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What is social practice, and how does it affect the ways we navigate our lives and make change in the world? Join artists, scholars, and collaborators from Social Practice CUNY on Part of the Practice, hosted by Catherine LaSota, as we discuss our individual art practices, our communities, and the role of socially-engaged art in our work for social justice.
28 Episodes
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In this final episode before we take a brief holiday break during season two of Part of the Practice, host Catherine LaSota is in conversation with SPCUNY Teaching Scholar-in-Residence Tom Finkelpearl. Tom is a former Director of the Queens Museum and is also a former Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for New York City. In this conversation, he talks about the relationship between museums and social practice, the reasons that community-engaged projects often happen in coordination with the edu...
Visual storyteller Ash Marinaccio (2024-25 SPCUNY Faculty Fellow) joins host Catherine LaSota to talk about her projects in theatre, photography, film, and activism. Ash is faculty in Media Studies at Queens College CUNY and is the Founding Artistic Director of Girl Be Heard and Founder of Docbloc, an organization dedicated to bringing artists across documentary genres together for live performance collaborations. In this conversation, she discusses her connection to nonfiction theater, ways ...
Art Jones, a native New Yorker and a 2023-24 SPCUNY Faculty Fellow at the City College of New York, joins host Catherine LaSota for a conversation about Art’s work in film and video and music, and in live performance. Art talks about how his experience with COVID lockdown caused him to have a new relationship with time, and the resulting collapse of social reality and science fiction since then. Art also talks about the assignments that he brings into the classroom for his students at CUNY, a...
Artist and activist Alicia Grullón (SPCUNY Faculty Fellow 2022-23) joins host Catherine LaSota on this episode to discuss the foundations of her own practice as a socially-engaged artist, including her background in acting and her continued interest in the concept of "backstage." Alicia and Catherine also talk about the ways that our relationships to people and places affect our experience of time, and Alicia shares some information about her Percent for Green project, which addresses climate...
Our second episode of season two brings you a conversation with Floor Grootenhuis, a 2022-23 Social Practice CUNY Faculty Fellow. Floor chats with host Catherine LaSota about blood and breath and embodiment. They discuss her Ask a Parasite project with the Department of Biological Sciences at CUNY's Hunter College, where she partners with biologists to bring science and art closer to the public, and the work she does as a teacher at Hunter College, where she brings movement into the classroom...
It's our first episode of season two! 2021-22 SPCUNY Faculty Fellow Nora Almeida joins host Catherine LaSota to talk about environmental activism, urban swimming, and the subversion of different spaces in Nora’s practices. They also discuss the many forms of life in the city and ponder the question: "What do we do with all of the stuff that we collect?" FULL TRANSCRIPT of Episode 21 available here. About our guest: Nora Almeida is an urban swimmer, social practice and performance artist, ed...
On our final episode of season one of Part of the Practice, writer, theorist, and interdisciplinary artist Tao Leigh Goffe is in conversation with host Catherine LaSota about art, freedom, and her project Dark Laboratory, located at Hunter College CUNY. Tao talks about her book Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis, and about the importance of asking questions that you don't have answers to. Tao's brand new human, affectionately referred to as Drag...
This is a special episode about Social Practice CUNY connections and collaborations! Host Catherine LaSota chats with Ari Wolff (SPCUNY Student Fellow 2022-23) and Cristina Ferrigno (SPCUNY Student Fellow 2021-22) about their project Citation Needed, where Ari is Founder and Director, and Cristina is Studio Director. This conversation is about finding the partners and communities that lift you up, the importance of meeting together across experiences and generations, combining your skill sets...
Environmental writer, teacher, and parent Emily Raboteau is in conversation with host Catherine LaSota on this episode of Part of the Practice. Emily, who teaches creative writing as a professor in the Black Studies Department at the City College of New York (CUNY), talks about the genesis of her book Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse," and how her definition of "environmental writer" evolved after reading an essay by the writer Camille Dungy. Emily also discusses the ro...
Author, scholar, and activist Ashley Dawson is in conversation with host Catherine LaSota on this episode of Part of the Practice. Ashley, who is a Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York, talks about how his training in postcolonial studies and as a literary critic led to his work dealing with the struggle against climate injustice and ecological imperialism. Ashley discusses how he developed a relationship with South Bronx Unite, among other groups fighting for climate ju...
