Creative Writing

Poetry & the Senses Spring 2021 Fellows Reading

May 10, 2021
Poetry & the Senses Spring 2021 Fellows Reading Monday, May 10th 2021 4:30-6:00pm PDT

Watch the recording here!

The Arts Research Center celebrated the 2021 Spring Poetry Fellows with a reading featuring: reelaviolette botts-ward, Vethea Cole, Elizabeth Feng, Sara Mumolo, Ramona Naddaff, Ken Ueno, Noah Warren, and Maw Shein Win. This event was a part of ARC’s Poetry and the Senses initiative generously sponsored by Engaging the Senses Foundation.

Flash Reading Series

In spring 2021, ARC piloted a new Flash Reading Series featuring two dozen Bay Area poets. reading one of their poems in relation to the theme “emerge/ncy”. In addition to ARC’s larger monthly readings, this series extended the number of voices we wanted to hear from, and carry with us, in these changing times – from emerging to established poets. Ongoing, we will add new Bay Area poets each April during National Poetry Month.

Over time, the series has turned into a growing online archive of Bay Area poets. These 52 short recorded readings are...

Poetry & the Senses Fellows’ Reading

December 9, 2020
Poetry & the Senses Fellows’ Reading Wednesday December 9, 2020 5:00-6:30 PST

Watch the recording here!

Danez Smith and Patricia Smith

December 3, 2020
Danez Smith and Patricia Smith | Readings + Conversation Thursday, December 3, 2020, 5:00-6:30 PST

This event took place online.
Find the full recording here.

Visual Activism: Ajuan Mance

November 24, 2020
Ajuan Mance: 1001 Black Men Tuesday, November 24
11:30-12:30pm PST

Watch the recording here!

Ajuan Mance is a Professor of English at Mills College and a lifelong artist and writer. She holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. In both her scholarly writing and her visual art, Ajuan explores the complexities of race, gender, and identity in the U.S. The creator of the 1001 Black Men online sketchbook, Ajuan has participated in solo...

Visual Activism: Favianna Rodriguez

September 15, 2023
Favianna Rodriguez Tuesday, September 15
11:30-12:30pm PST

Watch the recording here!

Favianna Rodriguez is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and social justice activist based in Oakland, California. Her art and praxis address migration, gender justice, climate change, racial equity, and sexual freedom. Her practice boldly reshapes the myths, stories, and cultural practices of the present, while healing from the wounds of the past.

Reading by Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate

April 22, 2020
Reading by Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate in conversation with Beth Piatote Wednesday, April 22, 2020 5:30 – 7:00pm PDT

Watch the recording here!

Please inquire for an educational copy of the full recording.

Launch of “Amateurism”

November 12, 2019
Launch of “Amateurism” | Third Text Special Issue With remarks by Abigail De Kosnik and Anneka Lenssen Tuesday, November 12, 2019
5:00-7:00pm
Beta Lounge (rsvp to lauren.pearson@berkeley.edu)

Art as Critique Conference

March 1, 2019
Art as Critique Conference Friday, March 1, 2019
9:00am-6:30pm
Geballe Room, Townsend Center for the Humanities

Watch the recordings of Panel 1, Panel 2, Panel 3, and Panel 4!

Amateurism Across the Arts

March 9, 2018
Amateurism Across the Arts Conference Friday, March 9, 2018, 9:30am-6:15pm Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology Amateurism Across the Arts is an exploration of vernacular, popular, fannish, kitsch, informal, self-taught, user-generated, and DIY production in music, architecture, literature, the visual arts, dance, and new media– especially in relation to raced, classed, and gendered notions of value. How do the implicitly skilled “arts” rupture and reorganize themselves around hierarchies of taste? And how can critical...