Detailed Events Schedule

Little Building, Room 224

Belonging is essential for individual and collective success in higher education, but it requires intentional effort to cultivate. This workshop introduces participants to the Equity and Empowerment Lens, a powerful framework for building inclusive communities where everyone feels valued. Through guided discussions and practical exercises, participants will learn to identify barriers to belonging, use the lens to assess their environments, and develop strategies to create meaningful change.

Presenter

Dr. Mary Whitehead, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Social Justice Collaborative, Emerson College

The Loft (Enter through the Lion’s Den)

Come join us as we celebrate written and spoken words from BIPOC writers and creatives. Emerson community members will perform live, including Emerson alum, WLP assistant professor, and former City of Boston poet laureate Porsha Olayiwola. Seating is limited; be sure to RSVP and watch for a confirmation email.
 

Little Building, Lower Level, Judee Wales Watson Theater

Join us for a presentation and discussion on student-led strikes and organizations for Puerto Rican liberation, exploring their role in challenging colonialism and advocating for self-determination. The event will also feature End the Debt! Decolonize! Liberate Puerto Rico!, a powerful artistic response to Hurricane María. This 170-foot pre-cinematic scroll tells a story of resistance to US colonialism in Puerto Rico and its diaspora, integrating hand-illustrated images and original music, created by AgitArte, Papel Machete, and collaborators.

Presenters

Miguel Nieves Mercado ’27, Emerson Student, San Juan, Puerto Rico 
Juanma Suárez Teissonniere ’23, Emerson Alum and Coordinator, Intercultural Student Affairs, Emerson College, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Little Building, Room 224

This session will introduce attendees to the concept of environmental justice and its specific implications for race. The presenter will provide an overview of the subject, with a specific focus on the history of state-level action to combat environmental racism in Massachusetts.

Presenter

Maria Belen Power, Undersecretary of Environmental Justice & Equity, Healey-Driscoll Administration

Facilitator

Nejem Raheem, Marketing Communication Department Chair and Professor, Emerson College
 

On Zoom: Register

As of August 2024, there were 14 states that passed anti-DEI laws eliminating DEI offices at colleges and universities across the United States. At Emerson, our moniker for “DEI” is “EASJ” or equity, access, and social justice. We consider EASJ as a vital part of maintaining an effective learning and working environment. During this panel discussion between ProArts faculty and administrators on the changing landscape of DEI in higher education, participants will examine what DEI entails, share best practices in inclusive teaching, explore common misconceptions about DEI, consider what changes are anticipated in the near future, and the potential long-term impact as DEI faces mounting opposition in the US political landscape.

Panelists

Monroe France, Vice Provost for Institutional Inclusive Excellence,Tufts University, additional ProArts representatives TBA

Moderator

Shaya Gregory Poku, Vice President for Equity and Social Justice, Emerson College
 

Paramount Center, Bright Family Screening Room

Join Jennifer R. Lin, producer and director of Ten Times Better, as she shares insights based on her professional and cultural experiences as a producer, documentarian, journalist, foreign correspondent, and author who focuses on her Chinese heritage and community.

Presenter

Jennifer R. Lin, Director, Producer, Ten Times Better
 

Little Building, Room 228

Participants will learn strategies for ethical engagement and transformative storytelling through community participatory processes and data literacy. The presenters will examine how storytelling and participatory practices, combined with data literacy, can address issues of race and racism while shaping narratives that empower marginalized communities. Join us as we discuss the role of data in confronting systemic inequalities and developing participatory, data-driven approaches to promote equity and justice.

Presenters

Lina Maria Giraldo, Assistant Professor, Journalism, Emerson College
Catherine D’Ignazio, Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
 

Little Building, Lower Level, Judee Wales Watson Theater

While Massachusetts is only roughly 30 percent Black and Brown, our state prison population is over 60 percent Black and Brown. In Emerson College’s education-in-prison program, the Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) at MCI-Norfolk, students are over 80 percent Black and Brown. Within that, there is broad racial and ethnic diversity that informs individuals’ college experience in prison. Two EPI alumni will share how their identities informed their journeys as Emerson students.

Panelists

Charles Rosario, EPI Alum
Kevin Keo, EPI Alum

Moderator

Stephen Shane, EPI Site Coordinator, Emerson College

Paramount Center, Bright Family Screening Room

George Lee is an 88-year-old blackjack dealer who still works five days a week. But many do not know about his astonishing story or his place in ballet history. His story is one of a refugee striving to prove himself after arriving in the USA, spurred on by his mother’s words that he must be “ten times better” than white dancers in order to succeed.

An Asian pioneer in ballet and on Broadway, George was selected by Balanchine to dance in his original staging of The Nutcracker 70 years ago, and Gene Kelly cast him in the original production of Flower Drum Song. The film is a tale of talent and perseverance in the face of hardship and a reminder of the extraordinary stories behind the nameless faces all around us.

A closing reception will follow the screening. This event is co-sponsored by ArtsEmerson, the Emerson Visual and Media Arts Department, the Boston Ballet, and the Chinese Historical Society of New England.

Panelists

Jennifer R. Lin, Director, Producer, Ten Times Better
Alison Qu ’20, Creative Producer and Associate Producer, HowlRound Theatre Commons; Co-director, EmStage’s I Love XXX; and Co-founder and Executive Director, CHUANG Stage
John Lam, Associate Professor of Dance, Boston Conservatory at Berklee

Moderator 

Susan Chinsen, Creative Producer, ArtsEmerson, and Founder, Boston Asian American Film Festival