James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an American author and Civil Rights activist, whose works confront controversial subjects such as race and sexuality. While articulated differently today, these issues have lost none of their urgency as recent incidents on U.S. streets and campuses testify. The Year of James Baldwin celebrates Baldwin’s legacy and its continued relevance. In a year-long collaboration among cultural and educational institutions in New York City, numerous public programs explore Baldwin’s work and its resonance within a contemporary context.

At the initiative of the Vera List Center, The New School is hosting several events in fall 2014 and spring 2015. They include a discussion on Baldwin’s influence on contemporary artists with Leslie Hewitt and Thomas J. Lax, a film screening of James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket, a reading with Cave Canem as well as a three-week sound installation by Mendi + Keith Obadike in The New School’s new University Center, opening in late February 2015. The sound installation features a variety of live programming such as music performances and readings. The Year of James Baldwin culminates in the spring of 2015 with major programming at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse. Events throughout the city celebrate this American writer who is arguably one of the most profound and imperative voices of the twentieth century.

The Year of James Baldwin is presented in partnership with Harlem Stage, Columbia University School of the Arts and New York Live Arts, and in collaboration with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, the School of Media Studies, and the School of Writing at The New School.