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NYU London Community Stays Connected and Well

Posted on May 28, 2020, modified on May 22, 2020 by Martha J Bekink

The NYU London community is staying connected and looking out for one another’s wellness, all virtually. The Student Life and Wellness committee staff members have created a number of resources to foster a sense of togetherness and warmth even while apart.

The NYU London Student Affairs team have been working on a whole host of events to try and engage students remotely. The website has a new section, “NYU London at Home.” Virtual London highlights a hand-picked selection of remote events and activities taking place across London and the UK. It offers quite a few ways to get a virtual glimpse of London, including a curated set of virtual tours, online exhibits, and recorded performances. Students can discover a great deal and “enjoy British culture from the comfort of your bed!” A great way to safely experience London at the moment. The team has also been engaging with students, both past and present, via social media, in particular via Instagram (@NYULondon).

According to Andrew Davidson, Student Life Coordinator, “NYU London’s Bingo was a huge success and so is the QuaranTIME series; a series of posts encouraging self-care during these difficult times.” Students are also quite active. The Global Ambassadors and Global Equity Fellow will be hosting Instagram takeovers in the coming weeks to talk about their lives during lockdown. Moreover, according to Davidson, “the weekly NYU London newsletter, the Sunday Sandwich, continues to be appreciated by the student population and the Bedford Square News, NYU London’s student-led news, are starting to take creative contributions from students.”

NYU London is also focused on wellness, which is so important during this challenging time. A new Wellness committee newsletter for staff and other outreach encourages the community to stay connected and to look out for one another. The newsletter contains wellness tips, including a section on COVID-19 and mental health. It reminds everyone about the NYU London Google+ community, has a staff quiz, a reminder about a virtual all staff happy hour, and more. A nice way to stay connected and positive during a challenging time!

Jack Ma to Deliver Commencement Address to the NYU Shanghai Class of 2020

Posted on May 25, 2020, modified on May 22, 2020 by Martha J Bekink

Philanthropist, entrepreneur, and teacher Jack Ma will deliver the keynote address to the Class of 2020 at NYU Shanghai’s Fourth Commencement on May 29.

Ma, the founder of the global technology company Alibaba Group and the Jack Ma Foundation, recorded his message to the Class of 2020 from his offices in Hangzhou. “It is a pleasure and honor, during this extraordinary time and through this unique way, to join this important moment for the graduates of NYU Shanghai,” Ma said.

Ma’s remarks will be delivered at NYU Shanghai’s virtual commencement ceremonies, which will be livestreamed beginning at 20:20 (8:20 p.m.) China Standard Time.

“Jack Ma’s words to this class will no doubt serve as inspiration to our graduates as they pursue their careers and dreams in the future,” said NYU Shanghai Chancellor Yu Lizhong.

For his innovative and inspiring achievements in business and philanthropy, particularly his recent leadership in helping communities and countries around the world fight COVID-19, Chancellor Yu Lizhong, Vice Chancellor Jeff Lehman, Provost Joanna Waley-Cohen and Associate Vice Chancellor Ding Shuzhe also presented Ma with the NYU Shanghai Chancellor’s Medal of Honor.

“The Chancellor’s Medal recognizes Jack Ma’s cosmopolitan spirit and his sustained efforts in the domains of education, sustainability, and philanthropy. We are especially grateful for the support he has provided to New York during the pandemic crisis.” said Vice Chancellor Jeff Lehman.

In 1999, with 17 colleagues working in his Hangzhou apartment, Ma launched Alibaba.com, an English-language website to help Chinese small businesses reach the global marketplace. That single website grew into the Alibaba Group, a global leader in e-commerce, logistics, big data, cloud computing, and entertainment that is transforming the way people live and work.

Ma stepped down as Alibaba’s Executive Chairman in 2019 to dedicate his time to philanthropic endeavors. He currently serves as a United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Advocate, a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum, president of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs and chairman of the China Entrepreneur Club. He was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres as co-chair of the UN High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation in 2018.

