After a historic year-and-a-half hiatus, New York is reopening. Social gatherings are permitted. Tourism is back. And as of September 14, Broadway has reopened at full capacity. Things seem to be returning to normal. But is “back to normal” the future we want for performance?

Covid-19 has exacerbated the economic precarity, wealth inequality, sexism, and racism that have characterized infrastructures of the performing arts in New York City for decades. During the pandemic, we have been inundated with statements of solidarity from theaters and performing arts organizations, collectives, and venues, vowing to change, to do better, to stand for anti-racism, inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. Are these promises palliative or structural? How do we hold organizations accountable to real transformation? And help them to think through just what ‘real’ transformation should look like? What is being “reopened”? How? And for whom? The city also finds itself in the middle of mayoral and city council elections. Where does each candidate stand on the arts and their infrastructure?

The Drama, Theater, and Performing Studies Working Group invites you to an open symposium about the future of our city, the role of the performing arts and their supporting infrastructures, as we move forward in the face of collective healing, remembrance, and transformation.

This event is hybrid. Online: free & open to the public. In person at NYU Skirball: free and open to members of the NYU community with current campus access, with reduced capacity to accommodate NYU safety protocols. Masks, valid NYU ID, NYU Vax Pass, and vaccination are required for all attendees. More information is available at the RSVP link below.

Date + Time

About

Panel 1: Institutional Imagining 2-3PM

Melanie Joseph, Artistic Producer, The Foundry Theater
Eric Klinenberg, Professor and Director, Institute for Public Knowledge, NYU
April Matthis, Actor, AFROFEMONONOMY
Chris Myers, Founder, Anti-Capitalism for Artists

Respondent: Hillary Miller, Professor, Queens College

Panel 2: Labor / Equity 3-4PM

Shelley Attadgie, Attorney and Judicial Law Clerk, U.S. District Court Southern District of NY
Ximena Garnica, Choreographer and Organizer, Arts Workers Rally
Adam Krauthamer, President of Local 802, American Federation of Musicians
Ruth Milkman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and History, CUNY Graduate Center and Labor Studies Chair, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies

Respondent: Shonni Enelow, Professor, Fordham University

‘–

Trailer

The artists

Shelley Attadgie

Ximena Garnica

Melanie Joseph

Adam Krauthamer

Eric Klinenberg

April Matthis

Ruth Milkman

Hillary Miller

Shonni Enelow

Chris Myers

Support

Presented by NYU’s Drama, Theater & Performance Studies Working Group with support from NYU Skirball, Program in Dramatic Literature, Tisch Drama, & NYU Center for the Humanities.