New School: Arts & Culture

Roaratorio is an acoustic experimental production created by the composer John Cage in 1979 for West German Radio. Cage, whose complex and challenging music often seemed chaotic, was actually a meticulous designer of his compositions, and this lush work is a good example of his mode of operation.As part of the class Radio/Audio Masterworks, which explores significant productions through a rigorous critical lens, filmmaker and sound artist Peter Lucas spoke with the class about the history of the work and led the class, operating in teams, through an exercise that resulted in the creation of their own Roaratorio.

Cast: Isabel Guastella, Elena Hollenbeak, Sophia Longmuir, Atticus Malloy, Jean-Luc MotaudyBand: Nicolas Bond, Deniz Oszan, Lio SpinelliCo-Director and producer: Maddy Burger

The New School's student-lead film festival, the New Screen Fest, is back for its third annual run. Diverse, creative films from a multitude of genres will be on display on Saturday May 10th at the DCTV Firehouse Cinema. Under the guidance of screen studies professor Nathan Fitch, students work to organize all aspects of such an event, from choosing the films being played to obtaining sponsorships and a venue to running a social media account. The New Screen fest is a vital opportunity for emerging filmmakers to showcase their work and learn how to plan such a large event.Produced By: Simon Jones, Juliana Krigsman, Trevor Mccook, Daniela MukongoPhoto: @thenewscreenfest • New Screen Fest design team

The Lang Theater Production for Spring 2025 will be a staging of La Cocina, written by Tony Meneses and directed by Danica Selem. A contemporary adaptation of the 1960's play The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker, La Cocina takes a deeper look at the dynamics of a kitchen in New York City and working class life. It will be performed at Mabou Mines from May 1st to 4th.Produced by Taz Ahmad Zamri and Izzy Hall.

Step into the world of The New School's Comedy Club, Mother Figure, where creativity and laughter take center stage. This audio piece explores the vibrant community of aspiring comedians, their deep connection to New York's historic comedy scene, and highlights their upcoming events. Discover how these students are shaping the future of comedy.

The Edges of Ailey exhibition at The Whitney Museum celebrates the life and work of choreographer and activist Alvin Ailey, whose revolutionary artistry reshaped American dance and culture. Featuring over 80 artists, the exhibit weaves together archival materials, photographs, visual art, and live performances to explore themes of Black spiritualism, southern influences, and the impact of Ailey's peers. Highlights include personal artifacts, iconic performance footage, and tributes to Judith Jamison, Ailey's long-time principal dancer. Running from September 25, 2024, to February 9, 2025, the exhibit captures the essence of Ailey's belief that making dances is an act of joy, progress, and celebration. Student tickets are available for $24 with a valid student ID, and adult tickets are $30.Produced by Milo Evashchen, Jordan Pagach, Taylor Carn, & Robinett Espinal

The Village Halloween Parade is one of New York City's most cherished cultural rites, drawing people from all over the city—and all over the world, to participate in a celebration of freedom, fantasy and fun. Each year it is an eye-popping extravaganza—building-high skeletons, leering monsters, floats and bands of all kinds. But amidst all the high-end Saturnalia, you can still glimpse parents and their children in bedsheets, and hastily concocted monster suits. It is a parade for everyone at a time when exclusion seems the order of the day. The parade's website reminds us, in Lewis Carroll's words, that “Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.”WNSR's Sarah Montague is a Greenwich Village resident, and makes a point of attending the parade each year.

We bring to you a live-recording of Edgar Allen Poe's chilling classic, The Tell-Tale Heart. Since its publication in 1843, this story has captivated audiences with its intense exploration of guilt, madness, and the human psyche. In a unique twist, our narrator is voiced by the talented Isabel Guastella, bringing a fresh perspective to Poe's haunting narrative. Accompanying her is bassist Nicolas Bond.

The Merchant's House Museum, which from 1835-1933 was a residential home for a wealthy family, now exists as a historic house museum in the heart of the East Village. The museum is furnished almost exactly as it was when it was a residence and with nearly all of the family's original furniture and belongings. Not only does it preserve over a thousand historic artifacts, it also exists as a preservation of the Rococo Revival architecture style and acts as a portal to a pivotal time period in Manhattan.The museum is now threatened by development, and this feature, which includes ghost stories and passionate accounts from staff and volunteers, establishes why the Museum's preservation isn't just important, it's necessary.Producer Credits: Eleanor Kagan, Liliana Green, Kieran PfaffingerMusic: Played and recorded at The Merchant's House on the museums Pianoforte

Producers Andrea Tlacuilo and Alisha Mess tell the story of how Michael Jackson overcame MTV's racial barrier with his smash hit music video “Billie Jean.”We'd love to give a special thanks to Raul Tlacuilo, Tricia White, Marc Plotkin, and Marlon Saunders. Our Sources: MTV News: David Bowie interviewed by Mark Goodman (Youtube), MTV Theme Song: Man On The Moon (YouTube), and Michael Jackson's Billie Jean song.Picture Credits: YouTube (Billie Jean music video)

Since the development of the Disney company in 1923, Disney has grown to be a staple of North American culture, but with its popularity came something unexpected — the cultural phenomenon of “Disney Adults.”Produced By: M Shimek, Emily Wampold, Lillian Heckler, Gabriella Bottomley, Jordan Jainlett

In a post-Covid society where community is hard to come across The Gaia Music Collective is here to save the day. A New York City based music collective that hosts a variety of singing events, Gaia prides itself with creating special experiences for everyone. Matt Goldstein, Gaia's founder talks about what exactly they are about.Produced by: Caroline Capuano, Mackenzie Peluso, MJ McDonald, Alisha Mess, Paola Trinh

Producer Maddy Burger interviews her former professor Bureen Ruffin, who teaches first-year writing at The New School. They discuss their individual and collective journeys, while asking deep and reflective questions about education and humanity.

