At Oxy Live!‘s first installment of their speaker series last month, acclaimed interviewer Paul Holdengräber spoke with Alok Vaid-Menon on topics that ranged from the ways in which fiction differs from reality to stories of ordering hot chocolate at 3 a.m. This was the first event in the new series, but there are many more to come, according to Occidental’s website.
Oxy Arts Director Meldia Yesayan said she co-founded the series with Holdengräber, who had recently moved to LA from New York City. Yesayan said the idea for the series came from her experiences attending memorable cultural events where speakers would be engaged in intimate conversations in a room of like-minded people.
“We plotted out some ideas and ultimately launched Oxy Live! to bring this type of cultural engagement to not only the Oxy community, but the greater Los Angeles community,” Yesayan said.
Frankie Fleming, who manages and promotes community programs at Oxy Arts, said the speaker series will primarily feature artists and writers this year. Fleming said the conversations present a fresh way of discussing art that is different from what students might experience elsewhere.
“I think it’s very different to hear someone in conversation than it is to hear someone lecture and speak in more of a traditional artists’ talk,” Fleming said. “I also think it’s really different to hear that in a room with other people, versus a podcast or YouTube video. Gathering in person and in community offers different points of connection and different ways to understand the content that we’re hearing.”
Lisa Coscino, a member of the Board of Trustees and a primary funder of the series, according to Occidental’s YouTube channel, said the conversations provide a less rigid space for students to think about art than they encounter in the classroom.
“We want students to get a break from that top-down lecture and have some space to let people talk and let their minds wander off, almost like a meditative experience,” Coscino said.
Coscino, using Vaid-Menon as an example, said that despite being successful artists, the speakers have had many of the same struggles as students and can show students how they used their art practice to cope.
“Alok is a person who has overcome a lot of trauma… that art helped them work out,” Coscino said. “Whatever age you are, I think we’re all confronted with trauma. Alok’s conversation was a way for people to gain some insight into trauma healing that’s healthy; in their particular case, poetry and writing.”
Yesayan said that the curators aim to choose a diverse group of speakers with a wide range of perspectives, like Rebecca Solnit, a feminist writer scheduled to speak Nov. 28, whose work covers topics from feminism to Indigenous history. Coscino said Solnit’s upcoming appearance will provide a perspective for female, female-identifying or even feminist and male-identifying.
“It’s great to gain the perspective of a person who went through a lot of the early years and stages of feminism, and used art and writing as a tool and an access point for expression,” Coscino said.
Fleming said they wanted as many people as possible to attend, and worked with the President’s Office and the Alumni and Parent Engagement Office to spread the word about the event. Fleming said that they ran an ad on a local NPR station, which they had never done before, and that members of the wider community made up much of the attendance at the first event.
“I think when you’re an adult who’s no longer in college and no longer has access to that kind of learning environment, it feels really special to get to spend an hour learning and listening to someone speak and being immersed in dialogue and conversation,” Fleming said.
Yesayan said via email that overall accessibility and inclusion are important aspects of the speaker series.
“Our hope is for Oxy Live! to become an accessible (all events are free to the public) and admired cultural program in Los Angeles,” Yesayan said via email.
Coscino said it’s important that the events have no financial barrier to entrance, which Fleming said is uncommon for a speaker series like this one. Additionally, Yesayan said that she hoped to increase Occidental’s position as a destination for these conversations around art.
“I’m hopeful that the series will elevate general awareness of Occidental as a destination for intellectual and artistic exploration on the Eastside of Los Angeles,” Yesayan said via email.
Coscino said that, overall, the curators aim to fill Thorne Hall with attendees, wherever they originate from.
“The goal is that everybody experiences something wonderful, learns something and gains insights. Anybody who attends or watches the video has an elevated experience that gives them insight into their own lives,” Coscino said. “That’s what conversation should do. It should grow you as a person.”
Contact Ruby Gower at gower@oxy.edu