Ma graduated from Hangzhou Normal University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English education and worked for six years as an English teacher before becoming an entrepreneur.

NYU Buenos Aires Director Anna Kazumi Stahl on Coping with Uncertainty by Understanding Collectivist Cultures

Posted on May 22, 2020, modified on May 16, 2020 by Martha J Bekink

Can learning from other cultures inspire resilience in challenging times? NYU Buenos Aires Director Anna Kazumi Stahl believes so and recently gave a TEDx talk on Japanese cultural codes as appropriate inspiration for social distancing. She has now been asked by TED to participate in the main conference this year as one of the foreign language contributors. This year’s main event, on May 23, to be conducted entirely remotely, will feature Kazumi Stahl as one of its Spanish-speaking presenters.

Kazumi Stahl’s original talk, How Collectivist Cultures React to the Pandemic, was organized by TEDxRiodelaPlata, a TEDx group in Buenos Aires that functions as a think tank which focuses on community engagement through their events. Her history with the group dates back to 2013, when she was asked to explore her own identity and her choice to write in a foreign language. A fiction writer and scholar of comparative literature, Kazumi Stahl, the daughter of a Japanese mother and a father of German descent father, is an American citizen who calls Buenos Aires home, and writes primarily in Spanish.

As Argentina began its program of isolation and social distancing in response to COVID-19, TEDxRiodelaPlata was invited by Argentine national public television to select eight speakers that could help people consider the positives of the situation.

Kazumi Stahl’s talk – which is available online with subtitles here – explores the ideas which inform collectivist cultures, and considers how to interpret certain behaviors as gestures of respect or closeness. The aim of this talk was “to consider other cultures so as a way to offer encouragement or hope for those feeling overwhelmed or afraid.”

Among the Japanese cultural codes that Kazumi Stahl considers are:

Hedatari	Distance	“Rather than a coldness, this gesture conveys acknowledgement of the other as not to be invaded or imposed upon, as if saying, ‘I see you.’ Japanese culture doesn´t call for an immediate physical intimacy like handshaking […]; instead things begin with a conscientious giving of space, respectfully interacting, and then over time and with the right conditions closeness may arise.”
Wa	Harmony	“[A]cross cultures we experience ways of connecting ourselves to larger entities we are a part of, such as the bonds signalled by a Mets cap, a national team jersey at the Olympics, or even the NYU torch. In Japan this concept of ‘wa’ extends to a societal level. And individuals are deeply motivated to help maintain the broader harmony.”
Amae	Dependency	“This is the idea of relying personally on the interconnectedness of individuals, so it is a deeply rooted notion in a collectivist culture. It leads to the expectation, indeed the confidence and trust, that other people will take of me and that I will take care of them.”

“One of the things that emerges from working across lines of cultural differences,” she explains, “is that you become more embracing of not knowing.” Kazumi Stahl believes that not knowing is among what is most challenging now and that this is also true of working interdisciplinarily. “It requires you to have respect for other disciplines,” according to Kazumi Stahl, “because without it, your work will become superficial.”

When she is not teaching, Kazumi Stahl dedicates most of her time to creative writing, and notes that her background in working at the intersection of disciplines and cultures has proven to be very helpful during this global health crisis.

“There is a very key aspect of the creative process that may be deeply impacted by a crisis like this, but that also provides a space where you can process it,” Kazumi Stahl says. “Writing and art is a means for allowing emotions to emerge and take shape. There is a great deal of resilience in the imaginative forces of literature and the other arts that we can rely on again as a place to imagine possible futures.”

NYU Washington DC Student Tracey Lan Shares her COVID-19 Experiences

Posted on May 19, 2020, modified on May 11, 2020 by Martha J Bekink

Studying abroad can be a time of great transition and growth, perhaps all the more so when plans are interrupted. For one student, focusing on recording the details of her COVID-19 experiences has become a way to not only document this time for herself, but also to connect with and encourage others. Tracey Lan, a Global China Studies sophomore from NYU Shanghai planning to minor in Business and Social Science, is studying away in NYU Washington, DC this semester. She returned home to China because of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been vlogging (video blogging) about her departure from DC, quarantine,and her mental health.

