Eight Schools, One University
Join New School President Bob Kerrey, Provost Benjamin Lee, students, and professors and discover how The New School is preparing its students for the challenges of the 21st Century. It's not enough to have an idea. Students in each of the eight schools—whether they’re incoming freshmen or doctoral candidates—are taught to devise and design real-world solutions. Theory and practice come together in the classroom as students tackle problems through critical thinking and then implement their ideas. From writers to environmentalists, urban planners to musicians, economists to fashion designers, students graduate ready to make a difference in their chosen fields.
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Students in Parsons' Communication Design and Technology (CDT) department learn to use the power of cutting-edge technologies to break through the boundaries of traditional design. Hear several CDT students and department chair Colleen Macklin discuss the merits of the program, the creative freedom it encourages, and the use of Apple technology to turn artistic visions into virtual reality.
Two Masters in Musical Theater at The New School for Drama
During The New School for Drama’s three-week Summer Music Theater Immersion Experience, some of Broadways biggest stars lead master classes and impart their experience and knowledge to aspiring musical theater performers. Here, award-winning actor and clown Bill Irwin (Fool Moon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) shows how to relate story and character through movement. Michael Cerveris (Tony Award winner for Assassins and Tony nominee for Sweeney Todd) works one-on-one with two students on performances of “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “Dear World.” Other artists who have given master classes include Wayne Cilento, Judy Kuhn, Donna McKechnie, Denis O'Hare, Michele Pawk, and Christopher Sieber.
The Jazz Singer
Becca Stevens ('07) ended her career at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music with this live performance of her original song “I Forgive You,” part of her senior recital in May 2007. A talented vocalist, composer, and classical guitarist, Stevens frequently performs around New York City with the Becca Stevens Band. She is one of many young jazz stars who got their start at The New School.
Hipsters on the Hudson
Urban recreation gets an eco-makeover when a few L train kids bring their waterfront exuberance from Brooklyn to Manhattan, building a boat in a Union Square storefront and launching it on the Hudson River. In this film by media studies alumnus Fabian Freire, undergrads from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts are shown constructing a 26-foot wooden wonder from scratch and taking it out for a spin on a sunny day in spring 2007. Dressed for the outdoors, these Lang students also aced a few courses in self-deprecation. They called their boat Quixotic, but managed to get it afloat. The project was part of a new course sequence called Lang on the Hudson, developed by New York harbor enthusiast Rob Buchanan.
Thoughtful Travelogue: Exploring Democracy in South Africa
Often study abroad programs emphasize the opportunity to travel to an exciting destination rather than the actual learning experience, but not at Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts. Lang undergraduates go to politically turbulent places like Cape Town, South Africa, to become intellectual activists. Here you watch them participate in high-level seminars and master classes with scholars and representatives of leading NGOs and grassroots organizations.
Performing Martha Graham at Eugene Lang College
In 2006, a group of Lang students were given a remarkable opportunity: to dance under the direction of Yuriko Kikuchi, former soloist and rehearsal director for Martha Graham. In this rehearsal, Yuriko helps students understand the emotions as well as the complex choreography of “Steps in the Street,” an excerpt from Martha Graham’s work Chronicle, which premiered in 1936. In addition to rehearsing with Yuriko, students studied the Martha Graham technique and influences on Graham’s work with Ellen Graff, director of programs at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. “Steps in the Street” was performed in the 2006 Lang Spring Dance Concert.
Will the Real Spacemonkey Please Stand Up? A film by Eric Hopper, Media Studies
In your dreams, you are a rocketboy in search of your errant spacemonkey. You wake to find him right next to you in bed, so your mission is accomplished. Or is it? Eric Hopper, a media studies alumnus who directed the film, enlisted his son Jack as both narrator and protagonist of this animated short, a creepy dream-versus-reality vignette set against the backdrop of outer space, complete with NASA countdown overdubs and spliced vintage footage of space launches. In the sequel, Nobody’s Monkey, the story is retold from the monkey’s point of view. He complains that he is just an object, something the rocketboy likes to jerk around, not his real friend. He wants to be left alone, he wants to be free. But still the monkey asks: Is this real, or am I dreaming?
