The Toni Morrison Foundation, Park Avenue Armory in New York City, and the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Princeton Atelier and The Collaboratorium for Radical Aesthetics at Princeton University will present the panel discussion, Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work, Toni Morrison’s Atelier and the Importance of Artistic Convening and Collaboration on March 27 at 4:30 p.m. in the Wallace Theater at Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton campus. The event is free and open to the public; a limited number of tickets are available through University Ticketing. Part of an ongoing convening of artists, thought leaders, and communities inspired by both Morrison’s belief that in challenging times artists must go to work and the timestamp of America’s 250th anniversary, the panel will grapple with the urgent challenge Morrison articulated so presciently years ago: that independence, proclaimed in 1776, can only survive through interdependence—the ongoing collaborative work of relation, care, and creation. Private discussions and public programming will continue the following day hosted by the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Park Avenue Armory. The Wallace Theater is an accessible venue with an assistive listening system. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week prior to the event date.
The panel is presented as part of a series of convenings organized by Avery Willis Hoffman, artistic advisor for The Toni Morrison Foundation and the Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director of Court Theatre at University of Chicago; Tavia Nyong’o, curator of public programming at the Park Avenue Armory; and Tina Campt, director of the Princeton Atelier and Princeton’s Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities in the Program in Visual Arts and the Department of Art and Archaeology.
Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, Princeton’s Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus. Photo credit: Lewis Center for the Arts Archives
The project takes inspiration from Toni Morrison’s oft-cited quote: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair.” Morrison (1931-2019) was Princeton’s Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus. While on faculty in Princeton’s Creative Writing and African American Studies programs (1989-2006), Morrison created the Princeton Atelier in 1994 inspired by her own collaborations with artists in other disciplines. The Atelier remains committed to the mutually generative forms of inspiration that emerge out of vibrant artistic and intellectual exchanges.
“Morrison taught that the measure of a nation is not in its monuments but in the stories it has the courage to face,” note the organizers. “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. In the face of all the forces daunting the spirit, a convening of artists, thinkers, and communities will collectively reflect on the unfinished work this anniversary makes so strikingly apparent.”
Moderated by Campt and former Program Director for Arts and Culture at The Mellon Foundation Emil Kang, panelists on March 27 include curator and choreographer Rashida Bumbray; Grammy Award-winning drummer, composer, producer, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington; founder of Kindred on the Rock, spoken-word poet 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.
Following the public panel on March 27 at Princeton, the convening will continue the next day at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. On the evening of March 28, the public is invited to join the working group at the Armory for a conversation with Staceyann Chin and Esperanza Spalding, and a concert performance by Toshi Reagon, acclaimed musician, composer, singer, curator, producer, and Princeton Atelier alum. Tickets for the March 28 events are available through the Armory box office.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the Princeton Atelier, the Lewis Center for the Arts, and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, lectures, and special events presented by the Lewis Center each year, most of them free.
About the Toni Morrison Foundation
The Toni Morrison Foundation believes that art is not a luxury—it is essential to our survival, our identity, and our collective future. For over 30 years, the foundation has been dedicated to uplifting artists, writers, and creatives, ensuring that their voices are not only heard but celebrated. Inspired by Morrison’s profound legacy, we provide resources, platforms, and opportunities that empower creatives to tell their stories, push boundaries, and leave a lasting impact. Through exhibitions, literary initiatives, and cultural collaborations, we cultivate a world where art continues to thrive—because without it, we lose not only expression but the very essence of what makes us human.
About the Princeton Atelier
Part studio course, part intensive workshop, the Princeton Atelier is above all an experiment in thinking and making, teaching and collaboration. It is an incubator for artistic imagination that draws on the expertise of professional artists from different disciplines who come together to collaboratively create new work. A painter might team up with a composer, a choreographer might join with an electrical engineer, a company of theater artists might engage with environmental scientists, or a poet might connect with a pianist. Using the classroom as a site of inspiration and experimentation, Atelier courses are designed to give students firsthand experience in what it means to draw from different mediums and approaches to create art together. Using the strength of the respective practices, experiences, and methods of an array of artists, each course challenges students to develop their own creative skills in collaboration with others.
About Public Programming at the Armory
Park Avenue Armory’s Public Programming series brings diverse artists and cultural thought-leaders together for discussion and performance around the important issues of our time viewed through an artistic lens. Launched in 2016, the series encompasses a variety of programs including large-scale community events; multi-day symposia; intimate salons featuring performances, panels, and discussions; Artist Talks in relation to the Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall programming; and other creative interventions.
