About this Event
Weaving together politics, hip hop, and his personal path from the East River Houses to becoming an educator, activist, and Congressman, Jamaal Bowman joins the SVA Honors Program, BFA Visual and Critical Studies, and Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for a conversation on the connections between the struggle against oppression and art today.
In the face of fascism and oligarchy, it is more urgent than ever to understand what is happening and to fight back. Jamaal Bowman has led that fight on any number of fronts, past, present, and future. His work as an educator and his advocacy on behalf of working-class parents and students of color, led him to unseat a 16-term incumbent to become a Congressman. In office he led on fights for education, labor rights, and climate action, and against war and genocide. Unseated after two terms in the most expensive Congressional primary in American history, Bowman will reflect on continuing the struggle, on every level, to save our democracy and create justice.
Bowman has also long been inspired by hip hop as an art form and as a cultural revolution. In this open conversation, Bowman will explore the many ties between art, hip hop, and the politics of our time. He will reflect on the rise of hip hop in the Bronx as a response to neglect, oppression, policy harm, and empire trying to crush those communities. He will consider the unique ways that art can help capture the confusion, frustration, rage, and longing so many feel; while also looking at ways young artists are increasingly getting involved in the political process directly, as in the Zohran Mamdani campaign.
A unique and vital dialogue on power, politics, and art today.
Jamaal Bowman is a politician, an educator, and an activist. He served from 2021 to 2025 in Congress as the representative for New York's 16th congressional district. He has been inspired by hip hop throughout his career as a voice for the voiceless; in Congress, he started the Hip Hop Power and Justice Task Force, and was author and sponsor of the RAP Act, which would limit the admissibility of using artists’ creative expression in court. He is the founder and former principal of the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action, a public middle school in Eastchester, Bronx. His activism beyond the ballot box has included mobilization against gun violence and standardized testing, work with Educators for Zohran, the Built to Win PAC, the Tenant Bloc, and a podcast with Congresswoman Cori Bush. He has just recently finished drafting his memoir.
Humanity is living through an interlocking series of crises. It is difficult to say strongly enough how urgent the situation is. How do these conditions impact the arts? Does art have resources that might come to our aid in these serious times? In light of all there is to understand and to change, SVA's Art & Politics Lecture Series, co-hosted by the BFA Visual & Critical Studies and the SVA Honors Program, invites speakers from all walks of life to address, discuss and debate politics, art, and the delicate filaments that tie them together.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
133 W 21st St., Lecture Hall 101c, 133 West 21st Street, New York, United States
USD 0.00
