Repair:
Fall 2020 Public Programs and Engagement
Traversing media and disciplines, the 2020–21 season of Public Programs and Engagement at Columbia University School of the Arts will focus on the concept of Repair.
Conversations, films, theatrical presentations, events, and podcasts will explore creative practices that engage social and political initiatives committed to reimagining and transforming frayed relationships between humans, other species, the planet, and ourselves.
Produced in collaboration with:
- Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
- Cornell AAP | Architecture, Art, Planning
- Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies
- Institute for Research in African-American Studies
- Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at the Schomburg Center
- Mother Tongue Film Festival, Smithsonian
- The Studio Museum in HarlemQueens Museum

Image: Kantha is a quilting tradition of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, in which pieces of worn fabric—often from saris or dhotis—are layered, embroidered, and held together with running stitches. This work was commissioned by Columbia University School of the Arts for the Fall 2020 series of Public Programs and Engagement. It was quilted by Cynthia Director.
Schedule of Events

Friday, October 2, 8:00 pm ET
Written by Camila Villegas (Mexico)
A kidnapping. A murder. Two parents seek justice and redemption—if only the system worked that way.

Thursday, October 8, 6:30 pm ET
This conversation explores the history, form, and process behind the creation of the powerful new Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia.

Friday, October 9, 8:00pm ET
Written by Nophand (Thailand)
On a stormy night in Bangkok, four beings are stuck in traffic. Your phone can't help you out of these dead ends.

Friday, October 16, 8:00 pm ET
Written by Candace Chong Mui Ngam (Hong Kong)
Sui Lum and Ah Dai grapple with a date so volatile that the government won’t let them say it aloud.

Thursday, October 22, 6:30 pm ET
Artists Sam Van Aken and Jorge Otero-Pailos discuss experimental approaches to historic preservation.

International Play Reading Festival
Saturday, October 24, 10:00 am ET
Daniel Jáquez (Rarámuri Dreams), and Nophand (Taxi Radio). Moderated by Susan Bernofsky, Writing. This panel discussion is sponsored by the MFA Writing Program/Literary Translation at Columbia.

International Play Reading Festival
Sunday, October 25, 10:00 am ET
Candace Chong Mui Ngam, Camila Villegas, and Nophand. Moderated by David Henry Hwang, Theatre.

Thursday, November 19, 6:30 pm ET
The film Restless River follows Elsa, a young Inuk woman, as she navigates motherhood after being assaulted by a soldier in post-WWII Canada.