Welcoming Edisa Weeks, Scholar in Residence
A Message from Dr. Renée T. White, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dear New School Community,
I am delighted to announce that Edisa Weeks will join us at The New School this academic year as a Scholar in Residence as part of programming for The Moment is Now: In Dialogue with Changemakers. Weeks is a choreographer, educator, and director of DELIRIOUS Dances, and creates intimate environments that merge theater with dance to address issues in society. Described by The New York Times as having “a gift for simple but striking visual effects,” her work has been performed in a variety of venues including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (NYC), Dance Place (DC), Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Harlem Stage (NYC), Kelly Strayhorn Theater (PA), and The Kennedy Center (DC), as well as on sidewalks, in storefront windows, and multiple living rooms, including living rooms in Berlin Germany as part of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations. She has even performed on our own campus for our Centennial Celebration, as part of the book launch of I Stand in My Place with My Own Day Here: Site-Specific Art at The New School. You can read more about Edisa and her current work in her extended bio.
Weeks’ important and impactful scholarship and artistic work, characterized by a profound commitment to social justice and community engagement, spans various intellectual and artistic disciplines at The New School and will be of great interest to a broad cross-section of our university community. Her work is deeply aligned with our goal of embedding the principles of equity, inclusion, and social justice into everyday university life.
The residency will provide an opportunity for the New School community and the public to engage with Weeks’ creative process and learn from her unique approach to interdisciplinary art-making, with justice and equity at its core. If you have ideas on how her work can intersect with your teaching, learning, research, or creative practice, please reach out to provost@newschool.edu.
Launched in 2021, The Moment is Now features prominent and emerging scholars, thinkers, artists, and practitioners across disciplines that bring about positive change in the world and connect with the university’s academic strengths and mission. Past guests include Danté Stewart, Tracie D. Hall, and Tia McNair. With a focus on exploring and addressing current topics in art, politics, race, and culture, the series provides an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, and our surrounding community to engage with a range of perspectives and reimagine change. I am excited to build on this series and develop a rich array of programming for our community in partnership with Edisa and our faculty, students, and staff. Please join me in welcoming Edisa to The New School.