Dejha Carrington Artist-Scholar in Residence Welcome Reception Join the Center for Black Visual Culture as we welcome Dejha Carrington, CBVC’s 2026–27 Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, for a celebratory reception marking the start of her fellowship. Carrington is an arts leader and co-founder of Commissioner, a collaborative model and social practice that brings locals together to support contemporary artists and collect art in their cities. Come welcome Dejha to CBVC as she begins a residency dedicated to storytelling, process, and meaning-making in the arts. Dejha Carrington is an arts leader and cultural practitioner. In 2017, she cofounded Commissioner, an innovative membership model and social practice that brings locals together to support contemporary artists and collect art in their cities. As Executive Director, she has cultivated an inclusive community that has collectively funded over 50 curated artist commissions in ...

TCB – the Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing Film Screening Join the Center for Black Visual Culture as welcome filmmaker Louis Massiah for a screening a conversation on TCB - The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing. This program is co-sponsored by Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora and NYU Arts & Science Department of English.TCB - The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing (2025, 105 minutes) is a biography of the influential writer, filmmaker and cultural worker, who with humor and deep insight, inspired a generation of artists to dedicate themselves to community empowerment. The film is structured as a series of lessons on cultural organizing, gleaned from Bambara’s life and shared by her friends, colleagues and students. Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995) was a writer, documentary filmmaker, and activist whose groundbreaking works, including The Black Woman (1970), Gorilla, My Love (1972), and The S...

#IWonderU40 Prince Symposium Join us on April 17–19, 2026 (Friday–Sunday) for #IWonderU40, a *HYBRID* Prince symposium. This is a very special one this year, commemorating two landmark anniversaries: ten years since Prince's passing and forty years since his visionary 1986 releases, the Parade album and his second narrative film Under the Cherry Moon. Save the dates and pre-register now at https://iwonderu40.substack.com. The speaker and schedule at a glance are on the symposium website,  https://iwonderu.polishedsolid.com. This will be our first hybrid symposium, designed to support both our international and local community. Friday • Fully virtual on Zoom Events + YouTube to accommodate our global audience. Saturday and Sunday • In person at NYU Tandon in Brooklyn at 370 Jay St., where we previously celebrated #EroticCity40. The in-person sessions will be livestreamed and posted later on YouTube and/or Vimeo. MASSIVE THANKS t...

Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America The Center for Black Visual Culture and the Asian Pacific American Institute welcome author Jeff Chang and cultural critic Bakari Kitwana to discuss Chang’s new publication Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America. This conversation will be followed by a book signing, where copies will be available for purchase.As the best-known martial artist and one of the most celebrated action stars ever, Bruce Lee is a global icon. He symbolizes swagger, strength, and the unbeatable spirit of the underdog. But in more than fifty years since his untimely death at age thirty-two, the legend has eclipsed the real man. During his lifetime, Bruce fought to be seen—from Hong Kong to Hollywood, Asian tenements to American ghettos, the lonely garret to the international screen. He emerged as a star in an era when Asian Americans were fighting against exclusion and invisib...

Hand Book: A Manual on Performance, Process, and the Labor of Laundry A book launch for Hand Book: A Manual on Performance, Process, and the Labor of Laundry (2025, Punctum) + film, The Washing Society (45 min) A book launch for Hand Book: A Manual on Performance, Process, and the Labor of Laundry (2025, Punctum Books) is a collection of writings and images from a performance and film set within a neighborhood laundromat, a microcosm of service work within our urban reality. With a focus on the people who are paid to wash and fold, Hand Book explores the convergence of dirt, stains, money, identity, and desire. Informed by both theory and history, filmmaker-poet Lynne Sachs and playwright Lizzie Olesker construct a model for making a site-specific work incorporating both live performance and film. A short performance by Jasmine Holloway and screening of the experimental film, The Washing Society (45 min), made in parallel with the book,...