EPISODE 8 PART 2

Visual artists Rachel Summer Cheong and Alistair Debling dive deep into how their identities and philosophies have transformed with the pandemic and use of social media. They playfully touch on the ‘artist’ label, external validation, and authenticity.

Rachel Summer Cheong is a misanthropic art gremlin and entrepreneur living in Austin, Texas. She highly recommends art as a covert way of making friends as an adult. She has an A.B. in the History of Art and Architecture and also (for some reason) a J.D. Plus, a small dachshund.

With an experimental approach to form, Alistair Debling’s practice encompasses a broad range of time-based media, from video installation and live performance to alternative eco-film processes and AI-generated imagery. Though his work investigates diverse fields, from queer nightlife and ecology to the military-industrial-complex and its architectures, he is continually drawn to the question of what it means to survive. His work has been presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Hauser and Wirth (Somerset) and the National Theatre of Great Britain (London).

This podcast is presented in partnership with the Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Harvard Alumni Association. Learn more at 16artists.com

Thank you to Jenny M Ng for helping to edit this episode.

EPISODE 8 PART 1

Visual artists Rachel Summer Cheong and Alistair Debling dive deep into how their identities and philosophies have transformed with the pandemic and use of social media. They playfully touch on the ‘artist’ label, external validation, and authenticity.

Rachel Summer Cheong is a misanthropic art gremlin and entrepreneur living in Austin, Texas. She highly recommends art as a covert way of making friends as an adult. She has an A.B. in the History of Art and Architecture and also (for some reason) a J.D. Plus, a small dachshund.

With an experimental approach to form, Alistair Debling’s practice encompasses a broad range of time-based media, from video installation and live performance to alternative eco-film processes and AI-generated imagery. Though his work investigates diverse fields, from queer nightlife and ecology to the military-industrial-complex and its architectures, he is continually drawn to the question of what it means to survive. His work has been presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Hauser and Wirth (Somerset) and the National Theatre of Great Britain (London).

This podcast is presented in partnership with the Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Harvard Alumni Association. Learn more at 16artists.com

Thank you to Jenny M Ng for helping to edit this episode.

Part 2 of Episode 7. Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence and Karoline Xu open up about surviving in racial capitalism and the human need to express one’s truth. These filmmakers of color discuss trauma and solidarity in light of recent and unending atrocities.

Karoline is an actor, writer, and filmmaker. She studied English at Harvard and acting at Atlantic Acting School and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Off-Broadway: The Hard Problem at Lincoln Center Theater, and the world premiere of [Veil Widow Conspiracy] at Next Door @ NYTW, for which The New York Times singled her out as “terrific.” TV/FILM: Lincoln (NBC), Evil (CBS), PIPPI, Kiss (Means of Production), Softee’s “Oh No.” Her screenwriting has been a finalist of Outfest, Orchard Project, The Future of Film is Female, and WAVE Grant. Her short film PIPPI won the Audience Award at the Dallas International Film Festival. karolinexu.com

Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence is a writer-director hailing from Washington, DC and Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Raised in a family of activists, critical race theorists, and freedom fighters, she has always been drawn to storytelling as a means to building a new world. After working in theater in New York, Kimiko transitioned to television and film, writing for TV shows TWENTIES and BOOMERANG. Her past work includes the plays Holding: A Queer Black Love Story; Black Magic; and I, Too, Am Harvard (also a viral photo campaign). Most recently, Kimiko produced the short film little trumpet, set to premiere in Spring 2022.

This podcast is presented in partnership with the Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Harvard Alumni Association. Learn more at 16artists.com

Thank you to Jenny M Ng for helping to edit this episode.

Part 1 of Episode 7. Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence and Karoline Xu open up about surviving in racial capitalism and the human need to express one’s truth. These filmmakers of color discuss trauma and solidarity in light of recent and unending atrocities.

Karoline is an actor, writer, and filmmaker. She studied English at Harvard and acting at Atlantic Acting School and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Off-Broadway: The Hard Problem at Lincoln Center Theater, and the world premiere of [Veil Widow Conspiracy] at Next Door @ NYTW, for which The New York Times singled her out as “terrific.” TV/FILM: Lincoln (NBC), Evil (CBS), PIPPI, Kiss (Means of Production), Softee’s “Oh No.” Her screenwriting has been a finalist of Outfest, Orchard Project, The Future of Film is Female, and WAVE Grant. Her short film PIPPI won the Audience Award at the Dallas International Film Festival. karolinexu.com

Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence is a writer-director hailing from Washington, DC and Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Raised in a family of activists, critical race theorists, and freedom fighters, she has always been drawn to storytelling as a means to building a new world. After working in theater in New York, Kimiko transitioned to television and film, writing for TV shows TWENTIES and BOOMERANG. Her past work includes the plays Holding: A Queer Black Love Story; Black Magic; and I, Too, Am Harvard (also a viral photo campaign). Most recently, Kimiko produced the short film little trumpet, set to premiere in Spring 2022.

This podcast is presented in partnership with the Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Harvard Alumni Association. Learn more at 16artists.com

Thank you to Jenny M Ng for helping to edit this episode.

Music director Isaac Alter and music educator Rose Whitcomb give insight to how the pandemic halted the theatre world and further stunted the existing struggle of student access to arts education. They discuss the varied ways our society can appreciate music and how citizen-artists can shape the next generation’s experience of the performing arts.