Tracey initially chose to study in Washington DC “for all its wonderful museums, its cherry blossoms, its livable environment (which is all shown in my NYU DC vlogs!).” She was also keen to learn more about American politics in the nation’s capital, to explore career interests through the internship program, and to learn to lead through the Global Leadership Program.

Tracey started vlogging last year in NYU Shanghai to record her experiences. “I wanted to vlog so that I can always go back to those days in the future, even when I am very very old — I love the idea of nostalgia,” says Tracey. The positive feedback and comments from friends and followers further inspired her to develop content that may be encouraging or informative for others, she adds. For her COVID-19 vlogs specifically, Tracey says she had a “sense of a mission to communicate” because she noticed a great deal of misunderstanding and a lack of information about what was happening in China. She wanted to show “the real life of a Chinese student impacted by COVID-19 in order to have a better sense of China during the pandemic,” and says she hopes that her vlogs will “inform, inspire people, and cheer them up.”

Tracey also feels as though she has been relatively fortunate. Despite a turbulent journey home, she believes she missed the worst of the pandemic in both China and in the US. Tracey also said she feels very fortunate for the support she received from NYU Washington, DC. Tracey’s time in mandatory quarantine was especially brightened when she received the news that she was a recipient of the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Fellowship.

These experiences have strengthened Tracey’s belief that everyone has the right to global education. Reflecting on what people think and say about COVID-19 pandemic which she has experienced in both the Chinese and US settings, Tracey has a sense of purpose. She wishes to engage actively in global education in the COVID-19 situation, that enlightens people to pursue knowledge and approach global issues from a less self-centered, more respectful and sympathetic perspective.

Watch Life Talks (You Tube)

Rich History of Australian Distance Learning Prepares NYU Sydney for New Modes of Education

Posted on May 15, 2020, modified on July 17, 2020 by Martha J Bekink

It had already been a most unusual summer in Sydney with once-in-a-generation bushfires grabbing global headlines. But as the fires began to subside, Australia faced a new challenge — the arrival of the COVID-19 virus.

Although Sydney was one of the last of NYU’s global sites to be closed, the spread of COVID-19 meant an inevitable movement to new modes of learning. According to the Times Higher Education, higher education is “pivotal” to Australia’s economy, contributing an estimated $66 billion to it each year. Thus the shift to moving to distance model in response to COVID-19 was hugely consequential not just for NYU Sydney, but all higher education institutions in Australia.

Australia actually has a long history of distance learning. “The School of the Air,” a generic term for teachers catering to children in remote and regional Australia has been in operation since June 8, 1951. In the early years of delivery, lessons were originally sent via the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Alice Springs, with classes later conducted via shortwave radio. The modernised service now sees students typically receiving one hour of face-to-face learning from teachers before spending the remainder of the day working through problems and content with family members. The service is sometimes affectionately called “the biggest school in the world” considering “classrooms” consist of roughly only 120 students spread over 1.3 million square kilometers. “The Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education has also utilised distance learning to service its Indigenous students,” notes Petronella Vaarzon-Morel, an anthropologist who teaches at NYU Sydney.

Vaarzon-Morel was in the Northern Territory for field work at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, and was able to smoothly transition to delivering lectures online. Vaarzon-Morel notes that she has made the most of her situation of continuing classes remotely from the Northern Territory. She is planning a socially-distant, in-person Q and A at Charles Darwin University with anthropologist Dr. Lisa Stefannoff, an NYU alum, and NYU students via Zoom. Stefannoff has worked on Indigenous screen production, broadcasting, and community arts in Alice Springs for the last 15 years. Vaarzon-Morel also recently recorded an interview with senior lawyer David Avery from the Central Land Council, an Indigenous community organization that represents the Indigrous people in land issues.

