Exploring New York's Creative Legacy
Free Talks
| 60 MINUTESThis year's Expressions of Black Freedom theme is "Redefining Legacy." But what is legacy? The reality of legacy is that while it is frequently seen as an individual concept, it is more accurately a community endeavor. As an organization based in New York City, we are fortunate to be part of the communities and legacies created and nurtured here. This panel will not just examine, but also actively engage with that creative legacy. Storytellers who have explored their craft in New York will share their experiences, discussing how the community and institutions of New York have influenced their creative growth, and how New York has become a part of their personal creative legacy.
Panelists
Jacqueline Woodson
Jacqueline Woodson is the author of forty books for young people and adults. Her awards include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, three NAACP Image Awards and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. She has served as the Library of Congress’ National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature as well as the Young People’s Poet Laureate. In 2014, she received the National Book Award for her New York Times bestselling memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming. Her books for adults include Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Other books by Woodson -- The Coretta Scott King Award and NAACP Image Award winner Before the Ever After, New York Times bestsellers The Year We Learned to Fly, The Day You Begin, and Harbor Me; The Other Side; Each Kindness; Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle’s Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. In 2018, she founded BALDWIN FOR THE ARTS (https://baldwinforthearts.org), a residency serving writers, composers, interdisciplinary, and visual artists of the Global Majority. Her most recent novel, Remember Us, is set in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.
André Holland
André Holland is an acclaimed actor and producer whose work spans film, television, and theater. He currently stars in The Actor and Love, Brooklyn (also a producer), both premiering in 2025, as well as The Dutchman, adapted from Amiri Baraka’s play. Upcoming, he stars in Lincoln in the Bardo, directed by Duke Johnson.
Holland’s recent film credits include Exhibiting Forgiveness, Passing, and High Flying Bird, which he executive produced. He is widely known for his performances in Moonlight, Selma, The Big Cigar (Apple TV+), The Eddy (Netflix), Castle Rock (Hulu), and The Knick (Cinemax).
On stage, he debuted on Broadway in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, returned in Jitney, and most recently played Othello at Shakespeare’s Globe. Holland has also worked extensively with The Public Theater and made his directorial debut with Greg Keller’s Dutch Master.