2020-2021 Season

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS 2020–2021

In a year when the world was in crisis, audiences from around the world tuned in to our online events for inspiration and insight on the important issues affecting their lives.

Revisit highlights of the season below, or catch up on events in our Video Archive.

As people demanded change, we responded with the CHANGE series, exploring ways to create a more equal and democratic society. The series took on highly relevant topics such as prison abolition, labor in the post-pandemic economy, climate action after COVID-19, how to make education more equitable, and how artists lead the way toward social justice.

Watch Change Events

On September 30, “CHANGE: Making Education More Equitable” featured (clockwise from top left) Professor **Cathy N. Davidson**, director of the Futures Initiative; **Carla Shedd**, professor of sociology and urban education; and **Tressie McMillan Cottom**, acclaimed author, sociologist, and 2021 MacArthur “genius award” winner.

Our major spring series, RETHINKING NYC, addressed key issues while New York City was re-opening, rebuilding, and electing a new mayor. Experts from a variety of backgrounds provided innovative ideas on reforming the NYPD, ensuring economic recovery for all, transforming the arts and public spaces, and how to effectively govern such a diverse city.

Watch Rethinking NYC Events

On March 17, “Rethinking Cultural and Public Life” featured (clockwise from top left) **Gonzalo Casals**, commissioner of NYC Cultural Affairs; Professor **Setha Low**, director of the Public Space Research Group; **Kamila Forbes**, executive producer of the Apollo Theater; and **Wendy Whelan,** associate artistic director of NYC Ballet.

As inequality became an even more pressing concern in the world, leading thinkers shed light on crucial questions such as, who will benefit from economic recovery, and what will the future of globalization look like?

Watch Stone Center Events

On April 14, “Is Globalization Over?” featured (clockwise from top left) **Paul Krugman**, distinguished professor of economics; **Marc Levinson**, author of *The Box*; **Soumaya Keynes**, trade and globalization editor at *The Economist*; and **Chad P. Bown**, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. Presented with the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality.

Our City of Science series continued with fascinating discussions on the ethics of artificial intelligence, the challenges of reporting on COVID-19 in an age of misinformation, and the science of superheroes.

Watch City of Science Events

On February 24, “Truth and Lies: Covering COVID-19” featured (clockwise from top left) **Roxanne Khamsi** of *WIRED*, **Lauren Friedman** of *Consumer Reports*, **Apoorva Mandavilli** of *The New York Times*, and **Emily Laber-Warren** of the Newmark J-School.

Over 30 events featured leading thinkers, artists, activists, scientists, scholars, best-selling authors (such as poet and novelist Jacqueline Woodson), and award-winning biographers (such as Tamara Payne, 2021 Pulitzer Prize for The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X).

On March 9, **Jacqueline Woodson** read from her book Another Brooklyn in an event presented with the Center for the Study of Women and Society.

Tamara Payne, co-author of a new biography of Malcolm X — On February 2, **Robert Weill**, editor-in-chief of Liveright Publishing, interviewed **Tamara Payne,** co-author of a new biography of Malcolm X, in an event presented with the Leon Levy Center for Biography.

Closing out the year, the fourth annual Dissertation Showcase featured 10 students presenting their amazing research in three-minute talks on topics from cannabis to robots to Virginia Woolf to immigration.