Fran Molloy, an NYU Sydney instructor for Environmental Journalism has been pre-recording one-on-one interviews with local experts to supplement her lecture material.

“I have been fortunate that two journalists who wrote articles I had assigned as readings, were willing to speak to me on Zoom about how they wrote the story, what their challenges were, and even offer some tips for students who have feature articles coming up,” she says.

“Both writers live in distant parts of Australia so it would normally be tricky to get them into a classroom. It feels like the virtual classroom (despite its many disadvantages) has given us the opportunity to break down the distance barrier.”

The class also had the opportunity to speak to leading water scientist Bradley Moggridge, whose work combining the traditional knowledge of his Aboriginal ancestors with western science has been groundbreaking in Australia.

NYU Sydney has also hosted online field trips, with one class having a virtual tour of traditional aboriginal fish traps. Molloy recently organised a socially-distant personal video tour of a local community garden, tailored for NYU Sydney students by the founder. A portion of Fran Molloy’s virtual field trip to the San Souci Community Garden can be viewed via NYU Stream here.

Marcus Neeld, Assistant Director of Student Life at NYU Sydney has also worked at continuing to maintain community beyond the classroom. “Strong relationships between staff and students have been the hallmark of the NYU Sydney experience,” he says.

“Our team has been challenged to maintain these relationships with students across multiple time zones. As we transitioned to remote learning, our team has been available to provide consistent individualized support. More broadly, we have moved our programming online, replacing previously familiar in-person meeting places with virtual meeting rooms and online hangout spaces. We have introduced relaxation programming and we regularly host friendly virtual competitions and opportunities for students to share with us their homes, pets, hobbies, and study spaces. NYU Sydney’s Wellness Counsellor, Dr. Lauren Stahl continues to support students on an individual basis, and student leaders are encouraged to continue making their valuable contributions.”

Adapting the African City

Posted on May 13, 2020, modified on May 14, 2020 by Chelsea Robles

“What students are doing now ⁠— asking the subjects themselves to take part in creating a documentary ⁠— is their contribution to how the genre has been evolving since its inception in the early 1920s,” explains filmmaker Yahaya Alpha Suberu, a lecturer at NYU Accra. Instead of having films take the stance of a passive observer, “documentaries are now engaging the subjects, they are filming their own voices, and the collaborative process has changed between subject and documenter,” says Suberu.

In “Documenting the African City,” a course that has been offered at NYU Accra since its establishment 15 years ago, students learn how to tell stories using the language of film. The class is open to all students, regardless of their discipline — a background in film is not required — and helps students discover more about the city during the process of shooting short pieces, recording sound, and editing their work. “The topics of their documentaries,” said Suberu, “are as varied as NYU’s diversity. Music, religion, race, politics, transportation, education, gender, sexuality, streetism, commerce, health, dance, tradition, the list goes on and on.”

“Usually by mid-semester students have all the basic skills for pre-production, production, and post-production to finish five-minute individual or group projects. By the end of the semester they would have honed their skills and produced a longer documentary which is about ten minutes in duration.” The longer documentaries are screened outdoors in Accra to an audience from NYU Accra and the surrounding community.

My students have adapted in their learning process as much as I have in my pedagogy. They have had to quickly learn to shoot and record sound using their smartphones, and they also learned to engage their subjects by making them a part of the documentary process. Yahaya Alpha Suberu

However, this spring presented a set of unique challenges, as NYU Accra, like the rest of NYU’s campuses and academic centers, was forced to suspend in-person operations due to the COVID-19 virus, and the cohort found themselves in a range of unexpected locations. “Some were in quarantine in their home countries, some at a place that was a ‘stopover’ or a place that was not home,” said Suberu. In response, the entire structure of the course had to be reshaped and the course’s focal point on Accra also had to adapt given that most of the cohort was no longer in Africa.

How exactly did Suberu adapt his instruction for a course that is typically very hands on, particularly in the locational aspect of the documentaries and the use of NYU Accra’s on-site film equipment and editing suite? And how did he support the continuity of a course that requires a high level of focused creativity in the midst of the chaos and stress?

