Anna Deavere Smith & Gonzalo Casals: The Future of Arts Politics in NYC
The Department of Art & Public Policy at NYU Tisch School of the Arts cordially invites you to "A Night of Conversation with Anna Deavere Smith and Gonzalo Casals: The Future of Arts Politics in NYC." The conversation will highlight the ways that art, politics, and public policy are shifting and dynamic; and how we as artists, scholars, residents, policy makers, and engaged NYC members might envision arts and politics in New York City's near-future. Please join us for this exciting and timely conversation!
The event also aims to raise visibility about our three funds--two scholarship and one general support: The Randy Martin Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Transformational Muse Scholarship Fund, and the Chair's Discretionary Fund.
Please join us, meet our dynamic speakers, faculty, students, alumni, and hear about the exciting work of the Department of Art & Public Policy. Light refreshments will be served. Free and open to the public with confirmed RSVP.
This event will be held in Studio H, rm. 565, 181 Mercer St, NYU Paulson Center. Government-issued ID is required and should match the RSVP name
For any questions, please email: shantesmalls@nyu.edu
Anna Deavere Smith is credited with having created a new form of theater. Her plays focus on contemporary issues from multiple points of view, and are composed of interview excerpts. President Obama awarded Smith the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal. Other awards include the MacArthur Fellowship, several Obie awards, the George Polk Award in Journalism, the Dean’s Medal from Stanford University School of Medicine, runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize, and two Tony nominations. Plays and films based on them include Fires in the Mirror, Twilight: Los Angeles, Let Me Down Easy, and Notes from the Field. Her play “This Ghost of Slavery,” written for the Atlantic Magazine, was only the second play they published in 168 years. Television and film acting includes: Inventing Anna, The West Wing, Nurse Jackie, Black-ish, Philadelphia, The American President, Rachel Getting Married, For the People, and The Boroughs(Fall 2025), Pendulum ( forthcoming ) Eastman Professor at Oxford, Fall 2023. She has several honorary doctorates including those from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Spelman College, Juilliard, and Oxford. Currently, University Professor at NYU.
Gonzalo Casals is Co-Director of the Culture & Arts Policy Institute, alongside Mauricio Delfín, advancing collective strategies to strengthen the civic infrastructure for artists, cultural workers, and communities, and positioning culture as a force for belonging and justice. A cultural producer, educator, and policymaker, his work bridges grassroots practice and public systems to reimagine how culture serves civic life. Previously, he was Senior Research and Policy Fellow for Culture and Arts at the Mellon Foundation and Commissioner of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, leading the city’s cultural policy and stewarding its creative sector through the COVID-19 recovery. Earlier, he held executive roles at El Museo del Barrio, Friends of the High Line, and the Leslie-Lohman Museum; helped craft CreateNYC—the city’s first cultural plan; and served on the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers. A recognized voice in cultural democracy and systems change, Casals teaches Cultural Policy and Advocacy at CUNY, Columbia, NYU, and Yale, shaping the next generation of cultural leaders committed to equity, participation, and public imagination.