Seminar

At the Vera List Center, we develop our programs over two-year cycles. We identify a topic of particular urgency and broad resonance and then bring together artists, scholars, activists, public intellectuals, and political and cultural leaders to discuss and explore thematic issues in depth.
Post Democracy is our 2015-2017 theme – one that turned out to be even more relevant than we could have predicted when it was announced last year. We are excited to share a few programmatic highlights related to our exploration of this most timely theme:

* Vera List Center Fellows Casey Gollan & Victoria Sobel are working on a project that explores alternative models of student governance, transparency, and accountability in higher education, informed by debates on student debt raging nation-wide. Fellow Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s work explores the role of voice in law and the politics of listening. The conference he’s developing in collaboration with students and faculty is tentatively entitled “Lie Back.”
* Indigenous New York is a public seminar series on sovereignty that brings together Native American artists, critics and curators with their peers from First Nations in Canada, Maori in New Zealand and Aborigines in Australia. This ongoing initiative is developed with artist Alan Michelson (Mohawk) and supported by the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, among others.
* In collaboration with The New School’s Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, Mobility in Post Democracy is a public seminar series examining political organizing beyond the nation state.

The New School is our generous intellectual home. But none of this work would be possible without support from our donors. Please consider making an end-of-year gift supporting the full spectrum of Vera List Center for Art and Politics programs. Your tax-deductible donation goes directly to supporting our programs and is one of the most immediate and meaningful ways that you can ensure the continued excellence and relevance our programs.

In this moment of complex, challenging, and often emotionally fraught political and social discourse, our work has never been more important. The Vera List Center supports artists who are carving out new areas and forms of political engagement for all of us. Our programs catalyze deep cultural exchanges among different communities; we teach and learn in and with the public; and we listen to those who are different from us.

We look forward to seeing you at Vera List Center programs throughout the coming year.