This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia School of the Arts’ professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making.
Started in Fall 2020 by alumna Amanda Breen '21, 2021-2022 interviews were conducted by student Willam Hutton, and 2022-2024 interviews were conducted by student Carlos Barragán. 2024-2025 interviews were conducted by students Andrew Scott and Cristóbal Riego.
“Between coronavirus and politics, so much is frightening about the world right now that it almost feels like escapism to lose myself in the pages of a 100-year-old novel.”
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia University School of the Arts’ professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Professor Leslie Ayvazian about adversity in art, the fallacy of thoroughbreds, and the things we stand up for.
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia School of the Arts' professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Professor Jon Kessler about mechanical sculpture, the importance of technical mastery, and the value of analog skills in a digital world.
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia School of the Arts professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Lecturer in Discipline Lars Horn about his unconventional journey from language loss to writing, his teaching philosophy, and the value of embracing specificity.
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia School of the Arts' professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Professor Alan Gilbert about finding poetry through music, the importance of discovering your own artistic links, and why pushing students beyond their comfort zones can lead them to unexpected horizons.
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia School of the Arts' professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Associate Professor Elizabeth Ramírez-Soto about the pleasures of the archive, what feminist film history can teach us about the present, and the value of spending time researching and understanding non-canonical works.
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia University School of the Arts’ professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Professor Christian Parker about dramaturgy and the enduring power of theatre.
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia University School of the Arts’ professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Professor Victoria ‘Tory’ Bailey about loud and noisy classrooms, the challenges facing students, and the importance of bringing theatre to audiences.
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia School of the Arts’ professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Professor Tomas Vu-Daniel about art as a way to make friends, the blessings of printmaking, and how his teaching method encourages open-ended exploration over definite answers.
Associate Professor Bogdan Apetri '06 shares his thoughts about the intersection of life experience and filmmaking, the art of casting and character development, and why you shouldn't limit your writing to what you already know.
We talk with Associate Professor Wendy Walters about the interplay between poetry and nonfiction, the art of concealing knee-deep research within a good memoir, and the crucial role of sleep in a writer’s daily routine.
Professor Lance Weiler shares his thoughts about the potential and challenges of generative AI, the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, and how discovering our own voice can lead to a more effective use of technology.
We talk with Professor Brian Kulick about theatre as a gamble, perseverance, and why the director should be the most patient person in the room.