2025 Public Humanities Symposium
Join the Kaplan Humanities Institute on Thursday, April 17 and Friday, April 18 for our annual two-day celebration of publicly engaged humanities work. All events are free and open to the public—drop in any time!
Thursday, April 17, 2025
KEYNOTE and PUBLIC HUMANITIES AWARD CEREMONY
Public Humanities Keynote: Nicole Fleetwood in conversation with Marquis Bey
5:30 - 7:00 pm
Harris Hall, Room 108
Dr. Nicole Fleetwood, MacArthur Fellow and James Weldon Johnson Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU, will deliver the Public Humanities Keynote, in conversation with Dr. Marquis Bey. Dr. Fleetwood will discuss her project, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, a book and linked MoMA PS1 exhibit exploring the impact of US incarceration on contemporary visual art. Based on interviews with currently and formerly incarcerated artists, prison visits, and the author’s own family experiences with the penal system, Marking Time explores how incarcerated people use artmaking to assert their humanity in the face of a system that dehumanizes them.
Read more about Dr. Fleetwood and Dr. Bey on the Public Humanities Graduate Practicum Events page.
Reception and Public Humanities Award Ceremony featuring Dorothy Burge
7:00 - 8:00 pm
Kresge Hall Atrium (2nd floor)
At a reception 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.
Friday, April 18, 2025
PUBLIC HUMANITIES SYMPOSIUM
12:00 - 3:00 pm
Kaplan Institute Seminar Room (Kresge Hall #2350)
On Friday afternoon, join us at the Kaplan Institute for our annual Public Humanities Symposium. The day's events will include reflections from this year’s practicum fellows, an interactive showcase of public humanities projects, and a conversation with Public Humanities Award-winner Dorothy Burge, a Chicago-based artist and activist. We hope you’ll join us for all three events or drop in any time!
Public Humanities Roundtable
12:00-12:50 pm
Kaplan Institute Seminar Room (Kresge Hall #2350)
Join Fellows from the Kaplan Institute’s Public Humanities Practicum as they reflect on the process, the rewards, and the unexpected challenges of public humanities work. You’ll hear about a variety of projects: a speculative fiction anthology on the ethics of AI, a manual on restorative justice through theater, a digital exploration of the abolitionist Harriet Hayden’s parlor, an interactive story map on Puerto Rican ballerinas, a series of events exploring performances of Antigone in Chicago, and a zine about stigmas faced by Ugandan healthcare workers under the Anti-Homosexuality Act.
Lunchtime Talk: Dorothy Burge in conversation with Dr. Tracy L. Vaughn-Manley
1:00-2:00 pm
Kaplan Institute Seminar Room (Kresge Hall #2350)
Lunch will be provided!
This year’s Kaplan Institute Public Humanities Award winner Dorothy Burge will discuss her career as a Chicago-based artist and activist. Burge creates quilts and multimedia artworks inspired by historical and contemporary issues of social justice. Mrs. Burge will give a short presentation on her work followed by a conversation with Dr. Tracy L. Vaughn-Manley (Northwestern Assistant Professor of Black Studies).
Public Humanities Studio Talks
2:10-3:00 pm
Kaplan Artist Studio (Kresge Hall #2315)
Join Fellows from the Public Humanities Practicum as they showcase and discuss their work in the Kaplan Institute’s studio space. You’ll interact with a variety of projects, including an exhibit of contemporary Nigerian photography, a workshop on map-based activism, a series of improvised pipe organ performances, a video series on Chicago’s street musicians, and an analysis of Indiana’s Jones’s archaeological methods.