News Archive

Five films from Columbia filmmakers will take part in the prestigious international 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Adjunct Assistant Professor Catherine Lacey ’10and Adjunct Professor Brenda Wineapple have been named 2023 Fellows of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.

From April 21, 2023 to March 10, 2024, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Adama Delphine Fawundu ’18 is presenting In the Spirit of Àṣẹat the Newark Museum of Art. 

Here, we talk to Adjunct Assistant Professor Piotr Orlov about Saturday Night Fever, mixtapes, and music storytelling.

David Sedaris is the graduation speaker at this year's School of the Arts convocation ceremony on May 17, 2023. In advance of that celebration, we asked Sedaris to share his advice for the graduating class, and he doubled down on his idea of finding art in the painful and mundane. 

The nominations for the 76th Annual Tony Awards were announced on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, and many projects worked on by Columbia faculty and alumni are among the nominees.

Writing alumnus Raffi Joe Wartanian ’21 has been named the first Poet Laureate of Glendale, California. 

The 2023 Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Easy Award Winners have been announced, and several Film and Media Studies alumni and faculty members are among the honorees.

Film student Christian Schifano’s short film, On Point, will be made into a feature film.

Lucky Dogs, a new novel from alumna Helen Schulman ’86, is coming soon from Knopf. 

Poetry alumna Emily Simon ’21 has published her first book titled In Many Ways (Winter Editions, 2023), a lyrical essay on selfhood, memory, and language in New York City during the pandemic.

The Silk Factory, a new memoir from alumnus Michael Hickins ’86 (CC ’83), is coming next month from Amsterdam Publishers.

Acting student Trí Lê has been cast in the ensemble of Shakespeare in the Park’s 2023 production of Hamlet.

Each year, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation partners with Columbia University to award a series of grants to recognize projects that excel in their depictions of scientific themes or characters.

Playwriting alumnus Matt Barbot ’17 has been awarded a $10,000 commission by Miami New Drama and the Black List to develop a new play alongside the artistic team at Miami New Drama. 

Visual ArtsAlumna Lizzie Zelter ’22 was selected by the The Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with the School of the Arts and the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, to display two paintings in the Columbia Philosophy Building’s Cafe Nous from July 2022 through June 2023. 

Expansive, often intricate installations are especially prevalent this year, artists mapping new imagined worlds into the gallery spaces.

School Girls: Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Playwriting alumna Jocelyn Bioh ’08 will make its U.K. premiere at London's Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in summer 2023.

We talked about balletic influences, ethnoautobiography, and decentering whiteness in theatre with Playwriting student Luz Lorenzana Twigg, who is now preparing to graduate.

This week, we caught up with Visual Arts alumna Abby Robinson ’22.

Here, we talk to Nonfiction student Donna Lee Davidson about prescriptive percussion, jazz clubs, and the all-encompassing importance of rhythm.

School of the Arts alumni and faculty have made their mark on this year's Drama Desk Award nominations, with several productions featuring their talents receiving nominations. Winners will be announced the week of May 29, and the 67th annual ceremony will be on June 6, 2023 at Sardi’s Restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

Visual Arts Alumna Abby Robinson ’22 presented several works with Tilton Gallery at this year’s Independent Art Fair, hosted at Spring Studios in the Tribeca art district from May 11 to 14, 2023. 

The artist, now in her late eighties, shares a few eye-catching works installed in the tristate area. Read more in Columbia Magazine.

A jungle, at night. From a vantage point far back in the trees, we are watching a woman filming a music video for a romantic pop song with a weirdly catchy samba rhythm.

Alumnus Matthew Gellman ’18 has emerged victorious in the highly prestigious 22nd Annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize with Beforelight, a winning manuscript selected by poet and writer Tina Chang from 800 original submissions.

Graduating Film student Yoko Kohmoto ’23 is among the winners of Columbia University’s prestigious Campbell Award.

Visual Arts alumna Aki Sasamoto ’07 has been honored with the prestigious 2023 Calder Prize, receiving a $50,000 cash award and the opportunity to have one of her artworks featured in a major public collection.

Associate Professor Heidi Julavits '96 has been chosen as a recipient of the prestigious Berlin Prize. This award comprises a semester-long fellowship in Berlin, offering recipients the time and resources to explore their artistic projects.

Award-winning film Monsoon Wedding (dir. Mira Nair, 2001) has been adapted into a new musical.

Stay Awake, a film featuring the talents of a group of distinguished School of the Arts alumni, has begun its theatrical journey.

Logan Reed ’21is the Associate Director of Grey House, a new psychological thriller to hit the Broadway stage.

Every night from May 1 to May 31, 2023, Liquid Gold  (2023) by Ilana Harris-Babou ’16 takes over the screens of Times Square for a truly transformative Midnight Moment. 

Tali Keren '16 showcases her evocative exhibition Un-Charting in The James Gallery at CUNY Graduate Center, New York.

The Tribeca Film Festival, which will take place June 7-18, 2023, will feature several films from Columbia alumni and faculty.

Theatre Professor and Tony Award-winning writer David Henry Hwang is set to leave his signature mark on Disney's upcoming live-action remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Fireworks Every Night(Random House, 2023), a debut novel by Beth Raymer ’08, offers a poignant portrayal of a young woman struggling to navigate the tumultuous landscape of her family in 1990s South Florida.

In this series, we catch up with Columbia filmmakers who have recently graduated to chat about their time in the Film Program, what they’re doing now, and their goals for the future. This week, we spoke with alumna Ellie Foumbi ’17.