The Cineaste Project

I am thrilled to announce that I have been named a Public Humanities Fellow for the 2017-2018 academic year. The Public Humanities Fellowship is offered through Humanities NY and is funded by a grant from the Andrew H. Mellon Foundation.

The Fellowship requires that I actively work toward implementing my project in coordination with community partners, attend talks and workshops, and give two presentations at Binghamton University's Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH).

I look forward to blogging about my progress throughout the upcoming academic year. What follows is my abstract for the project:

​Academia often frames the humanities as an essential aspect in the construction of the public sphere, but little emphasis is put on how the public shapes the humanities. Cinema highlights the mutual constitution of the public and the arts, as it is both a site of identity formation and a medium built by local, national, and global community actors. The public sphere is a critical component of cinema because the distribution of many films relies on a public audience at film festivals, movie theaters, libraries, and universities. Currently, Binghamton does not have a public film program that centers on the screening and discussion of film. My project title, Cineaste, means an enthusiast for or devotee of film. The Cineaste project would create a public space for SUNY Binghamton cinema students, local residents, and cinephiles from the greater Binghamton area to screen and discuss film on a regular basis. The larger Binghamton community has a diverse population with diverse experiences, outlooks, and ideas. Cineaste, then, would build a forum for critical dialogues focused on issues central to the community and the world, facilitating empathy. Empathy acts as a link between individuals, strengthening ties across the community.