Advocacy
More Like ThisA driving force for artists throughout history has been the desire to bring awareness to issues, build empathy for humanity, forge connections, and move society forward.
The artists of BU College of Fine Arts are no different. Making waves, disrupting systems, creating space for marginalized voices, and calling out inequity are baked in to the learning process. Student-artists and faculty mentors who are working artists, educators, and advocates, bring that fuel into their work here at CFA. Check out some of their stories…
Ibram X. Kendi and Joel Christian Gill team up for new graphic version of Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning
The collaboration offers a graphic history of racism in American culture, policy, and social systems, intended for a broader readership
How BU alums are changing the entertainment industry
CFA alums and actors Russell Hornsby (CFA’88) and Michelle Hurd (CFA’96) returned to BU for College of Communication symposium Black Media: Reflecting on the Past and Reimagining the Future.
Along with the other participants, the two have broken barriers in their fields, amplified Black voices and stories, and navigated the challenges that still exist for Black storytellers and communications professionals.
MFA Visual Narrative Storytellers Illustrate The History of the Busing Crisis in Boston for The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe story on the busing crisis in Boston was developed in collaboration with The Gutter Studios, a collective of visual storytellers from Boston University’s MFA in Visual Narrative.
CFA Student Draws on His Life as a Musician with a Disability
When he was 16, Spencer Hart-Thompson (CFA’24) was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a physical and psychiatric disorder that causes chronic and often spontaneous pain. Undaunted, he began to record an album, then embarked on a long-term research project aiming to expand accessibility and accommodations for those with disabilities.
“As I was adapting, I started doing research behind the music and I figured out that there was an interesting niche that is not really talked about very much, which is disabled music-making,” Hart-Thompson says. Gareth Dylan Smith, a CFA assistant professor of music and music education, and Ruth Debrot, a CFA lecturer in music education, were his mentors as he developed his research into a more formal paper of the same title.
“[Dr. Smith] started saying, let’s make an article about the music-making process and it eventually became, let’s make an article about the music-making process through the scope of disability, and I loved the idea of bringing those two together,” Hart-Thompson says. “There really isn’t a lot of research out there.”
Actor and BU alum Michelle Hurd Talks Star Trek: Picard, studying at BU, and empowering opportunities for diverse artists
“I realized that, as an actor, we actually have a little power. We can actually make change. I’m super excited and more focused on helping the many and not just the few. I’m already on the contact sheet. I’m already going to be taken care of. I’m more concerned about our guests, our recurring, our background artists, and anybody who enters the set. I want them to feel safe and empowered,” says Hurd (CFA’88), who’s passionate about advocating to have people of color represented on screen and behind the camera.
Human Rights Activist & Music Educator André de Quadros Recognized for Career Dedicated to Justice and the Arts
Chorus America honored the BU music professor for his years teaching music to marginalized people and communities
The arc of justice is tilting. I don’t think 20 years ago people recognized how important it is to work in this area of justice, equity, and diversity.
Using Their Work to Tell Lesser-Known Stories from Black History
A conversation between illustrator and educator Joel Christian Gill (CFA’04) and artist Charles Suggs (CFA’20) about their work, process, and highlighting realheroes from our history.
CFA Faculty named to Center for Antiracist Research Affiliated Faculty
Lucy Kim, André de Quadros, and Michael Birenbaum Quintero are among a cohort of faculty from across BU and other institutions involved in the Affiliated Faculty program of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University.
Indigenous Voices Speak Out at BU
BU Arts Initiative series, including site-specific art installation and a collaborative theatre production, highlights perspectives that are too often erased.
“I’ve always wanted to become a trombone soloist. There aren’t that many indigenous composers that are in the public eye, and I don’t have the gift of composition. So, I thought, OK, I’ve got to commission the work.”
What George Floyd Changed
The protests over one man’s death touched far more aspects of American life than just criminal justice. Seven thinkers, including playwright and Director of the School of Theatre Kirsten Greenidge reflect on how America is (and isn’t) different now.
Minds do not change direction; they are not streets heading only one way. But minds can expand to be able to hold new ideas. While our nation has a very long way to go in terms of ensuring equity and equality for all, the months, minutes and moments after we bore witness to the killing of George Floyd have demonstrated that we have the capacity to expand, as individuals and as a nation, our ability to love, truly love, our neighbors.
We do not have to know each other, or fully understand each other, to honor the notion that we each have the right to live.
