Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work – Toni Morrison’s Atelier and the Importance of Artistic Convening and Collaboration

“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair.” – Toni Morrison. Princeton Professor, Emeritus, Toni Morrison taught that the measure of a nation is not in its monuments but in the stories it has the courage to face. To reckon with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is to reckon with freedom declared in words long before it was lived in practice, and to grapple with a history that has constantly faced erasure. A convening of artists, thinkers, and communities will collectively reflect on the unfinished work this anniversary makes so strikingly apparent. The Lewis Center’s Princeton Atelier and The Collaboratorium for Radical Aesthetics joins The Toni Morrison Foundation and the Park Avenue Armory to present a panel discussion reflecting on the power of artistic convening and collaboration as part of the on-going legacy of the Atelier’s founder, Toni Morrison. Moderated by Atelier Director Tina Campt and former Program Director for Arts and Culture at The Mellon Foundation Emil Kang, speakers include curator and choreographer Rashida Bumbray; Grammy Award-winning drummer, composer, producer, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington; founder of Kindred on the Rock, writer, and activist Staceyann Chin; MacArthur Fellow and movement artist Okwui Okpokwasili and her co-founder of Sweat Variant, director, composer and designer Peter Born; and Grammy Award-winning bassist, composer, and educator Esperanza Spalding.

Accessibility: The Wallace Theater is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are asked to contact the Lewis Center at LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week prior to the event date.