Ohio Wesleyan's 2025 symposium features an exploration of Black arts and culture highlighted by a conversation with acclaimed actress and activist Erika Alexander.
2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium
March 27-29, 2025
All locations are subject to change. Tickets are needed unless otherwise noted.
Please see our Symposium Presenters page for bio information.
Thursday, March 27
Friday, March 28
- 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. – On-Site Registration and Check-In | HWCC (Outside the Benes Rooms)
- 8:45-9:45 a.m. – Concurrent Session I | HWCC Benes Rooms
- A Slow Burn: Negotiating Black Art in a White Academic Setting
Presenters: Crystal Clark, Allen S. Coleman, and Robyn Lyons-Robinson
- 9:55-10:55 a.m. – Concurrent Session II
- Panel: Dance Focus | HWCC
- Overlapping Pulse: Black Expression in Dance Performance
Presenter: Jalen E. Rose| HWCC 312
- Zora and Janie of Eatonville | HWCC 304
Presenter: Margaret Cox
- Melvin Van Peebles: Keep on Keepin' on | HWCC Crider Lounge (Second floor)
Presenter: Kathryn Weill
- 11-12:15 p.m. – Theatre Session I
- 12:30-1:45 p.m. – Symposium Welcome and Lunch with Ohio Wesleyan President Matt vandenBerg | HWCC Benes Rooms
- 1:45-2:30 p.m. – Concurrent Session III
- Visualizing Jazz: From Sound to Screen | HWCC 312
Presenter: Stephanie Matthews
- Panel: Film Focus | HWCC 304
- Unity is the Solution: 1970s Black Film
Presenter: Eli Boonin-Vail
- Memeing a Ma: A Racist Trope
Presenter: J. Brendan Shaw
- Lovecraft Country and the Metaphysics of Fire
Presenter: Anwar Uhuru
- Art Songs and Spirituals: Expressions of African American Cultures | HWCC Crider Lounge (Second floor)
Presenter: Rosetta Dingle
- 2:45-4 p.m. – Caribbean Transformers: Becoming and Being in the New World | Ross Art Museum
Presenter: Alicia Brown
- 4:15-6 p.m. – Theatre Session II
- The Voice of Freedom | Chappelear Drama Center (Studio Theatre)
Presenters: Ashley Brooks Wise, Destiny Coleman, Kenneth Eaddy, Karolyn Lee Gholston, Tifani K, DeMeeshia Marshall
- Polyrhythmic Life: AFRICA IN AMERICA | Merrick 301
Presenter: Kara Mack
- 6:15-7:30 p.m. – Dinner (Fork in Nigeria food truck) | JAYwalk outside HWCC. Those without tickets are invited to purchase food from this acclaimed Columbus restaurant.
- 7-8:40 p.m. – American Fiction movie screening featuring Erika Alexander | HWCC Benes Rooms. This event is free and open to everyone, no ticket needed.
Saturday, March 29
- 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. – On-Site Registration and Check-In | HWCC (Outside the Benes Rooms)
- 8:45-10 a.m. – Concurrent Session IV
- 10:10-11 a.m. – TV Screening – Living Single episodes | HWCC Benes Rooms
- 11:10-12:30 p.m. – Panel: Black Art in America: Arts and Cultural Policies from Reconstruction to Afrofuturism | HWCC Benes Rooms
- Critical Afro-Nostalgia
Presenter: Terron Banner
- Brilliant Homage & Resilience
Presenter: Arris Cohen
- Love Jones and the Afrocentric Movement
Presenter: Iyana Hill
- The Revolutionary Black Gaze
Presenter: Ekundayo Igeleke
- Black World-Making: Heritage & Roots
Presenter: Monte Murphy
- Black Inheritance: Love, Liberty, and Identity
Presenter: Sydney Summey
- 12:30-1:30 p.m. – Lunch (On Your Own) |
- 1:30-2:30 p.m. – Visual artist Lance Johnson featuring dancer Candice Flows | The Back Porch (Outdoors, adjacent to Elliott Hall) This event is free and open to everyone, no ticket needed.
- 2:45-4 p.m. – Theatre Session III | Chappelear Drama Center (Studio Theatre)
- Unknown
Presenters: Annette Grevious and Claflin University Theatre Ensemble
- 4:30-5:30 p.m. – VIP Cocktail Hour – Erika Alexander | Ross Art Museum (*Separate VIP ticket required*)
- 5:45-8 p.m. – Keynote Banquet – A Conversation with Erika Alexander | HWCC Benes Rooms
- Art Installation – Art will be accessible throughout the symposium
- The Chaotic Musings of a Caribbean Immigrant
Artist: Hasani Claxton | HWCC Benes Rooms