Facilitator, educator, and scholar Nic Benacerraf is in conversation with host Catherine LaSota on this episode of Part of the Practice. Nic, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Theatre and Performance program at the Graduate Center, CUNY, talks about their work with multidisciplinary group Edge Effect, as well as their history of facilitation work and identification as a space maker -- and how this impacts their approach to directing. Catherine and Nic discuss the power of thinking and working in...
Researcher, educator, and photographer Jess Bal is in conversation with host Catherine LaSota on this episode of Part of the Practice. Jess, who is pursuing her Ph.D. in Art History at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and working on a community memory project about labor organizing in U.S. newsrooms, discusses her work in photojournalism, her thoughts on documentary ethics, and her ongoing relationship to storytelling. We also ask the question, "What is truth?" FULL TRANSCRIPT of Episode 15 availa...
Artist and educator Chloe Smolarski is in conversation with host Catherine LaSota on this episode of Part of the Practice. Chloe, who teaches at New York City College of Technology CUNY and is a Faculty Fellow at Social Practice CUNY, discusses her use of field notes as a format in her practice, her interests in big tech and climate change, and the conversations that she enjoys in her classrooms. She also gives us the question, "How does social practice change art?" FULL TRANSCRIPT...
Artist and researcher Jaclyn Reyes is in conversation with host Catherine LaSota on this episode of Part of the Practice. Jaclyn discusses her relationship with drawing, the Filipino community, her work with the United Nations, and her current role as a Ph.D. student in the Social Welfare program at the CUNY Graduate Center. She talks about what it's like for her to be in artist in the United States and in the Philippines, and about how her background in photography informs her practice. Jacl...
In this episode of Part of the Practice, host Catherine LaSota is in conversation with SPCUNY Fellow Esther Marveta Neff. Esther talks about their collective/thinktank/entity PPL, and their work in the Ph.D. program in Theatre and Performance Studies at the Graduate Center CUNY. Also covered in this episode: different definitions of models, the concept of logical space, agency and community, the joys of pedagogy, and...vibes! FULL TRANSCRIPT of Episode 12 available here. About our guest: E...
In our first episode of 2025, host Catherine LaSota is in conversation with brynn asha walker, an MFA student in the Performance and Interactive Media Arts (PIMA) program at Brooklyn College. brynn discusses her interest in poor images, as well as concepts of poorness and queerness, and the possibilities of stepping into a feeling within the scope of a performance. brynn and Catherine also talk about the nature of interactive technologies and the ways in which art and social practice can be a...
In our final episode of 2024, host Catherine LaSota is in conversation with Elvis Bakaitis, Head of Reference at the Graduate Center CUNY Library. Elvis discusses their work with the Lesbian Herstory Archives, their experience as a caregiver in different contexts, and the nature of our public lives in New York City and at CUNY in particular, as well as the queer aging studies project they are working on as an SPCUNY Fellow. FULL TRANSCRIPT of Episode 10 available here. About our guest: Elv...
In this episode of Part of the Practice, host Catherine LaSota is in conversation with Kerosene Jones, an interdisciplinary artist and MFA student in Performance and Interactive Media Arts at Brooklyn College. Jones discusses the role of intuition in his archival work, his relationship with extended vocal technique as a practice, and the ways that he builds community as an editor and a curator. Jones also discusses his practice in relationship to his own experience with opioid addiction, and ...
In this episode of Part of the Practice, host Catherine LaSota talks with Hunter College MFA student and SPCUNY Actionist Ali Motamedi, about the development of Ali's work through different media, his relationship to the Farsi language, and thoughts on the possibilities of collective authorship. Ali discusses how his use of materials has changed over time, the project he is working on with SPCUNY, and how the four walls of a studio can create a kind of freedom that fosters exploration as an a...
On this episode of Part of the Practice, SPCUNY Actionist and Master's Student in the CUNY Liberal Studies Program at the Graduate Center CUNY Kendall Allison talks with Part of the Practice host Catherine LaSota about their approach to breath, community, and building a better future together. Tune in to learn about Kendall's practice as a standup comedian, using humor in their work in organizing toward the solidarity economy. You'll also get a wonderful list of reading recommendations! FULL...
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