Isaac is a freelance pianist and conductor in New York. He has performed for Frozen, Dear Evan Hansen, King Kong, Wicked, and Moulin Rouge on Broadway, and served on the development teams for Waitress, The Great Comet of 1812, and Frozen. He also has worked on many workshops and readings for new musicals. Since the pandemic began, he has worked as a research associate at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Rose is a musician and educator in the greater Boston area. She has taught general music in Everett Public Schools for 3 years, currently working at two different schools for grades K-12. She also teaches enrichment piano classes at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School in Cambridge, MA. Rose graduated with a Master’s in Music Education from Boston University this spring.

This podcast is presented in partnership with the Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Harvard Alumni Association. Learn more at 16artists.com

Parsing intertextual memes; learning on the job with Cynthia Erivo and Issa Rae; collectively centering Black stories in entertainment --  these are some of the experiences GRAMMY- and Oscar-nominated composer/singer Joshuah Brian Campbell and HBO television writer Eli Wilson Pelton cover in their conversation.

JOSHUAH BRIAN CAMPBELL is a singer, composer, songwriter, ministry worker and actor from Cheraw, South Carolina. He is the co-writer, along with Cynthia Erivo, of the Grammy and Oscar-nominated and World Soundtrack Award-winning “Stand Up” (performed by Cynthia Erivo and produced by William Wells and Gabe Fox-Peck '20). Joshuah grew up groomed by Southern Black gospel traditions, and this grounding serves as his vantage point to all the music he performs and composes. He's finishing a master of divinity at Union Theological Seminary (NYC) in May 2021, where he does work in Hebrew and Greek translation, Christian/faith education, biblical interpretation, and Black religious studies.

Recovering from Lil Nas X's MONTERO music video; storytelling to bring invisible lives into focus; illustrating Indian boarding schools to process intergenerational trauma: these are some of the topics covered in part 2 of our conversation with artist-activists Susan Bin and Ekoo Beck.

Susan Bin, the inaugural Women in Animation Scholar, and her work have  been featured in books, film, TV, and video games. She has exhibited her  art domestically and internationally and serves as a local community  liaison for DFW-area artists with organizations like the Crow Museum of  Asian Art, Kinokuniya, and the Dallas Public Library, among others. She  mainly works in cinema with an interest in horror and queer themes, and  continues to work on projects dedicated to opening up new tributaries of  storytelling and talent.

Iko'tsimiskimaki “Ekoo” Beck is a Community Organizer at Montana  Women Vote, an organization that works to uplift the voices of  low-income Montanan's through advocacy, civic engagement, and policy  change. Ekoo grew up in Missoula, the settler occupied homelands of the  Bitterroot Salish, and graduated with an A.B. in Social Studies. Ekoo's  current artistic endeavors include a drawing project on Indian Boarding  Schools in Montana, a mural installation with other Indigenous artists  of Missoula, and lots of beading. They are an enrolled descendent of the  Blackfeet Nation, are a member of the Little Shell Chippewa (Red River  Métis) and are German American.

Artist-activists Ekoo Beck and Susan Bin debrief us on Drag Race's double-edge, the role of art in resistance, and a mural in Missoula celebrating Blackfeet botanical approaches to reproductive care.

Iko'tsimiskimaki “Ekoo” Beck is a Community Organizer at Montana Women Vote, an organization that works to uplift the voices of low-income Montanan's through advocacy, civic engagement, and policy change. Ekoo grew up in Missoula, the settler occupied homelands of the Bitterroot Salish, and graduated with an A.B. in Social Studies. Ekoo's current artistic endeavors include a drawing project on Indian Boarding Schools in Montana, a mural installation with other Indigenous artists of Missoula, and lots of beading. They are an enrolled descendent of the Blackfeet Nation, are a member of the Little Shell Chippewa (Red River Métis) and are German American.

Dance artist Javi Aranzales and filmmaker Jumai Yusuf discuss synergy between art and science, the egocentricity of international development, and practical tips for artists who are just starting out. 

Jumai Yusuf is a MFA student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Winner of the 2020 Student Academy Award in the Experimental/Alternative category, she integrates her passion about genre filmmaking (sci-fi, fantasy, horror) with her aspiration to bring the stories and characters of underrepresented minorities to the screen. 

Javi Aranzales is a dance artist based in Nairobi, Kenya, who works to empower at-risk youth and bridge cultural gaps through dance & education. He has previously worked with young people in slum cities of and refugee camps in Rwanda. 

16 Artists is presented in partnership with the Office for the Arts at Harvard.

As part of our virtual college reunion, I will be talking to sixteen of my former college classmates who dove into uncertainty to chase their dreams. We talk about their creative paths since graduation, their visions for the future, anything that comes up in between. 

These conversations are for anyone who wonders about how to balance work and life with their creative passion. Our hope is to demystify life in the arts and nourish your creative spirit. 

Learn more at 16artists.com

Filmmaker Jumai Yusuf and dance artist Javi Aranzales discuss the metaverse, Muslims in Hollywood, and the future-facing media collective Afro-bubblegum. 

Jumai Yusuf is a MFA student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Winner of the 2020 Student Academy Award in the Experimental/Alternative category, she integrates her passion about genre filmmaking (sci-fi, fantasy, horror) with her aspiration to bring the stories and characters of underrepresented minorities to the screen. 

Javi Aranzales is a dance artist based in Nairobi, Kenya, who works to empower at-risk youth and bridge cultural gaps through dance & education. He has previously worked with young people in slum cities of and refugee camps in Rwanda. 

16 Artists is presented in partnership with the Office for the Arts at Harvard.

As part of our virtual college reunion, I will be talking to sixteen of my former college classmates who dove into uncertainty to chase their dreams. We talk about their creative paths since graduation, their visions for the future, anything that comes up in between. 

These conversations are for anyone who wonders about how to balance work and life with their creative passion. Our hope is to demystify life in the arts and nourish your creative spirit. 

Learn more at 16artists.com