By Malcolm Ryder ’76

“What is ‘editing’? I will argue that the most important quality of ‘editing’ is that it produces something that is beforehand not considered to be either sufficient or acceptable. There’s no getting around the idea that if editing is going to be involved, anything before it or without it must be incomplete.”

By John Sichel '81

“I am a composer and long-time birder who is fascinated with birdsong. In 2021, I received a research grant from Raritan Valley Community College to record birdsong and incorporate it into a work for the college choir. The grant enabled me to purchase a special parabolic microphone and related equipment. The recordings were made in the late spring and summer of 2021, and the work, entitled Three Motets, was completed by December.”

“A work of art is never finished; it is merely stopped,” Leonardo da Vinci is alleged to have said sometime in the High Renaissance. Recently, two of us took da Vinci as a model—not so much in claiming the mantle of his genius, but in deciding to “stop” a work and let it go public and, in doing so, starting to create an audience for that work.

By Brandon Webster, 2021-2022 Hodder Fellow

I’m working on a new musical theater piece, KRONOS, and the process of building the sonic world of this theater piece has challenged me to interrogate how I engage in story-craft.

KRONOS began as an idea without music or words. I only knew that I wanted KRONOS to be an Afro-futurist/Afro-surrealist, two-person musical theater piece.

By William Keiser ’19

Anyone who even peripherally knows me knows that I am obsessed with popularity, elitism, and hierarchy. Enter popular. Popular is a podcast I created with The Gay and Lesbian Review (a bimonthly LGBTQ print journal) and haus of bambi (a DC production company).

By Cameron Scott '93

“My work is focused on finding ways to sidestep those limitations in hopes of writing things that feel more alive. Here, I’m going to focus on one question I am asking to try to reframe poetry’s relationship to its audience: can lyrical writing be kinder to the reader, giving more and/or demanding less?”

By Kisara Moore '22

“The more I observed the town of Princeton’s vibrant collection of wall paintings, the more my confidence grew that mural-making would make the perfect medium for fostering a visual arts community on campus.”

In this meditative reflection, award-winning pianist and author Jessica Roemischer '82 shares a portrait of her life since childhood, a journey that has, since the onset of the pandemic, driven her to share her music with others through bi-weekly livestreamed concerts. In a changing world, Jessica spreads a message of hope for the future.

Princeton University Ballet has had to get creative to evolve amidst this pandemic. Throughout a difficult and sometimes tedious transition to the online platform, our company has maintained a deep love for our community and the act of making art together.

By Mark Lerer ’81

This week, the topic was “A New Resource for Working Women.” Using photos and other reference material, I drew a batch of sketches.

By Riya Singh ’23

It was hard, honestly, designing something that I felt should be raw, a product of the particularly intense emotions that went into all the art and writing.

“Más Flow wanted to create a way for our members to continue dancing in a safe and accessible manner, so we have hosted live Zoom meetings so that members of the company could feel like we are dancing together.”

By Julia Walton ’21

Kemi Adegoroye ’13 is a singer-songwriter based in the D.C. metro area with a music career that spans multiple genres. Kemi is frank about what pursuing a career in music looks like day to day. “80-90% of the work isn't playing music,” she said. “It's sending emails, making phone calls, putting Doodles and schedules together, putting out Instagram posts, reaching out to publications, and networking.” Throughout our conversation, though, Kemi stressed how fulfilling it has been to put in the work toward her longtime dream.

By Julia Walton '21

I spoke to Ani about her creative process, her development as an artist, and her experience working with students as an Arts Fellow at Princeton. Throughout, Ani stressed how generative interdisciplinary collaboration has been for her.

David Driscoll '05 invited Evan La Ruffa of IPaintMyMind for a conversation on arts, public action, education and accessibility as part of On Craft and Process: Conversing with the Arts by PA2. Available to watch on this page, or here.

“My fellowship from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, under the auspices of the Organization of the American States of which Trinidad and Tobago is a member state, was the pivotal moment for me as an artist.”