The Image Maker: A Life Devoted to What Looks Good. A film by Helen Pearson, Media Studies
Decades ago, Connie De Nave, a no-nonsense Brooklyn native, was a press agent who helped package the Beatles and the Rolling Stones for a mass audience, creating the signature look of tousled glamour made famous in photo spreads and on album covers. The company she founded, the Image Makers, secured privileged spots for her acts in the annals of rock. This 2005 film by Helen Pearson, a media studies alumna, is an engaging portrait of this intriguing woman in more recent years. Connie became a costume and antique jewelry seller—a jewel diva living a quieter but still rocking life.
A Stickball Game Grows in Brooklyn. A film by Media Studies alumni
In South Park Slope, stickball is a cherished tradition. This neighborhood which is slowly being gentrified is home to men who have gone to bat on the same block—12th Street and Third Avenue—for decades. This captivating black-and-white film, shot in late summer 2006 by media studies alumni Ted Fisher, Iris Lee, and Maya Mumma, offers an intimate portrait of the game and the unique brotherhood it forges among the players.
Together We Win: The Fight to Organize Starbucks
Labor organizers have always used rallying cries to mobilize workers and win support for union campaigns. Think of the AFL-CIO's slogan “from the people who brought you the weekend.” Starbucks organizers, whose efforts are sympathetically chronicled by media studies alumna Diane Krauthamer in this 2006 film, have updated the slogan to “from the people who brought you better pay and more hours.” Several baristas from New York City describe their fight against mandatory part-time schedules, workplace discrimination, poverty wages, and inadequate healthcare coverage, a battle they ultimately won.
The New Face of Parsons
Take a virtual tour of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, designed by Lyn Rice Architects, which is set to open in 2008. Funded in part by a $7 million donation from philanthropist and New School trustee Sheila C. Johnson, the 25,000-square-foot complex will create a new public face for the school at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 13th Street. The center will house an innovative urban quad, state-of-the-art galleries, lecture and meeting spaces, a design store, and the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Archives, an important collection documenting 20th-century design.
A Conversation with Bob Kerrey, Part 1
New School President Bob Kerrey talks to three students from different departments of the university about their academic interests and discusses prospects for collaboration between departments. Nada Abshir studied at the graduate program in International Affairs and wrote her thesis on the use of hip-hop by youth in urban Africa as a tool to promote urban development. Kate Emerman studied voice in the Bachelor of Music program at Mannes and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in vocal performance there. Lee Clayton studied product design and design technology at Parsons The New School for Design.
A Conversation with Bob Kerrey, Part 2
President Kerrey continues his discussion of the challenges and possibilities of interdisciplinary collaboration at The New School with three students from different departments. Nicole Pontes studied sociology in the PhD program at The New School for Social Research. Gordon Burke studied in the Science, Technology, and Society and Urban Studies programs at Lang, and did research on Type II diabetes in New York City. Carolina Cruz Santiago studied documentary film in the Media Studies department; the first film she directed, Aloha New York, debuted at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
Big Ideas, Big Gifts, Big Impact
Milano The New School for Management and Urban Planning hosts its second panel discussion on philanthropy, Big Ideas, Big Gifts, Big Impact: A Conversation with Today's Philanthropists. The panel features Agnes Gund, founder of the Studio in a School Association and president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art; George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management; Evelyn Lauder, senior corporate vice president of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. and founder and chairman of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation; and Alphonse Buddy Fletcher, Jr., chairman and CEO of Fletcher Asset Management, Inc. The four panelists, representing an array of philanthropic endeavors, discuss the motivation for giving and accountability in nonprofit organizations.
The Constitution in Crisis
In the third lecture of a four-part series, Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, speaks on the U.S. Constitution in relation to war and the social contract. The series, The Constitution in Crisis, is moderated by Sam Haselby, visiting professor, and cosponsored by the Leonard and Louise Riggio Writing and Democracy Program, The New School Writing Program, and Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, is designed to deepen public understanding of this charter document of the United States. Three of the country's leading scholars of law, history, and literature and an outstanding human rights activist will address the topic.
Jazz Matters
Jazz Matters is a series hosted by The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and moderated by Howard Mandel (Down Beat, National Public Radio, New York University). Here a panel consisting of pianist Robert Glasper, Revive Da Live producer Meghan Stabile, and author, journalist, and guitarist Greg Tate discuss the interplay between hip-hop, jazz, and Black rock.