The Village Halloween Parade celebrated its 50th anniversary this week, with performance artist Laurie Anderson as the Grand Marshall. WNSR's Sarah Montague attended. She says is was both ghostly and gleeful.

Going to summer camp is almost a rite of passage for many Jewish tweens and teens nationwide. With puberty hormones raging, unspoken (and spoken) peer pressure, and the inherent design of these camps, it is no wonder that they produce lots and lots of couples. In this feature, producers Audrey Douglass & Ramona Saft interview couples who have met at camps, the founder of a dating app for summer camp alumni, and former counselors who are now working to reform consent culture at camp.

The average New Yorker or tourist who visits the Empire State Building may not notice Legends Sports Bar, one of many which are opposite this iconic landmark. From the outside, there are no clues that this is the home of underground football culture in the city - literally. The basement of this bar is known as The Football Factory and is a hub for football fans from all over the world. The bar is the home of more than thirty supporters groups who gather together weekly to celebrate and commiserate the highs and lows of their team's live matches, despite the five-hour time difference between the UK and the East Coast. Producer Tamara Kormornick gives us the play by play.

The annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade returned in person this year with a wide array of colorful costumes and a great deal of merry noise. Reporter Jean-Luc Mountady stopped by to catch a few minutes of the action.

Producer Violette Hedo reflects on the nature and cultural significance of this iconic New York food.

Taking a media critique approach to historical analysis, Calvin Ryerse explores the rise of Rush Limbaugh, the man who proved conservative media could be a powerful and profitable cultural force.Music Attribution: theme 4 - johnny_ripper

The Twilight Saga is a series of four fantasy novels by Stephanie Meyer. The film adaptations, beginning in 2008, attracted a huge following, fashioning a generation of what producer Kleigh Balugo calls “Twi-Hards.” Now, she says in this feature, “Gen Z has become obsessed with Twilight. We binge the entire saga on Netflix, just as the Twi-Hards of 2008 lined up overnight for the premieres. This Twilight Renaissance showed us that in times of despair we will always turn to sparkly Edward Cullen to drown our sorrows. CREDIT FOR MUSIC:Song used, “Bella's Lullaby” by Carter Burwell, Dan Redfeld, and Elizabeth Hedman.

Producer Bria Dixon investigates the way Black fashion of the 1990s "celebrates self love" and Black culture.Music & Video Sources-“Aaliyah - Rock The Boat (Original Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Blackground Records 2.0, 9 September 2021, youtu.be/3HSJU5fDg0A.“Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg - Still D.R.E. (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by DrDreVEVO, 27 October 2011, youtu.be/_CL6n0FJZpk.“TLC - What About Your Friends (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by TLCVEVO, 20 November 2012, youtu.be/92gHq1s6G-c.“Who Taught You to Hate Yourself - Malcolm X.” YouTube, uploaded by Bihibindi News, 28 June 2016, youtu.be/sCSOiN_38nE.

Description: The South Korean drama series Squid Game, released on Netflix in Sept. 2021, became the streaming platform's most viewed series to date with approximately 142 million household views worldwide in its first 28 days. The series is about individuals in financial debt who agree to participate in deadly children's games for an enormous cash prize. This survival game genre has been a popular trend in the entertainment industry in the past few decades; films that follow this premise include The Hunger Games trilogy and Battle Royale. These films and shows also share an underlying theme: the divide between the rich and the poor. Produced By: Michaela Zee, Ally Santana, Olivia Conforti, and Tasmia IslamMusic: “Way Back then” by jun jaeil (Squid Game Original Soundtrack)Image Credit: Youngkyu Park/Netflix

The New School is historically unconventional, and has an equally unique mascot. Here is the story of Gnarls the Narwhal, and how their identity represents us, the student body. Produced by: Jade Welder, Tina Ngyuen, Marin Gross, and Stephen Lehren

On Sept. 25 2021, the Student Leadership and Involvement team hosted a bike ride event in Central Park. Both faculty and students alike participated in this event, where they expressed how they felt to attend an in-person event after experiencing classes on Zoom for the past year and a half. Produced By: Michaela Zee, Ally Santana, Olivia Conforti, Tasmia Islam, and Alyse Robinson Music: “The Next Afternoon” by Mr. Carmack

Content warning: this includes descriptions of eating disorder behaviors and anxiety.Food, exercise and family collide in unexpected ways. Marley Collins talks to her family about food, exercise, and her and her sister's eating disorders. Production and music by Marley Collins. Edited by Andy Hartman. The referenced 1997 study was done by Suzanne W. McNutt et al., published in the Journal of Adolescent Health and can be found at doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(96)00176-0.

