The Black Arts Dialogues (BAD) is curated by prize-winning author, New York Times Best-Seller and Oprah Winfrey Book Club novelist, Ayana Mathis. This program features a series of one-on-one conversations between Mathis and distinguished Black artists of various disciplines. From musicians to visual artists, filmmakers to fashion designers, actors to dancers, the Dialogues celebrate Black artists as thought leaders and culture makers who shape history, society, and aesthetics. BAD is a venue for artists to talk about their creative process, challenges, and goals, all within the larger context of Black art as a profound force in the US and around the world. The series will be accessible to audiences at Columbia and the public at large.
This is an Online Event . Pre-registration required. Registation link below.
https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L4Z1WUxzSCO6s4swn2uC7A
Ayana Mathis, Curator -Black Arts Dialogues received her MFA at the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she became the first African-American woman to hold the position of Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing. Mathis’s first novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Knopf, 2012), was a New York Times Bestseller, a 2013 New York Times Notable Book, NPR Best Book of 2013, and second selection for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 and was long listed for the Dublin Literary Award and nominated for Hurston/Wright Foundation's Legacy Award. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, The New York Times T Magazine and Guernica, among others. She is the recipient of fellowships from the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and Bogliasco Foundation. She is a 2020-2021 American Academy in Berlin Prize Fellow. Her second novel, A Violent Woman, is forthcoming with Knopf.
Jason Moran, Pianist, composer, and artist- Jason Moran was born in Houston, TX in 1975. He earned a degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Jaki Byard. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2010 and is currently the Artistic Director for Jazz at The Kennedy Center. His activity stretches beyond the 15 critically acclaimed solo recordings. His 21-year relationship with his trio The Bandwagon (with drummer Nasheet Waits and bassist Tarus Mateen) has resulted in a profound discography for Blue Note Records and Yes Records, a label he co-owns with his wife, singer and composer Alicia Hall Moran. Moran keeps a close relationship with music and activism, culminating in his film scoring with director Ava DuVernay on SELMA and 13th. His groundbreaking multimedia tributes to Thelonious Monk, Fats Waller, and James Reese Europe have shifted the jazz performance paradigm. Moran currently teaches at the New England Conservatory.