As he adapted how classes were conducted, spent time identifying short-format films that addressed the needs of the syllabus, and worked with students to expand their story themes beyond the city limits of Accra, Suberu found himself spending more time identifying resources and engaging with students online than in-person. “Even though class is over, I’m still doing research and communicating by email — when you end class, you are still on the screen, spending more time there than one usually would in more familiar circumstances. And along with the move from campus to computer, there has been a shift in how we think about time in terms of teaching and student engagement.”

“My students have adapted in their learning process as much as I have in my pedagogy. They have had to quickly learn to shoot and record sound using their smartphones, and they also learned to engage their subjects by making them a part of the documentary process. For instance, one student wanted to interview an individual in Accra, so the subject filmed herself and sent the footage to the student. Another documented the journey of a friend from NYU New York who travelled back home to China, and self-recorded the experience of being in quarantine.”

Interestingly, the class produced films that have taken a timely look at different angles of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Suberu. “One student’s dad works in virology and he was able to tie his dad’s work into a story that was driven by his interest in biological warfare. Along similar lines, another student investigated how her mom is taking care of herself as a front-line medical worker.”

The final projects from the course will be screened online on May 15th to a public audience. Open to 300 participants via Zoom, Suberu says “it will be quite fascinating to see how many viewers tune in from all over the world.”

NYU Berlin Lecturer Colin Self on Making Distanced Experimental Music

Posted on May 12, 2020, modified on May 12, 2020 by Martha J Bekink

NYU Berlin Lecturer Colin Self was on a ten-day trip in Mexico when the COVID-19 crisis broke. His ten-day trip has become a multi-month journey, though the composer and choreographer continues to teach his NYU Berlin course, Experiments in the Future of Performing and Producing, from Mexico City.

Self, who teaches in the Clive Davis Institute program in Berlin, explores themes related to expanding consciousness, troubling binaries, and boundaries of perception and communication, and his teaching is focused on the “exchange of energies” in the classroom. His class has a virtual live performance coming up on May 15. Details are in the flyer below.

1 – What inspired you to teach at NYU Berlin? How have you found the experience?

I was really fortunate to have met Jason King, Associate Professor and the founding faculty member of The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music who developed the international study abroad program Clive Davis Institute x Berlin. After some initial conversations, he invited me to submit a performance syllabus. With some dialogue, Jason generously approved and I jumped right into teaching. It immediately felt like I was on the right path, in the right place. Performance is my life and getting to build and share ideas about what it is and what it can be is an ongoing practice. The experience has been incredibly inspiring, from the first class into the current class. One of the best things about teaching is the perpetual learning experience that occurs in all directions, with dialogue unfolding into new territory every term. Perceiving and experiencing the world of music and performance through the eyes of artists who are 20 and 21 years old folds back into my own learning of what the future of music and performance will be.

2 – Prior to the COVID-19 crisis did you have any experience with remote learning / teaching?

No, this is all fairly new to me.

3 – How have you found the transition? How do the classes work?

It was certainly a challenge at first try to think about performance as something that we could be in dialogue about over distance. So much of the class is about this kind of vis-à-vis energetic exchange between all of us in the laboratory of watching and responding to performance. As a perfmonance-maker that is really something that I cherish about performance pedagogy. The IRL [in real life] experience. It has required a great amount of re-imagining with a lot of care being put into presenting alternatives; asking questions about how the psychological and emotional conditions of this experience also affects art-making and performance.

It took a couple of weeks to get into the flow of things, but actually turned out to be a wonderful bonding experience for the group. So often this class is about connectivity and creating mutually supportive relationships students have with each other and each other’s art-making.

4 – I noticed that you developed a new syllabus for a Zoom course and specifically pivoted to “explore the canon of experimental art made during pandemics, global crises, and how individual and collective limitations can activate opportunities to experiment and grow as artists.” Can you comment about that? Can and will great art come of this?