When it comes to delivering babies in the good ole USA for Black women, you will find that we are living in two very different America's when you look at the infant mortality rate. Producer Amber Worsley talks with mothers and doulas about their experiences in and outside hospitals in an attempt to find out the secret behind the statistics.Special thanks to Ranjani Chakraborty and Vox for their short documentary, The US medical system is still haunted by slavery, whose research I used for this story, along with the research you can find at CDC.gov.

Producer Christian Nesfield interviews his grandmother, Ellen Holden, about the history his family, and Orchard Street in Ridgwood, New Jersey where they've lived for over a hundred years.

They were chosen because the islands were so remote. Told through personal narratives of young people, we explore the history of the United States' nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. For the Marshallese, life will never be the same. Produced by Calvin Ryerse, edited by Bria Dixon, music by MARK Harmony, performing "Be Mine", produced by Voices Rising.

Fiction plays an important part in most people's everyday lives. Producer Sheyda Parnianpour was inspired by the Oscar Wilde quote 'Life imitates art far more than art imitates life' to explore the role of fiction in the lives of three millennials.

Radio date is a short feature documenting the eclectic, isolating, and humorous experience of Black, queer, nonbinary dating during the CO-VID 19 pandemic. It's meant to reveal my newly acquired light but strange virtual dating life to address the macro phenomenon of Black, queer and trans folk in a digital dating space.

Mother and Daughter is a radio feature by Andy Hartman where she details her gender transition and relates it to her mother's experiences with pregnancy and breast cancer. Produced by Marley Collins and Sarah Montague. Featuring music by Siddhartha Corsus.

Common understanding of Mexican food is far from its authentic actuality. Traditional dishes from south of the border have become appropriated by white restaurateurs and immigrants alike to turn a profit; Mexican cuisine and the culture itself has shifted in order to remain palatable for the US consumer.Produced by: Paul Chevallier, Abigail Connolly, Emily Dosal, David Moore, Heather Wiley

Produced by Jack Irwin, Ariana Martinez, Xander Nazon, and Violet Heppler

Just in time for Mother's Day, we examine an employment bias against mothers who have taken time off to care for their children. Although the return to the workforce is not easy, many mothers still choose to be with their children in the early years and go back to work once their kids are all grown up. Produced by Paul Chevalier.

As we've spent more and more time at home, the user base of apps like Tiktok has grown dramatically. We explored the impact that this highly accessible dance platform is having on the dance community. Produced by Kaiya Lightner, Lu Mejia, Charlotte Damson, Mitch Kelly

As many people are interacting with less people, social awkwardness has been normalized. Students and essential workers share their socially awkward situations. Produced by Helen Chappell, Monica Sinaloa, Amanda Deskavich, Ruby Seiwert, Marisa Reif, Monica Sinaloa, and Lexi Lane.

Numerous communities have seen themselves affected creatively and professionally by the Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing restrictions that have been established. Artists and creatives from different fields share how their practices have changed to adapt to the “new normal.”

Pickles and cultural preservation happenings on the Lower East Side. Reported, Produced, & Mixed by Adina Karp

Diversity in representation after death can be found in both obituaries and archives, but it's not something that happens overnight, and it is not something that happens on it's own. If death as an act is the only thing that transcends all else, then studying its representation in our society and who we choose to remember could be helpful to understanding our country's long suppression of diversity. I reached out to an obituaries writer at The New York Times and an archive librarian at University of Santa Barbara's Special Collection Library to learn about the diversity initiatives these two institutions have taken on.

Street Harassment in NYC by WNSR contributors

Traveling around Europe with your two best friends can be fun, if you know what you're doing. This is a story about the time I almost got lost in Italy four times.

A young woman attempting to find her place and voice in the film industry.

Examining diversity initiatives within archives and obituaries.

57 Years after the Good Friday Experiment gave 20 christian college students the mystical experience of their lives, one professor decides to pay homage to the site, as a place of sacred and religious significance. Special thanks to Christopher "Doc" Kelley Additional audio provided by: MAPS, from Psychedelic Science Conference, 2013

Part 2

CRIMINAL HAIR by WNSR contributors

In recent years, drag culture has become widely recognized in the mainstream culture, being featured everywhere from television to makeup ad campaigns. The evolution of this wide appeal is explored as a once queer subculture emerges into more publicized conversations.

After hearing from friends and coworkers about their not-so-great experiences with birth control, Logan Mahan starts to look deeper into an issue that is not often discussed- the side effects of birth control. She speaks with her two friends, Joan Kuneck and Deanna Devenney about some of the severe side effects they experienced while taking birth control. She also talks with Doctor Patricia Hume about non-hormonal options of birth control and their one barrier that could get even harder to overcome.

It's 2019, and women have made their mark by setting foot onto the streets and being able to express themselves through forms of fashion. Produced by Sarah Santos