Works in Progress

WORKS IN PROGRESS is a podcast produced by the ArtLab at Harvard University. In this podcast, we speak with the contemporary visual and performing artists working at ArtLab. The ArtLab is helping create the conditions for the Arts to flourish at Harvard, and this podcast brings these artists and their ideas to you. Season 1: Spring, 2022Hosted by Bree Edwards, ArtLab Director, with Kristian Hardy, a student at Harvard College Ep 1: Jordan Weber, artist and John Peterson, Curator of Loeb FellowshipEp 2: Merritt Moore, ballerina, and physicistEp 3: Claire Chase, flutist, and Harvard professor, and Lisa E. Harris, opera singer, and composerEp 4: Ayodele Casel, Tap Dancer and Torya Beard, Director, and Educator Ep 5: Matt Saunders, artist, and Harvard professor; Jennifer Roberts, Art Historian, and Harvard Professor and Eric Zou, a student at Harvard College

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Works in Progress

Episode 2 Samora Pinderhughes

November 20, 2024 • Season 2 • Episode 2

The music in the introduction and conclusion of this episode comes from the concert on April 30, 2024, at Harvard University, led by artist and composer Samora Pinderhughes and The Healing Project. It includes Dani Murcia, Nia Drummond, and Jebreal Jackson on vocals, Elliott Skinner on guitar and vocals, and Joshua Crumbly on bass. The performance features an introduction by Vijay Iyer, the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts.

This musical performance was commissioned by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA) and ArtLab.

https://artlab.harvard.edu/samora-pinderhughes-the-healing-project/

In this episode of Works in Progress, artist and composer Samora Pinderhughes joins ArtLab director Bree Edwards to discuss the reparative power of collaborative art. As a PhD student in Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry (CPCI) in the Harvard Department of Music, Samora is engaged in unearthing obscured cultural artifacts of collective experience. His work navigates entrenched layers of structural inequality to orchestrate widely resonant projects for healing and harmony.

Moved by a calling to utilize art in service to societal transformation, Samora invites us to think and feel more deeply about navigating our shared worlds. The Healing Project is a New York-based arts organization exploring creative alternatives to systemic violence and is part of Samora’s dissertation. In this concert, Samora and his collaborators intertwine the voices of incarcerated and non-incarcerated individuals, crafting a shared melodic plea for a better world.

Join us for a vulnerable and inspiring conversation about Samora’s commitment to liberatory creative work for collective healing.

Samora’s ArtLab page: https://artlab.harvard.edu/samora-pinderhughes-the-healing-project/
Samora’s website: https://www.samorapinderhughes.com/
Samora’s Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/samorapinderhughes/

Works in Progress is recorded and produced in ArtLab’s Mead Production Lab, which is located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. Season 2 is hosted by Bree Edwards, produced by Kat Nakaji, researched by Sadie Trichler, designed by Sonia Sobrino Ralston, and edited by Luke Damrosch. The Healing Project concert was hosted in Paine Music Hall by the Harvard Department of Music and recorded by the Harvard Media Production Center. The theme music is by Kicktracks.

For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching @ArtLabHarvard.