Description:

Two events of the Kaplan Institute's 2025 Public Humanities Symposium:

Public Humanities Keynote
5:30 - 7:00 pm

Nicole Fleetwood (James Weldon Johnson Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU) in conversation with Marquis Bey (Professor of Black Studies, Northwestern).

This public lecture by Professor Fleetwood is the central event of the Kaplan Humanities Institute's two-day public humanities symposium. Fleetwood is the author of Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration (2020) and the curator of a MoMA PS1 exhibition of the same name. Both Fleetwood’s book and exhibition were named as a best book and a best show of the year, respectively, by the New York Times, The National Book Foundation, Smithsonian, and The New Yorker. Fleetwood is a recipient of a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship grant and many other awards and accolades besides. 

Reception and Public Humanities Award Ceremony featuring Dorothy Burge
7:00 - 8:00 pm 

Immediately following the Keynote, the 2025 Kaplan Institute Public Humanities Award will be presented to Dorothy Burge, an artist and activist who uses quilting as a medium of creative expression, education, and advocacy. The reception will be held in the front atrium of Kresge Hall and the adjoining studio space, where visitors can explore an interactive exhibit of projects from this year’s Public Humanities Graduate Practicum Fellows. Refreshments will be served.

Presented by the Public Humanities Graduate Practicum of the Kaplan Humanities Institute.

Photo of Nicole Fleetwood by Naima Green.