passes to the popular international music and cultural festival begun by Ashley Capps in 2009. Professor Seshagiri has taught the course for the Big Ears 2024, 2025, and 2026 festivals, with plans to continue.
The Big Ears Festival is the crown jewel of Knoxville’s cultural offerings. A four-day festival featuring more than 200 performances and attracting 30,000 visitors from around the U.S. and the world, Big Ears immerses audiences in genre-defying music as well as dance, literature, film, and visual arts.
Urmila Seshagiri has always regarded Big Ears as a perfect experience for university students. The festival is off campus but in town; international but regional; artistically stratospheric but entirely welcoming; historical but contemporary; cerebral but fun. To see a creatively curated lineup of world-class artists perform in downtown Knoxville’s multiple venues is life-changing, and Professor Seshagiri is honored to be able to introduce students to this extraordinary festival.
