This spring, Scripps Presents, the College’s signature public events series, brings a slew of provocative speakers and performers to campus, showcasing the best in art, performance, and the humanities.
Marking the culmination of its third full year of programming, this season explores the entire ecosystem of art and performance—from curation to exhibition, inspiration to scholarship. “Scripps College is, and has always been, a bastion of the arts and humanities. We want to build on that legacy by exploring these fields holistically through our guests and performers,” says Corrina Lesser, artistic director of Scripps Presents.
Making its West Coast debut, Hélène Berr, A Stolen Life, on loan from the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, offers a poignant and rare glimpse into the Holocaust in Vichy France. Reynoldo Rivera discusses his photographs of underground Los Angeles with writer and filmmaker Chris Kraus, and choreographer Liz Lerman reveals Wicked Bodies, a performance inspired by sly, grotesque, sensual, and wildly creative women in literary and art history.
The conversation heats up with culture critics who expose, interrogate, and interpret contemporary topics. Netflix foodie Samin Nosrat of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat fame discusses the sustaining—and sensual—elements of food, and essayist Nathaniel Rich traces the history of failed climate policy and how we must act—before it’s too late. Andrew Marantz of The New Yorker shares his thoughts on social media trolls on college campuses and the mainstreaming of fringe politics, while Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians, will talk about the immigrant experience, literature, and his crazy successful movie.
A full marquee of literati will also grace the mainstage, including Bettina Love, who will discuss her new book about revolutionizing education, We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. Rachel Cusk hosts a rare Stateside reading of her international bestselling trilogy, Outline, Transit, and Kudos, and poets Sally Wen Mao, Morgan Parker, and Nicole Sealey discuss their latest collections.
Also happening on campus, Gaby Dunn of the podcast Bad with Money gently schools the audience on the “imperfect art of getting your financial shi*t together,” while powerhouse rapper, singer, and writer Dessa discusses her memoir, My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love. Groundbreaking woman Mary Schmidt Campbell, art historian and president of Spelman College, shares her recent scholarship on the life and work of Romare Bearden.
For more information, visit scrippscollege.edu/events/scrippspresents or call (909) 607-8508. Most events take place on the Scripps College campus and are FREE and open to the public. Tickets are required. Tickets are available beginning January 10 for the Scripps community and January 17 for the general public.
Click here for the calendar of all Scripps Presents events.
Scripps Presents Spring 2018 Calendar
January
22: (Through Feb. 28): Hélène Berr, A Stolen Life
29: Bettina Love
31: Crazy Rich Asian: Kevin Kwan in Conversation
February
4: Roles of the Museum Conservator: Geneva Griswold, Associate Objects Conservator at the Seattle Art Museum
2: Work in Progress: Liz Lerman’s Wicked Bodies
12: Sally Wen Mao
19: Ignorance in the Age of Information: The New Yorker‘s Andrew Marantz
20: Gaby Dunn, Bad with Money
26: Morgan Parker and Nicole Sealey: An Evening of Poetry
28: Girard Lecture: Iris Mauss
March
4: Mary Schmitt Campbell
5: Her Own Devices: Dessa in Conversation
12: Disappearing Los Angeles: The Photography of Reynaldo Rivera
April
9: Rachel Cusk: In Conversation
16: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Samin Nosrat in Conversation
23: Losing Earth: Nathaniel Rich in Conversation