One of the most fruitful things that happened as COVID was unfolding was engaging with others about what it might mean to make art in this time. It started with a letter by California College of the Arts Dean of Fine Arts Allison Smith about art being made during crises and the role artists have to heal and process our collective experiences. I was then in conversation with Jason King about the AIDS crisis and trench art and the really deep emotional history we have on this planet of artists making work under challenging circumstances. Quite often history shows us that some of the most grave circumstances brought forth some of the most inspiring and evolutionary art-making. Now that we are seeing the amplification of care as a priority, and the distribution of resources to people who do not have as much, the creative landscape is changing.

5 – Have you or the students learned anything – whether academically or personally – that you might not have done in a classroom?

One of the biggest lessons for me and so many others I’ve been in communication with has been the vitality of live performance and public assembly, and what a source of inspiration and energy that is to us both individually and collectively. Performance has always been a real life process of dreaming a better, different world into reality. Without that energetic interaction, I’ve realized what a treasure those experiences are and how there is really no replacing that over digital experiences.

6 – Anything else you would like to share?

I could say how deeply grateful I am for the interdependence and care that has appeared among colleagues both at NYU and other schools, to be in conversation with the present day circumstances, working together to re-imagine both our pedagogy and how to move forward together in a way that acknowledges and incorporates our collective condition. The problem-solving together, especially in regards to something like performance, continues to be one of the most inspiring experiences I’ve had at NYU – seeing across distance and difference, everyone working together to nurture our shared process of teaching.

NYU Prague Professor Leads Music Education Students in Engaging Locally

Posted on May 8, 2020, modified on May 10, 2020 by Martha J Bekink

Klára Boudalová is a teaching and performing artist, scriptwriter, and concert presenter. She teaches Foundations of Music Education at NYU Prague, a course with a syllabus she describes as “practical” and which involves community engagement because she always wants “her students to make a difference.” This year, she had planned for the students in her course to work with children in Prague on a musical project.

Klára’s focus on connecting students with the Prague community through music is consistent with her own work. She is an accomplished musician and music educator. For the past twelve years, she has worked for The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra as a creative author of education and outreach programs, working mostly with school groups and families (chamber and orchestral concerts, workshop series), young aspiring artists (masterclasses and discussions) and music teachers (leading a professional development project Music for Schools).

As an educator, Klára has designed outreach programs for many professional and student orchestras. She has also written a series of twelve audiobooks entitled “Don’t be Afraid of the Classics” which became a best-selling, award-winning, nationwide classroom music teaching tool in the Czech Republic. An early music soprano and a lover of swing and Irish folk music, at NYU Prague Klára helps students find their own passions for and styles within the field of music education.

For her class this year, instead of being able to work together with children in Prague on a project, NYU Prague students are now designing their own projects. According to Klára, “Each student was asked to connect with their local community – find kids who are bored at home or reach out to former teachers – to find something beneficial that can be done through music.” In redesigning the course, she realised that there are currently many people who could benefit from support and so she asked students to design projects relevant to the COVID-19 situation in which children must stay home. The students were encouraged to use their creativity when designing their projects.

The Foundations of Music class is meeting twice a week at 9:00 – 10:30 pm local time for Klára, which works only because Prague’s cultural institutions are closed so she is not performing in concerts. But with students now joining from China, Alaska, and everywhere in between, this was the best time. Teaching remotely to a global cohort means that “the students have a lot more academic responsibility now,” according to Klára. “Originally they would have developed their projects with me present, guiding them in their lessons, but now they have to respond on their own. I have one-on-one mentoring sessions with them to track their process.” She has been impressed with how well the students are doing on their own.

The students are also actively sharing with one another and with Klára in the class meetings and are creatively approaching their local musical engagement. Students began by exploring tools to facilitate virtual music education, such as online learning apps and videos. They are also generating their own ideas. For example, teaching children how to make homemade instruments out of pots or other materials they would find at home and then composing music with their home-made instruments. Klára is pleased with the interactive aspect of the class, despite not being able to meet in person. “We are all tracking each others’ research and progress through a shared google drive folder with videos that the students are making. Everyone is recording videos and reacting.” Klára and her students are creatively making the most of a challenging time.