Illustration Today
Illustration today is at a crossroads: Traditional forms of editorial illustration are being reinvented or giving way to new modes of expression. In this symposium, presented by Parsons The New School for Design and the Department of Illustration, more than two- dozen leading practitioners engage in spirited discussions on a range of topics. Steven Guarnaccia, Parsons Illustration Department Chair and former New York Times art director, and Dan Nadel, Parsons Illustration Department assistant professor and publisher of The Ganzfeld, moderate.
Freedom Next Time: An Evening with John Pilger and Amy Goodman
Award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger, author of Freedom Next Time: Resisting the Empire, and Amy Goodman, host of the Pacifica radio show Democracy Now! and author of Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders and the People Who Fight Back, discuss people’s struggles for freedom in such places as Iraq, Palestine, South Africa, and Diego Garcia, where the dream of independence has yet to be realized.
Democratization and the Networked Public Sphere
Over the past ten years, participatory Web-based technologies have transformed the public sphere. As part of its series The Public Domain, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School presents a panel discussion on the democratizing potential of the Internet. The speakers examine the growth in political participation spurred by weblogs and wikis, which enable anyone with access to a computer to post news and commentary; the use of Web-based platforms for artistic expression; and mobile wireless devices as tools to facilitate political organizing. The discussion is moderated by media artist Trebor Scholz, and features panelists Danah Boyd, PhD candidate at the School of Information at the University of California in Berkeley and graduate fellow, Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California; and Ethan Zuckerman, research fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School.
An Evening with Choreographer, Director, and Artist Ralph Lemon
Choreographer, director, and multimedia artist Ralph Lemon, visiting artist at Eugene Lang The New School for Liberal Arts, discusses his creative process and recent interdisciplinary work, including Practice of Form, his series of student workshops at Lang. He also discusses his first solo exhibition (the efflorescence of) Walter, a series of drawings, paintings, and video works that explore the themes of memory and transcendence.
An Evening with Playwright John Patrick Shanley
John Patrick Shanley, author of the plays Doubt and Four Dogs and a Bone and the screenplay for Moonstruck, speaks with New School for Drama director Robert LuPone about his development as a playwright and his experience directing his own work. Shanley received the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play for Doubt, and was the distinguished artist in residence at The New School for Drama for the 2006-07 school year.
Sustainability and Environmental Justice
Majora Carter, executive director and founder of Sustainable South Bronx (SSB) and MacArthur Fellow, discusses sustainability and environmental justice at the annual Michael Kalil Lecture on Natural and Technological Systems, sponsored by The Michael Kalil Endowment for Smart Design in the Department of Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting at Parsons The New School for Design, and the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School.
What is Design?
As the institution that launched the country’s first programs in interior and fashion design over 100 years ago, Parsons has always had a strong legacy to live up to. Listen as Parsons Dean Tim Marshall talks about how the school continues to meet that challenge with a cutting-edge curriculum that pushes students to redefine their role as designers in the global community.
Who Are You Wearing?
This lecture, presented by Parsons The New School for Design and The New School for Social Research, features fashion scholar Elizabeth Wilson and Arjun Appadurai, John Dewey Distinguished Professor in the Social Sciences at The New School for Social Research, discussing fashion as social phenomenon and as material object. This lecture was part of a series, Fashion and the Social Sciences, created to open up a dialogue between major figures in design and the social sciences.
The Writer's City
Writing Program director Robert Polito discusses the school's
literary legacy
Drawing on the university's longstanding tradition of training public intellectuals, the New School's Writing Program stresses the writer's role as a citizen. Listen as program director Robert Polito talks about the university's proud literary history, its commitment to civic engagement, and the unparalleled opportunities the program provides to learn and grow in this city of writers.
Kuku the Emotional Robot. An animated short by Munish Dabas, Design & Technology An inventor tries to beat the clock in this animated short about the nature of man and machine
With a competition deadline drawing near, an inventor struggles to perfect his creation–Kuku, a robot capable of expressing emotions. Trouble lurks around every turn as the inventor strives to complete his labor of love. The thesis project of Munish Dabas (MFA Design & Technology '04), Kuku The Emotional Robot tells the touching tale of a man and his creation, showcasing the animation skills that students employ to bring stories to life.