The results have shown that Klára and her students are all doing what they can “to make this better.” Students have recorded cute videos for family singing and home dancing. Others have started a home disco project or are teaching vocal warm up techniques to singers so the do not loose their sound quality during lockdown. One student, Valesca Gongora, a Steinhart sophomore majoring in Music Education, created an online choir and together they recorded a song video dedicated to health care workers. The choir recorded “Shed a Little Light” by James Taylor, which Klára calls “amazing, touching, emotional and incredibly inspiring.” You can have a listen here.

Valesca “immediately knew” that she wanted to organise a virtual choir when the class shifted to remote learned and the students had to develop projects. “During quarantine,” says Valesca, “I’ve seen people turn to the arts for support and comfort. As a music education major, that was such a beautiful thing to me. My goal was to put together a meaningful project that had the power to take our minds off of the craziness of the world for a few minutes. Music truly brings people together and can make us feel connected while we are social distancing.” She also feels that it is important for people to have a creative outlet during this time of uncertainty and fear and that music can provide a sense of normalcy. “It makes us all feel connected,” Valesca emphasises. “Working on this project has taught me that communities can still unite during this time of social distance, we just have to make adjustments and be creative.”

Klára has also been making the most of this time outside the classroom and music. She is currently staying with her parents in South Bohemia and making homemade masks for local medical facilities. She has sewn over 150 of them so far and has become quite good at it.

NYU Los Angles Launches Inaugural Discovery Sessions

Posted on May 6, 2020, modified on May 6, 2020 by Chelsea Robles

Next month, NYU Los Angeles will be launching a series of talks and presentations for NYU alumni, led by industry experts who will cover a range of topics in media and entertainment. The Summer 2020 Discovery Sessions will launch Monday, June 1, and are geared towards professionals looking to expand their knowledge base and community in highly specialized arenas.

The series will debut with two free special webinars (information below), that are “being offered in the spirit of creating community and opportunity to the entire NYU community,” said NYU Los Angeles Program Director Nina Sadowsky, who created the Discovery Sessions. In addition, two spots in each of the series’ paid sessions will be offered free of charge to applicants who have been laid off or furloughed due to the COVID-19 virus. More information on these scholarships is available here.

The Business: Snapshots of the Current Media and Entertainment Landscape from the Professionals Who Run It

Monday, June 1 • 3pm PDT/6pm EDT

Through a series of TEDTalk-style presentations, participants will learn how organizations are responding to the unfolding economic challenges presented by COVID-19. Professionals in fields ranging from film, television, music, podcasting and more, will share their perspective on how the business has shifted and their outlook for the near future.

This event is produced in collaboration with NYU LA, the NYU Production Lab, the Wasserman Center for Career Development, and the Tisch Office of Career Development.

Career Strategies for Creatives

Wednesday, June 3 • 3pm PDT/6pm EDT

What is it like to start your career in the middle of an economic downturn? What strategies can you employ to stay productive, build your network and continue to pursue your creative passions? This special panel composed of Tisch grads that entered the workforce during the 2008/2009 recession will share their experiences and expertise in pursuing a career in the arts despite a difficult economic climate. Panelists will include representatives from different areas of the industry.

This event is produced in collaboration with NYU LA and NYU Tisch.

Download (PDF) the session brochure and schedule below.

NYU Berlin Offers Virtual Tour of Humboldt Forum

Posted on May 5, 2020, modified on May 4, 2020 by Martha J Bekink

NYU Berlin recently sought to foster community by giving students a unique opportunity to stay connected to Berlin through a virtual tour of the Humboldt Forum. The Humboldt Forum has not yet opened to the public, but NYU alum, NYU Berlin lecturer, architect and art historian Tarek Ibrahim was able to lead the tour.

For those unfamiliar, the Humboldt Forum is the largest cultural project under construction in Germany. In its own words: The Humboldt Forum opens in phases beginning in September 2020 as a unique place of experience, learning and encounter in the heart of Berlin. Discover the world and immerse yourself in the exhibits, marvel at the remarkable fusion of Baroque and contemporary architecture, visit restaurants and cafes, gaze out from the rooftop terrace over the panorama that stretches to the Brandenburg Gate, find inspiration in concerts, readings and discussions, and dive into Berlin’s multifaceted present and past.

Tarek graduated from NYU in 2000, before NYU Berlin existed. He came to the German capital in 2008 and worked for four years as practicing architect at Sauerbruch Hutton, one of Europe’s most innovative firms. In 2012, he decided to obtain a second master’s degree in Art and Architectural History at Humboldt University of Berlin. During this time, he became involved with NYU Berlin. Shortly after submitting his thesis, he began work as a research associate for the founding directors of the Humboldt Forum, where he continues to this day. In addition to his full-time work at the Forum, he is pursuing his PhD.

Tarek first began teaching at NYU Berlin as an assistant lecturer in an architecture course with emphasis on “graphics, the basics of design, text and image.” After joining the Humboldt Forum team, Tarek stepped back from the course, but remained affiliated with NYU Berlin, taking the lead in organizing learning journeys for students, excursions, and teaching J-term courses in Berlin, Hamburg, and Potsdam.

In his Berlin learning journeys, Tarek strives “to contrast the classic and contemporary official representations of Berlin since reunification – the museums, cultural and historical institutions, opera houses, universities and libraries – with what modern Berlin is really known for – decadence, its rough edge, and vibrant nightlife.” The move from curated architecture and representation to the more intense underbelly of Berlin can sometimes be jarring for students, but it is always illuminating. “There are two sides of the city” according to Tarek, “and one cannot be understood without the other.” Berlin needs its darker side, a descendant of the city’s well-known hedonism during the 1920s and later its Cold War division, as much as it needs the curated “official” representation. Tarek was leading excursions through mid-March before COVID-19 prompted the cancellation of his Potsdam and Dresden trips and the transition to online learning.

Tarek feels it is important to remind students that they will again have the chance to see iconic places in Berlin and beyond. “The opportunity and ability to discover are not lost, but merely on hold. Nothing lasts forever.” This is partially why he was glad to offer students an exclusive glimpse inside the Humboldt Forum. Currently under construction, there is no access to the building for anyone not directly involved in the process. After obtaining the requisite permissions, Tarek was able to offer an insider tour.

The tour also demonstrated that learning and exploration continues at NYU Berlin. We have all adapted our behaviors because of the pandemic, but we will go on. Shot on an iPhone which provided an ad hoc, gritty feel, Tarek offered a slightly unpolished but all the more exclusive look into the world of the Humboldt Forum by leading viewers through the building. He selected a sequence of rooms, sometimes needing one of the countless keys to gain access to off-limits spaces. Covering all the key features of the building, he shared some of the projects he is personally working on and showed views from particular windows or points in the building. He concluded the tour on the roof which offers – hands down – the best view over the city, from the Soviet-style apartment blocks of the former East to the illustrious neoclassical buildings on the Museum Island and Unter den Linden, and as far as the abandoned US spy station on the “Devil’s Mountain.” in the West. This concluding image conveyed to the students that “Berlin is still here and it will all be here for you when you come back.”

Tarek hopes to remind students that Berlin and all it has to offer will not disappear. It will all be there when and if students take the opportunity to return whether through study, internships, or travel. By then the Humboldt Forum should be open. Although this has been a challenging time, even in the face of adversity, we endure. Tarek also hopes that we all might find some perspective in this pause. Recalling Douglas Adams, he noted “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

We do not yet know where life after COVID-19 will take us or how it may change us, but finding ways to reflect, stay connected with one another, and continuing to explore may help us be open to possibilities. NYU Berlin’s virtual tour is a lovely example of just that.

Global Dimensions